Proposed Rule2021-19367
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan
Primary source
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Published
September 8, 2021
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces that the New England Fishery Management Council has submitted Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, incorporating the Environmental Assessment and the Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, for review by the Secretary of Commerce, and is requesting comments from the public. This action would allow for more controlled access to the scallop resource by the limited access and limited access general category fleets and increase monitoring to support a growing directed scallop fishery in Federal waters, including the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area. These proposed management measures are intended to promote conservation of the scallop resource in the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area and to manage total removals from the area by all fishery components. Amendment 21 would also expand flexibility in the limited access general category individual fishing quota fishery to reduce impacts of potential decreases in ex-vessel price and increases in operating costs.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 171 (Wednesday, September 8, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 8, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 50320-50322]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19367]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
RIN 0648-BK68
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Amendment 21 to the
Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Announcement of availability of amendment; request for
comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the New England Fishery Management Council
has submitted Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery
Management Plan, incorporating the Environmental Assessment and the
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, for review by the Secretary of
Commerce, and is requesting comments from the public. This action would
allow for more controlled access to the scallop resource by the limited
access and limited access general category fleets and increase
monitoring to support a growing directed scallop fishery in Federal
waters, including the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area. These
proposed management measures are intended to promote conservation of
the scallop resource in the Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area and
to manage total removals from the area by all fishery components.
Amendment 21 would also expand flexibility in the limited access
general category individual fishing quota fishery to reduce impacts of
potential decreases in ex-vessel price and increases in operating
costs.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 8, 2021.
ADDRESSES: The Council has prepared a draft Environmental Assessment
(EA) for this action that describes the proposed measures in Amendment
21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and other
considered alternatives and analyzes the impacts of the proposed
measures and alternatives. The Council submitted a draft of the
amendment to NMFS that includes the draft EA, a description of the
Council's preferred alternatives, the Council's rationale for selecting
each alternative, and a Regulatory Impact Review (RIR). Copies of
supporting documents used by the Council, including the EA and RIR, are
available from: Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, New England Fishery
Management Council, 50 Water Street, Newburyport, MA 01950 and
accessible via the internet in documents available at: <a href="https://www.nefmc.org/library/amendment-21">https://www.nefmc.org/library/amendment-21</a>.
You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2021-0065, by:
<bullet> Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>
and enter NOAA-NMFS-2021-0065 in the Search box. Click the ``Comment''
icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
Instructions: Comments sent by any other method or received after
the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NMFS. All
comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be
posted for public
[[Page 50321]]
viewing on <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address, etc.), confidential business
information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily
by the sender will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous
comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain
anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Travis Ford, Fishery Policy Analyst,
(978) 281-9233.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act requires that each Regional Fishery Management
Council submit any amendment it prepares to NMFS for review and
approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act
also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an amendment, immediately
publish notification in the Federal Register that the amendment is
available for public review and comment. The Council submitted its
final version of Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP to NMFS
for review on August 13, 2021. NMFS has declared a transmittal date of
August 30, 2021. The Council has reviewed the Amendment 21 proposed
rule regulations as drafted by NMFS and deemed them to be necessary and
appropriate as specified in section 303(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Background
The Atlantic sea scallop fishery is prosecuted along the East Coast
from Maine to Virginia, although most fishing activity takes place
between Massachusetts and New Jersey. Management measures were first
adopted in 1982, but there have been several major revisions to the
management program over the following decades.
Development of the Limited Access General Category (LAGC) Fishery
The Council established the general category component as an open
access permit category in 1994 while developing a limited access
program for qualifying vessels (now the limited access component).
Through Amendment 11 to the Scallop FMP (73 FR 20090; April 14, 2008),
the Council transitioned the general category component from open
access to limited access to limit fishing mortality and control fleet
capacity. The Council's vision for the LAGC component was a fleet made
up of relatively small vessels, with possession limits to maintain the
historical character of this fleet and provide opportunities to various
participants, including vessels from smaller coastal communities.
