Environmental assessment for Amendment 95 to the fishery management plan for groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area to manage skates as a target species category and a regulatory amendment to implement maximum retainable amounts for the BSAI skate complex Amendment 95 to the fishery management plan for groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area to manage skates as a target species category and a regulatory amendment to implement maximum retainable amounts for the BSAI skate complex

"These Environmental Assessments evaluate alternatives for the combined action to manage skates in the BSAI and for the annual catch limits and accountability measures for groundfish management in the BSAI and in the Gulf of Alaska. The action would manage skates separately from the other species complex in the BSAI, would remove the other species category from the FMPs, and would manage the groups in this category as separate groups for setting annual catch limits and for fisheries management. An ecosystem category would be added to the FMPs, which would include prohibited species catch species (e.g., salmon, halibut, and crab) and forage species for which current management practices would remain the same. The amendments also would revise the language in the FMPs to describe the current practices for setting annual catch limits and using accountability measures for managing the fisheries in respect to the annual catch limits"--Cover letter.