Environmental Analysis for Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) Omnibus Amendments

Amendment 127 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area  Amendment 115 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska Amendment 56 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs Amendment 3 to the Fishery Management Plan for Fish Resources of the Arctic Management Area Amendment 17 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Salmon Fisheries in the EEZ off Alaska: A review of Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) components in the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Council’s) fishery management plans (FMPs) should be completed every 5 years, and the EFH provisions should be revised or amended, as warranted, based on the best available information. The 2023 EFH 5-year Review that concluded in February 2023 evaluated new information on EFH, assessed information gaps and research needs, and identified whether any revisions to EFH were needed. Based on the EFH 5-year Review, the Council determined that new habitat and life history information is available to revise many of the EFH descriptions and maps in the FMPs. The proposed amendments to the EFH provisions in the Council’s FMPs would not substantively change the impacts of EFH as analyzed in the 2005 EFH environmental impact statement. The 2023 EFH 5-year Review concluded that no change to the conclusions of the evaluation of fishing effects on EFH is warranted based on new information. None of the FMP amendments require regulatory action.