Amendment 11 established three LAGC permit categories, which allowed
for continued participation in the general category fishery at varying
levels. Vessels that met a qualifying criteria were issued an LAGC
individual fishing quota (IFQ) permit and allocated quota based on the
`contribution factor' (i.e., if you fished longer and landed more
during the qualification period, you received a higher allocation).
General category permit holders that did not meet the qualifying
criteria for an LAGC IFQ permit were eligible to receive either an LAGC
Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) permit or LAGC incidental permit. Limited
access vessels that fished under general category rules and qualified
under the same IFQ qualification criteria were issued LAGC IFQ permits
and allocated a portion of (0.5 percent) of the total scallop
allocation. Unlike vessels with only LAGC IFQ permits, limited access
vessels that also qualified for an LAGC IFQ permit were not allowed to
transfer quota to or from other vessels.
NGOM Management Area
The Council also established the NGOM Management Area and permit
category through Amendment 11. The area was developed to enable
continued fishing and address concerns related to conservation,
administrative burden, and enforceability of scallop fishing within the
Gulf of Maine. Amendment 11 authorized vessels with either an LAGC NGOM
permit or LAGC IFQ permit to fish within the NGOM Management Area at a
200 lb per day (91 kg per day) trip limit until the annual total
allowable catch (TAC) for the area is caught. The Council did not
recommend restrictions on limited access vessels fishing in the NGOM
because the improved management and abundance of scallops in the major
resource areas on Georges Bank and in the Mid-Atlantic region made
access to Gulf of Maine scallops less important for the limited access
boats and general category boats from other regions. From 2008 through
2017, limited access vessels were able to operate in the NGOM
management area under days-at-sea (DAS) management as long as the LAGC
TAC had not been caught. The initial measures were intended to allow
directed scallop fishing in the NGOM, and the Council envisioned that
management of this area would be reconsidered if the scallop population
and fishery in the NGOM grew in the future.
From 2009-2015 the NGOM TAC of 70,000 lb (31,751 kg) was not
caught, and the fishery remained open for the entire year. In fishing
years 2016 and 2017, there was a notable increase in effort in the NGOM
management area by both LAGC and limited access vessels fishing the
large year class of scallops on Stellwagen Bank, located mostly within
the NGOM. Monitoring removals by the limited access component in the
NGOM was challenging because vessels could fish both inside and outside
NGOM management area while fishing DAS on the same trip.
In response to the increase in effort and landings in the NGOM area
in 2016 and 2017, the Council developed the following problem statement
for the Federal scallop fishery in the NGOM management area: Recent
high landings and unknown biomass in the NGOM Scallop Management Area
underscore the critical need to initiate surveys and develop additional
tools to better manage the area and fully understand total removals.
Recent actions have developed measures that allow managers to track
fishing effort and landings by all components from the NGOM management
area. The NGOM TAC is now based on recent survey information, with
separate TACs for the limited access and LAGC components. These
measures were intended to be a short-term solution to allow controlled
fishing in the NGOM management area until a future action (this action)
could be developed to address NGOM issues more holistically.
LAGC IFQ Possession Limits
The initial general category possession limit was set at 400 lb
(181 kg) per trip through Amendment 4 (59 FR 2757; January 19, 1994).
In 2007, Amendment 11 maintained the general category possession limit
of 400 lb (181 kg) for qualifying IFQ vessels. Amendment 15 (76 FR
43746; July 21, 2011) increased the LAGC IFQ possession limit to 600 lb
(272 kg) following concerns from industry members that the 400-lb (181-
kg) possession limit was not economically feasible due to increased
operating costs. The 200-lb (91-kg) trip limit increase was not
expected to change the nature of the ``day boat'' fishery and would
keep the LAGC IFQ component consistent with the vision statement laid
out by the Council in Amendment 11. The Council recently completed a
program review of the LAGC IFQ fishery and analyzed the impacts of
changes to IFQ trip limits. This review found that increasing the
possession limit for IFQ trips would increase flexibility in
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fishing decisions, which could improve safety. Further, a higher
possession limit would provide increased fishing revenue and vessel
profit. The results of the program review are summarized in the
Amendment 21 scoping document, which can be found at this website:
<a href="https://www.nefmc.org/library/amendment-21">https://www.nefmc.org/library/amendment-21</a>.
