Environmental Assessment of Amendment 17 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/ Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs

Amendment 17 specifies a time period for rebuilding the stock intended to satisfy the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). Under the rebuilding plan, the Pribilofl Islands blue king crab stock is estimated to rebuild, with a 50 percent probability, within 10 years. The stock will be considered "rebuilt'' when it reaches the maximum sustainable yield stock size level in 2 consecutive years. This rebuilding time period is as short as possible and takes into account the status and biology of the stock, the needs of fishing communities, and the interaction of the overfished stock within the marine ecosystem, as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act in section 304(e)(4)(A)(i).