Environmental Assessment for Proposed Amendment 38 (Annual Catch Limits) and Amendment 39 (Snow crab rebuilding plan) to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs

This document addresses the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act by analyzing the impacts of the alternatives considered under both actions upon crab resources, fishery participants, habitat, marine mammals, and other groundfish resources. 

The NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region notified the Council that the Easter Bering Sea snow crab stock would not be rebuilt by the end of the rebuilding time period, 2009/10. Therefore, a revised rebuilding plan must be developed for that stock and implemented within two years of that notification. Both actions must be implemented prior to the start of the 2011/12 crab fishing year.

The Council took final action to recommend a preferred alternative in October 2010. Alternative 4, the Council’s preferred alternative, establishes a set of acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rules within the current tier system for crab stocks. Annually, the ABC control rule would be used to calculate the maximum ABC in the stock assessment.