[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 12 (Thursday, January 19, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3053-3057]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-588]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 120605C]


Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS); Specification of Requirements 
for Mobile Communications Service Provider (MCSP) Type Approval

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; revision of type approval requirements.

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SUMMARY: This document provides notice of type approval requirements 
for a Mobile Communications Service Provider (MCSP) to be authorized 
for use by any vessel participating in the NOAA Vessel Monitoring 
Systems (VMS) program. Vessels participating in VMS programs must 
acquire an Office for Law Enforcement - approved mobile

[[Page 3054]]

transceiver unit (MTU) and use an authorized MCSP to comply with the 
standards set forth in NMFS rules requiring the use of VMS.

ADDRESSES: To obtain copies of the list of NOAA-approved VMS MTU and 
VMS MCSPs, or to obtain information regarding the status of VMS systems 
being evaluated by NOAA, write to NOAA Fisheries, Office for Law 
Enforcement (OLE), 8484 Georgia Avenue, Suite 415, Silver Spring, MD 
20910.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For current listing information 
contact Mark Oswell, Outreach Specialist, or for questions regarding 
VMS installation and status of evaluations contact Jonathan Pinkerton, 
National VMS Program Manager by phone: 301-427-2300 or by fax: 301-427-
2055.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice supersedes all previous notices 
on MCSP type approval requirements. Previously approved MCSPs must 
comply with the requirements of this notice within 120 days of the 
publication date of this notice.

Background

    The OLE maintains MCSP requirement specifications as an OLE 
national directive. This document sets prerequisite standards for the 
purpose of carrier qualification, which an MCSP must meet before it is 
permitted to be used in an OLE VMS. Vessels participating in VMS 
programs must use an OLE-qualified MSCP to comply with NMFS rules 
requiring the use of VMS. An MCSP is an operator of a mobile 
communications service used to provide wireless connectivity between 
mobile platforms (such as vessels, trucks, and people) and fixed 
platforms (such as offices and buildings). In VMS, the MCSP enables 
location transmission and two-way message exchange between OLE and the 
vessel when using an onboard MCSP-compatible MTU. (Note: Standards for 
the MTU are written in the complementary directive titled Mobile 
Transceiver Unit Specification of Requirements.)

Goal

    OLE seeks to deploy an ``open system,'' whereby fishing industry 
participants may select from a variety of suppliers that qualify and 
have been approved to participate in VMS programs. Fishermen must 
comply with their Federal fishery regulations regarding VMS and 
therefore may be cited for a violation and held accountable for 
monitoring anomalies not attributable to faults in the MCSP or MTU. 
Therefore, type approval is essential to establish and maintain 
uniformly high system integrity. By this notice, OLE seeks to approve 
reliable, robust, and secure MCSP services and thereby create and 
maintain a VMS meeting the requirement of high integrity. Specific VMS 
programs are created to support particular NMFS rules requiring the use 
of VMS, which typically are designed to manage or protect fish and 
other marine species within designated areas.

Process

    Based on a request for carrier qualification from a candidate MCSP, 
OLE will conduct a thorough evaluation and then issue a statement to 
accept or deny the carrier qualification of an MCSP. The MCSP must meet 
the minimal national VMS standards, as required by this notice, and the 
requirements of the specific fisheries for which approval is sought. 
MCSP providers are encouraged to review the national VMS standards and 
Federal regulations for the fishery of interest prior to submitting a 
request for approval. Upon successful demonstration of compliance to 
the standards set forth in this directive, OLE will issue a MCSP 
carrier qualification for a particular communications class applicable 
to one or more VMS operations targeting particular fisheries. A class 
refers to the medium, protocol, and frequency of the mobile 
communications technology.
    OLE approval will not necessarily result in NMFS procurement of 
MCSP services. Instead, OLE will request a fact sheet from the MCSP to 
provide information to the fishing industry that includes at minimum, 
value-added services, account activation procedures, and pricing plans. 
This will allow fishermen to make purchase decisions that are 
compatible with the VMS standards and their individual needs. 
Purchasing strategies will also be determined on a per fishery 
implementation basis.

