Department of Commerce March 11, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS announces the intent to issue exempted fishing permits (EFPs) to Pacific whiting shoreside vessels and first receivers that participate in a maximized retention and monitor program for the 2010 Pacific whiting shoreside fishery. EFPs are needed to allow vessels to retain catch in excess of the cumulative limits and to retain prohibited species until offloading. EFPs are also needed to allow first receivers to possess Pacific whiting deliveries with prohibited species, to possess catch that is in excess of cumulative limits, and to use hopper type scales to derive accurate catch weights prior to sorting. Issuance of the EFPs would allow NMFS to collect catch data on incidentally caught species, including salmonids listed under the Endangered Species Act, and would allow new components of an overall monitoring program to continue to be investigated before implementation of a regulatory program.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for sablefish with fixed gear managed under the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program. The season will open 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), March 6, 2010, and will close 1200 hrs, A.l.t., November 15, 2010. This period is the same as the 2010 IFQ and Community Development Quota season for Pacific halibut adopted by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC). The IFQ halibut season is specified by a separate publication in the Federal Register of annual management measures.

NMFS is implementing approved measures in Amendment 10 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish (MSB) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Amendment 10 was developed by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) to bring the FMP into compliance with Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson- Stevens Act) requirements by establishing a rebuilding program that allows the butterfish stock to rebuild and protects the long-term health and stability of the stock; and by minimizing bycatch and the fishing mortality of unavoidable bycatch, to the extent practicable, in the MSB fisheries. Amendment 10 increases the minimum codend mesh size requirement for the Loligo squid (Loligo) fishery; establishes a butterfish rebuilding program with a butterfish mortality cap for the Loligo fishery; establishes a 72-hr trip notification requirement for the Loligo fishery; and requires an annual assessment of the butterfish rebuilding program by the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). This rule also makes minor, technical corrections to the existing regulations.