EA/RIR/FRFA for a Regulatory Amendment to Establish a Stand Down Requirement for Vessels Transiting between the BSAI and the GOA

In recent years, management of the inshore pollock and Pacific cod fisheries of the Western and Central (W/C) Regulatory Areas of the GOA has become increasingly difficult. The risk of harvest overruns has grown due to total allowable catch (TAC) amounts that are small relative to the potential fishing effort. The problem has been most acute in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA. In that area, there is the constant potential that numerous large catcher vessels based in the Bering Sea will cross over to the GOA to participate in pollack and Pacific cod openings that have relatively small TACs. NOAA Fisheries currently lacks a preseason vessel registration program that could gauge potential effort in these fisheries prior to openings. Also, inseason catch information in these fisheries is neither timely nor accurate enough to allow adequate management.