Environmental Assessment of Amendment 40 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area

Amendment 40 will establish a prohibited species catch limit for Chionoecetes opilio crab in a new Q. opilio PSC Bycatch Limitation Zone of the Bering Sea. The PSC would be established annually to fluctuate with crab abundance, within the minimum and maximum limits, as a percentage of the NOAA Fisheries bottom trawl survey index.