Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Implementation of Trip Limit for Witch Flounder and Removal of Trip Limit for Pollock

This action implements a landing limit for witch flounder and removes the trip limit for pollock for Northeast (NE) multispecies vessels fishing under common pool regulations for the 2010 fishing year (FY). This action also corrects a previously published cod trip limit for common pool vessels fishing under a limited access Handgear A permit. 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) for witch flounder allocated to the common pool (common pool sub-ACL) and underharvesting the sub-ACL for pollock during FY 2010 (May 1, 2010, through April 30, 2011). This action is being taken to optimize the harvest of NE regulated multispecies under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).