Notice2021-19380
Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Halibut Abundance-Based Management of Amendment 80 Prohibited Species Catch Limit
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Published
September 8, 2021
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
This DEIS is prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to assess the environmental impacts from alternatives associated with a proposed management measure to link the Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) prohibited species catch (PSC) limit for the Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl fleet in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries to halibut abundance. The objectives of linking the PSC limit are to minimize halibut PSC to the extent practicable under National Standard 9 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and to achieve optimum yield in the BSAI groundfish fisheries on a continuing basis under National Standard 1. The action would also be expected to provide incentives for the Amendment 80 fleet to minimize halibut mortality at all times. Achievement of these objectives could result in additional harvest opportunities in the commercial halibut fishery.
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)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50331-50333]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19380]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XB330]
Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement
for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Halibut Abundance-Based
Management of Amendment 80 Prohibited Species Catch Limit
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft environmental impact
statement (DEIS); request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This DEIS is prepared pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) to assess the environmental impacts from alternatives
associated with a proposed management measure to link the Pacific
halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) prohibited species catch (PSC) limit
for the Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl fleet in the Bering
Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries to halibut
abundance. The objectives of linking the PSC limit are to minimize
halibut PSC to the extent practicable under National Standard 9 of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and to
achieve optimum yield in the BSAI groundfish fisheries on a continuing
basis under National Standard 1. The action would also be expected to
provide incentives for the Amendment 80 fleet to minimize halibut
mortality at all times. Achievement of these objectives could result in
additional harvest opportunities in the commercial halibut fishery.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 25, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2021-0074,
by any of the following methods:
[[Page 50332]]
<bullet> Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and enter NOAA-NMFS-2021-0074 in the Search box.
Click the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or
attach your comments.
<bullet> Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region
NMFS, Attn: Records Office. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK
99802-1668.
Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other
address or individual, 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 viewing on
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address), 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).
Electronic copies of the DEIS may be obtained from <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> or from the NMFS Alaska Region website at <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/bycatch/bering-sea-and-aleutian-islands-bsai-halibut-abundance-based-management">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/bycatch/bering-sea-and-aleutian-islands-bsai-halibut-abundance-based-management</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph Krieger, telephone: 907-586-
7221.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The International Pacific Halibut Commission
(IPHC) and NMFS manage Pacific halibut fisheries through regulations
established under the authority of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of
1982 (Halibut Act) (16 U.S.C. 773-773k). The IPHC adopts regulations
governing the target fishery for Pacific halibut under the Convention
between the United States of America and Canada for the Preservation of
the Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea
(Convention), signed at Ottawa, Ontario, on March 2, 1953, as amended
by a Protocol Amending the Convention (signed at Washington, DC, on
March 29, 1979). For the United States, regulations governing the
fishery for Pacific halibut developed by the IPHC are subject to
acceptance by the Secretary of State with concurrence from the
Secretary of Commerce. After acceptance by the Secretary of State with
the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce, NMFS publishes the IPHC
regulations in the Federal Register as annual management measures
pursuant to 50 CFR 300.62. IPHC and NMFS regulations authorize the
harvest of halibut in commercial, personal use, sport and subsistence
fisheries by hook-and-line gear and pot gear. In the BSAI, (which
largely coincides with IPHC Regulatory Area 4 (hereafter referred to as
``Area 4'') and its five subsareas (ABCDE)), halibut is harvested in
all of these fisheries.
Section 5(c) of the Halibut Act also provides the North Pacific
Fisheries Management Council (Council) with authority to develop
regulations that are in addition to, and not in conflict with, approved
IPHC regulations. The Council has exercised this authority in the
development of Federal regulations for the halibut fishery such as (1)
subsistence halibut fishery management measures, codified at 50 CFR
300.65; (2) the limited access program for charter vessels in the
guided sport fishery, codified at Sec. 300.67; and (3) the Individual
Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program for the commercial halibut and sablefish
fisheries, codified at 50 CFR part 679, under the authority of Section
5 of the Halibut Act and Section 303(b) of the MSA.
The Council manages the groundfish fisheries of the BSAI under the
authority of the MSA and the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish
for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI FMP). National Standard 9
of the MSA requires that fishery conservation and management measures
shall, to the extent practicable: (1) Minimize bycatch; and (2) to the
extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such
bycatch.
In the BSAI FMP, the Council has designated Pacific halibut, along
with several other fully utilized species such as salmon, herring, and
crab species, as ``prohibited species'' in the groundfish fisheries
(Section 3.6.1 of the BSAI FMP). By regulation, the operator of any
vessel fishing for groundfish in the BSAI must minimize the catch of
prohibited species (Sec. 679.21(a)(2)(i)). The Council has also set
catch limits for individual PSC species, which are defined in BSAI FMP
Section 3.6.2.1. Under the designation as a PSC species; their capture
is required to be avoided; and their retention is prohibited except
when retention is required or authorized by other applicable law.
Unintended removals of prohibited species are separately monitored and
controlled under the BSAI FMP.
The Council does not have authority to set catch limits for the
commercial halibut fisheries, and halibut PSC in the groundfish
fisheries is only one of the factors that affects harvest limits for
the commercial halibut fisheries. Nonetheless, halibut PSC in the
groundfish fisheries is a significant portion of total mortality in
BSAI IPHC areas and has the potential to affect catch limits for the
commercial halibut fisheries in Area 4 under the current IPHC harvest
policy. While the impact of halibut PSC reductions on catch limits for
commercial halibut fisheries is dependent on IPHC policy and management
decisions, reductions to the current Amendment 80 halibut PSC limit in
the BSAI could provide additional harvest opportunities in the BSAI
commercial halibut fishery.
A Notice of Intent to prepare this DEIS was published in the
Federal Register on December 12, 2017 (82 FR 58374). This DEIS analyzes
alternative management measures to link the Pacific halibut PSC limit
for the Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl fleet in the BSAI
groundfish fisheries to halibut abundance. The Council is considering a
program that provides incentives for the fleet to minimize halibut
mortality at all times, that could promote conservation of the halibut
stock, and may provide additional opportunities for the directed
halibut fishery.
Pacific halibut is targeted in Alaska in commercial, personal use,
recreational (sport), and subsistence halibut fisheries. Halibut has
significant social, cultural, and economic importance to fishery
participants and communities throughout the geographic range of the
resource. Halibut is also incidentally taken as bycatch in commercial
groundfish fisheries.
The Council is examining abundance-based approaches to set the
halibut PSC limit for the Amendment 80 sector in the BSAI. Currently
halibut PSC limits for groundfish fishery sectors are set in the BSAI
FMP at a fixed amount of halibut mortality in metric tons. When halibut
abundance declines, halibut PSC becomes a larger proportion of total
halibut removals and can result in lower catch limits for directed
halibut fisheries. This action is limited to the Amendment 80 sector
because that sector is responsible for the majority of BSAI halibut
mortality in the groundfish fisheries. In light of the continued
decline of the halibut stock, both the Council and the IPHC have
expressed concern about impacts on directed halibut fisheries under the
status quo and identified abundance-based halibut PSC limits as a
potential management approach to address these concerns.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
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Dated: September 2, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-19380 Filed 9-7-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 8, 2021.
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