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In accordance to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and in response to a Council recommendation, this rulemaking action proposes regulatory amendments that would align the permitting, licensing, and participation requirements for vessels that harvest Pacific cod during concurrent federal and state waters seasons in BSAI management areas. This action would require trawl, hook-and-line, and pot gear vessels with Federal Fishing Permits (FFP) that fish in state waters during the parallel seasons to have an appropriate license issued through the Federal License Limitation Program (LLP) that corresponds to the license they are required to have to participate in the Pacific cod fishery in Federal waters.  Through their FFP, those vessels would also be required to adhere to Federal seasonal closures and other management measures for their sector when participating in the parallel seasons.  Additionally, the proposed regulations would limit the period of time in which a vessel may relinquish its FFP, and then reapply for a new FFP.  Lengthening the amount of time that must pass before a person can reapply for an FFP would make it more difficult to circumvent the proposed regulation by temporarily surrendering the FFP.