We encourage SSA members to volunteer to participate in the Early Adopter Program to modernize shrimp effort data collection through the use of cellular Vessel Monitoring Systems (cVMS). Any SPGM permit holder in the Gulf of Mexico can sign up to be provided with a free cVMS and two years of covered service fees. Funding for this program has been made possible through congressional appropriations thanks to lobbying efforts by SSA to provide an updated effort monitoring program at no cost to shrimpers.
This program is important because effort data are used to satisfy regulatory requirements for estimating bycatch of red snapper, sea turtles, and other important species, and to safeguard important shrimping grounds during marine spatial planning for other seabed uses, like offshore wind development, artificial reefing, and aquaculture siting. Position data are currently collected from a subset of the fleet using the cellular Electronic Logbook (cELB) system, which no longer automatically transmits (requiring chips to be mailed in), causing a decline in the amount and quality of data collected. Updating this to cVMS will ensure the industry continues to comply with federal requirements and, once fully operational, will mean that you will no longer need to mail in cELB chips. Details of the program can be found in the NOAA Fisheries Bulletin and a NOAA Fisheries news article.
The Early Adopter Program is being coordinated by LGL Ecological Research Associates, a long-time scientific partner of the shrimping industry. Permit holders can choose among any of the three cVMS devices described below. To sign up or ask questions, simply send an email to LGL’s Nathan Putman nputman@lgl.com. When signing up, provide the vessel name, permit number, registration number (Coast Guard number), and preferred cVMS unit (if known). LGL will then get in touch with you to schedule the installation of your cVMS unit at a time and location convenient to your operations.
About the Southern Shrimp Alliance
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) is an organization of shrimp fishermen, shrimp processors, and other members of the domestic industry in the eight warmwater shrimp producing states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.
