Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications

NMFS issues this final rule to implement the annual catch limit (ACL), harvest guideline (HG), and associated annual reference points for Pacific sardine in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific coast for the fishing season of January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012. These specifications were determined according to the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The 2012 maximum HG for Pacific sardine is 109,409 metric tons (mt). The initial overall commercial fishing HG, that is to be allocated across the three allocation periods for sardine management, is 97,409 mt. This amount has been divided across the three seasonal allocation periods for the directed fishery the following way: January 1-June 30--33,093 mt; July 1-September 14--37,964 mt; and September 15- December 31--23,352 mt with an incidental set-aside of 1,000 mt for each of the three periods. This rule is intended to conserve and manage the Pacific sardine stock off the U.S. West Coast.