Rule2023-16231
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Gulf of Maine Cod Trimester Total Allowable Catch Area Closure for the Common Pool Fishery
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 1, 2023
Effective
July 27, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
This action closes the Gulf of Maine Cod Trimester Total Allowable Catch Area to Northeast multispecies common pool vessels fishing with trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear, through August 31, 2023. The closure is required because the common pool fishery is projected to have caught over 90 percent of its Trimester 1 quota for Gulf of Maine cod. This closure is intended to prevent an overage of the common pool's quota for this stock.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 146 (Tuesday, August 1, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 146 (Tuesday, August 1, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 50065-50066]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16231]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 220711-0151; RTID 0648-XD202]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast
Multispecies Fishery; Gulf of Maine Cod Trimester Total Allowable Catch
Area Closure for the Common Pool Fishery
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; area closure.
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SUMMARY: This action closes the Gulf of Maine Cod Trimester Total
Allowable Catch Area to Northeast multispecies common pool vessels
fishing with trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear,
through August 31, 2023. The closure is required because the common
pool fishery is projected to have caught over 90 percent of its
Trimester 1 quota for Gulf of Maine cod. This closure is intended to
prevent an overage of the common pool's quota for this stock.
DATES: This action is effective July 27, 2023, through August 31, 2023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Spencer Talmage, Fishery Policy
Analyst, (978) 281-9232.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Federal regulations at Sec.
648.82(n)(2)(ii) require the Regional Administrator to close a common
pool Trimester Total Allowable Catch (TAC) Area for a stock when 90
percent of the Trimester TAC is projected to be caught. The closure
applies to all common pool vessels fishing with gear capable of
catching that stock, and remains in effect for the remainder of the
trimester. During the closure, affected common pool vessels may not
fish for, harvest, possess, or land regulated multispecies or ocean
pout in or from the Trimester TAC Area for the stock.
The Trimester 1 TAC for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod is 9,480 lb
(pounds) (4.3 metric tons (mt)). Catch data (including landings and
discards) indicate that the common pool fishery caught 9,066 lb (4.1
mt) of GOM cod, or
[[Page 50066]]
95.6 percent of the Trimester 1 TAC, through July 18, 2023. Based on
best available data, we estimate that the common pool has achieved over
90 percent of the Trimester 1 TAC.
Effective July 27, 2023, the GOM Cod Trimester TAC Area is closed
for the remainder of Trimester 1, through August 31, 2023. The GOM Cod
Trimester TAC Area consists of statistical areas, 513 and 514. During
the closure, common pool vessels fishing with trawl gear, sink gillnet
gear, and longline/hook gear, may not fish for, harvest, possess, or
land regulated multispecies or ocean pout in or from this area. The
area reopens at the beginning of Trimester 1 of fishing year 2023 on
September 1, 2023.
If a vessel declared its trip through the Vessel Monitoring System
(VMS) or the interactive voice response system, and crossed the VMS
demarcation line prior to July 27, 2023, it may complete its trip
within the GOM Cod Trimester TAC Area. A vessel that has set gillnet
gear prior to July 27, 2023, may complete its trip by hauling such
gear.
If the common pool fishery exceeds its annual sub-Allowable Catch
Limit (sub-ACL) for a stock in the 2023 fishing year, the overage must
be deducted from the common pool's sub-ACL for that stock for fishing
year 2024.
Weekly quota monitoring reports for the common pool fishery are on
our website at: <a href="https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/ro/fso/reports/h/nemultispecies.html">https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/ro/fso/reports/h/nemultispecies.html</a>. We will continue to monitor common pool
catch through vessel trip reports, dealer-reported landings, VMS catch
reports, and other available information and, if necessary, will make
additional adjustments to common pool management measures.
Classification
This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from
review under Executive Order 12866. The Assistant Administrator for
Fisheries, NOAA, finds good cause pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and 5
U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for public
comment and the 30-day delayed effectiveness period because it would be
impracticable and contrary to the public interest.
The regulations require the Regional Administrator to close a
trimester TAC area to the common pool fishery when 90 percent of the
Trimester TAC for a stock has been caught. Updated catch information
through July 18, 2023, only recently became available indicating that
the common pool fishery is projected to have caught 90 percent of its
Trimester 1 TAC for GOM cod. The time necessary to provide for prior
notice and comment, and a 30-day delay in effectiveness, would prevent
the immediate closure of the GOM Cod Trimester TAC Area. This would be
contrary to the regulatory requirement and would increase the
likelihood that the common pool fishery would exceed its annual quota
of GOM cod. Any overage of the Trimester 1 TAC is deducted from the
Trimester 3 TAC, and any overage of the annual quota would be deducted
from common pool's quota for the next fishing year, to the detriment of
this stock. This could undermine conservation and management objectives
of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Fishermen expect
these closures to occur in a timely way to prevent overages and their
payback requirements. Overages of the trimester or annual common pool
quota could cause negative economic impacts to the common pool fishery
as a result of overage paybacks deducted from a future trimester or
fishing year.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: July 26, 2023.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-16231 Filed 7-27-23; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on August 1, 2023.
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