Fisheries in the Western Pacific; Precious Corals Fisheries; Black Coral Quota and Gold Coral Moratorium

This final rule implements Amendment 7 to the Fishery Management Plan for Precious Coral Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region (Precious Corals FMP). The rule designates the Au'au Channel, Hawaii, black coral bed as an "Established Bed" with a harvest quota of 5,000 kg every two years that applies to Federal and State of Hawaii waters, and implements a 5-year moratorium on the harvest of gold coral throughout the U.S. western Pacific. This rule is intended to prevent overfishing and achieve optimum yields of black coral resources, and to prevent overfishing and stimulate research on gold corals.