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The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan prohibits vessels in the at-sea Pacific whiting sector from operating as both a mothership (MS) and a catcher-processor (C/P) during the same calendar year.  This emergency action would temporarily allow eligible MS and C/P vessels to operate as either type of processing platform during the 2020 Pacific whiting season, instead of needing to specify at the beginning of the fishing season to be one or the other.  This flexibility could allow catcher vessels to harvest their MS sector Pacific whiting allocation without the uncertainty of whether there will be an available MS processing platform.  It may also provide additional harvesting and processing opportunities for at-sea Pacific whiting fishery participants while they operate in uncertain market conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.