Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Emergency Secretarial Action

NMFS implements this interim final rule pursuant to its authority to issue emergency measures under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). This emergency action implements measures intended to reduce immediately the fishing mortality rate (F) on certain groundfish species to prevent overfishing and maintain the rebuilding programs of the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Specifically, this emergency action implements differential days-at-sea (DAS) counting for all groundfish vessels not participating in the U.S./Canada Management Area on Georges Bank (GB), reduced trip limits for certain species, and recreational possession restrictions, among other provisions. In addition, this action continues two programs that would otherwise expire by the end of the 2005 fishing year (FY) on April 30, 2006: The DAS Leasing Program and a modified Regular B DAS Program on GB. Due to the impact of these proposed measures on the monkfish fishery, this emergency action also limits participation of monkfish Category C, D, or F permits in the Regular B DAS Program and revises the method of calculating available monkfish-only DAS for Category C, D, F, G, or H monkfish vessels. Further, this action eliminates the daily and maximum trip limits for haddock for FY 2006. Also, because of the substantive nature of this emergency rule and the necessary shortened comment period on the proposed rule for this action, this rule is being implemented as an emergency interim action and seeks additional public comment. This action is intended to prevent overfishing while maintaining specific programs designed to help mitigate the economic and social impacts of effort reductions under the FMP until more permanent management measures can be implemented through Framework Adjustment (FW) 42 to the FMP.