Draft for Secretarial Review 2020–2021 Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Groundfish Harvest Specifications Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

This IRFA identifies the small entities that may be directly regulated by this action. It also describes the significant alternatives to the action that meet the objectives of the action, and their relative economic impacts on directly regulated small entities. The action under consideration is adoption of harvest specifications pursuant to the strategy to govern the harvest of groundfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) management area, recommended by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) in December 2006. The proposed action is the implementation of the Council’s harvest strategy choice for the federally managed groundfish fisheries in the BSAI management area in 2020 and 2021. This strategy determines annual harvest specifications in compliance with Federal regulations, the BSAI Fishery Management Plan, and the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

This IRFA addresses the statutory requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. §§ 601-612).