Request for Final Public Comments on Atlantic Herring Amendment 8 – Proposed Rule

SUMMARY: This rule proposes regulations to implement Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The New England Fishery Management Council developed Amendment 8 to specify a long-term acceptable biological catch control rule for Atlantic herring and address localized depletion and user group conflict. This amendment would establish an acceptable biological catch control rule that accounts for herring’s role in the ecosystem and prohibit midwater trawling in inshore Federal waters from the U.S./Canada border to the Rhode Island/Connecticut border. Amendment 8 is intended to support sustainable management of the herring resource and help ensure that herring is available to minimize possible detrimental biological impacts on predators of herring and associated socioeconomic impacts on other user groups.

Public comments must be received by November 25, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2019-0078, by either of the following methods:

• Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal.

1. Go to www.regulations.gov/?#!docketDetail;?D=?NOAA-NMFS-2019-0078;?

2. Click the “Comment Now!” icon and complete the required fields; and

3. Enter or attach your comments.

• Mail: Submit written comments to Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope, “Comments on the Proposed Rule for Herring Amendment 8.”

Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by us.

LIVE INTERNET LINKS available at fishermensvoice.com. to #1 above as well as a link to public comments already submitted.