National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration September 13, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS issues a final rule under authority of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) to implement Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan for U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP). NMFS approved Amendment 2 on June 12, 2011. The final rule implements regulatory components specified under Amendment 2 by changing the suite of management unit species and modifying the process for revising numerical estimates of maximum sustainable yield and optimal yield, and specify status determination criteria so that overfishing and overfished determinations can be made for all management unit species. The final rule is necessary to ensure that the HMS FMP is consistent with the objectives of National Standard 1 in the MSA. National Standard 1 mandates that ``Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the U.S. fishing industry.''

NMFS adjusts the differential days-at-sea (DAS) rate for common pool vessels for FY 2011 due to overages of FY 2010 catch levels. This measure will help prevent FY 2011 catch levels from being exceeded. NMFS also announces the amount of unused FY 2010 annual catch entitlement (ACE) carryover available to each sector in FY 2011, and adjusts the final number of vessels fishing in a sector in FY 2011.