Notice2022-05010
Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish and Red Drum Fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico; Amendments 48/5
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Published
March 9, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
Combined in a single document, the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) has submitted Amendment 48 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP for the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendments 48/5) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. Amendments 48/5 would establish or modify maximum sustainable yield (MSY) proxies, maximum fishing mortality thresholds (MFMTs), minimum stock size thresholds (MSSTs), and optimum yield (OY) for stocks in the Reef Fish and Red Drum FMPs. The need for this action is to have biological reference points that can be used for determining status of the stocks or stock complexes consistent with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 46 (Wednesday, March 9, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13274-13276]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-05010]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XB046
Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic;
Reef Fish and Red Drum Fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico; Amendments 48/5
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: Combined in a single document, the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf)
Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) has submitted Amendment 48 to
the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf
of Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP for the Red Drum Fishery of the
Gulf of Mexico (Amendments 48/5) for review, approval, and
implementation by NMFS. Amendments 48/5 would establish or modify
maximum sustainable yield (MSY) proxies, maximum fishing mortality
thresholds (MFMTs), minimum stock size thresholds (MSSTs), and optimum
yield (OY) for stocks in the Reef Fish and Red Drum FMPs. The need for
this action is to have biological reference points that can be used for
determining status of the stocks or stock complexes consistent with the
requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
DATES: Written comments on Amendments 48/5 must be received by May 9,
2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on Amendments 48/5 identified by
``NOAA-NMFS-2021-0023'' by either of the following methods:
<bullet> Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and enter ``NOAA-NMFS-2021-0023'' in the Search
box. Click on the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and
enter or attach your comments.
<bullet> Mail: Submit 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, 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).
Electronic copies of Amendments 48/5 may be obtained from
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> or the Southeast Regional Office website at <a href="http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov">http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov</a>. Amendments 48/5 includes an environmental
assessment and fishery impact statement.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Hood, NMFS Southeast Regional
Office, telephone: 727-824-5305, or email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#ea9a8f9e8f98c48285858eaa84858b8bc48d859c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6010051405124e080f0f04200e0f01014e070f16">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires each
regional fishery management council to submit any FMP or amendment to
the FMP to NMFS for review and approval, partial approval, or
disapproval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon
receiving a plan or amendment to the plan, to publish an announcement
in the Federal Register notifying the public that the FMP or amendment
to the FMP is available for review and comment.
Amendments 48/5 were prepared by the Gulf Council and, if approved,
would be incorporated into the management of Gulf reef fish and red
drum through the respective FMPs.
Background
The Magnuson-Stevens Act and the National Standard 1 Guidelines
require that FMPs specify a number of reference points for managed fish
stocks, including maximum sustainable yield (MSY) or MSY proxy, and
optimum yield, as well as status determination criteria (SDC),
including an MFMT or an overfishing limit (OFL), and an MSST. These SDC
represent the point at which a stock is determined to be overfished
(i.e., below MSST) or experiencing overfishing (i.e., above MFMT or
OFL). In 1999, the Gulf Council submitted the Generic Sustainable
Fisheries Act (SFA) Amendment, which proposed definitions of MSY, OY,
MFMT, and MSST for all reef fish stocks. NMFS approved most of the MFMT
criteria, but disapproved all of the definitions for MSY, OY, and MSST
because they were not based on biomass.
While NMFS refers to the document as ``Amendments 48/5'' in this
notice of availability, each amendment applies separately to the stocks
in the respective FMPs. Amendment 5 applies to the red drum stock.
Amendment 48 applies to several reef fish stocks and stock complexes
that either have not been assessed or were assessed but still require
stock status determinations. These include: Cubera snapper, lane
snapper, goliath grouper, the shallow-water grouper complex (scamp,
black grouper, yellowmouth grouper, and yellowfin grouper), the deep-
water grouper complex (yellowedge grouper, warsaw grouper, snowy
grouper, and speckled hind), the tilefish complex (golden tilefish,
blueline tilefish, and goldface tilefish), the jacks complex (lesser
amberjack, almaco jack, and banded rudderfish), and the mid-water
snapper complex (wenchman, silk snapper, blackfin snapper, and queen
snapper). Amendments 48/5 also addresses four reef fish stocks that
have been assessed and have known stock status determinations: Hogfish,
mutton snapper, yellowtail snapper, and black grouper. Amendment 43 to
the Reef Fish FMP established references points and SDC for hogfish.
