Authorized fishing gear
Authorized fishing gear (see also 679.24 for gear limitations and Table 15 to this part for gear codes) means trawl gear, fixed gear, longline gear, pot gear, and nontrawl gear as follows:
(1) Bottom contact gear means nonpelagic trawl, dredge, dinglebar, pot, or hook-and-line gear.
(2) Dinglebar gear means one or more lines retrieved and set with a troll gurdy or hand troll gurdy, with a terminally attached weight from which one or more leaders with one or more lures or baited hooks are pulled through the water while a vessel is making way.
(3) Dredge means a dredge-like device designed specifically for and capable of taking scallops by being towed along the ocean floor.
(4) Fixed gear means:
(i) For sablefish harvested from any GOA reporting area, all longline gear, longline pot gear, and, for purposes of determining initial IFQ allocation, all pot gear used to make a legal landing.
(ii) For sablefish harvested from any BSAI reporting area, all hook-and-line gear, jig gear, and all pot gear.
(iii) For halibut harvested from any IFQ regulatory area, all fishing gear composed of lines with hooks attached, including one or more stationary, buoyed, and anchored lines with hooks attached.
(iv) For halibut harvested from any GOA reporting area, all longline pot gear, if the vessel operator is fishing for IFQ sablefish in accordance with § 679.42(l).
(v) For halibut harvested from any IFQ regulatory area in the BSAI, all pot gear, if the vessel operator is fishing for IFQ or CDQ halibut in accordance with § 679.42.
(5) Hand troll gear means one or more lines, with lures or hooks attached, drawn through the water behind a moving vessel, and retrieved by hand or hand-cranked reels or gurdies and not by any electrically, hydraulically, or mechanically powered device or attachment.
(6) Handline gear means a hand-held line, with one or more hooks attached, that may only be operated manually.
(7) Hook-and-line gear means a stationary, buoyed, and anchored line with hooks attached, or the taking of fish by means of such a device.
(8) Jig gear means a single, non-buoyed, non-anchored line with hooks attached, or the taking of fish by means of such a device.
(9) Longline gear means hook-and-line, jig, troll, and handline or the taking of fish by means of such a device.
(10) Longline pot means a stationary, buoyed, and anchored line with two or more pots attached, or the taking of fish by means of such a device.
(11) Mobile bottom contact gear means nonpelagic trawl, dredge, or dinglebar gear.
(12) Nonpelagic trawl means a trawl other than a pelagic trawl.
(13) Nontrawl gear means pot and longline gear.
(14) Pelagic trawl gear means a trawl that:
(i) Has no discs, bobbins, or rollers;
(ii) Has no chafe protection gear attached to the footrope or fishing line;
(iii) Except for the small mesh allowed under paragraph (14)(ix) of this definition:
(A) Has no mesh tied to the fishing line, headrope, and breast lines with less than 20 inches (50.8 cm) between knots and has no stretched mesh size of less than 60 inches (152.4 cm) aft from all points on the fishing line, headrope, and breast lines and extending passed the fishing circle for a distance equal to or greater than one half the vessel's LOA; or
(B) Has no parallel lines spaced closer than 64 inches (162.6 cm) from all points on the fishing line, headrope, and breast lines and extending aft to a section of mesh, with no stretched mesh size of less than 60 inches (152.4 cm) extending aft for a distance equal to or greater than one-half the vessel's LOA;
(iv) Has no stretched mesh size less than 15 inches (38.1 cm) aft of the mesh described in paragraph (14)(iii) of this definition for a distance equal to or greater than one-half the vessel's LOA;
(v) Contains no configuration intended to reduce the stretched mesh sizes described in paragraphs (14)(iii) and (iv) of this definition;
(vi) Has no flotation other than floats capable of providing up to 200 lb (90.7 kg) of buoyancy to accommodate the use of a net-sounder device;
(vii) Has no more than one fishing line and one footrope for a total of no more than two weighted lines on the bottom of the trawl between the wing tip and the fishing circle;
(viii) Has no metallic component except for connectors (e.g., hammerlocks or swivels) or a net-sounder device aft of the fishing circle and forward of any mesh greater than 5.5 inches (14.0 cm) stretched measure;
(ix) May have small mesh within 32 ft (9.8 m) of the center of the headrope as needed for attaching instrumentation (e.g., net-sounder device); and
(x) May have weights on the wing tips.
(15) Pot gear means a portable structure, rigid or collapsible, that is designed and constructed to capture and retain fish alive in the water. This gear type includes longline pot and pot-and-line gear. Each groundfish pot must comply with the following:
(i) Biodegradable panel. Each pot used to fish for groundfish must be equipped with a biodegradable panel at least 18 inches (45.72 cm) in length that is parallel to, and within 6 inches (15.24 cm) of, the bottom of the pot, and that is sewn up with untreated cotton thread of no larger size than No. 30.
(A) Collapsible pot exception. A collapsible pot (e.g., slinky pot) used to fish for halibut IFQ or CDQ, or sablefish IFQ or CDQ, in accordance with paragraph (4) of this definition, is exempt from the biodegradable panel placement requirements described in paragraph (15)(i) of this definition. Instead, a collapsible pot must have either a biodegradable panel placed anywhere on the mesh of the collapsible pot, which is at least 18 inches (45.72 cm) in length and is made from untreated cotton thread of no larger size than No. 30, or one door on the pot must measure at least 18 inches (45.72 cm) in diameter and be wrapped with untreated cotton thread of no larger size than No. 30.
(B) [Reserved]
(ii) Tunnel opening. Each pot used to fish for groundfish must be equipped with rigid tunnel openings that are no wider than 9 inches (22.86 cm) and no higher than 9 inches (22.86 cm), or soft tunnel openings with dimensions that are no wider than 9 inches (22.86 cm).
(iii) Halibut retention exception. If halibut retention is required when harvesting halibut from any IFQ regulatory area in the BSAI or GOA, the requirements to comply with a tunnel opening for pots when fishing for IFQ or CDQ halibut or IFQ or CDQ sablefish in the BSAI in accordance with § 679.42(m), or for IFQ sablefish in the GOA in accordance with § 679.42(l), do not apply.
(16) Pot-and-line gear means a stationary, buoyed line with a single pot attached, or the taking of fish by means of such a device.
(17) Power troll gear means one or more lines, with hooks or lures attached, drawn through the water behind a moving vessel, and originating from a power gurdy or power-driven spool fastened to the vessel, the extension or retraction of which is directly to the gurdy or spool.
(18) Trawl gear means a cone or funnel-shaped net that is towed through the water by one or more vessels. For purposes of this part, this definition includes, but is not limited to, beam trawls (trawl with a fixed net opening utilizing a wood or metal beam), otter trawls (trawl with a net opening controlled by devices commonly called otter doors), and pair trawls (trawl dragged between two vessels) and is further described as pelagic or nonpelagic trawl.
(19) Troll gear means one or more lines with hooks or lures attached drawn through the water behind a moving vessel. This gear type includes hand troll and power troll gear and dinglebar gear.
(20) Snap gear means a type of hook-and-line gear where the hook and gangion are attached to the groundline using a mechanical fastener or snap.
Source
50 CFR § 679.2
Scoping language
In addition to the definitions in the Magnuson-Stevens Act and in part 600 of this chapter, the terms used in this part have the following meanings: