Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Steller Sea Lion Protection Measures for the Pollock Fisheries Off Alaska

NMFS issues an emergency interim rule implementing reasonable and prudent alternatives to avoid the likelihood that the pollock fisheries off Alaska will jeopardize the continued existence of the western population of Steller sea lions or adversely modify their critical habitat. This emergency rule would implement three types of management measures for the pollock fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA): Measures to temporally disperse fishing effort, measures to spatially disperse fishing effort, and pollock trawl exclusion zones around important Steller sea lion rookeries and haulouts. These emergency measures are necessary and must be effective before the start of the BSAI and GOA pollock fisheries on January 20, 1999, or NMFS will be obligated under the Endangered Species Act to close all fishing for pollock until such measures are in place.