2023-2025 Atlantic Herring Fishery Specifications

This interim rule implements 2023-2025 Atlantic herring fishery specifications, subject to public comment. This action also removes possession limits in Herring Management Area 1B and Area 3, adjusts 2023 fishery specifications to account either for Management Area catch limit overages or carryover of unharvested catch from 2021, updates the target rebuilding date for herring, removes the inshore midwater trawl restricted area regulations, corrects typographical errors in several existing regulations, and restores regulatory requirements that were unintentionally removed from the Code of Federal Regulations. This action is necessary to respond to updated scientific information from a 2022 management track assessment and to achieve the goals and objectives of the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The approved measures are intended to help prevent overfishing, rebuild the overfished herring stock, achieve optimum yield on a continuing basis, and ensure that management measures are based on the best scientific information available.