Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Trip Limit Changes

NMFS announces further adjustments to the Pacific Coast groundfish limited entry fisheries for the Sebastes complex and its components canary and yellowtail rockfish, the Dover sole-thornyhead- trawl sablefish (DTS) complex and its components Dover sole and trawl- caught sablefish, and announces the final 1997 cumulative trip limit period for trawl vessels in the ``B'' platoon. NMFS also announces an increase to the monthly cumulative limit for the open access nontrawl sablefish fishery north of 36 deg. N. lat. (A similar change for the limited entry nontrawl sablefish fishery north of 36 deg. N. lat. is included in a separate Federal Register action that announces the duration and limit of the limited entry sablefish mop-up fishery.) These restrictions are intended to keep landings as close as possible to the 1997 harvest guidelines and allocations for these species, and to provide management flexibility during the final months of the year.