Rule2021-23653
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 2021-2022 Biennial Specifications and Management Measures; Inseason Adjustments
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 29, 2021
Effective
October 26, 2021
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
This final rule announces routine inseason adjustments to management measures in commercial groundfish fisheries. This action is intended to allow commercial fishing vessels to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting rebuilding and depleted stocks.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 207 (Friday, October 29, 2021)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 207 (Friday, October 29, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 59876-59886]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-23653]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
[Docket No. 201204-0325]
RIN 0648-BK95
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off West Coast States;
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 2021-2022 Biennial Specifications and
Management Measures; Inseason Adjustments
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
[[Page 59877]]
ACTION: Final rule; inseason adjustments to biennial groundfish
management measures.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This final rule announces routine inseason adjustments to
management measures in commercial groundfish fisheries. This action is
intended to allow commercial fishing vessels to access more abundant
groundfish stocks while protecting rebuilding and depleted stocks.
DATES: This final rule is effective October 26, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sean Matson, email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c7b4a2a6a9e9aaa6b3b4a8a987a9a8a6a6e9a0a8b1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8efdebefe0a0e3effafde1e0cee0e1efefa0e9e1f8">[email protected]</span></a>.
ADDRESSES:
Electronic Access
This rule is accessible via the internet at the Office of the
Federal Register website at <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov">https://www.federalregister.gov</a>. Background
information and documents are available at the Pacific Fishery
Management Council's website at <a href="http://www.pcouncil.org/">http://www.pcouncil.org/</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (PCGFMP) and
its implementing regulations at title 50 in the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), part 660, subparts C through G, regulate fishing for
over 90 species of groundfish off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and
California. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) develops
groundfish harvest specifications and management measures for 2 year
periods (i.e., a biennium). NMFS published the final rule to implement
harvest specifications and management measures for the 2021-2022
biennium for most species managed under the PCGFMP on December 11, 2020
(85 FR 79880). In general, the management measures set at the start of
the biennial harvest specifications cycle help the various sectors of
the fishery attain, but not exceed, the catch limits for each stock.
The Council, in coordination with Pacific Coast Treaty Indian Tribes
and the States of Washington, Oregon, and California, recommends
adjustments to the management measures during the fishing year to
achieve this goal.
At its meeting on September 9-15, 2021, the Council recommended
increasing trip limits for the Limited Entry (LE) and Open Access (OA)
Fixed Gear (FG) sablefish, Daily Trip Limit (DTL) fisheries north of
36[deg] N latitude. The Council also recommended increasing trip limits
for the fixed gear lingcod fishery, north of 42[deg] N latitude (LE and
OA), beginning as soon as possible, for the remainder of the 2021
fishing year and for subsequent September-December periods in later
years until superseded.
Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries are managed using harvest
specifications or limits (e.g., overfishing limits [OFL], acceptable
biological catch [ABC], annual catch limits [ACL] and harvest
guidelines [HG]) recommended biennially by the Council and based on the
best scientific information available at that time (50 CFR 660.60(b)).
During development of the harvest specifications, the Council also
recommends management measures (e.g., trip limits, area closures, and
bag limits) that are meant to manage catch so as not to exceed the
harvest specifications. The harvest specifications and management
measures developed for the 2021-2022 biennium used data through the
2020-fishing year. Each of the adjustments to management measures
discussed below are based on updated fisheries information that was
unavailable when the analysis for the current harvest specifications
was completed. As new fisheries data becomes available, projected
impacts of management measures are updated, and the management measures
themselves may need to be adjusted so as to help harvesters achieve but
not exceed the harvest limits.
Sablefish is an important commercial species on the West Coast,
targeted by vessels using both bottom trawl and fixed gear (longlines
and pots/traps). The sablefish stock is managed with a coast-wide OFL
and ABC, but with separate ACLs, north and south of 36[deg] N latitude.
