Proposed Rule2023-25064
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Mid-Atlantic Blueline Tilefish and Golden Tilefish Fisheries; 2024 Specifications
Primary source
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Published
November 14, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
In this action, NMFS proposes to maintain status quo harvest limits for the 2024 golden tilefish and blueline tilefish fisheries north of the North Carolina/Virginia border, to shift the recreational season for blueline tilefish to May 15 through November 14, and to modify regulations to reflect the January 1 start date of the golden tilefish fishing year. The proposed action is necessary to establish allowable harvest levels and other management measures to prevent overfishing while allowing optimum yield, consistent with the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 218 (Tuesday, November 14, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 218 (Tuesday, November 14, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 77944-77947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25064]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 231107-0264]
RIN 0648-BM55
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Mid-Atlantic
Blueline Tilefish and Golden Tilefish Fisheries; 2024 Specifications
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.
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[[Page 77945]]
SUMMARY: In this action, NMFS proposes to maintain status quo harvest
limits for the 2024 golden tilefish and blueline tilefish fisheries
north of the North Carolina/Virginia border, to shift the recreational
season for blueline tilefish to May 15 through November 14, and to
modify regulations to reflect the January 1 start date of the golden
tilefish fishing year. The proposed action is necessary to establish
allowable harvest levels and other management measures to prevent
overfishing while allowing optimum yield, consistent with the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Tilefish
Fishery Management Plan.
DATES: Comments must be received on December 14, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by
NOAA-NMFS-2023-0121, by any 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-2023-0121 in the Search box.
Click on the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter
or attach your comments.
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="https://www.regulations.gov">https://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).
Copies of the supporting documents for these proposed
specifications are available from Dr. Christopher M. Moore, Executive
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 800 North State
Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901. These documents are also accessible
via the internet at <a href="https://www.mafmc.org">https://www.mafmc.org</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas Potts, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#26424953414a4755085649525255664849474708414950"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="86e2e9f3e1eae7f5a8f6e9f2f2f5c6e8e9e7e7a8e1e9f0">[email protected]</span></a>,
978-281-9241.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The golden tilefish and blueline tilefish fisheries north of the
North Carolina/Virginia border are managed by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council (the Council) under the Tilefish Fishery Management
Plan (FMP), which outlines the Council's process for establishing
annual specifications. The Tilefish FMP requires the Council to
recommend acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limit (ACL),
annual catch target (ACT), total allowable landings (TAL), and other
management measures for the commercial and recreational sectors of the
fisheries. The Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC)
provides ABC recommendations for both species to the Council to derive
these catch limits. The Council makes recommendations to NMFS that
cannot exceed the recommendation of its SSC. The Council's
recommendations must include supporting documentation concerning the
environmental, economic, and social impacts of the recommendations. We
are responsible for reviewing these recommendations to ensure that they
achieve the FMP objectives and are consistent with all applicable laws.
Following review, NMFS publishes the final specifications in the
Federal Register.
Proposed Specifications
The proposed 2024 specifications for blueline and golden tilefish
are detailed in Tables 1 and 2. These values are status quo from 2023
and are unchanged from the projected 2024 specifications we previously
announced in the final rule for the 2022-2024 Blueline Tilefish
Specifications (87 FR 66245, November 3, 2022) and the final rule for
Framework Adjustment 7 to the Tilefish FMP (87 FR 67830, November 10,
2022).
Table 1--Proposed Blueline Tilefish 2024 Specifications
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABC--North of NC/VA line....................... 100,520 lb (45.6 mt).
Recreational ACL/ACT........................... 73,380 lb (33.3 mt).
Commercial ACL/ACT............................. 27,140 lb (12.3 mt).
Recreational TAL............................... 71,912 lb (32.6 mt).
Commercial TAL................................. 26,869 lb (12.2 mt).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2--Proposed Golden Tilefish 2024 Specifications
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABC............................................ 1,964,319 lb (891 mt).
ACL............................................ 1,964,319 lb (891 mt).
IFQ fishery ACT................................ 1,763,478 lb (800 mt).
Incidental fishery ACT......................... 92,815 lb (42 mt).
IFQ fishery TAL = IFQ ACT (no discards 1,763,478 lb (800 mt).
permitted in fishery).........................
Incidental fishery TAL = Incidental fishery 75,410 lb (42 mt).
