Marine Mammal Protection Act List of Fisheries

Background

What Is the List of Fisheries?

The Marine Mammal Protection Act mandates that all commercial fisheries be classified by the level of incidental marine mammal death and serious injury. The level of marine mammal death and serious injury that occurs incidental to each fishery is reported in the annual Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Reports for each stock.

Accordingly, the List of Fisheries (LOF) puts each fishery into one of three categories:

1. Frequent incidental death or serious injury of marine mammals.
2. Occasional incidental death or serious injury of marine mammals.
3. Remote likelihood of/no known incidental death or serious injury of marine mammals.

How Do I Find out If a Specific Fishery Is in Category I, II, or III?

You can look up any fishery in the most recent version of the LOF (see table below). The LOF is updated annually and published in the Federal Register.

The LOF contains four tables:

1. Pacific Ocean (including Alaska) fisheries.
2. Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean fisheries.
3. High seas fisheries (2009–present).
4. Fisheries affected by Take Reduction Teams (2009–present).

A fishery may be in one category for one marine mammal stock and another category for a different marine mammal stock. A fishery is typically categorized on the LOF according to its highest level of death/injury (e.g., a fishery in Category III for one stock and Category II for another will be listed under Category II). Learn more below about the criteria used to classify fisheries.

Lists of Fisheries

Fishery Classification Criteria

In classifying fisheries, NOAA Fisheries compares the numbers of marine mammals that are incidentally killed or seriously injured by commercial fishing operations to a stock’s potential biological removal (PBR) level. The PBR level is defined in 50 CFR 229.2 as the highest number of animals that can be removed from a stock—not including natural deaths—while allowing that stock to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population.

Using these numbers, NOAA Fisheries takes a two-tiered approach. Tier 1 considers the total impact of all fisheries on each marine mammal stock; Tier 2 considers individual fisheries’ impact on each stock.

Tier 1: Annual mortality and serious injury across all fisheries that interact with a stock:

• If the total is 10 percent or less of the PBR level of this stock, all fisheries interacting with this stock are placed in Category III.
• Otherwise, these fisheries are subject to Tier 2.

Tier 2: Annual mortality and serious injury of a stock in a given fishery:

• Category I: 50 percent or more of the PBR level.
• Category II: between 1 and 50 percent of the PBR level.
• Category III: 1 percent or less of the PBR level.

For more details on how threshold percentages between the categories were determined, see the preamble to the final rule implementing section 118 of the MMPA (60 FR 45086, August 30, 1995).

Since fisheries are categorized on a per-stock basis, a fishery may be in one category for one stock and another category for a different stock. A fishery is typically categorized on the LOF according to its highest level of death/injury: for example, a fishery that qualifies for Category III for one stock and Category II for another will be listed under Category II.

Reporting Requirements

Any vessel owner, vessel operator, or fisherman (for non-vessel fisheries) working in a Category I, II, or III fishery must report all incidental deaths or injuries of marine mammals during commercial fishing to NOAA Fisheries (per 50 CFR 229.6). Learn more about reporting.

“Injury” is defined in 50 CFR 229.2 as a wound or other physical harm. An animal that ingests fishing gear is also considered to be injured. So is any animal released with fishing gear entangling, trailing, or perforating any part of its body. All these injuries must be reported.

Further Requirements for Category I and II Fisheries

Registration

Under 50 CFR 229.4, the owner of a vessel or gear working in a Category I or II fishery must get a marine mammal authorization by registering with the Marine Mammal Authorization Program. NOAA Fisheries will issue the vessel or gear owner an authorization certificate that the operator must have while fishing.

Registration Fees

The procedure for registering differs between NOAA regions. For most fisheries, NOAA Fisheries has integrated the marine mammal authorization registration process with state and federal fishery license, registration, or permit systems and related programs. Participants in these fisheries are automatically registered under the MMPA and are not required to pay the $25 registration fee.

Observers

Fishermen working in a Category I or II fishery must accommodate observers onboard their vessels upon request (per 50 CFR 229.7).

Take Reduction Planning

Fishermen working in a Category I or II fishery must comply with any applicable take reduction plans. NOAA Fisheries may develop and implement take reduction plans for any Category I or II fishery that interacts with a strategic stock.

More Information

• Marine Mammal Authorization Program.

• Fishing Gear and Risks to Protected Species.

• Policy for Distinguishing Serious from Non-Serious Injuries of Marine Mammals.

• Serious Injury Technical Workshop Report.  

• Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Reports.