4 April, 2001 DFO update reprint of letter to prawn listserve from Jim Morrison Progress towards the 2001 fishery remains on track. The fishing plan is with senior managers in Vancouver, for sign off. Once it has been signed by the Regional Director General and copies printed up, licencing can proceed. There will be another notice when this occurs. In preparation, Licencing is sending out renewal applications. They will likely be in the mail by the end of this week. Trap tags arrived last week and will be shipped to the service provider in the next couple of days. A notice will be posted here when the service provider is ready to distribute tags and issue letters to licence holders. The steps will be to complete the licence renewal application, make arrangements with the service provider, and receive a letter from them indicating if arrangements have been made for 300 traps or 500 traps. If you are renewing for 500 traps, then you will also need to complete a "Trap Transfer Application" which will be provided by Licencing, and have that signed by the licence holder who is providing the extra traps (and reducing their trap allocation to 0 for this season). Then when Licencing has received the plan from the printer, there will be a notice and you will be able to proceed to any of the 3 Licencing offices in Vancouver, Nanaimo or Prince Rupert to complete the licence renewal. Note that the tags will be provided by the service company, and will no longer be available from Licencing offices. Also underway at this time is final testing of the electronic data systems which will be used to receive tag, hail, vessel inspection and spawner index information from the service company patrol vessels. Bruce Adkins and the PPFA are nearing completion of their work on the collaborative agreement. At this time we are still on line for a May 1 start up. However, the date is not finalized until a variation order is issued, accompanied by a Notice to Industry. When that occurs, it will also be posted here. Jim Morrison Fisheries and Oceans Canada (250) 756-7233 fax (250) 756-7162 morrisonj@dfo-mpo.gc.ca http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/ops/fm/shellfish/Prawn/default.htm