Rule2021-14643
Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications; 2021-2022 Annual Specifications and Management Measures for Pacific Sardine
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Published
July 9, 2021
Effective
July 6, 2021
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS is implementing annual harvest specifications and management measures for the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine (hereafter, Pacific sardine), for the fishing year, which runs from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022. This final rule will prohibit most directed commercial fishing for Pacific sardine off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. Pacific sardine harvest will be allowed only in the live bait fishery, minor directed fisheries, as incidental catch in other fisheries, or as authorized under exempted fishing permits. The incidental harvest of Pacific sardine will be limited to 20 percent by weight of all fish per trip when caught with other stocks managed under the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan, or up to 2 metric tons per trip when caught with non- Coastal Pelagic Species stocks. The annual catch limit for the 2021- 2022 Pacific sardine fishing year is 3,329 metric tons. This final rule is intended to conserve and manage the Pacific sardine stock off the U.S. West Coast.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 129 (Friday, July 9, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 129 (Friday, July 9, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 36237-36239]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-14643]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
[Docket No: 210702-0144; RTID 0648-XW035]
Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species
Fisheries; Annual Specifications; 2021-2022 Annual Specifications and
Management Measures for Pacific Sardine
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: NMFS is implementing annual harvest specifications and
management measures for the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine
(hereafter, Pacific sardine), for the fishing year, which runs from
July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022. This final rule will prohibit most
directed commercial fishing for Pacific sardine off the coasts of
Washington, Oregon, and California. Pacific sardine harvest will be
allowed only in the live bait fishery, minor directed fisheries, as
incidental catch in other fisheries, or as authorized under exempted
fishing permits. The incidental harvest of Pacific sardine will be
limited to 20 percent by weight of all fish per trip when caught with
other stocks managed under the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery
Management Plan, or up to 2 metric tons per trip when caught with non-
Coastal Pelagic Species stocks. The annual catch limit for the 2021-
2022 Pacific sardine fishing year is 3,329 metric tons. This final rule
is intended to conserve and manage the Pacific sardine stock off the
U.S. West Coast.
DATES: Effective July 6, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Taylor Debevec, West Coast Region,
NMFS, (562) 619-2052, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#db8fbaa2b7b4a9f59fbeb9beadbeb89bb5b4babaf5bcb4ad"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e9bd889085869bc7ad8c8b8c9f8c8aa987868888c78e869f">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the Pacific sardine fishery in
the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific coast
(California, Oregon, and Washington) in accordance with the Coastal
Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The FMP and its
implementing regulations require NMFS to set annual catch levels for
the Pacific sardine fishery based on the annual specification framework
and control rules in the FMP. These control rules include the harvest
guideline (HG) control rule, which, in conjunction with the overfishing
limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) rules in the FMP, are
used to manage harvest levels for Pacific sardine, in accordance with
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), 16
U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
This final rule implements the annual catch levels, reference
points, and management measures for the 2021-2022 fishing year. The
final rule adopts, without changes, the catch levels and restrictions
that NMFS proposed in the rule published on May 26, 2021. The proposed
rule for this action included additional background on the
specifications and details of how the Pacific Fishery Management
Council (Council) derived its recommended specifications for Pacific
sardine. Those details are not repeated here. For additional
information on this action, please refer to the proposed rule (86 FR
28325).
This rule implements an OFL of 5,525 metric tons (mt) and an ABC/
annual catch limit (ACL) of 3,329 mt, based on CPS FMP control rules
and a biomass estimate of Pacific sardine of 28,276 mt. This biomass
estimate is from the 2020 benchmark stock assessment and was
recommended for use this year by the Council's Scientific and
Statistical Committee after identifying significant uncertainties in
the 2021 catch-only projection. Because the estimated biomass is less
than the value of the CUTOFF parameter in the CPS FMP (150,000 mt), the
harvest guideline is set to 0 mt, meaning there is no primary directed
fishery for Pacific sardine. This is the seventh consecutive year the
primary directed fishery has been closed. Because the estimated biomass
is below the minimum stock size threshold (50,000 mt) the FMP requires
that incidental catch of Pacific sardine in other CPS fisheries be
limited to an incidental allowance of no more than 20 percent by
weight. Although these management measures, triggered by the FMP, are
expected to keep catch far below the ACL as they have done in recent
history, this rule also implements an annual catch target (ACT) of
3,000 mt and implements management measures to ensure harvest
opportunity throughout the year.
A summary of the 2021-2022 fishing year specifications can be found
in Table 1, and management measures in the list below.
