Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Delay of the Implementation Date of the Year-4 Default Management Measures for Small-Mesh Multispecies

Resumen

NMFS proposes to amend the regulations that implement Amendment 12 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to change the date of the Year-4 default management measures for small-mesh multispecies (silver hake (whiting), red hake and offshore hake), from May 1, 2002, to May 1, 2003. Delaying the implementation date for an additional year would be in conformance with the original intent of Amendment 12 to the FMP. As specified in the FMP, this action is necessary to provide at least 2 full years of data on the fishery so that the Whiting Monitoring Committee (WMC) may fully assess the effectiveness of the current management measures and recommend alternative default measures, if appropriate.