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Pacific Sardine Rebuilding Plan: Including Rebuilding Plan Specifications, Final Environmental Assessment, and Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Analysis
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2021
[PDF-3.11 MB]
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Description:NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) declared the northern subpopulation (NSP) of Pacific sardine (Pacific sardine) overfished in June 2019. This determination was based on the results of an April 2019 stock assessment (Hill et al. 2019), which indicated that the biomass of Pacific sardine had dropped below the overfished threshold of 50,000 metric tons (mt), as defined in the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). NMFS notified the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) about the overfished declaration on July 9, 2019. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requires that NMFS and the Council prepare and implement a rebuilding plan within two years of NMFS’ overfished notification to the Council that specifies a rebuilding timeframe (Ttarget) within 10 years, except where the biology of the stock or other environmental conditions dictate otherwise (see MSA 304(e)). NMFS’ National Standard (NS) 1 guidelines (see 50 CFR §600.310(j)(3)) provide direction on determining certain rebuilding reference points in order to specify Ttarget, including a target rebuilt biomass level, Tmin (the minimum time to rebuild the stock assuming zero fishing morality), and Tmax (the maximum time allowable for rebuilding). More details on rebuilding plan requirements are discussed in Section 6.0 and can be found in the MSA Section 304(e) and in NS1 at 50 CFR §600.310. This Environmental Assessment (EA) is being prepared using the 2020 Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) National Environmental and Policy Act (NEPA) Regulations. The effective date of the 2020 CEQ NEPA Regulations was September 14, 2020, and reviews begun after this date are required to apply the 2020 regulations unless there is a clear and fundamental conflict with an applicable statute (85 Fed. Reg. at 43372-73 (§1506.13, 1507.3(a)).
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Rights Information:Public Domain
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Compliance:Submitted
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