[[Page 36238]]
Table 1--Harvest Specifications for the 2021-2022 Sardine Fishing Year in Metric Tons
[mt]
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Biomass estimate OFL ABC HG ACL ACT
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28,276 5,525 3,329 0 3,329 3,000
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Measures for commercial sardine harvest during the 2021-2022
fishing year:
(1) If landings in the live bait fishery reach 1,800 mt of Pacific
sardine, then a 1-mt per-trip limit of sardine would apply to the live
bait fishery.
(2) An incidental per-landing limit of 20-percent (by weight)
Pacific sardine applies to other CPS primary directed fisheries (e.g.,
Pacific mackerel).
(3) If the ACT of 3,000 mt is attained, then a 1-mt per-trip limit
of Pacific sardine would apply to all CPS fisheries (i.e., 1) and 2)
would no longer apply).
(4) An incidental per-landing allowance of 2 mt of Pacific sardine
would apply to non-CPS fisheries until the ACL is reached.
All sources of catch, including any exempted fishing permit (EFP)
set-asides, the live bait fishery, and other minimal sources of
harvest, such as incidental catch in CPS and non-CPS fisheries and
minor directed fishing, will be accounted for against the ACT and ACL.
At the April 2021 Council meeting, the Council approved 830 mt of the
ACL for three EFP proposals to support stock assessments for Pacific
sardine. Any Pacific sardine harvested between July 1, 2021, and the
effective date of the final rule will count toward the 2021-2022 ACT.
The NMFS West Coast Regional Administrator will publish a
notification in the Federal Register to announce when catch reaches the
incidental limits as well as any changes to allowable incidental catch
percentages. Additionally, to ensure that the regulated community is
informed of any closure, NMFS will make announcements through other
means available, including emails to fishermen, processors, and state
fishery management agencies.
Comments and Responses
On May 26, 2021, NMFS published a proposed rule for this action and
solicited public comments through June 10, 2021 (86 FR 28325). NMFS
received one public comment letter containing multiple comments from
the environmental group Oceana. After considering the public comment,
NMFS made no changes from the proposed rule. NMFS summarizes and
responds to the comment letter from Oceana below.
Comment: Oceana states that the proposed harvest specifications are
not based on the best available science, fail to prevent overfishing,
and will impede rebuilding. Oceana requests that NMFS revise the
proposed specifications to reduce catch limits. Specifically, Oceana
suggests that NMFS use a different E<INF>MSY</INF> value to calculate
the OFL, ABC, and ACL, which would result in an OFL of 1,230 mt, an ABC
of 741 mt, and an ACL lower than 741 mt. Oceana also suggests that NMFS
reduce catch by limiting live bait harvest of sardine, denying EFP
applications that propose to land or sell sardine or limiting their
catch to 10 mt, and limiting incidental catch of sardine in other
directed CPS fisheries to no more than 10 percent of landings.
Response: NMFS has determined this action is based on the best
available science, prevents overfishing, and will not impede
rebuilding. NMFS disagrees with Oceana's suggestion that setting a
lower ACL, specifically an ACL lower than 741 mt, is necessary to
prevent overfishing. The reference points being implemented through
this action were recommended by the Council based on the control rules
in the FMP and were endorsed by the Council's Scientific and
Statistical Committee (SSC) as the best scientific information
available for setting the 2021-2022 harvest specifications for Pacific
sardine. In addition, the management measures adopted by the Council,
including an ACT that was set even lower than the ACL (3,000 mt), are
more than adequate to ensure catch does not exceed the ACL/ABC and OFL,
and therefore add an additional measure for preventing overfishing.
Furthermore, although the SSC did not endorse the 2021 catch-only
projection due to uncertainty in the model (including the level of
catch by Mexico), more precaution was built into the Council's ABC
recommendation to account for this uncertainty and to ensure
overfishing is prevented. The reference points implemented through this
action should also be viewed in the context of the non-discretionary
harvest restrictions already in place, pursuant to the CPS FMP, which
generally restrict the fishery from catching the full ACL. These non-
discretionary restrictions include the continued closure of the primary
directed fishery (i.e., the largest fishery that takes the majority of
Pacific sardine catch) and restrictions on incidental harvest of
Pacific sardine in other CPS fisheries (which are currently less than
half of typical incidental limits).
NMFS also finds it unnecessary to further limit the landings of
sardine by implementing any of the additional measures recommended by
Oceana--i.e., limiting live bait harvest, denying EFP applications or
limiting their allowable catch, and reducing the percentage of landings
allowed in other directed CPS fisheries. The Council considered the
overfished status of Pacific sardine, as well as the uncertainty around
the 2021 catch update due to the inability to collect survey data
during the COVID-19 pandemic, and incorporated precautionary measures
in their recommendations to NMFS to account for those factors. Those
precautionary measures included: (1) Deeming the assessment Tier 3
(high uncertainty); (2) using a P* value of 0.4 (high uncertainty); (3)
reducing the ACT from the ACL; (4) reducing the EFP allowance from the
requested amount; (5) limiting incidental sardine landings in CPS
fisheries to 20 percent; and (6) incorporating accountability measures.
