50 CFR - Title 50—Wildlife and Fisheries

We, NMFS, issue the final False Killer Whale Take Reduction Plan (FKWTRP), and regulatory measures and non-regulatory measures and recommendations to reduce mortalities and serious injuries of false killer whales in Hawaii-based longline fisheries. Regulatory measures include gear requirements, longline prohibited areas, training and certification in marine mammal handling and release, captains' supervision of marine mammal handling and release, and posting of NMFS-approved placards on longline vessels. In this rule, NMFS also recommends research and data collection programs. This final rule also revises the boundaries of the longline prohibited area around the main Hawaiian Islands to be consistent with the prohibited area established under the FKWTRP regulations. The FKWTRP is based on consensus recommendations submitted to NMFS by the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team (Team), with certain modifications described herein that were determined to be necessary to meet the requirements of the MMPA. This final rule is necessary because current mortality and serious injury levels of the Hawaii Pelagic and Hawaii Insular stocks of false killer whales incidental to the Hawaii-based pelagic longline fisheries are above the stocks' potential biological removal (PBR) levels, and are therefore inconsistent with the short- and long-term goals of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The FKWTRP is intended to meet the requirements of the MMPA.

In response to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council, we, the NMFS, issue a final determination to list the Main Hawaiian Islands insular false killer whale ( Pseudorca crassidens ) distinct population segment (DPS) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We intend to consider critical habitat for this DPS in a separate rulemaking. The effect of this action will be to implement the protective features of the ESA to conserve and recover this species.

NMFS issues this final rule to implement management measures described in Amendment 35 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule establishes sector annual catch limits (ACLs) and sector annual catch targets (ACTs) for greater amberjack; revises the sector accountability measures (AMs) for greater amberjack; and establishes a commercial trip limit for greater amberjack. Additionally, Amendment 35 modifies the greater amberjack rebuilding plan. The intent of Amendment 35 is to end overfishing of greater amberjack, modify the greater amberjack rebuilding plan and help achieve optimum yield (OY) for the greater amberjack resource in accordance with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of our final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the Translocation of Southern Sea Otters (final SEIS). The final SEIS evaluates options for continuing, revising, or terminating the southern sea otter translocation program, which was initiated in 1987. The purpose of the program was to achieve a primary recovery action for the southern sea otter: to create an established population at San Nicolas Island sufficient to repopulate other areas of the range should a catastrophic event affect the mainland population. The document describes the proposed action and alternatives under consideration and discloses the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental effects of each of the alternatives.

NMFS issues this temporary rule to increase the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) for yellowtail snapper, as requested by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). NMFS has determined that the commercial ACL may be increased from 1,142,589 lb (518,270 kg) to 1,596,510 lb (724,165 kg). This temporary rule will be effective for 180 days, unless superseded by subsequent rulemaking, although NMFS may extend the rule's effectiveness for an additional 186 days pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The intent of this temporary rule is to preserve a significant economic opportunity for the yellowtail snapper component of the South Atlantic snapper-grouper fishery that might otherwise be foregone and to help achieve optimum yield (OY) for the fishery.

NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amount of Pacific cod from catcher vessels using trawl gear and hook-and-line catcher/processors (C/Ps) to vessels using pot gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska management area (GOA). This action is necessary to allow the 2012 total allowable catch of Pacific cod in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA to be harvested.

NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amounts of Pacific cod from catcher vessels using trawl gear to American Fisheries Act trawl catcher/processors and Amendment 80 catcher/processors in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. This action is necessary to allow the 2012 total allowable catch of Pacific cod to be harvested.

This document announces the reapportionment of 28,000 mt of Pacific whiting from the tribal allocation to the non-tribal commercial fishery allocations to ensure full utilization of the resource.

The Service is changing the inspection fees required for imports and exports of wildlife by certain licensed businesses. Our regulations set forth the fees that are required to be paid at the time of inspection of imports and exports of wildlife. In 2009, we implemented a new user fee system intended to recover the costs of the compliance portion of the wildlife inspection program. Since that time, we have been made aware that we may have placed an undue economic burden on businesses that exclusively trade in small volumes of low-value, non-Federally protected wildlife parts and products. To address this issue, the Service is implementing a program that exempts certain businesses from the designated port base inspection fees as an interim measure while the Service reassesses its current user fee system.

NMFS extends the emergency closure of the Delmarva Access Area (DMV) published on May 14, 2012, which is scheduled to expire on November 10, 2012. Specifically, this temporary rule extends the 180-day closure of the DMV in fishing year (FY) 2012 for an additional 186 days, through May 13, 2013.

