Environmental Assessment of a Final Rule to Implement Requirements for Seabird Bycatch Avoidance Devices in the Hook-and-Line Groundfish Fisheries off Alaska

The final rule requires operators of hook-and-line vessels fishing for groundfish in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area and the Gulf of Alaska to conduct fishing operations in a specified manner. It also requires them to employ specified bird avoidance techniques to reduce seabird bycatch and incidental seabird mortality. The action is necessary to mitigate hook-and-line fishery interactions with the short-tailed albatross, an endangered species protected under the Endangered Species Act, and other species.