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Browse 19 rules and proposed rules from the Federal Register.
19
Total Regulations
Showing 1–19 of 19
NMFS announces that the quotas for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries for 2026 will remain status quo. NMFS also suspends the minimum size limit for Atlantic surfclams for the 2026 fishing year. Regulations for these fisheries require NMFS to notify the public of the allowable harvest levels for Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs from the Exclusive Economic Zone even if the previous year's quota specifications remain unchanged. The 2026 quotas were previously announced as projected values. This action confirms the final quotas are unchanged from those projections. This action continues to provide sustainable fishing opportunities to these fisheries.
NMFS is taking a deregulatory action to revise the regulations implementing the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan (HPTRP) to ensure the HPTRP is consistent with a gillnet gear requirement previously put in place under the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan to reduce bycatch of Atlantic sturgeon. This action is necessary to inform the public about an amendment to the Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan altering the minimum twine size requirement to ensure that fishermen may use the low-profile gillnet gear required by the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan and also be in compliance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act while fishing in the New Jersey Atlantic Sturgeon Bycatch Reduction Area.
NMFS is reopening the recreational fishing season for the Federal charter vessel/headboat (for-hire) component for red snapper in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Gulf of America (Gulf) through this temporary rule. The most recent landings data for the red snapper for-hire component in the Gulf indicate the component annual catch target (ACT) for the 2025 fishing year has not yet been reached. Therefore, the red snapper recreational for-hire component in the Gulf EEZ will reopen to allow harvest of the remaining for-hire component ACT. NMFS intends this action to increase benefits to for-hire fishermen while protecting the Gulf red snapper resource by continuing to constrain harvest to the component quota.
This rule extends the emergency measures to revise portions of the fishing year 2025 provisions in the Northeast multispecies fishery. This action is necessary to address an emergency presented by an absence of approved specifications and other measures for fishing year 2025. This action is intended to mitigate economic harm to the Northeast multispecies fishery participants by establishing fish stock quotas and related measures that allow the fishery to operate while preventing overfishing.
NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock by vessels using trawl gear in the Winter Herring Savings Area of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2025 herring bycatch allowance specified for the midwater pollock fishery in the BSAI. This action includes prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in the Winter Herring Savings Area by vessels participating in the Community Development Quota Program.
NMFS proposes to implement an annual catch limit (ACL) for Deep 7 bottomfish in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) for fishing years 2024-2025, 2025-2026, and 2026-2027. The fishing year for the fishery begins on September 1 and ends on August 31 of the following year. This rule does not revise, add, or remove the current accountability measures (AM). The proposed rule supports the long-term sustainability of the Deep 7 bottomfish fishery.
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), open or expand hunting or sport fishing opportunities on 16 National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) stations and 1 National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) station. This includes inaugural hunting opportunities at Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), the newest addition to the NWRS, and the formal opening of hunting opportunities at Grasslands Wildlife Management Area (WMA), as well as inaugural sport fishing at North Attleboro National Fish Hatchery (NFH). These actions open or expand 42 opportunities for hunting and fishing across more than 87,000 acres of Service-managed lands and waters. We also make administrative changes to existing station-specific regulations to improve the clarity and accuracy of regulations, reduce the regulatory burden on the public, and comply with a Presidential mandate for plain- language standards.
This document contains a correction to the preamble to a temporary rule for emergency measures under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson- Stevens Act) for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which published on May 2, 2025. Specifically, NMFS is correcting two items in the preamble of the temporary rule: The possession limit for Gulf of Maine cod in table 13 of the temporary rule; and the value for the fishing year 2025 U.S. acceptable biological catch (ABC) for Georges Bank haddock that was projected in Framework Adjustment 66.
NMFS is issuing regulations under the Tuna Conventions Act (TCA) of 1950, as amended, to implement Resolution C-24-01 (Conservation Measures For Tropical Tunas In The Eastern Pacific Ocean During 2025-2026) adopted at the 102nd Meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) in September 2024. This final rule maintains and extends management measures for fishing vessels targeting tropical tuna (i.e., bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), and skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis)) in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO). The fishing restrictions will apply to large purse seine vessels of class sizes 4-6 (i.e., vessels with a carrying capacity of 182 metric tons (mt) or greater) and longline vessels greater than 24 meters in overall length that fish for tropical tuna in the EPO. This rule is necessary for the conservation of tropical tuna stocks in the EPO and for the United States to satisfy its obligations as a member of the IATTC.
