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The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), of which the United States is a member, develops and agrees on management measures for highly migratory species caught by WCPFC members and Participating Territories in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Participating Territories include American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The WCPFC may agree on conservation and management measures, such as catch and effort limits, that are applicable to U.S. pelagic fisheries operating in the western and central Pacific Ocean. This amendment to the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Pacific Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region (Pelagics FEP) establishes: 1) A management framework to establish catch or effort limits applicable to the U.S. Participating Territories that includes the authorization for the U.S. Participating Territories to use, assign, allocate, and manage the pelagic management species catch and effort limits agreed to by the WCPFC through agreements with U.S. vessels permitted under the Pelagics FEP for the purposes of responsible fisheries development. The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) could also recommend and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) could specify catch or effort limits in the absence of such limits or additional or more restrictive limits than the WCPFC for conservation and management purposes. The framework also provides for consistency review of Territory agreements with the Pelagics FEP and other applicable laws by the Council and NMFS, as well as annual review and specification recommendations by the Council. 2) This action also includes the specification of catch limits for bigeye tuna caught by longline of 2,000 metric tons (mt) per year for each of the U.S. Participating Territories, of which 1,000 mt may be transferred annually under agreements consistent with the Pelagics FEP and other applicable laws to eligible U.S. vessels permitted under the Pelagics FEP. The Council and NMFS prepared this FEP amendment, which includes an environmental assessment (EA) and Regulatory Impact Review. This document serves as the basis for NMFS to determine whether to prepare an environmental impact statement. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, the document also informs NMFS in its development of regulations that implement the selected action. NMFS solicited public comments on the draft FEP amendment and EA, and proposed rule. See sections 1.2 and 1.3 for how NMFS solicited comments, the public review process, and a document overview.
"The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared Amendment 5 to establish measures to reduce interactions between longline fishing and Pacific green sea turtles. The Council considered a range of alternatives, and recommended that NMFS require a specific fishing gear configuration. NMFS is proposing to approve Amendment 5 and the Council's preferred alternative (Alternative 5). The environmental review was conducted with public input. The environmental assessment found that all of the alternatives would reduce interactions with sea turtles. The proposed action would not result in a substantial change to the fishery. No significant changes are expected in the number of vessels, intensity of fishing, or areas where vessels fish"--Cover letter; Portfolio comprised of three related PDF documents digitized and organized by: NOAA Office of Program Planning and Integration (PPI) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) staff.
"The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared a fishery ecosystem plan (FEP) amendment for all five western Pacific FEPs. The amendment to the American Samoa, Hawaii, the Mariana Archipelago (Guam and the CNMI), PRIA, and western Pacific pelagic fisheries FEPs provides specific guidance on how future annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) will be developed for western Pacific fisheries. It also identifies the management unit species that qualify for statutory exceptions to the ACL/AM requirements and specifies the qualification criteria for "ecosystem component species." ACLs and AMs are not required for species classified as ecosystem components. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that western Pacific fishery management plans comply with requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to include a mechanism for specifying annual catch limits for all fisheries at a level such that overfishing does not occur and to implement measures to ensure accountability for adhering to these limits. The environmental impact analysis found that the proposed action is administrative and will not result in large or adverse effects on the environment. The approval of the mechanism and process will not result in any environmental change or in a change in fishing activity by any of the fleets, or change in monitoring by the Council, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), or other fishery management entity. In the future, when specific annual catch limits and accountability measures are proposed, the Council and NMFS will analyze the potential environmental impacts. In general, ACLs and AMs are not expected to result in large impacts to the environment because many of the ACLs are likely to be based on recent harvests and, therefore, will not result in significant changes to most fisheries"--Cover letter; Portfolio comprised of three related PDF documents digitized and organized by: NOAA Office of Program Planning and Integration (PPI) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) staff.