Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Trip Limit Reduction and Trawl Gear Restriction

This action decreases the landing limit for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod and implements a restriction on the use of certain types of trawl gear in parts of the U.S./Canada Management Area to reduce the harvest of Georges Bank (GB) yellowtail flounder for Northeast (NE) multispecies vessels fishing under common pool regulations for the 2010 fishing year (FY). This action is authorized by the regulations implementing Amendment 16 and Framework Adjustment 44 (FW 44) to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and is intended to decrease the likelihood of harvest exceeding the subcomponent of the annual catch limit (ACL) allocated to the common pool (common pool sub-ACL) for each of these stocks during FY 2010 (May 1, 2010, through April 30, 2011). This action is being taken to ensure that common pool sub-ACLs for these stocks are not exceeded, thereby optimizing the harvest of NE regulated multispecies under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).