Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Regulations Governing Northeast Multispecies and Monkfish Days-at-Sea

NMFS issues this final rule implementing a regulatory amendment to correct minor oversights in the August 1, 2002, interim final rule that implemented additional restrictions to reduce overfishing on species managed under the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The intent of this regulatory amendment is to revise monkfish days-at-sea (DAS) regulations in order to provide vessels possessing limited access Category C or D monkfish permits the opportunity to fish their full allocation of up to 40 monkfish DAS, regardless of the amount of NE multispecies DAS available to an individual vessel as of August 1, 2002. This regulatory amendment also revises ambiguous language to clarify that a vessel fishing under a Southern New England (SNE) and Mid-Atlantic (MA) Yellowtail Flounder Possession/Landing Letter of Authorization (LOA) may fish in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) or Georges Bank (GB) Regulated Mesh Areas (RMAs), provided the vessel abides by the more restrictive yellowtail flounder possession limits of the SNE and MA RMAs north of 40[deg]00' N. lat.