Initiation

    OLE will initiate the MCSP carrier qualification process upon 
written request from the provider, subject to the demonstration of 
compliance with this notice and the availability of test units. The 
provider, or requestor for carrier qualification, may be the company, 
systems integrator, distributor, and/or value-added reseller, etc., 
acting within the constraints of its agreement with the underlying 
communications company. Consideration will be given to an MCSP that has 
already passed a comparable carrier qualification process in a foreign 
fisheries management effort. If applicable, the provider should provide 
the MCSP's identifying characteristics, the details of foreign VMS 
requirement specifications, the MCSP's level of compliance, and 
appropriate contact details of the qualifying authorities. OLE also 
will consider qualifying an MCSP which resells, packages, or integrates 
communication services from an MCSP that already received OLE carrier 
qualification under this notice.

Interoperability

    An MCSP seeking carrier qualification within a particular 
communications class for VMS must demonstrate that it meets the 
standards when using at least one type approved MTU within that same 
class. Establishment of the standards in thisDirective are intended to 
ensure that carrier qualification for a particular MCSP will permit its 
interoperability with all approved MTU within its same class. To best 
promote interoperability within a class, MTU and MCSP acceptance 
standards are outlined in separate directives. However, concurrent with 
this approval process for an MCSP, the approval for a same-class MTU 
must be either in place or pending. Data received at OLE from the MCSP 
must be in a secure and encrypted format compatible with OLE tracking 
software.

Submission

    A provider requesting MCSP type approval shall begin by describing 
in detail the extent to which the MCSP complies with each of the 
requirements set forth within this directive. The provider, or 
requestor for type approval, must provide OLE with one in-class MTU and 
the required communications service for each of the fisheries for which 
approval is desired for a 90- day test and approval period. The 
supplier must also provide thorough MTU documentation, including fact 
sheets, installation guides, operator manuals, user handbooks, the 
applicable interfacing software, and technical support. OLE shall 
review the submissions against the criteria of this directive. Next, 
OLE shall perform field test and sea trials. To accomplish this, OLE 
will coordinate test conditions with volunteer and/or contract fishing 
vessels. These tests may involve demonstrating every aspect of MCSP 
operation, including programming a registered MTU, location tracking, 
messaging, and troubleshooting procedures.
    Submit requests for type approval, along with hard and soft copies 
of support material to: U.S. Department of Commerce; National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration; National

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Marine Fisheries Service; Office for Law Enforcement; Attention: Vessel 
Monitoring System Program; 8484 Georgia Ave. Suite 415; Silver Spring, 
MD 20910 USA; voice 301-427-2300, fax 301-427-2055.

Litigation Support

    Due to the use of VMS for law enforcement, all technical aspects of 
a provider's submission are subject to being admitted as evidence in a 
court of law, if needed. The reliability of all technologies utilized 
in the MCSP may be analyzed in court for, inter alia, testing 
procedures, error rates, peer review, and general industry acceptance. 
Further, the provider may be required to provide technical and expert 
support for litigation to support the MCSP capabilities and establish 
OLE's case against violators. If the technologies have previously been 
subject to such scrutiny in a court of law, the provider should 
describe the evidence and any court finding on the reliability of the 
technology. Additionally, to maintain the integrity of VMS for 
fisheries management, the provider will be required to sign a non-
disclosure agreement limiting the release of certain information that 
might compromise either the confidentiality of fishermen's personally 
identifying information, proprietary fishing data, such as vessel 
positions, or the effectiveness of the VMS operations, such as details 
of security procedures. The provider shall include a statement 
confirming its agreement with these conditions.

Change Control

    Once qualified, it is the responsibility of the MCSP to notify OLE 
of any change in its submission, such as a change affecting 
interconnect facilities, geographic coverage, performance 
characteristics, or customer support contacts. OLE reserves the right 
to reconsider and revoke the MCSP approval if, as a result of the 
change, the MCSP no longer satisfies the requirement.

