Notice2022-17464
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits
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
August 15, 2022
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application submitted by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed Exempted Fishing Permits.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 156 (Monday, August 15, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 156 (Monday, August 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50071-50072]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17464]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XC192]
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic
Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary
determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application submitted by
the Gulf of Maine Research Institute contains all of the required
information and warrants further consideration. Regulations under the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require
publication of this notification to provide interested parties the
opportunity to comment on applications for proposed Exempted Fishing
Permits.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 30, 2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by the following method:
<bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c2acafa4b1eca5a3b0eca7a4b282acada3a3eca5adb4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="99f7f4ffeab7fef8ebb7fcffe9d9f7f6f8f8b7fef6ef">[email protected]</span></a>. Include in the subject line
``GMRI Third-Party DSM Pilot EFP.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Claire Fitz-Gerald, Fishery Policy
Analyst, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#46252a272f342368202f323c6b212334272a22062829272768212930"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8ae9e6ebe3f8efa4ece3fef0a7edeff8ebe6eecae4e5ebeba4ede5fc">[email protected]</span></a>, (978) 281-9255.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI)
submitted a complete application for an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP)
to pilot a third-party dockside monitoring (DSM) program in support of
maximized retention electronic monitoring (MREM) for the Northeast
multispecies fishery. The groundfish sector MREM program currently
operates under an EFP and NMFS administers an accompanying DSM program
to collect catch information. MREM will be implemented in regulation as
part of Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management
Plan during fishing year 2022. Measures implementing Amendment 23 were
published in a proposed rule on February 28, 2022 (87 FR 11014).
Amendment 23 was approved on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce on
April 12, 2022; it will be implemented through a final rule in 2022,
although the timing is uncertain. Amendment 23 aims to improve the
reliability and accountability of catch reporting in the commercial
groundfish fishery.
NMFS will continue to administer the DSM program while we finalize
program standards and requirements, after which we will transition the
program in an industry-funded model and sectors will contract directly
with third-party providers for DSM services. GMRI intends to support
this transition by administering a DSM pilot program with contracted
third-party providers to achieve two main objectives: To provide
increased DSM capacity; and explore innovative alternatives to the
existing DSM program. If approved, this EFP would exempt participants
from the MREM DSM regulation included in the Amendment 23 proposed rule
at 50 CFR 648.11(l)(10)(i)(D). The EFP would exempt vessels in the MREM
program from the requirement to participate in either an independent
third-party DSM program approved by NMFS or the DSM program operated by
NMFS. We intend to align issuance of this EFP, if approved, with the
implementation of Amendment 23. Given this, we are notifying the public
of our intent to issue the EFP and soliciting comments now even though
we have yet to publish the final rule with implementing regulations for
Amendment 23.
Under the EFP, GMRI and its contracted third-party providers would
provide additional DSM capacity for fishing year 2022 by overseeing
some offloads for MREM vessels. GMRI and its contracted third-party
providers would coordinate with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center
(NEFSC) to deploy DSM services as needed, and would collect data
required under the MREM program. In particular, the DSM program is
responsible for: Verifying that the fish hold is empty after offload;
independently recording dealer-reported weights; and collecting
biosamples with an emphasis on sub-legal groundfish. GMRI and its
contracted third-party providers would give the information collected
to NEFSC for data entry and quality assurance and control.
The DSM pilot program would also explore innovative alternatives to
existing protocols to collect catch information, and provide support to
sectors, fishermen, and dealers. For example, innovations may include,
but are not limited to, alternative program designs (e.g., subsampling)
and technological solutions to data collection. GMRI would work with
NMFS to identify innovations suitable for exploration and testing. The
ultimate objective of the EFP would be to develop cost-effective and
efficient DSM protocols to meet program standards and requirements that
work across a variety of fishing and offload strategies.
The third-party DSM EFP would start when Amendment 23 is
implemented and would operate through the remainder of fishing year
2022 (i.e., until April 30, 2023). NMFS expects approximately 12
vessels to enroll in MREM during fishing year 2022. Participating
vessels would land at the following ports, although this list may
change if new vessels join the program: Portland ME, Gloucester MA,
Boston MA, and New Bedford MA. Cumulatively, MREM vessels are expected
to take 250-300 trips. GMRI would work closely with NMFS to deploy DSM
staff to vessels and ensure full DSM coverage in accordance with
program requirements. All other regulations and conditions would still
apply, including adherence to vessels' approved sector operations
plans, EM plans, and vessel monitoring plans.
If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and
extensions to the EFP throughout the year as well as modifications
resulting from changes to the regulations for the DSM program included
in the Amendment 23 final rule. EFP modifications and extensions may be
granted without further notice if they are deemed essential to
facilitate completion of the proposed research
[[Page 50072]]
and have minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the
initially approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside
the scope of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: August 9, 2022.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-17464 Filed 8-12-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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