NMFS issues this final rule to implement management measures described in Amendment 34 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). This rule removes the income qualification requirements for renewal of Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) commercial reef fish permits and increases the maximum crew size to four for dual-permitted vessels (i.e. vessels that possess both a charter vessel/headboat permit for Gulf reef fish and a commercial vessel permit for Gulf reef fish) that are fishing commercially. The intent of this rule is to remove permit requirements that NMFS views as no longer applicable to current commercial fishing practices and to improve safety-at-sea in the Gulf reef fish fishery.

NMFS is correcting a final rule that published on September 26, 2012, modifying equipment and operational requirements for freezer longliners (catcher/processors) named on License Limitation Program (LLP) licenses endorsed to catch and process Pacific cod at sea with hook-and-line gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI). This final rule removes Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) collection-of-information requirements under OMB control number 0648-0269 for the alternative fishing plan and its public reporting burden per response of 4 hours, because the alternative fishing plan regulations are no longer necessary.

NMFS implements accountability measures (AMs) for the commercial sector for gag in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. Commercial landings for gag, as estimated by the Science Research Director, are projected to reach the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) on October 20, 2012. Therefore, NMFS closes the commercial sector for gag and all other South Atlantic Shallow-Water Grouper (SASWG) on October 20, 2012 for the remainder of the 2012 fishing year, through December 31, 2012. Because there is a January through April seasonal closure for SASWG, SASWG will not reopen until May 1, 2013. In the South Atlantic, SASWG means gag, black grouper, red grouper, scamp, red hind, rock hind, yellowmouth grouper, yellowfin grouper, graysby, and coney. This action is necessary to reduce overfishing of the South Atlantic gag and other SASWG resources.

As of January 1, 2013, all vessels participating in Atlantic HMS fisheries that are subject to VMS requirements, including vessels with pelagic longline gear on board, vessels with bottom longline gear on board in the vicinity of the mid-Atlantic closed area (between 33° N and 36°30′ N) from January 1 to July 31, and vessels with shark gillnet gear on board fishing between November 15 and April 15, must have an Enhanced Mobile Transmitting Unit (E-MTU) installed by a qualified marine electrician and must provide hail in/hail out declarations specifying target species, gear possessed onboard, and location and timing of landing. These requirements were originally effective March 1, 2011, consistent with a December 2, 2011 final rule. On February 29, 2012, NMFS provided notice that HMS vessels could use either old MTUs or new E-MTUs without providing hail in/hail out declarations specifying target species, gear possessed onboard, and location and timing of landing. However, no new installations of MTUs were permitted, all installations of E-MTUs were required to be done by a qualified marine electrician, and vessels were to provide hourly position reports using VMS units starting two hours prior to leaving port and at all times away from port.

NMFS issues this final rule to implement a regulatory amendment (Regulatory Amendment 12) to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP), as prepared by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). Regulatory Amendment 12 revises the optimum yield (OY) for golden tilefish in the South Atlantic exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and modifies the golden tilefish annual catch limit (ACL) to be equal to the OY. Regulatory Amendment 12 also revises the recreational accountability measures (AMs). This rule specifies the revised commercial and recreational ACLs for golden tilefish and the revised recreational AMs for golden tilefish. Additionally, through this final rule, NMFS announces the reopening of the golden tilefish commercial sector with a commercial trip limit of 300 lb (136 kg) for the 2012 fishing year. The intent of this rule is to modify management measures for golden tilefish in the commercial and recreational sectors in the South Atlantic based on new stock assessment analyses.

NMFS implements an accountability measure (AM) for the commercial sector of black sea bass in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic through this temporary final rule. NMFS has determined that the annual catch limit (ACL) (equal to the commercial quota) for black sea bass will have been reached by October 8, 2012. Therefore, NMFS closes the commercial sector for black sea bass in the EEZ of the South Atlantic. This closure is necessary to protect the black sea bass resource.

NMFS publishes Fraser River salmon inseason orders to regulate treaty and non-treaty (all citizen) commercial salmon fisheries in U.S. waters. The orders were issued by the Fraser River Panel (Panel) of the Pacific Salmon Commission (Commission) and subsequently approved and issued by NMFS during the 2012 salmon fisheries within the U.S. Fraser River Panel Area. These orders established fishing dates, times, and areas for the gear types of U.S. treaty Indian and all citizen commercial fisheries during the period the Panel exercised jurisdiction over these fisheries.

