Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Quotas and Fishing Areas; Trade Monitoring

NMFS issues this final rule to amend the regulations governing the Atlantic swordfish fishery to implement recommendations adopted at the 2000 meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). To facilitate a future 400 metric ton (mt), one-time quota transfer to Japan and to amend the procedures by which any reserve quota will be appropriated to other fishing categories, NMFS establishes a reserve quota for North Atlantic swordfish. This final rule also maintains the status quo South Atlantic swordfish, North Atlantic albacore, and South Atlantic albacore quotas for 2001; and prohibits imports of Atlantic bigeye tuna harvested by certain countries. NMFS also reinstates regulations inadvertently removed during regulatory consolidation that would prohibit persons and vessels subject to the jurisdiction of the United States from possessing fish taken in violation of ICCAT recommendations or from violating another country's fisheries regulations pertaining to species managed by ICCAT. Finally, NMFS corrects existing trade restrictions to facilitate the enforcement of the swordfish dead discard allowance and to better monitor the importation of swordfish from designated countries. The intent of these actions is to improve the conservation of Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) and to improve management of the fisheries targeting these species, while allowing harvest and trade consistent with recommendations of ICCAT.