Cape Sarichef Research Restriction Area Open to Directed Fishing

NOAA Fisheries issues a final rule to open the Cape Sarichef Research Restriction Area in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) to directed fishing for groundfish using trawl, pot, and hook-and-line gear from March 15, 2006, through March 31, 2006. Because NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) will not conduct research in this area in 2006, closure of the Cape Sarichef Research Restriction Area is not needed. This action is intended to relieve an unnecessary restriction on groundfish fisheries and allow the optimum utilization of fishery resources, in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). This final rule also will remove the regulations for the Cape Sarichef Research Restriction Area, and regulations for the Chiniak Gully Research Area because both research projects have ended.