Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; American Lobster Fishery

Riepilogo

NMFS announces that it is considering and seeking public comment on the implementation of further minimum carapace length (gauge) increases, escape vent size increases, and trap reductions in the offshore American lobster fishery, consistent with recommendations for Federal action in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (Commission) Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster (ISFMP) and pending management actions of the Commission's American Lobster Management Board (Board). A similar announcement, published in the Federal Register on December 13, 2005, notified the public that NMFS was considering and requesting comment on gauge and escape vent size increases in multiple lobster conservation management areas (LCMAs). However, since the publication of that document, many LCMA- specific Commission recommendations were modified in response to information in an updated peer-reviewed stock assessment published January 2006. Subsequent Commission deliberations resulted in the Board making changes to the fishery management plan, adding and repealing measures, such that many of the newer plan elements focused primarily on LCMA 3. Some measures relevant to this ac