Proposed Rule2021-26504
Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Amendment 53
Primary source
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Published
December 9, 2021
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 53 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), Amendment 53 would modify the allocation of Gulf red grouper catch between the commercial and recreational sectors, specify a new overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC), and revise sector annual catch limits (ACLs) and annual catch targets (ACTs). The purposes of Amendment 53 are to revise the red grouper sector allocations using the best scientific information available and to modify the allowable harvest of red grouper based on results of the recent stock assessment.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 234 (Thursday, December 9, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 234 (Thursday, December 9, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 70078-70081]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26504]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 622
RIN 0648-BK77
Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic;
Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Amendment 53
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Council)
has submitted Amendment 53 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef
Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) for review, approval, and
implementation by NMFS. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce
(Secretary), Amendment 53 would modify the allocation of Gulf red
grouper catch between the commercial and recreational sectors, specify
a new overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC),
and revise sector annual catch limits (ACLs) and annual catch targets
(ACTs). The purposes of Amendment 53 are to revise the red grouper
sector allocations using the best scientific information available and
to modify the allowable harvest of red grouper based on results of the
recent stock assessment.
DATES: Written comments must be received by February 7, 2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on Amendment 53 identified by
``NOAA-NMFS-2021-0098'' by either of the following methods:
<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-
[[Page 70079]]
NMFS-2021-0098'' in the Search box. Click the ``Comment'' icon,
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
<bullet> Mail: Submit all written comments to Peter Hood, NMFS
Southeast Regional Office, 263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL
33701.
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 Amendment 53, which includes an environmental
impact statement, a fishery impact statement, a Regulatory Flexibility
Act analysis, and a regulatory impact review, and electronic copies of
a minority report submitted by four Council members, may be obtained
from <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> or the Southeast Regional Office website at
<a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/amendment-53-e">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/amendment-53-e</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Hood, NMFS Southeast Regional
Office, telephone: 727-824-5305, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#19697c6d7c6b377176767d5977767878377e766f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7000150415025e181f1f14301e1f11115e171f06">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires each regional
fishery management council to submit any FMP or amendment to NMFS for
review and approval, partial approval, or disapproval. The Magnuson-
Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an FMP or
amendment, publish an announcement in the Federal Register notifying
the public that the FMP or amendment is available for review and
comment.
The Council prepared the FMP being revised by Amendment 53, and, if
approved, Amendment 53 would be implemented by NMFS through regulations
at 50 CFR part 622 under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Unless otherwise noted, all weights in this document are in gutted
weight.
Background
Red grouper in the Gulf exclusive economic zone (EEZ) are found
primarily in the eastern Gulf on offshore hard bottom areas and are
managed as a single stock with commercial and recreational ACLs and a
sector ACTs. The allocation of the ACL between the commercial and
recreational sectors is currently 76 percent commercial and 24 percent
recreational and was set through Amendment 30B to the FMP (74 FR 17603;
April 16, 2009).
Commercial red grouper fishing is managed under the Grouper-
Tilefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program, which began January 1,
2010 through Amendment 29 to the FMP (74 FR 44732; August 31, 2009 and
75 FR 9116; March 1, 2010). Under the IFQ program, the commercial red
grouper quota is based on the commercial sector's red grouper ACT
(commercial quota), and red grouper allocation is distributed on
January 1 of each year to those who hold red grouper shares. Both red
grouper and gag, another grouper species managed under the IFQ program,
have a multi-use provision that allows a portion of the red grouper
quota to be harvested under the gag allocation, and vice versa. The
multi-use provision is based on the difference between the respective
ACLs and ACTs, and is explained in more detail below.
The recreational red grouper harvest is managed with catch limits,
in-season and post-season accountability measures (AMs), season and
area closures, a minimum size limit, and a recreational bag limit. The
in-season AM for red grouper requires NMFS to close the recreational
sector for the remainder of the fishing year when red grouper landings
reach or are projected to reach the recreational ACL. If recreational
landings exceed the red grouper recreational ACL in a fishing year, the
post-season AM requires NMFS to shorten the length of the following
recreational fishing season by the amount necessary to ensure landings
do not exceed the recreational ACT. If the red grouper stock is
overfished, NMFS must also reduce the ACL and ACT by the amount of the
recreational ACL overage in the prior year. The recreational red
grouper AMs were implemented in 2012 (77 FR 6988; February 10, 2012)
and were modified in 2013 (78 FR 6218; January 30, 2013).
In 2018, the Council received a recommendation from its Scientific
and Statistical Committee (SSC) to reduce the red grouper commercial
and recreational ACLs and ACTs, effective for the 2019 fishing year.
