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Under the authority of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982, NMFS intends to implement regulations that would create a NMFS permitting system for the Pacific halibut commercial and recreational charter halibut fisheries in International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) Regulatory Area 2A off of Washington, Oregon, and California.  In addition, this action would establish a regulatory framework for the Area 2A Pacific halibut directed commercial fishery that allows NMFS to annually set open fishing periods and trip limits, including an in-season process to revise trip limits and season dates (as needed), to stay within the directed commercial annual suballocation. These activities are currently performed by the IPHC; once the regulations in this rule are implemented, NMFS would take control of these region-specific permitting and management activities. The IPHC will continue to recommend regulations for adoption for the Pacific halibut fishery, such as catch limits, overall season dates, gear and size restrictions, and similar regulations. Participants in the commercial and charter Pacific halibut fisheries will be affected, but no economic impact is expected because participants are currently required to follow permitting and management measures approved by the IPHC and implemented by NMFS, and the regulations implemented in this rule are similar in scope to what is currently required.