Department of Commerce January 8, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS seeks public comment on two proposed actions. First, NMFS proposes to establish a management framework for specifying catch and fishing effort limits and accountability measures for pelagic fisheries in the U.S. Pacific territories (American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands). The framework would authorize the government of each territory to allocate a portion of its catch or fishing effort limit to a U.S. fishing vessel or vessels through a specified fishing agreement, and establish the criteria that an agreement would need to satisfy. The proposed framework also includes accountability measures for adhering to catch and fishing effort limits to ensure sustainability. Second, NMFS proposes an annual limit of 2,000 metric tons (mt) of longline-caught bigeye tuna for each territory, using the framework described in the proposed rule. NMFS would allow a territory to allocate up to 1,000 mt of the 2,000 mt each year to a U.S. longline fishing vessel or vessels in a specified fishing agreement that meets the established criteria. NMFS would monitor, attribute, and restrict catches of longline-caught bigeye tuna, including catches made under a specified fishing agreement, using the procedures and accountability measures described in the proposed rule. The longline bigeye tuna catch limit specifications would be effective in 2014. NMFS also proposes to make technical administrative changes to certain international fisheries requirements under the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act, to make them consistent with this proposed rule. NMFS intends the proposed rule and specifications to implement Section 113 of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriation Act of 2012, consistent with the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.