Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Amendments 61/61/13/8 to Implement Major Provisions of the American Fisheries Act

Riepilogo

NMFS issues final regulations to implement the following American Fisheries Act (AFA)-related amendments: Amendment 61 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area, Amendment 61 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska, Amendment 13 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crab, and Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Scallop Fishery off Alaska. These four amendments incorporate the provisions of the AFA into the fishery management plans (FMPs) and their implementing regulations. The management measures include: measures that allocate the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) pollock among the sectors of the pollock processing industry and restrict who may fish for and process pollock within each industry sector; measures that govern the formation and operation of fishery cooperatives in the BSAI pollock fishery; harvesting and processing limits known as sideboards to protect the participants in other fisheries from spillover effects resulting from the rationalization of the BSAI pollock fishery; measures that establish catch