Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area

الملخص

NMFS issues regulations to delay the opening of the first (roe) directed fishing season for the 1995 offshore component pollock fishery in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) by delaying the opening of the trawl fishery, the only gear type used in the fishery, from January 20 to January 26. This action is necessary to increase the likelihood of harvesting pollock when roe quality is optimum and thus increase revenues from the BSAI pollock processed by the offshore component during the roe season. The regulations also prohibit vessels used to fish for BSAI or Gulf of Alaska (GOA) groundfish or BSAI king or Tanner crab prior to January 26 from participating in the offshore component pollock fishery until February 5. This 10-day prohibition on entry into the offshore component fishery does not apply to vessels used to fish exclusively in the Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) program prior to January 26 and is necessary to discourage participants in the offshore component pollock fishery from contributing to increased fishing effort in other fisheries prior to the start of the offshore component roe season. These actions are intended to promote the