ACT--discards.................................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This action would not change the landing limits for the commercial
fisheries. A vessel fishing under a Federal commercial tilefish vessel
permit would continue to be prohibited from possessing more than 500
pounds (lb) (227 kilograms (kg)) of gutted golden tilefish at any time,
or 50 percent, by weight, of the total of all species, including golden
tilefish, being landed (whichever is less). This landing limit does not
apply to a vessel authorized to land golden tilefish under a Tilefish
IFQ permit. A vessel fishing under a commercial tilefish permit would
also continue to be prohibited from possessing more than 500 lb (227
kg) of gutted blueline tilefish per trip. If 70 percent of the blueline
tilefish commercial TAL is landed, the Regional Administrator may
reduce the blueline tilefish possession limit to 300 lb (136 kg).
This action would not change the recreational management measures
for golden or blueline tilefish, other than the season change discussed
below. Any vessel used to fish recreationally for golden or blueline
tilefish must have the appropriate Federal vessel permit. Boats used to
take anglers for hire must have the Charter/Party Tilefish Permit while
private recreational vessels need to have the Private Recreational
Tilefish Permit. Both permit types require the submission of vessel
trip reports. Additional information about permitting and reporting
requirements is available from the Greater Atlantic Regional
[[Page 77946]]
Fisheries Office's Permits Office at (978) 282-8438 or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#16585b504538515744384673647b7f6265567879777738717960"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0846454e5b264f495a26586d7a65617c7b4866676969266f677e">[email protected]</span></a>.
The golden tilefish recreational possession limit for charter/party
and private recreational anglers is 8 golden tilefish per angler per
trip. Anglers may not retain golden tilefish unless exclusively using
rod and reel fishing gear with a maximum limit of 5 hooks per rod. The
blueline tilefish recreational possession limit depends on the type of
fishing vessel. Anglers fishing from a private vessel that has been
issued a valid Federal Tilefish Private Recreational Permit are allowed
to keep up to 3 blueline tilefish per person per trip. Anglers fishing
from a for-hire vessel that has been issued a valid Federal Tilefish
Party/Charter Permit but does not have a current U.S. Coast Guard
safety inspection sticker can retain up to 5 blueline tilefish per
person per trip. Finally, anglers on for-hire vessels that have both a
valid Federal Tilefish Party/Charter Permit and a current U.S. Coast
Guard safety inspection sticker can retain up to 7 blueline tilefish
per person per trip.
The 2024 fishing year for golden tilefish and blueline tilefish
will begin on January 1, 2024. The regulations include rollover
provisions for both species that would allow the fisheries to operate
under status quo specifications if this action is not finalized before
then.
Blueline Tilefish Recreational Season
At its June 2023 meeting, the MAFMC voted to recommend changing the
recreational season for blueline tilefish from May 1 through October 31
to May 15 through November 14. The Council had received feedback from
participants in this fishery suggesting the recreational blueline
tilefish season be shifted forward by about 2 weeks to better match the
recreational black sea bass season in most states. In some areas,
anglers report it is common to catch black sea bass when targeting
blueline tilefish or to stop and target black sea bass on their way out
to blueline tilefish fishing grounds. Therefore, the recommendation was
intended to better align the blueline tilefish season with the black
sea bass season in most states in an effort to minimize regulatory
black sea bass discards as well as to help control temporal efforts on
both fisheries. A review of both angler feedback as well as vessel trip
report data from for-hire vessels suggests shifting the recreational
blueline tilefish season to May 15 to November 14 would help reduce
black sea bass discards with minimal impact on the blueline tilefish
recreational fishery and would result in no change to the number of
days of the current blueline tilefish recreational season.
Corrections
The final rule to implement Framework Adjustment 7 to the Tilefish
FMP (87 FR 67830, November 10, 2022) moved the start of the fishing
year for golden tilefish from November 1 to January 1. However, the
rule did not change the following ancillary dates in the regulations
that derive from the start of the fishing year, including: the date by
which an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) permit application must be
submitted to ensure the IFQ permit is issued before the start of the
fishing year; the date when an IFQ permit ceases to be valid (i.e., the
last day of the fishing year); and the cut-off date for submitting an
IFQ transfer application for the current fishing year. This rule
proposes to adjust those dates in the regulations based on January 1
being the start of the fishing year.
Classification
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the NMFS
Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is
consistent with the Tilefish FMP, other provisions of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, and other applicable law, subject to further consideration
after public comment.
This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business
Administration (SBA) that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities.
The 2024 harvest quotas in this rule are status quo and were
previously certified not to have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory Flexibility
Act during the rulemaking for the 2022-2024 Specifications for the
Blueline Tilefish Fishery (87 FR 66245, November 3, 2022) and Framework
Adjustment 7 to the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan (87 FR 67830,
November 10, 2022). No comments were received that would change those
previous certifications.
