Environmental Assessment for Amendment 57 to the FMP for Groundfish of the BSAI

The amendment would also reduce the prohibited species catch limit for red king crab, Pacific halibut, Q. bairdi crab, and Q, opilio crab. The amendment addresses the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act requirement that conservation and management measures shall, to the extent practicable, minimize bycatch and, to the extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize mortality. This Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis addresses:

1. a proposed amendment to the North Pacific Fishery Management Plan that would prohibit the use of nonpelagic trawl gear in the directed pollock fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
2. a proposed regulatory amendment that would split out pollock from the pollock/ Atka mackerel/other species fishery category for purposes of apportioning prohibited species catch limits.