National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration March 26, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 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. To enable the harvest of herring research set-aside (RSA) quota, the EFP applicant has requested that commercial fishing vessels be allowed to fish during Federal management area quota closures and Area 1A and 1B seasonal sub- ACL closures. In addition, the applicant has requested authorization to harvest RSA quota irrespective of a river herring/shad catch cap, if implemented under the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP), and to carryover unharvested RSA quota into future years. This EFP would be for the exclusive purpose of harvesting RSA quota to fund research awarded under the Atlantic Herring Research Set-Aside Program. The research intends to characterize and reduce river herring catch in the herring midwater trawl fishery. 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.