ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT TO CONDUCT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EVALUATE CATCH RATES USING PELAGIC LONGLINE GEAR IN A PORTION OF THE EAST FLORIDA COAST (EFC) CLOSED AREA OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

This Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzes the impacts associated with exempting a specified number of commercial pelagic longline (PLL) vessels from a portion of the existing East Florida Coast (EFC) PLL Closed Area requirements. An exempted fishing permit (EFP) would be issued to collect baseline PLL fishery data from within a portion of the EFC PLL Closed Area under current fishery conditions to evaluate the effectiveness of existing area closures at meeting current conservation and management goals. No significant impacts are anticipated.

Our goal is to obtain clearance from NMFS NEPA by January 4, 2017. This is because we must have the NOA to the Office of Federal Register by January 9, 2017.