National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 27, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS continues the management measures implemented by the April 13, 2009, interim rule (as modified by the July 8, 2009 interim rule), which is scheduled to expire on October 28, 2009. Specifically, this temporary rule maintains the current interim commercial and recreational management measures intended to reduce overfishing on certain stocks managed by the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP), for the remainder of the 2009 fishing year (FY)(i.e., through April 30, 2010).

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific ocean perch by vessels participating in the Amendment 80 limited access fishery in the Central Aleutian District of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2009 Pacific ocean perch allocation specified for vessels participating in the Amendment 80 limited access fishery in the Central Aleutian District of the BSAI.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulations, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to Shell Offshore Inc. and Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc., collectively known as Shell, to take, by harassment, small numbers of 12 species of marine mammals incidental to an open-water marine survey program, which includes shallow hazards and site clearance work and strudel scour surveys, in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, during the 2009/2010 Arctic open-water season.