However, OY for hogfish was not defined there and is addressed in
Amendments 48/5. Mutton snapper, yellowtail snapper, and black grouper,
which occur in both the Gulf Council and South Atlantic Fishery
Management Council areas of jurisdiction but are managed separately
under each Council's FMPs, have reference points and SDC specified in
the South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper FMP, but not in the Gulf Reef Fish
FMP. With respect to black grouper, that species is managed by the
South Atlantic Council as a single stock but is managed by the Gulf
Council as part of the shallow-water grouper complex.
Maximum Sustainable Yield
The MSY is the largest long-term average catch or yield that can be
taken from a stock or stock complex under
[[Page 13275]]
prevailing ecological, environmental conditions and fishery
technological characteristics (e.g., gear selectivity), and the
distribution of catch among fleets. However, the actual MSY can rarely
be estimated with certainty because of the difficulty in accurately
estimating the relationship between the size of the spawning stock and
the subsequent annual recruitment. As a result, proxies for MSY are
typically used because they are easier to measure. Generally, MSY
proxies used for fish species in the Gulf are based on some percentage
of spawning potential ratio (SPR) and are expressed as the yield when
fishing at F<INF>PROXY</INF> (where F is fishing mortality rate). In
using SPR, NMFS assumes that a certain amount of fish must survive and
spawn in order to replenish the stock, thus SPR represents the average
number of eggs per fish over its lifetime when the stock is fished,
compared to the average number of eggs per fish over its lifetime when
the stock is not fished. A sustainable SPR depends on the life history
of the species, but in general, is between 20 percent and 40 percent
for reef fish species. The advantage of using SPR as a proxy is that it
requires less information to calculate than MSY.
For reef fish stocks and stock complexes with the exception of
goliath grouper, the MSY proxy selected by the Gulf Council is the
yield when fishing at F30% SPR. This is the proxy most commonly
recommended by the Gulf Council's SSC for assessed reef fish stocks and
the SSC recommended this MSY proxy for the reef fish stocks and stock
complexes in Amendment 48. For goliath grouper, the Gulf Council
selected a more conservative MSY proxy because this species is more
vulnerable to overfishing because of its long life-span and slow growth
rate. The goliath grouper MSY proxy is the yield when fishing at F40%
SPR. The MSY proxies for goliath grouper, mutton snapper and yellowtail
snapper are consistent with MSY proxy selected by the South Atlantic
Council.
The harvest of red drum is prohibited in Federal waters, but
fishing is allowed in state waters under management measures developed
by the respective Gulf state marine fisheries agencies. These agencies
manage the stock to achieve a 30 percent escapement rate from state to
Federal waters. Thus, Amendments 48/5 would define the red drum MSY
proxy as the yield that provides for an escapement rate of juvenile
fish to the spawning stock biomass (SSB) equivalent to 30 percent of
those that would have escaped had there been no inshore state-waters
fishery.
Amendments 48/5 would also adopt a streamlined procedure for future
specification of the MSY proxies for reef fish stocks and red drum.
This procedure would allow the Gulf Council to adopt an MSY proxy
recommended by the SSC by including a discussion of the change in a
plan amendment. If the Council chooses to use this procedure, which
would not include the consideration of alternatives to the MSY proxy
recommended by the SSC, NMFS expects the Council to document its
rationale for that decision. If more than one MSY proxy is supported by
the best scientific information available, NMFS expects the Council to
provide an appropriate analysis of these alternatives.
