Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Final Rule To Allow Northeast Multispecies Sector Vessels Access to Year-Round Closed Areas

Résumé

This rule allows fishing access for Northeast multispecies sectors to two portions of the Southern New England Nantucket Lightship Closed Area for the remainder of the 2013 fishing year under specified conditions. Although NMFS considered and proposed exemption requests that would allow sector vessels access to portions of Georges Bank Closed Areas I and II, NMFS is not granting access to those areas at this time. The intent of this rule is to allow sector vessels increased opportunities to harvest non-groundfish stocks such as monkfish, dogfish, and skates while minimizing impacts to overfished groundfish stock such as Georges Bank cod and yellowtail flounder.