In 2021, the ACL for sablefish north of 36[deg] N latitude is 6,892
metric tons (mt) with a fishery HG of 6,165 mt. The fishery HG north of
36[deg] N latitude is further divided between the LE FG and OA sectors
with 90.6 percent, or 5,586 mt, going to the LE sector and 9.4 percent,
or 580 mt, going to the OA sector. The LE share is divided so that 58
percent goes to trawl and 42 percent goes to FG. The LE FG share is
further divided between the sablefish primary (tier) fishery (85% or
1,994 mt) and the daily trip limit (DTL) fisheries (15% or 352 mt), as
shown in Table 1c. to Title 50, part 660, subpart C of the CFR. The
sablefish DTL fisheries are individually managed using landing targets
(Table 1), which have accounted for discard mortality a priori, by
subtracting 4.5 percent from the DTL catch share. This same method of
accounting for discard mortality to calculate the landing target is
also used in managing the OA sablefish DTL fishery, north of 36[deg] N
latitude (Table 1).
Lingcod is another important commercial species on the West Coast,
and like sablefish, caught by vessels with both trawl and fixed gear
(longlines and pots/traps). The lingcod stock is managed separately
north and south of 40[deg]10' N latitude, with a northern ACL of 5,369
mt in 2021, a fishery HG of 5,090.6 mt, and a northern trawl fixed gear
allocation of 2,290.8, or 45 percent of the HG, and a northern non-
trawl allocation of 2,799.8, or 55 percent. Lingcod north of 40[deg]10'
N latitude are additionally managed north and south of 42[deg] N
latitude, typically with different trip limits set north and south of
that management line.
Request, Analysis, and Council Recommendation
At the September 2021 Council meeting, the Council's Groundfish
Management Team (GMT) received requests from industry members and
members of the Council's Groundfish Advisory Subpanel to examine the
potential to increase sablefish trips limits for the fixed gear, LE and
OA DTL fisheries north of 36[deg] N lat., and to increase trip limits
for lingcod north of 42[deg] N latitude. The intent of increasing the
sablefish limits is to increase harvest opportunities for vessels
targeting sablefish, under a mix of daily, weekly, and bimonthly
landings accumulation limits (commonly referred to collectively as
``trip limits''); attainment of harvest targets for each DTL fishery,
and the northern fixed gear HG for sablefish have been trending much
lower than anticipated throughout 2021. To evaluate potential increases
to sablefish trip limits, the GMT made model-based projections of
landings under current regulations, as well as alternative sablefish
trip limits, including the limits ultimately recommended by the
Council, through the remainder of the year. Table 1 shows the projected
sablefish landings, the sablefish harvest targets, and the projected
attainment percentage by fishery under both the current trip limits and
the Council's recommended adjusted trip limits. These projections were
based on the most recent catch information available through early
September 2021. Industry did not request changes to sablefish trip
limits for the LE or OA DTL fisheries south of 36[deg] N latitude.
Therefore, NMFS and the Council did not consider changes for those
fisheries at this time.
As shown in Table 1, under the current trip limits, models predict
that landings of sablefish will be far below the harvest targets for
LE, and OA fixed
[[Page 59878]]
gear sablefish DTL fisheries north of 36[deg] N lat. Under the
Council's recommended trip limits, sablefish attainment is projected to
increase in the LE DTL fishery north of 36[deg] N latitude, from
between 54-59 percent attainment, up to between 86 and 95 percent. For
the OA DTL fishery, north of 36[deg] N latitude, the projected gains
are more modest (from between 53 and 60 percent attainment, to between
57 and 66 percent); however, the OA model is more uncertain and less
well informed than the LE model, the changes (both to LE and OA) should
allow some beneficial increase in attainment, while being sufficiently
precautionary.
Gear Restriction Necessary To Implement Council Recommended Trip Limits
These fixed gear, sablefish and lingcod fisheries include vessels
fishing with both hook-and-line and pot gears. West Coast groundfish
sablefish pot gear fisheries are considered Category II fisheries under
the Marine Mammal Protection Act List of Fisheries, indicating
occasional interactions with marine mammals, due to occasional
incidental mortality and serious injury to ESA-listed humpback whales
(the CA/OR/WA stock of humpback whales).
Because sablefish pot gear fisheries are Category II fisheries,
NMFS is required to issue a MMPA 101(a)(5)(E) permit for the taking of
marine mammals after making a negligible impact determination (NID).
NMFS issued a permit for the sablefish pot gear fisheries on September
4, 2013 (amended April 23, 2015 (80 FR 22709)), which expired on
September 4, 2016 (78 FR 54553). NMFS published a notice of proposed
issuance of a MMPA 101(a)(5)(E) permit and proposed NID on October 22,
2021 (86 FR 58641).
