Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Gulf of Maine (GOM) Cod Landing Limit Adjustment

This rule adjusts the GOM cod landing limit by increasing it from 30 lb (13.6 kg) to 100 lb (45.4 kg) per day-at-sea (DAS) with a maximum GOM cod possession limit of 500 lb (226.8 kg) per trip and by revising the ``running clock'' provision. The intent of this adjustment is to address overfishing of GOM cod by reducing overall fishing mortality and discards that have been reportedly occurring on trips targeting other species managed under the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The intent is to allow the fishing industry to attain some economic benefit from their GOM cod incidental catch, yet to be sufficiently restrictive to discourage a directed fishery for GOM cod, which remains severely overfished. These interim measures will provide intermediate relief from overfishing due to excessive discards while permanent measures to remedy the problem are developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council).