Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery Off the Atlantic States; Amendment 5

NMFS issues regulations to implement Amendment 5 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery off the Atlantic States (FMP) (Amendment 5), as prepared and submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This rule revises the annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for the commercial and recreational sectors of dolphin and wahoo, and updates the framework procedures for the FMP. In addition, Amendment 5 revises the acceptable biological catch (ABC) values and recreational annual catch targets (ACTs) for dolphin and wahoo. The purpose of Amendment 5 and this rule is to help achieve optimum yield (OY) within the dolphin and wahoo fishery, and to minimize any negative socio- economic impacts to the affected fishing participants, to the extent practicable, in accordance with the requirements of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).