NMFS issues regulations to require operators of hook-and-line vessels fishing for groundfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) and the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), and operators of hook-and-line vessels that are required to obtain a Federal permit and are fishing for groundfish in Alaskan waters adjacent to the BSAI and to the GOA, to conduct fishing operations in a specified manner, and to employ specified bird avoidance techniques to reduce seabird bycatch and incidental seabird mortality. This measure is necessary to mitigate hook-and-line fishery interactions with the short-tailed albatross, an endangered species protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and other seabird species. This measure is intended to accomplish the objectives of the ESA and of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska and the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area (Groundfish FMPs) with respect to the management of the GOA groundfish fishery and the BSAI groundfish fishery and the marine environment.