Maximum Fishing Mortality Thresholds
MFMT is the rate of fishing mortality above which a stock is
experiencing overfishing. Overfishing can also be determined using the
OFL, which is the annual amount of catch that corresponds to fishing at
MFMT. Consistent with the Generic Annual Catch Limits and
Accountability Amendment, NMFS uses the MFMT to determine overfishing
for stocks or stock complexes that have stock assessments only in years
in which a stock assessment is conducted. For other years, and for
stocks or stock complexes without stock assessments, NMFS uses catch
compared to the OFL to determine overfishing.
The Generic SFA Amendment set MFMT equal to F50% SPR for goliath
grouper, equal to F30% SPR for red drum, and equal to F30% SPR for all
reef fish stocks except red snapper (MFMT = F26% SPR). To keep MFMT
consistent with the proposed MSY proxies, Amendments 48/5 would set
this threshold for the relevant stocks equal to the F at the MSY proxy
for each stock or stock complex as discussed above.
Minimum Stock Size Thresholds
The MSST is a biomass reference point that measures how many fish
are left in the water rather than how many fish are caught, and
determines at what biomass level a stock or stock complex is
overfished. The MSST can be specified in terms of pounds of fish,
numbers of fish, or the expected egg production from the SSB of the
adult stock. The long-term average size of a stock that results from
harvesting at MSY is called the biomass at MSY (B<INF>MSY</INF>). If
the stock level falls below B<INF>MSY</INF>, it cannot sustain harvest
at the MSY level without further depletion. However, biomass may
fluctuate over time because of changes in environmental conditions,
recruitment to the stock, or other variables. Because of these natural
fluctuations, the MSST is generally set at some level below
B<INF>MSY</INF>, but cannot be set lower than 50 percent of
B<INF>MSY</INF>. The greater the difference between B<INF>MSY</INF> and
MSST, the less likely a stock is to be declared overfished, but the
more difficult it may be to rebuild the stock back to B<INF>MSY</INF>
should the stock size fall below MSST<INF>.</INF>
In Amendments 48/5 the Council considered several alternatives for
MSST that would apply to all of the stocks and stock complexes for
which the Council is also establishing MSY and MFMT. These alternatives
ranged from (1-M)*B<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy), where M is the natural
mortality, to 0.50*B<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy), and the Council chose to
set MSST for these stocks and stock complexes at 0.75*B<INF>MSY</INF>
(or proxy). This value is between the B<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy) stock
level and the 50 percent of B<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy) level used by
the Gulf Council for assessed reef fish stocks as defined in Amendment
44 to the Reef Fish FMP. The Gulf Council determined that this more
conservative value is appropriate for the unassessed stocks and stock
complexes addressed in Amendments 48/5. The Council also considered and
selected an additional alternative that would apply only to those
individual stocks that span both the South Atlantic and Gulf Councils'
areas of jurisdiction and would set MSST consistent with the MSST
specified by the South Atlantic Council. These stocks are goliath
grouper, black grouper, mutton snapper, and yellowtail snapper. The
MSST specified by the South Atlantic Council is 0.75*B<INF>MSY</INF>
(or proxy) for black grouper, mutton snapper, and yellowtail snapper,
and (1-M)*B<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy) for goliath grouper.
As discussed previously, and unlike the South Atlantic Council, the
Gulf Council manages black grouper as part of the shallow water grouper
complex, not as a single stock. Therefore, although black grouper was
included in preferred alternative 5 that addressed the other three
stocks that span both the South Atlantic and Gulf Councils' areas of
jurisdiction, Amendment 48 does not consider specifying an MSY for
black grouper as a single stock. Instead, consistent with the Gulf
Council's current management of this stock, Amendment 48 would specify
an MSY for the entire shallow-water grouper complex, which includes
black grouper. NMFS invites specific comments on the part of Amendments
48/5 that proposes to specify MSST for black grouper as a single stock.
[[Page 13276]]
Optimum Yield
The Magnuson-Stevens Act and NS1 guidelines state that OY is based
on MSY as reduced by relevant economic, social, or ecological factors.
