Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fisheries; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fishery; Regulatory Adjustment

Zusammenfassung

NMFS amends the regulations governing the Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) fisheries to remove the 250 metric ton (mt) limit on allocating Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) landings quota to the Purse Seine category. Without this restriction, the annual allocation of BFT to the Purse Seine category will be 18.6 percent of the total landings quota available to the United States. This regulatory amendment is necessary to achieve domestic management objectives for HMS fisheries as set forth in the Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish, and Sharks (HMS FMP). NMFS also amends the regulations governing the Atlantic HMS fisheries to reinstate the transferability of partial purse seine vessel quota allocations from one vessel to another, which was inadvertently dropped from the regulations when NMFS published the final consolidated rule to implement the HMS FMP.