Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area Fishery Management Plan Historical Amendments 1 through 10

These actions are necessary to promote management and conservation of groundfish and other living marine resources. They are intended to further the goals and objectives contained in the fishery management plan that governs these fisheries.

Amendment 1

The amendment included the following measures:

• Established a multi-year, multi-species optimum yield for BSAI groundfish complex
• Established a framework procedure for the determination and apportionment of amounts of groundfish specified for total allowable catch, domestic annual harvest, reserves, and total allowable level of foreign fishing
• Allowed year-round domestic trawling and longlining in the Winter Halibut Savings Area and Bristol Bay Pot Sanctuary
• Modified seasonal foreign trawl restrictions in the Petrel Bank area to be based on crab opening dates
• Updated appendices and annexes to the FMP
• added Annex I (description of SAFE document)
• Eliminated the “Misty Moon” grounds south of the Pribilofs from the winter halibut savings area.

Federal Register

Final Rule (49 FR 397, 01/04/1984)

Amendment 1a

Amendment 1a established foreign chinook salmon PSC limits as follows: During any fishing year, that portion of fishing Area 1 lying between 55°N and 57°N latitude and 165°W and 170°W longitude and all of fishing Area 2 may be closed for the remainder of the periods January 1- March 31, and October 1 - December 31 to trawl vessels of any nation. This closure will occur when vessels of a nation have intercepted that nation’s portion of the PSC of Chinook salmon. A nation’s initial portion of the Chinook salmon PSC for a fishing year was determined by multiplying 55,250 (the total PSC for Chinook salmon) by the ratio of that nation’s initial groundfish allocation to the total initial TALFF plus reserves for groundfish.

Federal Register

Final Rule (47 FR 1295, 01/12/1982)

Proposed Rule (46 FR 53475, 10/29/1981)

Amendment 2

The amendment changed the specifications for yellowfin sole, other flatfish, and Pacific cod.

Federal Register

Final Rule (47 FR 1295, 01/12/1982)

Proposed Rule (46 FR 53475, 10/29/1981)

Amendment 3

This amendment established a management system to reduce the incidental catch of salmon, Pacific halibut, king crab, and Tanner crab in the foreign trawl fishery. This action was intended to reduce the incidental catch and unnecessary mortality of these species in foreign groundfish operations while still allowing the foreign fisheries an opportunity to harvest their groundfish allocations.

This management system was proposed in response to a growing concern that the general prohibition against taking and retaining prohibited species had not reduced their incidental catch in the foreign trawl fishery, which adversely affected the domestic target fisheries that fully utilized salmon, Pacific halibut, king crab, and Tanner crab.

Federal Register

Final Rule (48 FR 24719, 06/02/1983)

Proposed Rule (48 FR 10383, 03/11/1983)

Amendment 4

This amendment allowed foreign trawling outside 3 miles north of the Aleutians between 170° 30 W and 170° W and south of the Aleutians between 170° W and 172° W, and allowed foreign longlining outside 3 miles west of 170° W longitude. Amendment 4 also changed the specifications for yellowfin sole, other flatfish, and Pacific cod.

Federal Register

Final Rule (48 FR 21336, 05/12/1983)

Proposed Rule (47 FR 54841, 12/06/1982)

Amendment 5

Withdrawn – redundant with Amendment 3

Amendment 6

The amendment was disapproved by the Secretary of Commerce under Section 304 (b)(2) of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act on December 8, 1983 and withdrawn.

Amendment 7

This amendment allowed the foreign longline fleet to fish in the shallow waters of the Winter Halibut Savings Area so as to allow them to catch their allocation of Pacific cod. However, the depth restriction would be re-imposed if the foreign longline fleet in the entire BSAI caught 105 metric tons of halibut as bycatch during the 12 month period of June 1 through May 31.

Federal Register

Final Rule (48 FR 34962, 08/02/1983)

Proposed Rule (48 FR 21978, 05/18/1983)

Amendment 8

Amendment 8 implemented a salmon PSC limit of 38,441 fish for 1984 and 27,957 fish for 1985.

Effective July 4, 1983

Amendment 9

Three parts of Amendment 9 were approved:

1. incorporate catcher/processor and mothership vessel reporting requirements to provide NMFS with more timely catch information necessary for adequate in-season management. A reporting system for catch held aboard for 14 days or more by the expanding domestic fleet was established. Permit holders must identify vessels as: harvesting/processing, mothership processing, harvesting only, support only
2. incorporate the NMFS habitat protection policy into the FMP in response to NMFS’ Habitat Conservation Policy which advocates consideration of habitat concerns in developing or amending FMPs
3. incorporate a definition of directed fishing

Federal Register

Final Rule (50 FR 46072, 11/06/1985)

Proposed Rule (50 FR 33080, 08/16/1985)

Notice of Availability (50 FR 29240, 07/18/1985)

Amendment 10

This amendment contains four parts which:

1. closed an area of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Bering Sea to all commercial fishing with trawl gear, set limits on incidental catches of Tanner and red king crabs and Pacific halibut in Bering Sea foreign and domestic fisheries for yellowfin sole and other flatfish, and require that these fisheries cease when the incidental catch limits are reached
2. required weekly catch reports from catcher/processor and mothership vessels regardless of when their catch is landed
3. provided authority to the Secretary of Commerce to make certain inseason changes to gear regulations, seasons, and harvest quotas
4. provided the Secretary with specific inseason authority to reapportion surplus amounts of groundfish within the domestic allowable harvest category

Federal Register

Final Rule (52 FR 8592, 03/19/1987)

Proposed Rule (51 FR 45349, 12/18/1986)

Notice of Availability (51 FR 43401, 12/02/1986)