Requests for Approval

    Requestors must respond to each of the items listed in sections 1 
through 10 of this document and any applicable attachments. The 
response should indicate how the MCSP complies with the requirement 
referred to in the item. Items that the MCSP does not currently comply 
with must be responded to by explaining how the MCSP will comply with 
the requirement prior to approval.

Section 1. Identifiers

    The MCSP must provide the following specifications and identifying 
characteristics:
    1.1.1. Communications class, including medium, protocol, and 
frequency of the mobile communications technology.
    1.1.2. Trade name of the service.
    1.1.3. Company name.
    1.1.4. Corporate headquarters.
    1.1.5. Principal business.
    1.1.6. Parent and subsidiary companies, if applicable.
    1.1.7. Name and locations of principal terrestrial facilities, 
e.g., downlinks, gateways, switches, and operation centers.
    1.2 MCSP must support at least one MTU approved for use in the 
fishery desired unless the request is made bundled with a new MTU. If 
the request is made bundled with an MTU, approval of the MCSP will be 
contingent upon the approval of the MTU. MCSP ireless facilities must 
also have the following characteristics as applicable:
    1.2.1. Satellite: MCSP must provide adequate orbit types, 
constellation size, and coverage footprint to provide comprehensive 
coverage of the VMS fishery for which application is made
    1.2.2. Cellular: MCSP must provide adequate coverage footprints, 
tower distribution density, tower locations, and protocols required to 
provide comprehensive coverage of the VMS fishery for which application 
is made.
    1.2.3. Radio: MCSP must provide adequate coast stations, locations, 
antennas, and antenna size to provide comprehensive coverage of the VMS 
fishery for which application is made.
    1.2.4. Approved or pending approval MTU(s) supported.
    1.3 For the following technical responsibilities, name the business 
entities, including the MCSP and other parties, who perform the 
following functions. Include the business mailing address, contact 
name(s), telephone number, fax number, email addresses.
    1.3.1. Operate principal terrestrial facilities.
    1.3.2. Operate principal wireless facilities.
    1.4 For the following commercial responsibilities, name the 
business entities, including the MCSP and other parties, who perform 
the following functions for US customers. Include the business mailing 
address, contact name(s), telephone number, fax number, email 
addresses. Designate the US geographic territory or market sector where 
applicable.
    1.4.1. Direct sales.
    1.4.2. Indirect/distributor/channel sales.
    1.4.3. Billing.
    1.4.4. Account management.
    1.4.5. Customer service.
    1.4.6. Technical support.
    1.4.7. Public affairs.
    1.4.8. Advertising.

Section 2. Messaging

    The MCSP shall be capable of communications that support the 
following messaging functions:
    2.1. Ability to transmit multiple message types:
    2.1.1. Automatically generated position reports.
    2.1.2. Event-driven position reports.
    2.1.3. Safety and distress alerts and messages.
    2.1.4. Email text messages.
    2.1.5. Ability to remotely create new message-types.
    2.1.6. Email forms.
    2.2. Ability to provide comprehensive and transparent 
communications, which function uniformly within the entire area of the 
geographic coverage area for the particular communications class.
    2.3. Ability to perform two-way messaging.
    2.4. Ability for OLE to initiate communications to vessels, either 
individually or by originator-defined groups of vessels.

Section 3. Position Data Formats and Transmission

    3.1. An MCSP should support an MTU's ability to transmit 
automatically-generated position reports that contain the following:
    3.1.1. Position fix latitude and longitude, including the 
hemisphere of each.
    3.1.2. The precision of the position fix shall be to the decimal 
minute hundredths.
    3.1.3. Accuracy of the position fix must be within 100 meters, 
unless otherwise indicated by an existing regulation or FMP 
requirement.
    3.1.4. Unique identification of an MTU within the communications 
class.
    3.1.5. Date (year/month/day with century in the year) and time 
(GMT) stamp of the position fix.
    3.1.6. Date (year/month/day with century in the year) and time 
(GMT) when the position report is received at the MCSP.
    3.1.7. Date (year/month/day with century in the year) and time 
(GMT) stamp when the position report is sent to OLE.
    3.1.8. MTU status information, such as configuration of programming 
and reporting intervals, power save modes, antenna disconnection, and 
power-up/power down, and loss of positioning signal.

