National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration December 22, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS proposes regulations to implement measures in Amendment 17 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. This action would amend the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan to explicitly define and facilitate the effective operation of state- operated permit banks. As proposed in Amendment 17, state-operated permit banks would be allocated an annual catch entitlement and specifically authorized to provide their annual catch entitlement and/ or days-at-sea to approved groundfish sectors for the purpose of enhancing the fishing opportunities available to sector members. This action also includes a provision that would allow NMFS to issue a days- at-sea credit to a vessel that cancels a fishing trip prior to setting or hauling fishing gear and the vessel, therefore, does not catch or land fish at any time on the trip.

This action proposes to reduce the 2012 annual catch limits (ACLs) for the Atlantic herring (herring) fishery to account for catch overages in 2010 and to prevent overfishing.