Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Shrimp Fishery Off the Southern Atlantic States; Amendment 6

NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 6 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP), as prepared and submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule requires an owner or operator of a trawler that harvests or possesses penaeid shrimp (brown, pink, or white shrimp) in or from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the southern Atlantic states to obtain a commercial vessel permit for South Atlantic penaeid shrimp; requires an owner or operator of a vessel in the South Atlantic rock shrimp or penaeid shrimp fishery to submit catch and effort reports and to carry an observer on selected trips; and requires bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) in nets in the rock shrimp fishery. In addition, this final rule removes provisions of the regulations applicable to other fisheries off the southern Atlantic states that are no longer applicable and makes minor corrections. Amendment 6 also establishes stock status determination criteria for South Atlantic penaeid shrimp; revises the specifications of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and optimum yield (OY) for South Atlantic rock shrimp; revises the stock status determination criteria for South Atlantic rock shrimp; revises the bycatch reduction criterion for the certification of BRDs; and transfers from the Council to the Regional Administrator, Southeast Region, NMFS (RA), responsibilities for the specification of the protocol for testing BRDs. In addition, 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 those collections. The intended effects of this rule are to provide additional information for, and improve the effective management of, the shrimp fisheries off the southern Atlantic states and to correct and clarify the regulations applicable to other southern Atlantic fisheries.