Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands; Final 2019 and 2020 Harvest Specifications for Groundfish

NMFS announces final 2019 and 2020 harvest specifications, apportionments, and prohibited species catch allowances for the groundfish fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to establish harvest limits for groundfish during the remainder of the 2019 and the start of the 2020 fishing years, and to accomplish the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). The 2019 harvest specifications supersede those previously set in the final 2018 and 2019 harvest specifications, and the 2020 harvest specifications will be superseded in early 2020 when the final 2020 and 2021 harvest specifications are published. The intended effect of this action is to conserve and manage the groundfish resources in the BSAI in accordance with the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).