Through this notice, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces the establishment of the Coastal Gulf of Maine Closure Area under the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan (Plan), and temporarily shifts the effective date of year 1 of its implementation from October 1, 2012, to February 1, 2013. Recent information suggests that harbor porpoise bycatch is higher in February and March than in October and November since the implementation of sectors in May 2010, warranting a temporary shift of the closure in year 1 to a time period that would provide greater conservation benefit to harbor porpoises and allow time for more complete consideration of updated information on harbor porpoise bycatch, harbor porpoise abundance, and fishing effort by the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team (Team). As such, this area will be closed to gillnet fishing in February and March of 2013 rather than October and November of 2012.

This fishery management plan (FMP) amendment addresses Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) fishery management measures in the U.S. Caribbean territories including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. There are substantial differences between some segments of the U.S. Caribbean HMS fisheries and the HMS fisheries that occur off the mainland of the United States, including: Limited fishing permit and dealer permit possession; smaller vessels; limited availability of processing and cold storage facilities; shorter trips; limited profit margins; and high local consumption of catches. These differences create an awkward fit between current federal HMS fishery regulations and the traditional operation of small-scale Caribbean HMS fisheries, and some small-scale commercial fishermen in the Caribbean may not be currently operating consistently with HMS fishing and dealer reporting requirements. NMFS is implementing management measures through this rulemaking that amend the HMS fishery management regulations in the U.S. Caribbean territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to better manage the traditional small-scale commercial HMS fishing fleet in the U.S. Caribbean Region, enhance fishing opportunities and improve profits for the fleet, and to provide us with an improved capability to monitor and sustainably manage those fisheries. This final rule creates an HMS Commercial Caribbean Small Boat (CCSB) permit, which allows fishing for and sale of bigeye, albacore, yellowfin, and skipjack (BAYS) tunas, Atlantic swordfish, and Atlantic sharks within local U.S. Caribbean markets. Management measures under the CCSB permit include specific species authorizations and retention limits, reporting requirement modifications, specific gear authorizations, vessel size restrictions, and mandatory workshop training. Additionally, NMFS stipulates that the CCSB permit cannot be held in combination with any other HMS permit.

NMFS issues regulations that modify equipment and operational requirements for freezer longliners (catcher/processors) named on License Limitation Program (LLP) licenses endorsed to catch and process Pacific cod at sea with hook-and-line gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI). These regulations require vessel owners to select between two monitoring options: carry two observers so that all catch can be sampled, or carry one observer and use a motion-compensated scale to weigh Pacific cod before it is processed. The selected monitoring option is required to be used when the vessel is operating in either the BSAI or Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries when directed fishing for Pacific cod is open in the BSAI, or while the vessel is fishing for groundfish under the Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program. A vessel owner who notifies NMFS that the vessel will not be used to conduct directed fishing for Pacific cod in the BSAI or to conduct groundfish CDQ fishing at any time during a particular year will not be required to select one of the monitoring options and will continue to follow observer coverage and catch reporting requirements that apply to catcher/processors not subject to this action. These regulatory amendments address the need for enhanced catch accounting, monitoring, and enforcement created by the formation of a voluntary cooperative by the BSAI longline catcher/processor subsector in 2010, and are necessary to improve the precision of the accounting for allocated quota species. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area, the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and other applicable laws.

This rule provides notice of the approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and resulting effectiveness of the collection-of-information requirements published by NMFS on July 2, 1996. OMB approved the collection-of-information requirements in April 2001, and extended that approval in September 2001, November 2004, April 2008, and July 2011.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the C season allowance of the 2012 total allowable catch of pollock for Statistical Area 620 in the GOA.

The northern red hake possession limit is reduced to the incidental possession limit of 400 lb (181.44 kg) for the remainder of the 2012 fishing year.

NMFS reopens the 2012 commercial sector for yellowtail snapper in the South Atlantic exclusive economic zone (EEZ). NMFS previously determined the commercial ACL for yellowtail snapper would be reached by September 11, 2012, and closed the commercial sector for yellowtail snapper in the South Atlantic EEZ at 12:01 a.m. on September 11, 2012. Updated landings estimates indicate the ACL will not be reached by that date. Therefore, NMFS is reopening the commercial sector for yellowtail snapper. The purpose of this action is to allow the commercial sector to maximize harvest benefits and at the same time protect the yellowtail snapper resource.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 meters) length overall (LOA) using hook-and-line or pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI). This action is necessary to fully use the 2012 total allowable catch of Pacific cod allocated to catcher vessels less than 60 feet LOA using hook-and-line or pot gear in the BSAI.

