The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has implemented a final rule for Amendment 64 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area (BSAI), according to James W. Balsiger, Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS. Amendment 64, which will be effective September 1, 2000, establishes separate directed fishing allowances for different gear sectors of the fixed gear Pacific cod fishery in the BSAI. The total allowable catch (TAC) for the fixed gear Pacific cod fishery in the BSAI will be allocated in the following percentages to the respective gear sectors:
- hook-and-line catcher/processor vessels, 80 percent;
- hook-and-line catcher vessels, 0.3 percent;
- pot gear vessels, 18.3 percent;
- and hook-and-line or pot catcher vessels less than 60 feet length overall (LOA), 1.4 percent.
This action also revises the 2000 harvest specifications for Pacific cod in the BSAI to be consistent with Amendment 64. NMFS is issuing a separate information bulletin informing the public of impending closures necessary to prevent exceeding the respective allocations of the fixed gear Pacific cod TAC specified for each of these gear sectors and implemented by the final rule.
This information bulletin provides notice of a regulatory change. Do not rely upon it to guide you in complying with the regulatory change.
