Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Gear Restriction for the U.S./Canada Management Area

Resumo

This action modifies the gear requirements for the U.S./ Canada Management Area to prohibit all limited access Northeast (NE) multispecies vessels fishing on a NE multispecies day-at-sea (DAS) with trawl gear in the Western U.S./Canada Area south of 41[deg]40' N. lat. from using trawl nets, except if using a properly configured haddock separator trawl or Ruhle trawl. This action is authorized by the regulations implementing Amendment 13 to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP), and is intended to avoid exceeding the total allowable catch (TAC) for Georges Bank (GB) yellowtail flounder while continuing to allow access to stocks of Eastern GB cod and Eastern GB haddock during the 2009 fishing year (FY). This action is being taken to optimize the harvest of transboundary stocks of GB yellowtail flounder, haddock, and cod under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).