Environmental Assessment and Regulatory Impact Review for a Regulatory Amendment to Revise Maximum Retainable Bycatch Percentages for Shortraker/Rougheye Rockfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area

This action establishes reduced maximum retainable bycatch (MRB) percentages for shortraker and rougheye rockfish caught in the Aleutian Islands area. MRB percentages are a management tool to slow down the rate of harvest of a species placed on bycatch catch status and reduce the incentive to operators of fishing vessels to target on the species.

This action establishes a bycatch species group for shortraker and rougheye rockfish in the Aleutian Islands subarea. The MRBs for these species are reduced from 15 to 7 percent for deep-water species and from 5 to 2 percent for shallow-water species. The new MRBs are intended to minimize the regulatory discard of these species and slow the rate of harvest to reduce the potential for overfishing.