Final Amendment 19 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP (small-mesh Multispecies), Environmental Assessment, Regulator Impact Review, and Initial Regulatory Flexibilty Analysis

Book excerpt: "This document serves as Draft Amendment 19 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP, the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) which updates and supplements the original EIS for the small-mesh multispecies fishery (available at http://www.nefmc.org/nemulti/planamen/GFAmend12.pdf) contained in Amendment 12 (NEFMC 2000). The purpose of the amendment is to establish and implement Annual Catch Limits (ACLs) and Accountability Measures (AMs) to bring management of the small-mesh fishery into compliance with the re-authorized Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, using the best available science developed during and derived from the recent benchmark assessment (NEFSC 2011a). Amendment 19 (this amendment) includes and augments the measures in the Secretarial Amendment, which NMFS has developed at the same time as and in parallel with this amendment. The Secretarial Amendment followed a different approval process and contained many, but not all, of the alternatives included in this document"--Executive summary (page 1-1).