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Section 4. Special Identified Position Reports

    4.1. In addition to automatically generated position reports, 
support the MTU's ability to transmit specially identified position 
reports. If the MTU is unable to transmit status upon the occurrence of 
these events below, then the specially identified position reports are 
transmitted when its ability to transmit is reestablished.
    4.1.1. Loss of the positioning reference signals.
    4.1.2. Loss of the mobile communications signals.
    4.1.3. Security events and other status data.
    4.1.4. The vessel crossing a predefined geographic boundary.
    4.1.5. Automatically generated position reports sent to OLE from 
the MCSP must be in a format compatible with OLE monitoring software.

Section 5. Queries

    5.1. The MCSP shall allow the initiation of queries to extract 
information from single and multiple vessels to satisfy the following 
criteria:
    5.1.1. A query addressed to an individual vessel or a group of 
vessels. The group of vessels may be comprised of:
    5.1.1.1. Vessels presently located within a geographic area (for 
example, defined by a circle or a rectangle, used by Coast Guard for 
search and rescue coordination);
    5.1.1.2. Vessels that are members of an OLE-defined logical 
grouping (For example, grouped by fish type, gear type, or region of 
home port);
    5.1.1.3. Queries are for the following:
    5.1.1.3.1. Reprogramming or reconfiguring position reporting 
features.
    5.1.1.3.2. Determining current position.
    5.1.1.3.3. Extracting feature states, such as sensor status.

Section 6. Position Intervals

    6.1. The MCSP must support the ability to determine the position of 
an MTU at fixed, programmable reporting intervals between 5 minutes and 
24 hours.

Section 7. Latency

    7.1. The MCSP must meet latency requirements from 5 minutes or less 
(near real time) to 3 hours (store and forward) between the time a 
position is fixed and the time it is received in OLE.

Section 8. Terrestrial Connectivity

    8.1. The OLE VMS program supports multiple VMS rules with incoming 
data from many vessels that may be using different MTUs within a 
communications class, or multiple classes. VMS receives data in a 
class-native format from the MCSP at the appropriate VMS monitoring 
center in an OLE-standard format. For approval a MCSP must be capable 
of delivering information from all its within-class subscribers to OLE 
in a format and protocol compatible with OLE equipment and software 
facilities. The MCSP must provide:
    8.1.1. Redundancy of terrestrial facilities and network 
connectivity between MCSP and OLE, such that backup circuits or 
alternate network types automatically replace the primary in the event 
of failure without any manual intervention.
    8.1.2. Two-way communications for delivery and acceptance of data 
from MCSP to OLE and back, supporting messages, position reports, 
queries and administrative functions.
    8.1.3. Auto-forwarding or auto-delivery of messages without the 
need for retrieval by OLE.
    8.1.4. Geographically transparent communications from OLE to the 
MTU, such that OLE seamlessly performs communication functions without 
a need to take additional steps to accommodate the geographic region 
where the vessel is fishing.
    8.1.5. Latency at 5 minutes or less (near real time) for 95 percent 
of transmissions for two-way messaging between the MCSP and OLE.
    8.1.6. Communications between the MCSP and OLE must be provided 
along secure encrypted channels. The MCSP must provide reasonable 
mechanisms to prevent:
    8.1.6.1. Tampering or interception, including the reading of 
passwords and data.
    8.1.6.2. Interception and ``sniffing'' during transmission from the 
MCSP to OLE via either wireless or terrestrial facilities.
    8.1.6.3. Spoofing, whereby one MTU is fraudulently identifying 
itself as another MTU.
    8.1.6.4. Modification of MTU identification.
    8.1.6.5. Interference with Global Maritime Distress and Safety 
System (GMDSS) or other safety/distress functionalities.
    8.1.6.6. Introduction of viruses that may corrupt the messages, 
transmission, or the VMS system.

