Amendment 34 to the FMP for the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs

NOAA Fisheries issues regulations to implement Amendment 34 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs. Amendment 34 amends the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program to exempt additional recipients of crab quota share from Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod and pollock harvest limits, called sideboards, which apply to some vessels and license limitation program licenses that are used to participate in these fisheries.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council determined that these recipients demonstrated a sufficient level of historical participation in Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod or pollock fisheries and should be exempt from the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod and pollock sideboards. This action is necessary to give these recipients an opportunity to participate in the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod and pollock fisheries at historical levels. This final rule revises regulations governing exemptions from and calculations of sideboard harvest limits in the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod and pollock fisheries and revises Tables 17 and 18 that establish the 2011-2012 Gulf of Alaska groundfish harvest sideboard limits.

To fully implement Amendment 34 NOAA Fisheries will reissue Federal fisheries permits and license limitation program licenses to all participants that are affected by the action. This final rule promotes the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs.