Requires all commercial menhaden reduction fishery vessels to use an AIS system

House Bill 872 enacts new provisions into Louisiana's fishing and wildlife statutes to mandate the use of automatic identification systems on commercial menhaden reduction vessels. The bill adds a definition of "automatic identification system" to R.S. 56:8(160) as a very high frequency radio-based tracking system enabling vessels to automatically exchange data including position, speed, and heading with other vessels, shore stations, and satellites. The bill then adds R.S. 56:325.5(D), which requires all vessels engaged in commercial menhaden reduction fishing to have and utilize an automatic identification system, expressly applying this requirement to both carrier vessels or steamers and purse boats. Additionally, the legislation directs the Louisiana State Law Institute to alphabetize and renumber the definitions contained in R.S. 56:8 and to correct any necessary cross-references to renumbered paragraphs.

The practical effect of this legislation falls primarily on commercial menhaden reduction fishing operators in Louisiana. All vessel owners and operators engaged in menhaden reduction fishing must now equip their vessels with functional automatic identification systems, regardless of whether the vessel operates as a mothership carrier vessel or as a purse boat used to deploy fishing nets. This requirement creates compliance obligations for fleet operators to install, maintain, and utilize AIS technology on all relevant vessels. The enforcement of these requirements would fall under existing state fishing regulations and administrative oversight by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

This legislation operates within Louisiana's existing regulatory framework for commercial fishing, codified primarily in Title 56 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. The amendment to R.S. 56:325.5 integrates the AIS requirement into existing commercial menhaden regulations that address harvest reporting and fishery management. The addition to R.S. 56:8 establishes formal statutory definitions applicable throughout Chapter 56's fishing regulations. By directing the State Law Institute to alphabetize and renumber existing definitions, the bill serves a technical statutory organization function while implementing the substantive tracking requirement for menhaden vessels.