Due to lack of a final 101(a)(5)(E) permit, in this action NMFS is
only implementing the inseason increases to trip limits for those
vessels using non-pot/trap, fixed gears (e.g., longline and other hook-
and-line gears), in the LE and OA FG sablefish, DTL fisheries north of
36[deg] N latitude, as well as the fixed gear lingcod fishery, north of
42[deg] N latitude (LE and OA). Pot/trap gear cannot be used in the
affected sectors to land up to the higher September through December
trip limits for sablefish or lingcod, and vessels using pot/trap gear
are instead subject to the lower January through August limits.
Gear restrictions are common routine accountability measures (AMs)
in groundfish fisheries (50 CFR 660.60). Additionally, analogous
restrictions for vessels to adhere to the lower of two trip limits, in
situations of mixed limits for one species during the same period exist
in crossover provisions in the groundfish fishery, found at 50 CFR
660.60(h)(7). Crossover provisions normally apply to three activities:
Fishing on different sides of a management line, fishing in both the
limited entry and open access fisheries, or fishing in both the
Shorebased IFQ Program and the limited entry fixed gear fishery. Under
the most common scenario, crossover provisions hold a vessel that
fishes in areas with two different trip limits for the same species, to
the more restrictive of the two limits. The gear specific trip limits
implemented through this rule will be managed similar to cross-over
provisions.
Providing the trip limit increases with the additional gear
restriction still enables substantial additional opportunity as a
result of this action for those fishery participants who use longline
and other non-pot gear, although it may cause some reduction in benefit
versus without the gear restriction. The percentage contributions of
pot/trap versus longline gear types to landings over the past five
years provides some information about an upper bounds of potential
reduction in benefit due to the gear restriction on access to the
higher trip limits. Among fixed gear fisheries, in the LE DTL fishery
north of 36[deg] N lat., pot gear only accounted for 6.8 percent of
sablefish landings from 2016-2020 (some permits are dual-endorsed, for
both gear types), while in the OA DTL fishery north of 36[deg] N lat.,
pot gear accounted for 46 percent of sablefish landings. Just 22
percent of lingcod fixed gear landings (mt) were made using pot gear
over the same years in the DTL fishery, while 78 percent were made with
longline gear. In the FG OA fishery, only 0.6 percent of lingcod
landings were made with pot gear, and 99.4 percent with longline gear.
Given these gear distributions for landings in the affected sectors,
the GMT's analysis from the September meeting is still valid for this
inseason action, even though it was conducted using data that included
pot gear as well as longline, and trace amounts of other fixed gears.
Thus for both species, the majority of landings overall will be subject
to the increased trip limits, and this will provide substantial
additional opportunity, despite the gear restriction.
[[Page 59879]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.009
The Council also recommended changes to trip limits for lingcod
north of 42[deg] N latitude, after request from industry and analysis
by the GMT, in order to reduce regulatory discard, which results in
waste and lost revenue. Table 2 shows the current and recommended trip
limits for lingcod north of 42[deg] N latitude. Table 3 shows the
projected impacts of those limits to total mortality, and percent
attainment of the non-trawl allocation, north of 40[deg] 10' N
latitude. Projected impacts to total fishing mortality are nearly
identical, and well within the margin for error, but based on the
analysis by the GMT, the higher landing limits are predicted to convert
lost fish as discard, into landings and revenue, rather than inspire
additional effort. By maintaining the same level of effort, and total
fishing mortality, this increase in trip limits is not predicted to
increase bycatch of yelloweye rockfish, which is managed under a
rebuilding plan, and is a constraint to this fixed gear lingcod
attainment.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.010
[[Page 59880]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.011
Summary of Changes
Trip limit increases for sablefish are intended to increase
attainment of the LE and OA DTL fisheries, which each contribute to
attainment of the non-trawl HG for sablefish north of 36[deg] N
latitude. The trip limit increases do not change projected impacts to
co-occurring rebuilding species as analyzed in the 2021-2022 harvest
specifications because the projected impacts to those species assume
that the entire sablefish ACL is harvested. Recommended increases to
lingcod north of 42[deg] N latitude are intended to convert regulatory
discards into landings and associated revenue, and are not predicted to
increase effort or bycatch of co-occurring rebuilding species. NMFS is
only implementing the Council-recommended trip limits for vessels
fishing with fixed gear types other than pot/trap, due to the lack of a
final MMPA101(a)(5)(E) permit. Therefore, the Council recommended, and
NMFS is implementing, by modifying Table 2, North and South to part
660, subpart E, trip limit changes for the LEFG fishery north of
40[deg]10' N lat., as well as Table 3, North and South to part 660,
subpart F to increase the limits as shown in tables 4 and 5 in this
rule.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.012
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.013
Classification
This final rule makes routine inseason adjustments to groundfish
fishery management measures, based on the best scientific information
available, consistent with the PCGFMP and its implementing regulations.
