National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration February 25, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has requested the Center for Independent Experts (CIE) to conduct a peer review of the agency's stock assessment of Alaskan sablefish. CIE is a group affiliated with the University of Miami that provides independent peer reviews of NMFS science nationwide, including reviews of stock assessments for fish and marine mammals. The Alaska sablefish stock assessment is an area-wide model that includes the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands. The CIE review will examine whether the assessment incorporates the best available scientific information and provides a reasonable approach to understanding the population dynamics and stock status of sablefish in Alaska. The public is invited to attend and observe the presentations and discussions between the CIE panel and the NMFS scientists who collected and processed the data, and designed the underlying model.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for the A season allowance of the 2009 Pacific cod sideboard limits apportioned to non- American Fisheries Act (AFA) crab vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2009 Pacific cod sideboard limits apportioned to non-AFA crab vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA.