EA/RIR/IRFA for Amendment 60 to the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands FMP, Amendment 58 to the Gulf of Alaska FMP, Amendment 10 to the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Crab FMP - Analysis of Proposed License Limitation Amendment Package

Since the approval of the proposed rule for License Limitation Programs (LLPs) in 1995, members of industry have reviewed the programs and have requested that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) revise several of the provisions and qualification criteria. In December 1997, the Council began discussions of amendments to the LLP, including changes in the basic eligibility criteria for crab, in the form of additional recent participation criteria. In February 1998, after further discussions and review of preliminary analyses, the Council initiated analysis of an amendment package containing six Proposed Actions to change the Crab and Groundfish LLPs. These changes focus primarily on further capacity reductions and transferability restrictions for the groundfish and crab fisheries.