Amendment 54 to the FMP for the Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska Management Area

NOAA Fisheries issues a final rule to implement Amendment 54 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Groundfish Fishery of the Gulf of Alaska, and an amendment to the Pacific halibut commercial fishery regulations for waters in and off Alaska. These amendments make three changes in the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program to:

1. allow a quota share (QS) holder’s indirect ownership or affiliation to a vessel, through corporate or other collective ties, to substitute for vessel ownership in the QS holder’s own name for purposes of hiring a skipper to fish the QS holder’s IFQ
2. revise the definition of ‘‘a change in the corporation or partnership’’ to include language that explicitly specifies the point at which estates holding initial allocations of QS must transfer the QS to a qualified individual
3. revise sablefish use limits to be expressed in QS units rather than as percentages of the QS pool

This action is intended to improve the effectiveness of the IFQ Program and is necessary to promote the objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 with respect to the IFQ fisheries.