This recommendation was based on an interim red grouper analysis
conducted by the Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC). The
Council also heard concerns from fishermen about the condition of the
red grouper stock because commercial and recreational harvests had been
well below the respective quota and ACL. The SSC did not feel
comfortable recommending a new acceptable biological catch based on the
analysis but determined that the analysis did support recommending that
the Council reduce the 2019 total ACL from 10.70 million lb (4.85
million kg) to 4.60 million lb (2.09 million kg). The Council noted the
severe red tide conditions that occurred in the summer and fall of 2018
off the Florida west coast, and decided to further reduce the total ACL
to an amount equivalent to the 2017 harvest of 4.16 million lb (1.89
million kg). The Council took action by initially requesting an
emergency rule to reduce red grouper ACLs and ACTs (84 FR 22389, May
17, 2019), and then making the harvest reductions permanent in a
subsequent framework action (84 FR 52036; October 1, 2019).
The Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) 61 assessment
was completed in September 2019, and used updated recreational catch
and effort data from the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP)
Access Point Angler Intercept Survey (APAIS) and Fishing Effort Survey
(FES). MRIP began incorporating a new survey design for APAIS in 2013
and replaced the Coastal Household Telephone Survey (CHTS) with FES in
2018. Prior to the implementation of MRIP in 2008, recreational
landings estimates were generated using the Marine Recreational
Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS). As explained in Amendment 53,
total recreational fishing effort estimates generated from MRIP FES are
generally higher than both the MRFSS and MRIP CHTS estimates. For
example, the current red grouper total ACL and recreational ACL in MRIP
CHTS units are 4.16 million lb (1.89 million kg) and 1.00 million lb
(0.45 million kg), respectively. In MRIP-FES units, that red grouper
total ACL and recreational ACL would be an estimated 5.26 million lb
(2.39 million kg) and 2.10 million lb (0.95 million kg), respectively.
This difference is because MRIP FES is designed to more accurately
measure fishing activity, not because there was a sudden rise in
fishing effort. NMFS developed calibrations models to adjust historic
effort estimates so that they can be accurately compared to new
estimates from MRIP FES. The calibration methodologies are discussed in
Section 1.1 of Amendment 53 as well as in the SEDAR 61 final report. In
addition, a publication titled ``Survey Design and Statistical Methods
for Estimation of Recreational Fisheries Catch and Effort'' explains
the different
[[Page 70080]]
recreational fishing surveys and the time-series calibration methods,
and can be found at <a href="https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2021-09/MRIP-Survey-Design-and-Statistical-Methods-2021-09-15.pdf">https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2021-09/MRIP-Survey-Design-and-Statistical-Methods-2021-09-15.pdf</a>. This publication
explains the different recreational fishing surveys and the time-series
calibration methods.
The SEDAR 61 assessment concluded that the Gulf red grouper stock
is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring, but that as of
2017, the stock remained below the spawning stock biomass (SSB) at 30
percent of the spawning potential ratio (SPR), where SPR is the ratio
of SSB to its unfished state. Based on the results of SEDAR 61, the
Council's SSC recommended an OFL of 5.35 million lb (2.43 million kg)
and an acceptable biological catch (ABC) of 4.90 million lb (2.22
million kg). Because these catch levels are in MRIP-FES units, the
recommended ABC appears to be larger than the current total ACL of 4.16
million lb (1.89 million kg), but would actually result in a decrease
in allowable harvest when compared to the 5.26 million lb (2.39 million
kg) MRIP-FES equivalent. In addition, these catch level recommendations
assumed status quo sector allocations for red grouper, which were based
in part on 1986-2005 MRFSS landings estimates from 1986-2005. As
explained in Amendment 53, retaining the current allocation would
increase the commercial ACL but substantially decrease the recreational
ACL when comparing like units. Therefore, the Council requested that
the SSC review alternative catch level projections based on sector
allocation alternatives that used MRIP-FES data and several time series
(1986-2005, 1986-2009, and 1986-2018). The SSC reviewed these
alternative sector allocation scenarios, affirmed that the SEDAR 61
(2019) assessment, which included MRIP-FES recreational landings,
represented the best scientific information available, and provided
alternative catch level recommendations based on the allocation
alternatives.
The commercial-recreational allocation impacts the catch level
projections produced by the assessment. As more of the total ACL is
allocated to the recreational sector, the proportion of recreational
discards increases. Recreational discard mortality rates are assumed to
be less than commercial discard mortality rates but the magnitude of
recreational discards is considerably greater than commercial discards.
Generally, a fish caught and released by a recreational fishermen has a
greater likelihood of survival than by a commercial fishermen because
of how and where they fish. However, because of the much higher numbers
of red grouper that are released by the recreational sector vs the
commercial sector, the total number of discards that die from the
recreational fishing exceeds those from the commercial fishing. This
results in additional mortality for the stock and a lower projected
annual yield, which means a lower OFL, ABC, and total ACL. However,
this is not due to any change in how the recreational sector prosecutes
the fishery but occurs because MRIP-FES estimates higher levels of
fishing effort, and consequently a greater number of fish being caught,
which includes discards and the associated mortality of discarding
fish.
Actions Contained in Amendment 53
Amendment 53 includes actions to set the sector allocations, OFL,
ABC, sector ACLs, and sector ACTs for the red grouper stock in the
Gulf.
