Fisheries Off West Coast States; Highly Migratory Species Fisheries

NMFS issues a final rule to amend text in the regulations governing closures of the drift gillnet fishery in the Pacific Loggerhead Conservation Area during El Nino events under the Fishery Management Plan for U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP). The regulation is necessary to avoid jeopardizing loggerhead sea turtles, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, by clarifying the time period in which the area is to be closed and the methods that NMFS will use to determine if an El Nino event is occurring or forecast to occur. This final rule also corrects an inaccurate cross-reference in the regulations governing special requirements for fishing activities to protect threatened and endangered sea turtles under the HMS FMP.