This action is taken under the authority of 50 CFR 660.60(c) and is
exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.
The aggregate data upon which these actions are based are available
for public inspection by contacting Dr. Sean Matson in the West Coast
Region (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, above), or view at the
NMFS West Coast Groundfish website: <a href="http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/fisheries/groundfish/index.html">http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/fisheries/groundfish/index.html</a>.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b), NMFS finds good cause to waive prior
public notice and an opportunity for public
[[Page 59881]]
comment on this action, as notice and comment would be impracticable
and contrary to the public interest. The adjustments to management
measures in this document increase trip limits for fisheries off of
Washington, Oregon, and California to allow for greater attainment of
allocations. No aspect of this action is controversial, and changes of
this nature were anticipated in the final rule for the 2021-2022
harvest specifications and management measures which published on
December 11, 2020 (85 FR 79880).
As stated earlier, the Council recommended sablefish limit changes
to increase fisher opportunity to attain harvest targets and
allocations for their respective fisheries, and contribute to
attainment of the ACL. New information became available at the
September 2021 meeting showing that harvest was tracking much lower
than projections made during the harvest specifications process due to
changing fishery conditions. The updated trip limits being implemented
in this rule are anticipated to increase landings and fishing community
revenue, while maintaining harvest within scientifically informed
conservation limits, concomitant with the goals of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson Stevens Act).
The Council recommended increased lingcod landing limits to reduce
regulatory discard; new information became available at the 2021
September meeting indicating that current levels of landing limits were
having the unintended consequence of causing fishers to discard
substantial amounts of catch. Implementing the recommended trip limits
is projected to ameliorate this, without changing attainment rate of
the allocation, by enabling those fish to be landed rather than wasted,
and produce fisher and community revenue.
Delaying implementation to allow for public comment would reduce
the economic benefits to the commercial fishing industry and the
businesses that rely on that industry because it is unlikely the new
regulations would publish and could be implemented before the end of
the calendar year. Therefore, providing a comment period for this
action could significantly limit the economic benefits to the fishery,
and would hamper the achievement of optimum yield from the affected
fisheries.
Therefore, NMFS finds reason to waive the 30-day delay in
effectiveness pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1) so that this final rule
may become effective upon publication in the Federal Register. The
adjustments to management measures in this document affect commercial
fisheries by increasing opportunity and relieving participants of the
lower trip limits in light of information showing lower than usual
attainment. These adjustments were requested by the Council's advisory
bodies, as well as members of industry during the September 2021
meeting, and recommended unanimously by the Council. No aspect of this
action is controversial, and changes of this nature were anticipated in
the biennial harvest specifications and management measures established
through a notice and comment rulemaking for 2021-2022 (85 FR 79880).
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660
Fisheries, Fishing, Indian fisheries.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., and
16 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.
Dated: October 26, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 660 is amended
as follows:
PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES
0
1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., and
16 U.S.C. 7001 et seq.
0
2. Revise Table 2 (North) to part 660, subpart E, to read as follows:
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
[[Page 59882]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.014
0
3. Revise Table 2 (South) to part 660, subpart E, to read as follows:
[[Page 59883]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.015
0
4. Revise Table 3 (North) to part 660, subpart F, to read as follows:
[[Page 59884]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.016
0
5. Revise Table 3 (South) to part 660, subpart F, to read as follows:
[[Page 59885]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.017
[[Page 59886]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TR29OC21.018
[FR Doc. 2021-23653 Filed 10-28-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-C
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 29, 2021.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.