These accountability measures include: (1) Limiting live bait landings
to 1 mt per landing once 1,800 mt of sardine is attained; (2) imposing
a per-trip limit of 1 mt of sardine in all CPS fisheries once the ACT
is attained; and (3) implementing an incidental per-landing allowance
of 2 mt in non-CPS fisheries until the ACL is reached.
Finally, although changes to how E<INF>MSY</INF> is calculated is
beyond the scope of this rulemaking, NMFS would nevertheless like to
respond to Oceana's suggestion in this regard. NMFS is aware of the
2019 scientific publication referenced by Oceana in their comment
letter and of ongoing Council discussions related to E<INF>MSY.</INF>
NMFS is committed to participating in discussions about new science and
whether that science justifies a change to how E<INF>MSY</INF> is
calculated for management purposes. Regarding the 2019 paper mentioned
by Oceana that was authored by researchers at the SWFSC, NMFS notes
that research related to the appropriate temperature
[[Page 36239]]
index to inform E<INF>MSY</INF> is ongoing. NMFS has not yet determined
whether, based on that paper, a change in how E<INF>MSY</INF> is
calculated is necessary for management purposes. NMFS will continue to
examine whether this new publication warrants a change in management;
however, at this time NMFS has determined that the reference points set
through this action are based on the best scientific information
available. Regarding recent Council discussions related to
E<INF>MSY</INF>, NMFS notes that the Council's SSC--the scientific
advisory body that is responsible for recommending changes to
E<INF>MSY</INF>--has the ability to recommend changes to
E<INF>MSY</INF> at any time, and it has not determined that a change is
necessary at this time. The Council's SSC previously made such a
recommendation in 2014 when it recommended that NMFS switch from using
the 3-year average of Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) sea
surface temperature measurements to using the 3-year average of CalCOFI
sea surface temperature measurements to inform E<INF>MSY</INF>. In 2014
the SSC also recommended an interim measure of a static E<INF>MSY</INF>
of 18 percent until that change, from SIO to CalCOFI, could be adopted
after being properly analyzed.
Classification
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the MSA, the NMFS Assistant
Administrator has determined that this final rule is consistent with
the CPS FMP, other provisions of the MSA, and other applicable law.
The need to implement these measures in a timely manner to ensure
they are in place as soon as possible after the start of the fishing
season, July 1, 2021, constitutes good cause under authority contained
in 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), to establish an effective date less than 30 days
after date of publication. In accordance with the FMP, this rule was
recommended by the Council at its meeting in April 2021, the contents
of which were based on the best available new information on the
population status of Pacific sardine that became available at that
time. Making these final specifications effective as soon as possible
after July 1, the first day of the fishing year, is necessary for the
conservation and management of the Pacific sardine resource because
last year's restrictions on harvest are not effective after June 30.
The FMP requires a prohibition on primary directed fishing for Pacific
sardine for the 2021-2022 fishing year because the sardine biomass has
dropped below the CUTOFF. The purpose of the CUTOFF in the FMP, and for
prohibiting a primary directed fishery when the biomass drops below
this level, is to protect the stock when biomass is low and provide a
buffer of spawning stock that is protected from fishing and can
contribute to rebuilding the stock. A delay of a full 30 days in the
date of effectiveness for this rule would result in the re-opening of
the primary directed commercial fishery on July 1.
Delaying the effective date of this rule much beyond July 1 would
be contrary to the public interest because it would jeopardize the
sustainability of the Pacific sardine stock. Furthermore, most affected
fishermen are aware that the Council recommended that primary directed
commercial fishing be prohibited for the 2021-2022 fishing year, and
are fully prepared to comply with the prohibition.
This final rule is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business
Administration during the proposed rule stage that this action would
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities for the purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The
factual basis for the certification was published in the proposed rule
and is not repeated here. As a result, a regulatory flexibility
analysis was not required, and none was prepared.
Pursuant to Executive Order 13175, this rule was developed after
meaningful consultation and collaboration with the Council's tribal
representative, who has agreed with the provisions that apply to tribal
vessels.
This action does not contain a collection-of-information
requirement for purposes of the Paper Reduction Act. There are no
relevant Federal rules that may duplicate, overlap, or conflict with
the action.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: July 6, 2021.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-14643 Filed 7-6-21; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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