Rule2022-12339
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
June 8, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS announces the approval of 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), which are combined in a single document as submitted by the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council). Amendments 48/5 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 110 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 110 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 34811-34813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-12339]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 622
[RTID 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 Agency decision.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the approval of 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), which are combined in a single document as submitted
by the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council).
Amendments 48/5 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
[[Page 34812]]
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: The amendment was approved June 3, 2022.
ADDRESSES: 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 include 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#b8c8ddccddca96d0d7d7dcf8d6d7d9d996dfd7ce"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c0b0a5b4a5b2eea8afafa480aeafa1a1eea7afb6">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS and the Gulf Council manage the Gulf
reef fish fishery and the red drum fishery under the respective FMPs.
The Gulf Council prepared the FMPs and NMFS implements the FMPs through
regulations at 50 CFR part 622 under the authority of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. Amendments 48/5 were prepared by the Gulf Council and will
be incorporated into the management of Gulf reef fish and red drum
through the respective FMPs.
Background
On March 9, 2022, NMFS published a notice of availability (NOA) for
Amendments 48/5 and requested public comment (87 FR 13274). NMFS did
not receive any public comments on the NOA.
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 Agency decision, 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.
The NOA includes a detailed description of the biological
references points and status determination criteria established in
Amendments 48/5. A summary is provided below.
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 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.
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 F<INF>30</INF><INF>%</INF> <INF>SPR</INF>. 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 F<INF>40</INF><INF>%</INF> <INF>SPR</INF>.
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, Amendment 5 defines 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 also adopt a streamlined procedure for future
specification of the MSY proxies for reef fish stocks and red drum that
will 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
Gulf 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 Gulf 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 Gulf 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. To keep MFMT consistent with the proposed MSY
proxies, Amendments 48/5 set this threshold for the relevant stocks
equal to the F at the MSY proxy for each stock or stock complex as
discussed above.
[[Page 34813]]
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>). 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.
In Amendments 48/5 the Gulf Council set MSST at
0.75*B<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy) for all of the stocks and stock
complexes for which the Council also established an MSY and MFMT. The
Gulf 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 specifies an
MSY for the entire shallow-water grouper complex, which includes black
grouper.
NMFS is approving the MSST for the shallow-water grouper complex as
well as the MSST for black grouper, both of which are specified in
Amendment 48 as 0.75*B<INF>MSY</INF> (or proxy). However, because
Amendment 48 did not establish an MSY or MFMT for black grouper, NMFS
encourages the Gulf Council to do so. Having the complete suite of
biological reference points and SDC for black grouper in both the South
Atlantic and Gulf FMPs would help inform the next stock assessment,
which is scheduled to be complete in 2025.
Optimum Yield
Amendment 48 sets set OY at 90 percent of the MSY or MSY proxy for
all reef fish stocks addressed in the amendment with the exception of
goliath grouper. For goliath grouper, the Council set OY at zero, which
reflects that harvest is prohibited.
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
Because none of the measures included in the amendments involve
regulatory changes, no proposed or final rule was prepared. The
provisions of Amendments 48/5 are not specified in Federal regulations
but are considered an amendment to the respective FMPs.
Comments and Responses
NMFS did not receive any public comments on the NOA, either in
favor of, or in opposition to approving Amendments 48/5. There have
been no changes to Amendments 48/5 based on NOA public comment.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: June 3, 2022.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-12339 Filed 6-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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