International Fisheries; Western and Central Pacific Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species; 2017 Purse Seine FAD Fishery Closure

NMFS announces that U.S. purse seine vessels will be prohibited from fishing on fish aggregating devices (FADs) in the area of application of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention) in the area between the latitudes of 20[deg] N. and 20[deg] S., as a result of reaching the 2017 limit on FAD sets. This action is taken to enable the United States to implement provisions of a conservation and management measure adopted by the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC or Commission) and to satisfy the obligations of the United States under the Convention, to which it is a Contracting Party.