Fishery Conservation and Management § 665.198

§ 665.165 Size restrictions. (2) As soon as practicable after De- The height of a live coral specimen cember 31 each year, the Regional Ad- shall be determined by a straight line ministrator will determine the amount measurement taken from its base to its harvested by vessels of the United most distal extremity. The stem di- States between July 1 and December 31 ameter of a living coral specimen shall of the year that just ended on Decem- be determined by measuring the great- ber 31. est diameter of the stem at a point no (3) NMFS will release to TALFF an less than 1 inch (2.54 cm) from the top amount of precious coral for each ex- surface of the living holdfast. ploratory area equal to the quota (a) Live pink coral harvested from minus two times the amount harvested any precious coral permit area must by vessels of the United States in that have attained a minimum height of 10 July 1-December 31 period. inches (25.4 cm). (4) NMFS will publish in the FEDERAL (b) Black coral. Live black coral har- REGISTER a notification of the Re- vested from any precious coral permit gional Administrator’s determination area must have attained either a min- imum stem diameter of 1 inch (2.54 and a summary of the information on cm), or a minimum height of 48 inches which it is based as soon as practicable (122 cm). after the determination is made. (d) The American Samoa exploratory § 665.166 Closures. permit area X–P–AS has an annual (a) If the Regional Administrator de- quota of 1,000 kg for all American termines that the harvest quota for Samoa precious coral MUS combined any coral bed will be reached prior to with the exception of black corals. the end of the fishing year, NMFS shall publish a notice to that effect in the § 665.168 Seasons. FEDERAL REGISTER and shall use other The fishing year for precious coral means to notify permit holders. Any begins on July 1 and ends on June 30 such notice must indicate the reason the following year. for the closure, the bed being closed, and the effective date of the closure. § 665.169 Gold coral harvest morato- (b) A closure is also effective for a rium. permit holder upon the permit holder’s actual harvest of the applicable quota. Fishing for, taking, or retaining any gold coral in any precious coral permit § 665.167 Quotas. area is prohibited through June 30, (a) General. The quotas limiting the 2018. amount of precious coral that may be [78 FR 32182, May 29, 2013] taken in any precious coral permit area during the fishing year are listed in § 665.167(d). Only live coral is counted Subpart C—Hawaii Fisheries toward the quota. The accounting pe- § 665.198 Management area. riod for all quotas begins July 1, 1983. (b) Conditional bed closure. A condi- The Hawaii fishery management area tional bed will be closed to all non- is the EEZ seaward of the State of Ha- selective coral harvesting after the waii, including the Main Hawaiian Is- quota for one species of coral has been lands (MHI) and Northwestern Hawai- taken. ian Islands (NWHI), with the inner (c) Reserves and reserve release. The boundary a line coterminous with the quotas for exploratory area X–P–AS seaward boundaries of the State of Ha- will be held in reserve for harvest by waii and the outer boundary a line vessels of the United States in the fol- drawn in such a manner that each lowing manner: point on it is 200 nautical miles from (1) At the start of the fishing year, the baseline from which the territorial the reserve for the American Samoa sea is measured. exploratory area will equal the quota minus the estimated domestic annual harvest for that year.

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