Fisheries Off West Coast States; Emergency Action To Temporarily Extend the Primary Sablefish Fishery Season

This emergency rule temporarily extends the 2020 sablefish primary fishery from October 31, 2020 to December 31, 2020. This action is necessary to provide operational flexibility so that vessels in the sablefish primary fishery are able to fully harvest their tier limits despite high economic uncertainty in 2020. This action would also extend the incidental halibut retention allowance provision for the sablefish primary fishery from October 31, 2020 to November 15, 2020 and set the halibut retention limit during this time period at 250 pounds (113 kilograms) dressed weight of Pacific halibut for every 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) dressed weight of sablefish landed and up to 2 additional Pacific halibut in excess of the 250-pounds-per-1,000- pound limit per landing.