NMFS announces the 2025 recreational fishing season for blueline tilefish in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. Announcing the length of the recreational fishing season is the accountability measure (AM) for the recreational sector. NMFS estimates that recreational landings of blueline tilefish will reach the recreational annual catch limit (ACL) during the 2025 fishing year. NMFS announces the season length and closure date for the recreational harvest of blueline tilefish in the South Atlantic to allow recreational fishermen to maximize their opportunities while NMFS manages recreational harvest to protect the blueline tilefish resource.
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to open or expand hunting or sport fishing opportunities on 16 National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) stations and 1 National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) station. This includes inaugural hunting opportunities at Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), the newest addition to the NWRS, and the formal opening of hunting opportunities at Grasslands Wildlife Management Area (WMA), as well as inaugural sport fishing at North Attleboro National Fish Hatchery (NFH). These actions will open or expand 42 opportunities for hunting and fishing across more than 87,000 acres of Service lands and waters. In addition, at the request of the State of Minnesota and the White Earth Nation, Tamarac NWR proposes to end an experimental 5-day early teal hunt where the refuge overlaps with Tribal land to ensure safety for wild rice harvesting and to align with State regulations. We also propose to make administrative changes to existing station-specific regulations to improve the clarity and accuracy of regulations, reduce the regulatory burden on the public, and comply with a Presidential mandate for plain- language standards.
NMFS announces the 2025 recreational fishing season for the Federal charter vessel/headboat (for-hire) component for red snapper in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Gulf through this temporary rule. The red snapper recreational for-hire component in the Gulf EEZ opens on June 1, 2025, and will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on September 16, 2025. This closure is necessary to prevent the Federal for-hire component from exceeding its quota and to prevent overfishing of the Gulf red snapper resource.
NMFS is issuing regulations under the Tuna Conventions Act of 1950, as amended, to implement Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) Resolution C-24-02 (Measures for the Conservation and Management of Bluefin Tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean) adopted by the IATTC in September 2024. This rule implements annual catch and trip limits on United States commercial catch of Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis; PBF) in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) for 2025- 2026. This action is necessary to conserve PBF and for the United States to satisfy its obligations as a member of the IATTC. NMFS prepared an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for this action.
This temporary rule implements emergency measures under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) to revise portions of the fishing year 2025 provisions in the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This action is necessary to address an emergency presented by a gap of approved specifications and other measures for fishing year 2025, based on the most recent fisheries data and scientific information, during consideration of two actions to the amend the FMP that would transition conservation and management of Atlantic cod from two biological stock units to four biological stock units. This temporary rule is intended to mitigate economic harm to the Northeast multispecies fishery participants by establishing fish stock quotas and related measures that allow the fishery to operate while preventing overfishing.
NMFS is prohibiting recreational fishing for Chinook salmon in the Cook Inlet exclusive economic zone (EEZ) Area. This action is necessary for the conservation of Cook Inlet Chinook salmon stocks that continue to be in a low state of abundance as assessed in the NMFS 2025 stock assessment and fisheries evaluation (SAFE) report and the 2025 State of Alaska forecasts of very low run strength.
In this action, NMFS adjusts the base annual commercial quotas for the 2025 Atlantic shark commercial fishing year as allowable based on underharvests from the 2024 fishing year. The 2025 Atlantic shark commercial fishing year opened on January 1, 2025 under the base annual commercial quotas and default commercial retention limits. This action is necessary to provide additional fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen to harvest optimum yield from the Atlantic shark fisheries.
NMFS announces that the recreational fishing season for black sea bass in South Atlantic Federal waters will extend throughout the 2025-2026 recreational fishing year. Announcing the length of the recreational fishing season for black sea bass is one of the accountability measures (AMs) for the recreational sector. This announcement allows recreational fishers to maximize their opportunity to harvest the recreational annual catch limit (ACL) for black sea bass while NMFS manages harvest to protect the black sea bass resource.
NMFS is opening directed fishing for sablefish with fixed gear managed under the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program and the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program. The season will open 1200 hours, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), March 20, 2025, and will close 1200 hours, A.l.t., December 7, 2025. This period is the same as the 2025 commercial halibut fishery opening dates adopted by the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), except the hours are not the same. The IFQ and CDQ halibut season dates are the same as specified by a separate publication in the Federal Register of annual management measures, which should be referenced for the halibut specific open and closure times.
NMFS formally withdraws a proposed rule on the Implementation of Provisions of the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015 and the Ensuring Access to Pacific Fisheries Act, which was published in the Federal Register on July 8, 2022. This proposed rule would have implemented certain provisions of the two acts and amended the definition of illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing in the regulations that implement the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act (Moratorium Protection Act). After the proposed rule was issued, Congress amended the Moratorium Protection Act by the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (NDAA). NMFS has been developing a revised proposed rule in light of the NDAA to conform to the statutory changes, but does not have sufficient time to finalize the rule in this Administration.