NOAA Fisheries announces 11 inseason actions in the ocean salmon fisheries. These inseason actions modified the commercial and recreational fisheries in the area from the U.S./Canada Border to the Oregon/California Border.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher/processors (C/Ps) using trawl gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2012 Pacific cod total allowable catch apportioned to C/Ps using trawl gear in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine that Arctostaphylos franciscana (Franciscan manzanita) meets the definition of an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This final rule implements the Federal protections provided by the Act for this species. We are simultaneously publishing a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for Arctostaphylos franciscana in a separate Federal Register notice.

NMFS is adjusting the Atlantic tunas General category daily Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) retention limit from one to three large medium or giant BFT for the September, October, November, and December time periods of the 2012 fishing year, based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments. This action applies to Atlantic tunas General category permitted vessels and to Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels when fishing commercially for BFT.

NMFS reduces the trip limit for the commercial sector of king mackerel in the eastern zone of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) in the northern Florida west coast subzone to 500 lb (227 kg) of king mackerel per day in or from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This trip limit reduction is necessary to protect the Gulf king mackerel resource.

This final rule lifts the trade restrictions on importing bigeye tuna from Bolivia and Georgia to implement a recommendation adopted at the 2011 meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Additionally, this rule changes the regulations containing species-specific harmonized tariff codes to be consistent with recent changes adopted by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).

This interim final rule establishes a catch limit of 3,763 metric tons (mt) of bigeye tuna ( Thunnus obesus ) for vessels in the U.S. pelagic longline fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) for calendar year 2012. The limit does not apply to vessels in the longline fisheries of American Samoa, Guam, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Once the limit of 3,763 mt is reached in 2012, retaining, transshipping, or landing bigeye tuna caught in the WCPO will be prohibited for the remainder of 2012, with certain exceptions. This action is necessary for the United States to satisfy its international obligations under the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention), to which it is a Contracting Party.

NMFS implements an accountability measure (AM) for commercial king mackerel in the western zone of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) through this temporary final rule. NMFS has determined that the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) (equal to the commercial quota) for king mackerel in the western zone of the Gulf EEZ will have been reached by August 22, 2012. Therefore, NMFS closes the western zone of the Gulf to commercial king mackerel fishing in the EEZ. This closure is necessary to protect the Gulf king mackerel resource.

NMFS is closing the White Hake Trimester Total Allowable Catch (TAC) Area to all common pool vessels fishing with trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, or longline/hook gear for the remainder of Trimester 1, through August 31, 2012. This action is necessary to prevent the common pool fishery from exceeding its Trimester 1 TAC or its annual catch limit for white hake. This rule is expected to slow the catch rate of white hake in the common pool fishery for the remainder of Trimester 1.

On May 21, 2012, we published a final rule to revise the turtle excluder devices (TEDs) requirements to allow new materials and to modify existing approved TED designs. In this notice, we are correcting a technical error in the definition of a brace bar included in the allowable modifications to hard TEDs and special hard TEDs.

This final rule will require that Federal Atlantic swordfish, shark, and tuna dealers report receipt of Atlantic sharks, swordfish, and bigeye, albacore, skipjack, and yellowfin (BAYS) tunas to NMFS through an electronic reporting system on a weekly basis. At this time, Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) dealers will not be required to report bluefin tuna through this electronic reporting system, as a separate reporting system is currently in place for this species. This final rule changes the current definition of who is considered an Atlantic HMS dealer and will require Atlantic HMS dealers to submit dealer reports to NMFS in a timely manner in order to be able to purchase commercially-harvested Atlantic sharks, swordfish, and BAYS tunas. Any delinquent reports will need to be submitted by the dealer and received by NMFS before a dealer can purchase commercially-harvested Atlantic sharks, swordfish, and BAYS tunas from a fishing vessel. These measures are necessary to ensure timely and accurate reporting, which is critical for quota monitoring and management of these species.

