Amendment 32 to the FMP for the Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area

NOAA Fisheries issues a final rule that would implement Amendment 32 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area and Amendment 36 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska. This final rule is necessary to facilitate full utilization of the allocated resources managed under the Individual Fishing Quota Program for the Pacific halibut and sablefish fixed gear fisheries in and off of Alaska. It is intended to relieve transfer restrictions on Community Development Quota compensation quota shares, thereby allowing transfers to persons that could use the resulting IFQ to harvest the resource.