National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration May 6, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Northeast Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that the subject exempted fishing permit (EFP) application contains all the required information and warrants further consideration. Therefore, NMFS announces that the Assistant Regional Administrator proposes to recommend that an EFP be issued that would allow one commercial fishing vessel to conduct fishing operations that are otherwise restricted by the regulations governing the fisheries of the Northeastern United States. The EFP, which would enable the applicants to investigate the selectivity of different groundfish trawl codend configurations with a small-mesh cover, would allow for exemptions for one vessel from the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) as follows: NE multispecies Gulf of Maine (GOM) minimum mesh size. In addition, this EFP would allow temporary exemptions from the NE Multispecies and Monkfish FMPs, per the stipulations detailed in this document, as follows: NE multispecies minimum fish sizes; NE multispecies possession restrictions; monkfish minimum fish sizes; and monkfish possession restrictions.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) announces a workshop on Annual Catch Limits, to be held May 21, 22, 2009 in Seattle, WA.

NMFS implements regulations to limit the harvest of Pacific halibut by guided sport charter vessel anglers in International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) Regulatory Area 2C (Area 2C) of Southeast Alaska to one halibut per day. This action is necessary to reduce the halibut harvest in the guided sport charter vessel (guided) sector. The intended effect of this action is to manage the harvest of halibut in Area 2C consistent with an allocation strategy recommended by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for the guided fishery and the commercial fishery. This final rule implements three restrictions for the guided fishery for halibut in Area 2C: a one-fish daily bag limit, no harvest by the charter vessel guide and crew, and a line limit equal to the number of charter vessel anglers onboard, not to exceed six lines.