Amendment 3 to the FMP for the Salmon Fisheries Off Alaska

NOAA Fisheries issues a final rule to implement Amendment 3 to the Fishery Management Plan for the High Seas Salmon Fisheries off the Coast of Alaska East of 175 Degrees East Longitude (FMP). Amendment 3 revises the FMP to:

1. incorporate recent scientific data tm the salmon stocks and information on the salmon harvests by the troll fishery
2. correct existing errors
3. provide for the annual harvest levels (optimum yields to be established by the Pacific Salmon Commission under provisions of the Pacific Salmon Treaty
4. defer regulation of the salmon fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to the State of Alaska to be regulated consistent with the FMP and applicable Federal law
5. make the FMP consistent with recent provisions of the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act requiring consideration of vessel safety issues and fish habitat
6. provide for extending the jurisdiction of the FMP over the EEZ west of 175 degrees east longitude should the International Convention for the High Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean be terminated and not be replaced by an equivalent international agreement to which the United States is a party

Amendment 3 is intended to improve regulation of the salmon fisheries in Alaska’s waters and in the EEZ off the coast of Alaska. It should reduce duplicative State and Federal fishery management efforts, maintain Council oversight of the fishery in the EEZ while eliminating Federal involvement in routine fishery management actions, and streamline the regulatory procedures for setting season measures and making inseason management adjustments.