Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; Western Pacific Pelagic Fisheries; Pelagic Longline Gear Restrictions, Seasonal Area Closure, and Other Sea Turtle Take Mitigation Measures

NMFS issues a final rule under the Fishery Management Plan for the Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region (FMP)that implements the reasonable and prudent alternative of the March 29, 2001, Biological Opinion (BiOp) issued by NMFS under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This rule is intended to reduce interactions between endangered and threatened sea turtles and pelagic fishing gear and to mitigate the harmful effects of interactions that occur. The rule applies to the owners and operators of all vessels fishing for pelagic species under Federal western Pacific limited access longline permits (longline vessels) within the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and the high seas around Hawaii, as well as those fishing for pelagic species with other types of hook-and-line gear (non-longline pelagic vessels) within the EEZ around Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Midway, Johnston and Palmyra Atolls, Kingman Reef, and Wake, Jarvis, Baker, and Howland Islands (western Pacific region). This rule prohibits the targeting of swordfish north of the equator by longline vessels, closes all fishing to longline vessels during April and May in waters south of the Hawaiian Islands (from 15 deg. N. lat. to the equator, and from 145 deg. W. long. to 180 deg. long.), prohibits the landing or possessing of more than 10 swordfish per fishing trip by longline vessels fishing north of the equator, allows the re-registration of vessels to Hawaii longline limited access permits only during the month of October, requires all longline vessel operators to annually attend a protected species workshop, and requires utilization of sea turtle handling and resuscitation measures on both longline vessels and non- longline pelagic vessels using hook-and-line gear.