2019-18130: Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Rockfish Management in the Groundfish Fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska

Summary

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has submitted Amendment 119 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI FMP) and Amendment 107 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA FMP) (collectively Amendments 119/107) to the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) for review. If approved, Amendments 119/107 would require that the operator of a catcher vessel required to have a federal fishery permit using hook-and-line, pot, or jig in the EEZ of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) to retain and land all rockfish (Sebastes and Sebastolobus species) caught while fishing for groundfish or for Pacific halibut and establish a limit on the amount of rockfish caught as incidental catch allowed to enter commerce through barter, sale or trade. Amendments 119/107 are necessary to improve identification of rockfish species, improve data collection by providing more accurate estimates of total catch, reduce incentives to discard rockfish, reduce waste, reduce overall enforcement burden, and provide regulatory consistency. Amendments 119/ 107 are intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the BSAI FMP, the GOA FMP, and other applicable laws.

The agency’s own summary, as published.

What this changes

Amends 1 part of the Code of Federal Regulations — the standing rules this notice rewrites.

• 50 CFR 679 Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska