National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration September 2, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In this rule, NMFS specifies a quota of 325,000 lb of Deep 7 bottomfish in the main Hawaiian Islands for the 2011-12 fishing year, based on an annual catch limit of 346,000 lb. The expected impact of this action is long-term sustainability of Hawaii bottomfish.

NMFS provides notice of the 2011 Pacific halibut guideline harvest levels (GHLs) for the guided sport fishery in International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) Regulatory Areas 2C (Southeast Alaska) and 3A (Central Gulf of Alaska). This notice is necessary to meet the regulatory requirement to publish notice announcing the GHLs and to inform the public about the 2011 GHLs for the guided sport fishery for halibut. The GHLs are benchmark harvest levels for participants in the guided sport fishery. The 2011 GHLs remain the same as the 2010 GHLs; the Area 2C GHL is 788,000 lbs (357.4 mt); and the Area 3A GHL is 3,650,000 lbs (1,655.6 mt).

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for northern rockfish, Pacific ocean perch, and pelagic shelf rockfish for vessels participating in the rockfish entry level fishery in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2011 total allowable catch (TAC) of northern rockfish, Pacific ocean perch, and pelagic shelf rockfish allocated to vessels participating in the rockfish entry level fishery in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The New England Fishery Management Council's (Council) Herring Advisory Panel will hold a meeting to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

This proposed action would implement revisions to the Pacific coast groundfish trawl rationalization program (program), a catch share program, and includes regulations that affect all commercial sectors (limited entry trawl, limited entry fixed gear, and open access) managed under the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This action includes regulatory amendments to further implement Amendments 20 and 21 to the FMP and an FMP amendment to further revise Amendment 21 (called Amendment 21-1). This action includes, but is not limited to: revisions to the Pacific halibut trawl bycatch mortality limit, clarification that Amendment 21 supersedes limited entry/open access allocations for certain groundfish species, revisions to the observer coverage requirement while a vessel is in port and before the offload is complete, revisions to the electronic fish ticket reporting requirements, revisions to the first receiver site license requirement, further clarification on moving between limited entry and open access fisheries, a process for end-of-the-year vessel account reconciliation, and an exemption from processing at sea for qualified participants in the Shorebased Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program.