This rulemaking will propose gear marking requirements and entanglement risk reduction measures for portions of the Pacific coast groundfish fishery. This rulemaking will consist of mandatory requirements and voluntary measures. These new requirements and voluntary measures will be established pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management and Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) and are expected to be recommended to National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) after its June 2024 meeting. The intent of the gear marking requirements is to increase the likelihood of attributing entanglements to a specific fishery. The intent of the risk reduction measures is to reduce bycatch by decreasing the likelihood of marine animal entanglements with fishing line. NMFS is proposing this rulemaking, in part, in response to increased rates of entanglement of humpback whales with Pacific coast fishing gear since 2016. The gear marking component of this rulemaking is one facet of a broader, coordinated effort to mark gear in multiple fisheries that occur off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. NMFS is currently able to identify the origin of entanglements (to at least some known category of gear or a particular fishery) in about 50 percent of the entanglements of marine life in fishing gear reported on the West Coast. Without additional gear marking requirements, this situation is unlikely to improve, and the high level of uncertainty surrounding the origins of continued and future marine life entanglements will remain unresolved. The economic impacts of this rule will be born primarily by the affected industry and consist of the time and money that it will take for fishermen to bring their gear into compliance with the new marking requirements. The new surface line restrictions are not anticipated to result in additional costs to vessel operators. Cost estimates for gear marking vary within the range of alternatives, with some low-cost options under consideration. NMFS expects the Council to recommend a final gear marking scheme that will appreciably increase the visibility of gear markings associated with marine life entanglements, while keeping costs to industry low. This action is being taken as a result of substantial public engagement, initially through a public workshop led by Oregon Sea Grant, sponsored by NOAA, and then through the Pacific Fishery Management Council.