The new management measures proposed by this action apply to vessel
owners participating in the recreational blueline tilefish fishery. A
total of 535 affiliates had a federal party/charter permit for tilefish
during 2020-2022.
For Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes, NOAA's National Marine
Fisheries Service has established a size standard for small businesses,
including their affiliated operations, whose primary industry is
commercial fishing (see 50 CFR 200.2). A business primarily engaged in
commercial fishing (NAICS code 11411) is classified as small if it is
independently owned and operated, is not dominant in its field of
operation (including its affiliates), and has combined annual receipts
not in excess of $11.0 million for all its affiliated operations
worldwide. The Small Business Administration has established size
standards for all other major industry sectors in the U.S., including
defining for-hire fishing firms (NAICS code 487210) as small when their
receipts are less than or equal to $8 million. All of the 535
affiliates with Federal party/charter permits were categorized as small
businesses based on their average 2018-2022 revenues. Of these, 249
affiliates reported that the majority of their revenues in 2022 came
from for-hire fishing.
The proposed recreational season for blueline tilefish would not
result in a change to the number of fishing days and is unlikely to
significantly affect the timing of when anglers can fish for this
species. The proposed change would not likely result in a change in the
number of for-hire trips, for-hire revenues, or overall impacts to
recreational for-hire businesses, assuming all other factors which
affect revenues remain unchanged, and, as a result, this action will
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities. As a result, an initial regulatory flexibility analysis is
not required and none has been prepared.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648
Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: November 7, 2023.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, NMFS proposes to amend 50
CFR part 648 as follows:
PART 648--FISHERIES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
0
1. The authority citation for part 648 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
0
2. In Sec. 648.294, revise paragraphs (b)(1)(ii), (b)(2) and (3), and
(e)(4) to read as follows:
[[Page 77947]]
Sec. 648.294 Golden tilefish individual fishing quota (IFQ) program.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(1) * * *
(ii) Renewal applications. Applications to renew an IFQ allocation
permit must be received by November 15 to be processed in time for the
January 1 start of the next fishing year. Renewal applications received
after this date may not be approved, and a new permit may not be issued
before the start of the next fishing year. An IFQ allocation permit
holder must renew his/her IFQ allocation permit on an annual basis by
submitting an application for such permit prior to the end of the
fishing year for which the permit is required. Failure to renew an IFQ
allocation permit in any fishing year will result in any IFQ quota
share held by that IFQ allocation permit holder to be considered
abandoned and relinquished.
(2) Issuance. Except as provided in subpart D of 15 CFR part 904,
and provided an application for such permit is submitted by November
15, as specified in paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section, NMFS shall
issue annual IFQ allocation permits on or before December 31 to those
who hold IFQ quota share as of November 1 of the current fishing year.
From November 1 through December 31, permanent transfer of IFQ quota
share is not permitted, as described in paragraph (e)(4) of this
section.
(3) Duration. An annual IFQ allocation permit is valid until
December 31 of each fishing year unless it is suspended, modified, or
revoked pursuant to 15 CFR part 904; revised due to a transfer of all
or part of the IFQ quota share or annual IFQ allocation under paragraph
(e) of this section; or suspended for non-payment of the cost recovery
fee as described in paragraph (h)(4) of this section.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
(4) Application for an IFQ allocation transfer. Any IFQ allocation
permit holder applying for either permanent transfer of IFQ quota share
or temporary transfer of annual IFQ allocation must submit a completed
IFQ Allocation Transfer Form, available from NMFS. The IFQ Allocation
Transfer Form must be submitted to the NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional
Fisheries Office at least 30 days before the date on which the
applicant desires to have the IFQ allocation transfer effective. The
Regional Administrator shall notify the applicants of any deficiency in
the application pursuant to this section. Applications for permanent
IFQ quota share allocation transfers must be received by November 1 to
be processed and effective before annual IFQ allocations are issued for
the next fishing year. Applications for temporary IFQ allocation
transfers must be received by December 10 to be processed for the
current fishing year.
* * * * *
0
3. In Sec. 648.296, revise paragraph (b) introductory text to read as
follows:
Sec. 648.296 Tilefish recreational possession limits and gear
restrictions.
* * * * *
(b) Blueline tilefish. The recreational blueline tilefish fishery
is open May 15 through November 14, and closed November 15 through May
14.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2023-25064 Filed 11-13-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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