Section 250-RICR-90-00-26.5 - FindingsA. Effective date October 18, 2021, NOAA Fisheries amended regulations implementing the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to reduce the incidental mortality and serious injury to North Atlantic Right Whales, Fin Whales, and Humpback Whales in the northeast commercial lobster and Jonah crab trap/pot fisheries to meet the goals of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.B. Compliance with gear configuration modifications including those changes that require fishermen to modify gear marking, change gear configurations, or modify buoy lines to accommodate new weak rope and weak insertions will be required as of May 1, 2022.C. Consistent with the requirements of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, the Department initiated a public process to develop a plan for Rhode Island to distribute gear to lobster and Jonah crab fishery participants. The public process included a series of webinars and workshops to brief stakeholders on the program and solicit input on the development of the revised Rhode Island plan. Workshops were held on October 19, 2021 and November 8, 2021.D. As a component of the above-described public process, the Department sought and received feedback from stakeholders regarding the enactment of emergency regulations to implement a revised plan for Rhode Island. All stakeholders supported the use of emergency regulations to expedite implementation of the gear distribution program, in recognition that the issues addressed by regulation would be fundamentally the same as the provisions set forth in the plan.E. These emergency regulations operationalize the process of disbursing Rhode Island's $227,273 allocation from NOAA and the Rhode Island plan.250 R.I. Code R. 250-RICR-90-00-26.5
Adopted effective 7/15/2023