Additionally, the NS1 guidelines state that OY should include some
consideration of uncertainty. If the estimates of MFMT and current
biomass are known with a high level of certainty, and management
controls can accurately limit catch, then OY could be set very close to
MSY, assuming no other reductions are necessary for social, economic,
or ecological factors. However, OY cannot exceed MSY. To the degree
that such MSY estimates and management controls are lacking or
unavailable, OY should be reduced farther from MSY.
For the assessed reef fish stocks that are not addressed in
Amendments 48/5, the Gulf Council has defined OY as the yield from
fishing at some percentage of F<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy). However, the
NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) staff and the Gulf
Council's SSC have recommended against specifying OY as the yield at a
certain value of F. They have suggested instead that OY be a percentage
of MSY for three reasons: (1) If OY is specified as a percentage of
F<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy), SEFSC staff would need to provide two sets
of yield projections when running stock assessments (one for MSY and
one for OY), adding complexity to the projections; (2) it is possible
that the calculated long-term yield at the F<INF>OY</INF> proxy could
be greater than the calculated long-term yield at the F<INF>MSY</INF>
proxy, which would be inconsistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and
NS1 guidelines; and (3) defining OY as a percent of MSY is more
intuitive and easier to understand than using a percentage of the
F<INF>MSY</INF> proxy to define OY. Therefore, the Gulf Council
proposes setting OY at 90 percent of the MSY or MSY proxy for all reef
fish stocks addressed in Amendments 48/5 with the exception of goliath
grouper.
For goliath grouper, the Council proposes using the ratio between
the annual catch limit (ACL) and OFL to determine how much the OY
should be reduced from the MSY. This relationship accounts for
scientific and management uncertainty and would apply that knowledge to
guide where OY should be set relative to MSY for this stock. Because
possession of goliath grouper is prohibited, the OY value would be
zero.
For red drum, the Gulf Council decided to keep the existing OY
definition, which is based on a 1987 SEFSC stock assessment that
concluded under certain escapement rates of juveniles, the stock could
rebuild. This OY definition is: (1) All red drum commercially and
recreationally harvested from Gulf state waters landed consistent with
state laws and regulations under a goal of allowing 30 percent
escapement of the juvenile population; and (2) all red drum
commercially or recreationally harvested from the Primary Area
(Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama) of the exclusive economic zone
(EEZ) under the total allowable catch (TAC) level and allocations
specified under the provisions of the Red Drum FMP, and a zero-
retention level from the Secondary Areas (Florida and Texas) of the
EEZ. The red drum TAC for the Gulf EEZ has been zero since 1988 with
the implementation of Amendment 2 to the Red Drum FMP and harvest in
the EEZ is prohibited (53 FR 34662; June 29, 1988). Therefore, to
achieve the OY, the Gulf states have independently and cooperatively
implemented red drum regulations to achieve a 30 percent or greater
escapement rate to the spawning stocks for each year class.
Procedural Aspects of Amendments 48/5
The Council has submitted Amendments 48/5 for Secretarial review,
approval, and implementation. NMFS' decision to approve, partially
approve, or disapprove Amendments 48/5 will be based, in part, on
consideration of comments, recommendations, and information received
during the comment period on this notice of availability. After
consideration of these factors, and consistency with the Magnuson-
Stevens Act and other applicable laws, NMFS will publish a notice of
agency decision in the Federal Register announcing the Agency's
decision to approve, partially approve, or disapprove Amendments 48/5.
Because none of the measures included in the amendments involve
regulatory changes, no proposed or final rule is required at this time.
If approved, the provisions of Amendments 48/5 would not be specified
in regulations but would be considered amendments to the respective
FMPs.
Consideration of Public Comments
Comments on Amendments 48/5 must be received by May 9, 2022.
Comments received during the comment period for this notice of
availability will be considered by NMFS in its decision to approve,
partially approve, or disapprove Amendments 48/5. Comments received
after the comment period will not be considered by NMFS in this
decision. All comments received by NMFS during the comment period will
be addressed in the notice of agency decision.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: March 3, 2022.
Ngagne Jafnar Gueye,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-05010 Filed 3-8-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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