Section 9. Wireless Connectivity

    9.1. The MCSP shall have the following wireless connectivity 
features:
    9.1.1. Redundancy of wireless facilities and network connectivity 
between MTU and OLE, such that backup circuits or alternate network 
types automatically replace the primary in the event of failure without 
any manual intervention.
    9.1.2. Geographically transparent communications to and from OLE 
and the MTU, such that OLE seamlessly performs communication functions 
without a need to take additional steps to accommodate the geographic 
region where the vessel is fishing.
    9.1.3. Durability and reliability in a marine environment, without 
signal degradation or other loss of integrity from adverse 
meteorological conditions.
    9.2. Communications between MCSP and MTU must be secure from 
tampering or interception, including the reading of passwords and data. 
The MCSP must provide reasonable mechanisms to prevent:
    9.2.1. Interception and ``sniffing'' during transmission to and 
from the MCSP and MTU via either wireless or terrestrial facilities.
    9.2.2. Spoofing, whereby one MTU is fraudulently identifying itself 
as another MTU.
    9.2.3. Modification of MTU identification.
    9.2.4. Interference with GMDSS or other safety/distress 
functionalities.
    9.2.5. Introduction of viruses that may corrupt the messages, 
transmission, or the VMS system.

Section 10. Customer Service

    10.1 The MCSP and its designated entities shall provide customer 
service that is professional, courteous, and responsive.
    10.2 The MCSP must have security measures, user authentication, 
request validation and non-disclosure policies to prevent unauthorized 
access to the content of reports or other manual interference. The 
following requirements must be included:
    10.2.1. Prevent unauthorized access to data and configuration 
information by MCSP employees and third parties.
    10.2.2. Authorize fishermen access to account info and to enhance 
the MTU configuration for personal messages, if they pay for the costs 
of personal messages and configuration changes do not affect the 
integrity of VMS operations.
    10.2.3. Send the MTU email, poll or remotely reconfigure the MTU 
for position reporting changes upon OLE request.
    10.2.4. Keep an audit trail of actions taken by Customer Service.
    10.3. MCSP security procedures must support above services whether 
the access or configuration change is applied to a single MTU or a 
group of MTUs.

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    10.4. Service level agreements must clarify constraints, if any, on 
the geographic territory, personnel availability, and escalation 
procedures for problem resolution covered by such services.
    10.5. Assist in the resolution of communications anomalies, such as 
data loss, message corruption, and reporting gaps including helping to 
determine the cause of the problem.
    10.6. Provide and documented MTU commissioning procedures for US 
vessels.
    10.7. Provide and documented account and service activation 
procedures.
    10.8. Provide documented and secure MTU configuration strategy or 
procedures for vessels monitored singly or grouped by fleet.
    10.9. All personally identifying information provided by vessels 
owners or other authorized personnel for the purpose of purchase or 
activation of MCSP services, or for the participation in any NMFS VMS-
approved fishery must be protected from unauthorized disclosure. 
Personally identifying information includes, but is not limited to, 
names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security account numbers, 
credit card numbers, vessel names, federal, state, and local 
documentation numbers, e-mail addresses, and crew lists. Any 
information sent electronically to the OLE must be transmitted by a 
secure means that prevents interception, spoofing, or viewing by 
unauthorized individuals. Any release of such information must be 
requested and approved in writing by the vessel owner or authorized 
personnel, or the OLE. Inadvertent or intentional unauthorized release 
of personally identifying information will be grounds for 
reconsideration and possible revocation of the type approval for any 
offending MCSP.

    Dated: January 13, 2006.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. E6-588 Filed 1-18-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S