Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program

Zusammenfassung

NMFS issues regulations to implement amendments 54 and 55 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) King and Tanner Crabs (Crab FMP). This final rule revises two provisions of the Crab Rationalization Program (CR Program) to do the following: change active crab fishery participation requirements for crab quota share (QS) established for catcher vessel crew (CVC) and catcher/processor crew (CPC), also called C Shares; expand individual processing quota (IPQ) exemptions for custom processing from processor use caps; and remove the processor facility use cap. These actions are intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the Crab FMP, and other applicable laws.