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

NMFS issues this final rule to implement the annual catch limit (ACL), 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 July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015. The 2014-2015 ACL for Pacific sardine is 23,293 metric tons (mt). The initial overall commercial fishing target that is to be allocated across the three allocation periods for sardine management is 19,293 mt. This amount will be divided across the three seasonal allocation periods for the directed fishery the following way: July 1-September 14--7,718 mt; September 15-December 31--4,823 mt; and January 1-June 30--6,752 mt, with an incidental set-aside of 500 mt for each of the three periods. These specifications were determined according to the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This rule is intended to conserve and manage the Pacific sardine stock off the U.S. West Coast. This rule also announces that the directed fishing harvest total for the first allocation period (July 1-September 14) has been reached and therefore directed fishing for Pacific sardine is now closed until September 15, 2014.