Environmental Assessment, Regulatory Impact Review, and Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis of Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Commercial King and Tanner Crab Fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

The Norton Sound summer king crab fishery has a unique collection of problems which makes fishery management difficult. These problems include overcapitalization, short seasons, high management costs, non-achievement of guideline harvest levels (OHL), and a failure to meet the goals and objectives of the Bering Sea crab FMP and the Magnuson Act. This fishery has the smallest biomass and OHL in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island crab fisheries. Historically, the fishery has been characterized by years with low levels of participation and fairly high catch rates followed by years with high levels of participation and low catch rates. Lately, a combination of factors has lead to high participation which is expected to continue into the future. These factors are based primarily on the overcapitalized crab fleet and on participants' efforts to establish catch histories in the event individual fishing quotas (IFQ) are instituted. 1994 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) AKR (Alaska Region) Submitted Public Domain 1861