Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Skate Complex (Skate) Fisheries; Skate Fishery Management Plan

NMFS issues this final rule to implement approved measures contained in the Skate Fishery Management Plan (FMP). These regulations implement the following measures: A possession limit for skate wings; a bait-only exemption to the wing possession limit restrictions; a procedure for the development, revision, and/or review of management measures on an annual, biennial, and interannual basis, including a framework adjustment process; open access permitting requirements for fishing vessels, operators, and dealers; new species-level reporting requirements for skate vessels and dealers; new discard reporting requirements for Federal vessels; and prohibitions on possessing smooth skates in the Gulf of Maine (GOM) Regulated Mesh Area (RMA), and thorny skates and barndoor skates throughout the management unit. This final rule also implements other measures for administration and enforcement. The intended effect of this final rule is to implement permanent management measures for the Northeast (NE) skate fisheries pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson- Stevens Act) and the FMP and to prevent overfishing of skate resources. Also, NMFS informs the public of the approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of the collection-of-information requirements contained in this final rule and publishes the OMB control numbers for these collections.