Turtle Excluder Device (TED) Compliance Policy
October 22, 2014
The April 18, 2014, biological opinion is the current Endangered Species Act (ESA) authorization for the southeastern shrimp fisheries, which includes both state and federal shrimp fisheries. One of the non-discretionary terms and conditions for this biological opinion was the following:
14) NMFS must develop a policy specifying data requirements or minimum data standards for taking various actions (e.g. time area closures) to address non-compliance. Our goal is to use observer data for compliance analyses because the program is based on a representative sample and avoids potential biases from using enforcement data. However, until that time we must continue to rely on OLE [Office of Law Enforcement] and GMT [Gear Monitoring Team] data and increased enforcement. As part of this policy, NMFS must develop a general policy or guidelines outlining methods and standards for determining if a documented lack of compliance is throughout the entire Gulf area or Atlantic area or concentrated in certain portions of an area. This policy must be finalized within one year of completing the opinion and be updated as necessary.