Amendment 18 revises the description and identification of essential fish habitat (EFH) for Pacific salmon, designates habitat areas of particular concern, modifies information on fishing activities and measures to minimize their effects on EFH, and updates the list of fishing and non-fishing related activities that may adversely affect EFH and potential conservation and enhancement measures […]

Date: June 23, 2014 Federal Register summary: “This advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) announces a control date of June 23, 2014, that may be used as a reference for allocation decisions when considering potential future management actions to limit the number of participants in the large-mesh drift gillnet (DGN) fishery that targets swordfish and […]

The Program Improvements and Enhancement Rule 2 (PIE 2) included a number of regulatory changes recommended by the Council. In April 2012, the Council recommended to NMFS the preliminary preferred alternatives for all of the items on the Council’s list, except for the Pacific whiting season dates (on which no action was taken). Additionally, the […]

In March 2012, the Council considered matters associated with the 2011 District Court Judge Thelton E. Henderson decision in the case C10-4829-TEH: Pacific Dawn, LLC, et al. v. John Bryson, et al., including the February 21, 2012 Court Order on Remedy. This order remanded “for further consideration” the regulations addressing the initial allocation of whiting […]

Amendment 17 specifies the maximum fishing mortality threshold for Quillayute fall coho and updates a number of items to meet current practices, technology, regulatory protocol, or to correct inconsistencies between Council final action under Amendment 16 and the final published fishery management plan. Final rule (effective March 18, 2013) Download Amendment 17: Status Determination Criteria and Minor […]

This rule corrects an error in the regulations to make them consistent with the groundfish fishery management plan. The date by which National Marine Fisheries Service will mail notices for quot share permit and account renewal will be September 15 (consistent with the September 15, 2015 date for renewing groundfish limited entry permits).  The final rule correcting […]

Amendment 16 provides a framework for specifying biological and management reference points and accountability measures that will meet the requirements of the revised Magnuson-Stevens Act and National Standard 1 Guidelines to account for uncertainty in the fishery management process, reduce the probability of overfishing, and include clear and objective status determination criteria while integrating with […]

The regulatory amendments pertaining to the Amendment 20 trawl rationalization program included, but were not limited to: severability of the mothership/catcher vessel endorsement and associated whiting catch history assignments from the limited entry trawl permit, continuation of the AMP QP pass-through, through 2014 of the Shorebased IFQ Program or until an AMP process is established, […]

The intent of Amendment 13 is to ensure the FMP is consistent with NMFS advisory guidelines. The guidelines describe fishery management approaches to meet the objectives of National Standard 1 (NS1) of section 301 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). National Standard 1 states “Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while […]

In June 2010 the Council took final action to adopt Amendment 2. Amendment 2 makes the HMS FMP consistent with advisory guidelines for National Standard 1 in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), as amended (50 CFR 600.310). National Standard 1 (NS1) mandates that “Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving, […]