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The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) West Coast Region (WCR) proposes to implement a Federally-mandated logbook program for fixed gear groundfish fisheries that occur in the exclusive economic zone off the U.S. Pacific Coast under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. In the 2009-2010 Groundfish Harvest Specifications and Management Measures action, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) recommended that the NMFS WCR initiate rulemaking for a mandatory logbook requirement for the limited entry and open access fixed gear non-nearshore fishing fleets.  In the proposed rule for the 2009-2010 harvest specifications (73 FR 80516; December 31, 2008), NMFS determined that development and implementation of a Federal logbook system would take more time than is available for this rulemaking. Therefore, it is under consideration for implementation in the future (pp 80538). However, implementation never occurred due to lack of resources and competing priorities.  NMFS intends for this rulemaking to fulfill the Council’s 2008 request. A fixed gear logbook has broad applicability and utility for the management of the fixed gear fisheries.  The proposed fixed gear logbook would collect set-level effort data including location of set and retrieval, number of hooks, and time of day for gear deployment. This data will contribute to stock assessments, inform managers about catch and discards on non-observed trips and vessels, support economic analysis, and provide effort information to evaluate groundfish fishery interactions with Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed species, such as seabirds and humpback whales. In addition, implementation of a fixed gear logbook is a terms and condition implementing Reasonable and Prudent Measure 4 from the 2017 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion evaluating the impact of the groundfish fisheries on ESA-listed seabirds (FWS O1EOFWOO-2017-F-03 16).  The ESA Workgroup has recommended a fixed gear logbook numerous times (June 2019; April 2017; June 2015).  Finally, a fixed gear logbook would provide vital area-specific catch information to support potential future actions such as opening up areas of the non-trawl Rockfish Conservation Area.