Amendment 48 to the FMP for the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs

NOAA Fisheries issues regulations to implement Amendment 48 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs and to revise regulations implementing the American Fisheries Act Program and the Crab Rationalization Program. This final rule revises the Crab FMP and regulations that govern how NOAA Fisheries determines the amount of limited access privileges held and used by groups in the Western Alaska Community Development Quota Program for the purposes of monitoring the excessive share limits under the AFA Program and the CR Program. This final rule is necessary to align regulations and the Crab FMP to be consistent with an amendment to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and NOAA Fisheries' current method of monitoring excessive share limits for CDQ groups in the AFA Program and the CR Program.