Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Shrimp Fishery off the Southern Atlantic States; Amendment 7

NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 7 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP), as prepared and submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). For South Atlantic rock shrimp, this final rule renames the rock shrimp permit and endorsement; requires all South Atlantic shrimp permit holders to provide economic data if selected; reinstates all limited access rock shrimp endorsements for those vessel owners who renewed their open access permit in the year in which they failed to renew their limited access endorsement; removes the 15,000-lb (6,804-kg) rock shrimp landing requirement; and reinstates all limited access rock shrimp endorsements lost due to not meeting the landing requirement. NMFS also implements several non- substantive changes in codified text through this final rule. NMFS also informs the public of the approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of the collection-of-information requirement contained in this final rule and publishes the OMB control number for that collection. The intended effect of this final rule is to improve data collection, reduce permit confusion, and maintain a viable rock shrimp fishery in the South Atlantic region.