Fishery Management Plan for Fish Resources of the Arctic Management Area.

This Fishery Management Plan (FMP) of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council governs commercial fishing within the Arctic Management Area for all stocks of fish, including all finfish, shellfish, or other marine living resources, except commercial fishing for Pacific salmon and Pacific halibut, which is managed under other authorities. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional councils established by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976 to manage fisheries in the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. The Act is the primary domestic legislation governing management of the nation’s marine fisheries. The Act requires FMPs to be consistent with a number of provisions, including ten national standards, with which all FMPs must conform and which guide fishery management. Besides the Act, U.S. fisheries management must be consistent with the requirements of other laws including the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and several other federal laws. As part of its policy, the Council intends to consider and adopt, as appropriate, measures that prevent unregulated fishing, apply the Council’s precautionary, adaptive management policy through community-based or rights-based management, apply ecosystem-based management principles that protect managed species from overfishing and protect the health of the entire marine ecosystem, and where appropriate and practicable, include habitat protection and bycatch constraints. The Council has identified the following ten management objectives to carry out the management policy for the Arctic FMP. All management measures will be based on the best scientific information available.