This action delays some and revises other portions of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Trawl Rationalization Program (program) regulations. These changes are necessary to enable the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to implement new regulations for the program to comply with a court order requiring NMFS to reconsider the initial allocation of Pacific whiting (whiting) to the shorebased Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) fishery and the at-sea mothership fishery. The rule affects the transfer of Quota Share (QS) and Incidental Bycatch Quota (IBQ) between QS accounts in the shorebased individual IFQ fishery, and severability in the mothership fishery, both of which will be delayed until NMFS can implement any necessary new allocation regulations required by the court's order.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issues this final rule amending the Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Plan (BDTRP) and its implementing regulations by permanently continuing nighttime fishing restrictions of medium mesh gillnets operating in North Carolina coastal state waters from November 1 through April 30. Members of the Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Team (Team) recommended these regulations be continued permanently, without modification, to ensure that BDTRP goals are met through continued conservation of strategic bottlenose dolphin stocks in North Carolina, which have historically high serious injury and mortality rates associated with medium mesh gillnets. NMFS also amends the BDTRP with updates, including updates recommended by the Team for non-regulatory conservation measures.

NMFS establishes 2012 quota specifications for the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) fisheries. This action is necessary to implement binding recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), as required by the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA), and to achieve domestic management objectives under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are amending the regulations that implement the Endangered Species Act (Act) by establishing public notice-and-comment procedures for applications to conduct certain otherwise-prohibited activities under the Act that are authorized under the Captive-Bred Wildlife (CBW) regulations. This action adds procedural requirements to the processing of applications for registration under the CBW regulations. Notices of receipt of each application will be published in the Federal Register , and the Service will accept public comments on each application for 30 days. If the registration is granted, the Service will publish certain findings in the Federal Register . In addition, for persons meeting the criteria for registering under the CBW Program, each registration will now remain effective for 5 years rather than 3 years.

NMFS publishes regulations to implement Amendment 93 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP). The regulations apply exclusively to the directed pollock trawl fisheries in the Central and Western Reporting Areas of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) (Central and Western GOA). Amendment 93 establishes separate prohibited species catch (PSC) limits in the Central and Western GOA for Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ), which would cause NMFS to close the directed pollock fishery in the Central or Western regulatory areas of the GOA, if the applicable limit is reached. This action also requires retention of salmon by all vessels in the Central and Western GOA pollock fisheries until the catch is delivered to a processing facility where an observer is provided the opportunity to count the number of salmon and to collect scientific data or biological samples from the salmon. This action makes several revisions to the Prohibited Species Donation (PSD) program. Amendment 93 is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.

NMFS issues this final rule to amend the regulations that implement section 401(g) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). The amendments eliminate duplicative permitting and registration requirements for holders of Main Hawaiian Islands Non-commercial Bottomfish Permits; allow states that exempt minors under the age of 17 from the state license or registration requirements to be eligible for Exempted State designation; allow the U.S. Virgin Islands to be designated as an Exempted State under the qualifying regional survey option of the rule; and clarify and update various provisions of the rule.

NMFS is prohibiting retention of Pacific ocean perch in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because the 2012 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific ocean perch in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA has been reached.

NMFS extends the recreational fishing season for the red snapper component of the reef fish fishery in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf). NMFS previously determined the recreational red snapper quota would be reached by 12:01 a.m., local time, July 11, 2012. However, due to severe weather conditions in the central and northeastern Gulf during the first 26 days in June, fishing opportunities were restricted during the beginning of the recreational fishing season. NMFS has projected the quota will not be reached by the current closure date. Therefore, NMFS is extending the recreational red snapper fishing season for 6 days to allow the remainder of the quota to be harvested. The intent of this action is to provide fishermen the opportunity to harvest the recreational red snapper quota, and the opportunity to achieve the optimum yield for the fishery, thus enhancing social and economic benefits to the fishery.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific ocean perch in the Central Aleutian District of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) by vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access fishery. This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2012 allocation of Pacific ocean perch in this area allocated to vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access fishery.

NMFS closes the incidental Longline category northern area fishery for large medium and giant Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) for the remainder of 2012. Fishing for, retaining, possessing, or landing BFT in the Longline category northern area is prohibited for the remainder of 2012. The Longline fishery in the Northeast Distant gear restricted area (NED) remains open at this time. This action is being taken to prevent overharvest of the Longline category northern area BFT subquota.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by American Fisheries Act (AFA) trawl catcher/processors in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2012 Pacific cod total allowable catch specified for AFA trawl catcher/processors in the BSAI.

NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 24 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP), as prepared by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule establishes red grouper commercial and recreational sector annual catch limits (ACLs); establishes red grouper sector accountability measures (AMs); and removes the combined gag, black grouper, and red grouper commercial quota, and commercial and recreational sector ACLs and AMs. The intent of this final rule is to specify ACLs and AMs for red grouper while maintaining catch levels consistent with achieving optimum yield (OY) for the red grouper resource. Additionally, Amendment 24 implements a rebuilding plan for red grouper in the South Atlantic.