Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; American Lobster Fishery

Based on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s recommendations, we are proposing to establish individual and aggregate trap caps in Lobster Conservation Management Areas 2 and 3, and institute mandatory coastwide electronic harvester reporting for all Federal lobster vessels. The proposed ownership caps and trap cap reduction measures are intended to reduce fishing exploitation and latent effort in the trap fishery by scaling the fishery to the size of the Southern New England lobster stock. The proposed harvester reporting requirement is intended to improve the spatial resolution of harvester data, and improve and expand the collection of fishery effort data. This action is necessary to ensure fishery regulations for the lobster fishery in Federal waters remain compatible with the intent of the Commission’s Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster and consistent with the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act.