Allow the Retention of Halibut in Pot Gear in the BSAI

This document analyzes proposed management measures that would apply exclusively to the halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) and sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) individual fishing quota (IFQ) and Community Development Quota (CDQ) fishery in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI). The management measures under consideration would allow retention of legal-size halibut in pot gear in the BSAI, provided the operator holds sufficient halibut IFQ or CDQ for that IFQ regulatory area. The purpose of this action is to allow for more efficient harvest of the halibut resource by decreasing the wastage of legal-size halibut discarded in the existing BSAI sablefish pot fishery, and to potentially reduce whale depredation of halibut from hook-and-line gear.