National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration April 25, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Northeast Region, NMFS (Assistant Regional Administrator), has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. This EFP application would exempt commercial fishing vessels from the following Federal American lobster regulations: Trap escape vent requirements to allow 12 federally permitted commercial fishing vessels to utilize a maximum of 500 ventless traps to collect scientific information on American lobsters, including juveniles, in Lobster Conservation Management Areas (LCMAs) 3, 4, and 5 from June through November 2011. This proposed project would be conducted by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (NJ DFW) in conjunction with the already present New Jersey At-Sea Lobster Observer Program and New Jersey commercial fishermen. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed EFPs.

This final rule partially approves Framework Adjustment (FW) 45 to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and implements the approved measures. FW 45 was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) to make adjustments necessary to ensure that conservation and management objectives of the FMP, including preventing overfishing, rebuilding overfished stocks, achieving optimum yield (OY), and minimizing the economic impact of management measures on affected vessels, are being met in accordance with the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). Specifically, this action revises the biological reference points and stock status for pollock, updates annual catch limits (ACLs) for several stocks for fishing years (FYs) 2011-2012, adjusts the rebuilding program for Georges Bank (GB) yellowtail flounder, increases scallop vessel access to the Great South Channel Exemption Area, approves five new sectors, modifies the existing dockside and at-sea monitoring requirements, revises several sector administrative provisions, establishes a Gulf of Maine (GOM) Cod Spawning Protection Area, and refines measures affecting the operations of NE multispecies vessels fishing with handgear. This action approves the Council's proposed FY 2011 U.S./Canada Management Area total allowable catch (TAC), acceptable biological catch (ABC), and ACL for GB yellowtail flounder, but replaces them with new catch limits for this stock through a parallel emergency action, included as part of this final rule, based on the International Fisheries Agreement Clarification Act (IFACA) that provides new flexibility in setting catch limits for this stock. In addition, this action disapproves a measure to delay fishing industry responsibility for paying for at-sea monitoring coverage costs in FY 2012. This action is necessary to ensure that the fishery is managed on the basis of the best available science, to comply with the ABC control rules adopted in Amendment 16 to the FMP, and to enhance the viability of the fishery.