REGULATORY ALTERNATIVES CHAPTER 3

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; Fin whale
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.192.1; http://www.nero.noaa.gov/nero/hotnews/whalesfr/Volume%20I/CHAPTER%203.0%20Regulatory%20Alternatives.pdf

The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) includes a combination of fishing gear modifications and time/area closures to reduce the risk that whales will be killed or seriously injured as a result of entanglement in commercial fishing gear. The nature of the gear modification requirements varies by location and time of year, maximizing reduction in entanglement risk based on whale movements. NMFS complements these gear modification requirements with prohibitions on fishing at times and in places where whale aggregations are greatest, and therefore entanglement risk may be particularly high. NMFS is considering various alternatives for modifying existing ALWTRP requirements. The alternatives under consideration seek to reduce large whale entanglement by folding in other trap/pot fisheries under the ALWTRP; reducing the profile of groundlines; and mandating gear modifications to vertical lines, for example, by requiring gear marking and the use of weak links of lower breaking strength. These changes are designed to address ongoing right, humpback, and fin whale entanglements resulting in serious injury or mortality. The measures under consideration are designed to address entanglement risk posed by fisheries in U.S. waters; however, NMFS recognizes that entanglement risks occur throughout the range of these species. NMFS will continue to work with the Government of Canada toward the development of similar protective measures for large whales in Canadian waters. NMFS has identified a preferred alternative (Alternative 6 Final) from those considered. Alternatives previously identified as preferred in the DEIS are marked with an asterisk (*) throughout this chapter. Below, we first describe the regulatory alternatives under consideration and the features of the preferred alternative (Section 3.1). We then discuss the alternatives that NMFS has considered but rejected (Section 3.2). 3.1 ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED NMFS has identified six regulatory alternatives for consideration and has identified a preferred ...