National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration March 4, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS closes the General category fishery for large medium and giant (i.e., measuring 73 inches curved fork length or greater) Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) for the January subquota time period and thus until the General category reopens on June 1, 2019. The intent of this closure is to prevent overharvest of the available General category January 2019 BFT subquota of 100 metric tons (mt).

NMFS and the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) announce their intent to prepare an EIS, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, to analyze the potential short- and long-term impacts of the proposed action to authorize deep-set buoy gear under the Fishery Management Plan for U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP) on the human (biological, physical, social, and economic) environment. This notice of intent to prepare an EIS invites interested parties to provide comments on alternatives to be considered in an EIS and to identify potential issues, concerns, and any reasonable additional alternatives that should be considered.