Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Individual Fishing Quota Program

Résumé

NMFS proposes regulations to implement Amendment 54 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area and Amendment 54 to the FMP for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (collectively, Amendments 54/54). These amendments would make three changes in the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program: (1) allow a quota share (QS) holder's indirect ownership of a vessel, through corporate or other collective ties, to substitute for vessel ownership in the QS holder's own name for purposes of hiring a skipper to fish the QS holder's IFQ; (2) revise the definition of "a change in the corporation or partnership" to include language specific to estates; and (3) revise sablefish use limits to be expressed in QS units rather than as percentages of the QS pool. These proposed amendments are intended to improve the effectiveness of the IFQ Program and are necessary to promote the objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (Halibut Act) with respect to the IFQ fisheries.