Effective March 1st, 2022, Gulf of Mexico federal Charter/Headboat permitted vessels are required to be equipped with a type-approved position reporting VMS transceiver unit. The position reporting requirement is essential for validating the information collected through the Southeast For-Hire Integrated Electronic Reporting Program. Position reporting units will allow managers and scientists to determine when trips are occurring and when to expect electronic fishing reports following a trip's completion.
The unit may transmit through either satellite or cellular signal and must meet the following requirements:
- is permanently affixed to your vessel,
- operates 24 hours a day,
- must collect your location data at least once an hour for transmission to NOAA Fisheries (unless the vessel has an approved power down exemption, or if the vessel is in port and is equipped with a type-approved VMS unit configured with the 4-hour reporting feature),
- has been properly installed by a qualified/certified marine electrician/installer that has been approved by the vendor (regardless of your intent to apply for reimbursement),
- has been activated through the NOAA Fisheries Help Desk (the VMS vendor does this), and
- will automatically transmit vessel location data at some time before offloading fish at the end of each trip, or within 30 minutes after a trip is completed if no fish were landed.
The following list of Vessel Monitoring System units are currently approved for use in the For-Hire fishery. We are testing more units and will update this table as they are approved. For units marked as 'Yes', indicating that they have forms included, these VMS units satisfy the positioning requirement of the SEFHIER program, and have the capability to submit the required declaration and logbook forms. Units without forms still meet the position reporting requirements, but do not have the capability to submit the required reports. In order to submit the required declaration and logbook forms for units indicated as 'NO' (they do not include forms) you need to download one of the approved software applications listed here and submit the reports through the app.
Approved Vessel Monitoring System Units for the Gulf of Mexico For-Hire Fisheries¹
| VMS Vendor | Unit Name | Data Transmission | Includes logbook and declaration forms? |
Also Approved for Use in the Commercial Gulf Reef Fish Fishery? |
Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Addvalue | IFleetONE | Satellite | YES | YES | |
| Atlantic Radio Telephone | ZenVMS-SAT | Satellite | NO | NO | https://www.zen-vms.com/ (305) 633-9636 E-Mail: info@zen-vms.com |
| ZenVMS-LTE | Cellular | NO | NO |
(305) 633-9636 E-Mail: info@zen-vms.com |
|
| MetOcean | Satellite | YES | YES |
(800) 262-8722 |
|
| Nautic Alert | Insight X3 VMS | Satellite | YES | YES |
(800) 385-1674 |
| Insight X3 | Cellular | NO | NO |
(800) 385-1674 |
|
| SkyMate |
m1600
|
Satellite | YES | YES | |
| Alon a8000 | Satellite | NO | NO | ||
| Woods Hole Group/CLS |
Triton Leo² Thorium TST³ |
Satellite | YES | YES | |
| WatchDog 750 | Satellite | YES | YES | ||
| CLS NEMO EMTU-C | Cellular | NO | NO |
Support: (240) 492-1944
|
¹VMS units are type approved by fishery. This table only shows for-hire type approved units.
²No longer available for purchase
³No longer approved for new installations
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the VMS requirement and all aspects of the SEFHIER program are available on the program website.
