National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration June 29, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS issues revised specifications and recreational management measures for the 2020 Atlantic bluefish fishery and projected specifications for fishing year 2021. This action is necessary to establish allowable harvest levels and other management measures to prevent overfishing, consistent with the most recent scientific information. This rule informs the public of these revised fishery specifications and management measures for the 2020 fishing year.

NMFS proposes to remove the swordfish retention limit in the American Samoa deep-set longline fishery. NMFS originally implemented the limit as part of a suite of gear and operational requirements intended to discourage shallow-set fishing, thus reducing interactions with green sea turtles. The gear requirements have reduced green sea turtle interactions, and the swordfish retention limit is not needed. The proposed rule would remove the unnecessary restriction that results in the discard of small amounts of marketable swordfish that could otherwise be supplied as seafood. The proposed rule is intended to promote efficiency in the fishery.