Quota Transfers by Limited Access/LAGC IFQ Vessels
Amendment 15 allowed LAGC IFQ permit holders to permanently
transfer some or all of their quota allocation to another LAGC IFQ
permit holder while retaining the permit itself. During development of
Amendment 15, the Council considered an option that would have included
limited access permit holders that also have LAGC IFQ permits (combo
vessels) in this allowance; however, the Council opted against this
option because it would change the overall 5-percent and 0.5-percent
allocations specified in Amendment 11. For example, the 5-percent
allocation would be expected to increase if a combo vessel permanently
transferred quota to an LAGC IFQ-only vessel and, therefore, would have
implications on quota accumulation caps that apply to LAGC IFQ-only
permit holders (i.e., 5-percent maximum for owners, 2.5-percent maximum
for individual vessels).
The Council initiated Amendment 21 to consider adjusting the
management of the NGOM to allow for more controlled access by the
limited access and LAGC components, to increase monitoring to support a
growing directed scallop fishery in Federal waters, and to consider
adjusting the LAGC IFQ program to support overall economic performance
while allowing for continued participation in the general category
fishery at varying levels. To address these issues the Council approved
Amendment 21 at its September 2020 meeting. Amendment 21 would:
<bullet> Change the Annual Catch Limit flow chart to account for
biomass in the NGOM as part of the Overfishing Limit and the Acceptable
Biological Catch to be consistent with other portions of scallop
resource management;
<bullet> Develop landing limits for all permit categories in the
NGOM and establish an 800,000-lb (362,874 kg) NGOM Set-Aside trigger
for the NGOM directed fishery, with a sharing agreement for access by
all permit categories for allocation above the trigger. Allocation
above the trigger would be split 5 percent for the NGOM fleet and 95
percent for limited access and LAGC IFQ fleets;
<bullet> Expand the scallop observer program to monitor directed
scallop fishing in the NGOM by using a portion of the NGOM allocation
to off-set monitoring costs;
<bullet> Allocate 25,000 lb (11,340 kg) of the NGOM allocation to
increase the overall Scallop Research Set-Aside (RSA) and support
Scallop RSA compensation fishing;
<bullet> Increase the LAGC IFQ possession limit to 800 lb (363 kg)
per trip only for access area trips;
<bullet> Prorate the daily observer compensation rate in 12-hour
increments for observed LAGC IFQ trips longer than 1 day; and
<bullet> Allow for temporary transfers of IFQ from limited access
vessels with IFQ to LAGC IFQ-only vessels.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act allows us to approve, partially approve,
or disapprove measures recommended by the Council in an amendment based
on whether the measures are consistent with the FMPs, plan amendment,
the Magnuson-Stevens Act and its National Standards, and other
applicable law. The Council develops policy for its fisheries and we
defer to the Council on policy decisions unless those policies are
inconsistent with the Magnuson-Steven Act or other applicable law. As
such, we are seeking comment on whether measures in Amendment 21 are
consistent with the FMP, the Magnuson-Stevens Act and its National
Standards, and other applicable law. Through this notice, NMFS seeks
comments on Amendment 21 and its incorporated documents through the end
of the comment period stated in the DATES section of this notice of
availability (NOA). Following the publication of this NOA a rule
proposing the implementation of measures in this amendment is
anticipated to be published in the Federal Register for public comment.
Public comments must be received by the end of the comment period
provided in this NOA of Amendment 21 to be considered in the approval/
disapproval decision. All comments received by the end of the comment
period on the NOA, whether specifically directed to the NOA or the
proposed rule, will be considered in the approval/disapproval decision.
Comments received after the end of the comment period for the NOA will
not be considered in the approval/disapproval decision of Amendment 21.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: September 2, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-19367 Filed 9-2-21; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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