This document is an Environmental Assessment (EA) of the potential impacts of issuing an exempted fishing permit (EFP) to allow for the testing of integrated weight groundline as a seabird avoidance measure in the hook-and-line Pacific cod fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. The purpose of the EFP is to provide exemptions from seabird avoidance regulations and separate allocations of groundfish species and PSC limits during the experiment. The project is a continuation of experiments conducted by the University of Washington Sea Grant Program and is intended to provide a means to improve seabird avoidance measures in the BSAI longline fisheries. The analysis found no significant impacts on the human environment for this action.

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)