Environmental Assessment For the Issuance of an Exempted Fishing Permit for Developing and Testing Gear for Hook-and-line Rockfish Fisheries in the Southeast Outside District of the Gulf of Alaska, February 2004

This Environmental Assessment analyzes the potential impacts of issuing an exempted fishing permit to allow for the development and testing of hook-and-line gear for harvesting rockfish species in the Southeast Outside District of the Gulf of Alaska. The purpose of the EPP is to provide exemptions from:

1. the halibut prohibited species catch limit
2. individual fishing quota retention requirements
3. certain fishery closures
4. maximum retainable amounts of bycatch in the rockfish fishery

These exemptions will allow the project to be conducted efficiently and without impacting other hook-and-line fisheries. The project is intended to improve the harvest of rockfish species in the SEO, a currently underutilized species group. The analysis found no significant impacts on the human environment for this action.