Amendment 54 to the FMP for the Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area

NOAA Fisheries proposes regulations to implement Amendment 54 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area and Amendment 54 to the FMP for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska.

These amendments would make three changes in the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program:

1. allow a quota share holder's indirect ownership of a vessel, through corporate or other collective ties, to substitute for vessel ownership in the quota share (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 specific to estates
3. revise sablefish use limits to be expressed in QS units rather than as percentages of the QS pool.

These proposed amendments are intended to improve the effectiveness of the IFQ Program and are 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.