Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic

Résumé

NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 7 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic (FMP). Amendment 7 divides the eastern zone commercial quota for the Gulf migratory group of king mackerel into equal quotas for the Florida east and west coast fisheries, further divides the quota for the west coast sub-zone into equal quotas for hook-and-line and run-around gillnet harvesters, and allows persons to fish under the gillnet quota in the west coast sub- zone only aboard vessels that have endorsements on their Federal commercial mackerel permits to fish with gillnets in that sub-zone. The intended effect of this rule is to allocate equitably the eastern zone commercial quota among users and avoid the negative social and economic emergencies related to a recent, disproportionately large, west coast harvest in the commercial fishery for Gulf group king mackerel off Florida. This rule also informs the public of the approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of a collection-of-information requirement contained in this rule and publishes the OMB control number for that collection.