Halibut Fisheries in U.S. Convention Waters Off Alaska; Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Management Measures to Reduce Seabird Bycatch in the Hook-and-Line Halibut and Groundfish Fisheries

Samenvatting

NMFS proposes regulations that would require operators of vessels fishing for Pacific halibut in U.S. Convention waters off Alaska to conduct fishing operations in a specified manner and to employ specified measures intended to reduce seabird bycatch and incidental seabird mortality. This rule would also amend the regulations requiring seabird bycatch avoidance measures in the hook- and-line groundfish fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) to clarify one of the measures. The proposed halibut fisheries measures are intended to mitigate interactions with the short-tailed albatross (Diomedea albatrus), an endangered species protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and with other seabird species in fisheries in and off Alaska.