EA/RIR/FRFA for a Proposed Regulatory Amendment to Implement the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the BSAI to Revise the Maximum Retainable Amounts of Groundfish in the Arrowtooth Flounder Fishery
February 13, 2013
Analysis to evaluate the impacts, costs and benefits of a proposed amendment to increase the maximum retainable amounts of selected groundfish in the arrowtooth flounder and Kamchatka flounder fishery in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands management area.
This proposed amendment would reduce the amount of regulatory discards of otherwise marketable groundfish in the developing arrowtooth and Kamchatka flounder fishery and allow the Amendment 80 fleet to retain those regulatory discards, thereby reducing waste. The proposed action also would revise regulations at 50 CFR part 679 to accommodate the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s removal of Kamchatka flounder from the arrowtooth flounder complex in the BSAI. This EA/RIR/IRFA addresses the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, Presidential Executive Order 12866, and the Regulatory Flexibility Act.