Sector Allocation, OFL, and ABC
The current allocation is 76 percent commercial and 24 percent
recreational. This allocation was set through Amendment 30B to the FMP
in 2009 using commercial and recreational landings data from 1986-2005.
This was the longest series available and was derived from the MRFSS.
The current red grouper recreational ACL and ACT are in MRIP CHTS
units. Therefore, although recreational landings are estimated using
MRIP FES, they are converted to MRIP CHTS units to compare to the
applicable recreational catch limit.
In Amendment 53, the Council considered several allocation
alternatives: Maintaining the current allocation, maintaining the
current commercial ACL and allocating the remaining pounds to the
recreational sector, and using the various time series reviewed by the
SSC to adjust the allocation to reflect the most recent understanding
of historical landings. The Council decided to adjust the allocation
using the same years used to set the current allocation in Amendment
30B to the FMP (1986-2005). The Council determined that this would best
represent the historic landings for the years used in Amendment 30B
while accounting for the change from MRFSS data to MRIP-FES data.
Because the MRIP-FES landings estimates are greater than the previous
estimates of recreational landings estimates, the commercial-
recreational allocation would shift from 76 percent and 24 percent,
respectively, to 59.3 percent and 40.7 percent, respectively. Based on
the results of SEDAR 61 and using the proposed allocation of 59.3
percent commercial and 40.7 percent recreational, the Council's SSC
recommended an OFL of 4.66 million lb (2.11 million kg) and an ABC of
4.26 million lb (1.93 million kg).
ACLs and ACTs
The total ACL would be equal to the ABC, or 4.26 million lb (1.93
million kg). Applying the allocation of 59.3 percent commercial and
40.7 percent recreational results in a 2.53 million lb (1.15 million
kg) commercial ACL and a 1.73 million lb (0.78 million kg) recreational
ACL in MRIP FES units. When compared to the current estimated
recreational ACL in MRIP-FES units of 2.10 million lb (0.95 million kg)
and current commercial ACL of 3.16 million lb (1.43 million kg) and,
the Council's preferred alternative results in a reduction in the ACLs
for the commercial and recreational sectors of approximately 20 percent
and 18 percent, respectively.
The Council did not apply the ACL/ACT Control Rule to set the
commercial buffer between the ACL and ACT. Normally, a sector managed
using an IFQ program without a commercial quota overage during its
reference period (as was the case for the 2016-2019 reference period)
used by the Council for red grouper, would yield a 0 percent buffer
from the control rule. However, both the red grouper and gag share
categories in the IFQ program have a multi-use provision that allows a
portion of the red grouper quota to be harvested under the gag multi-
use allocation, and vice versa. Each year, the IFQ program assigns a
portion of each shareholder's red grouper and gag as a multi-use
allocation category. The intent of the multi-use provision is to
provide for allocation if either gag or red grouper are landed as
incidental catch. The amount of multi-use allocation is dependent on
the difference in pounds between the commercial ACL and ACT. Therefore,
the Council decided to maintain the current 5 percent buffer between
the commercial red grouper ACL and ACT.
The Council did apply the ACL/ACT Control Rule to set the
recreational sector buffer between the ACL and ACT. The ACL/ACT Control
rule adjusts the buffer between the recreational ACL and ACT based on a
number of factors, including the number and magnitude of ACL overages
in the reference period, AMs in place to account for any ACL overages,
and the method by which the ACL is monitored. Applying the control rule
to 2016-2019 MRIP FES landings data yielded a buffer of 9 percent, one
percentage point above the current 8 percent buffer.
[[Page 70081]]
Applying the commercial and recreational buffers to the proposed
2.53 million lb (1.15 million kg) commercial ACL and the 1.73 million
lb (0.78 million kg) recreational ACL yields a proposed commercial ACT
of 2.40 million lb (1.09 million kg) and a recreational ACT of 1.57
million lb (0.71 million kg) in MRIP-FES units.
Minority Report
A minority report signed by four Council members raises several
objections to the preferred allocation in Amendment 53. The minority
report alleges the preferred allocation violates several provisions of
the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and that the Council did not act in
accordance with its allocation policy.
Proposed Rule for Amendment 53
A proposed rule to implement Amendment 53 has been drafted. In
accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NMFS is evaluating the
proposed rule for Amendment 53 to determine whether it is consistent
with the FMP, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law. If
that determination is affirmative, NMFS will publish the proposed rule
in the Federal Register for public review and comment.
Consideration of Public Comments
The Council has submitted Amendment 53 for Secretarial review,
approval, and implementation. Comments on Amendment 53 must be received
by February 7, 2022. Comments received during the respective comment
periods, whether specifically directed to Amendment 53 or the proposed
rule, will be considered by NMFS in its decision to approve, partially
approve, or disapprove Amendment 53. Comments received after the
comment periods will not be considered by NMFS in this decision. All
comments received by NMFS on Amendment 53 or the proposed rule during
their respective comment periods, as well as the issues raised in the
minority report, will be addressed in the final rule.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: December 1, 2021.
Ngagne Jafnar Gueye,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-26504 Filed 12-8-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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