Rule2023-25365
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; White Hake 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
November 16, 2023
Effective
November 13, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
This action closes the White Hake Trimester Total Allowable Catch Area to Northeast multispecies common pool vessels fishing with trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear, except Handgear A and Handgear B vessels, through December 31, 2023. The closure is required because the common pool fishery is projected to have caught 90 percent of its Trimester 2 quota for white hake. 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 220 (Thursday, November 16, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 220 (Thursday, November 16, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 78676-78677]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25365]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 230810-0190]
RTID 0648-XD514
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast
Multispecies Fishery; White Hake 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 White Hake Trimester Total Allowable
Catch Area to Northeast multispecies common pool vessels fishing with
trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear, except Handgear
A and Handgear B vessels, through December 31, 2023. The closure is
required because the common pool fishery is projected to have caught 90
percent of its Trimester 2 quota for white hake. This closure is
intended to prevent an overage of the common pool's quota for this
stock.
DATES: This action is effective November 13, 2023, through December 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 2 TAC for white hake is 17,482 lb (pounds) (7.9
metric tons (mt)). Based on the best available data from this fishing
year and the analyses described below, the common pool is estimated to
have achieved 90 percent of the Trimester 2 TAC for white hake on or
shortly after November 9, 2023.
NMFS closely monitors commercial fisheries landings on a weekly
basis. Catch projections of white hake were run using data through
November 7, 2023, which indicated that 87.7 percent (15,211.9 lb (6.9
mt)) of the Trimester 2 TAC was harvested. Given these projections and
additional information, including that there have been up to four trips
for which catch data are not yet available, NMFS estimates that 90
percent of the white hake Trimester 2 TAC has been harvested. As noted
above, implementing regulations for the Northeast Multispecies FMP
require the Regional Administrator to close an area when a trimester
TAC is projected to reach the 90-percent trigger.
Effective November 13, 2023, the White Hake Trimester TAC Area is
closed for the remainder of Trimester 2, through December 31, 2023. The
White Hake Trimester TAC Area consists of statistical areas 513, 514,
515, 521, and 522. During the closure, common pool vessels fishing with
trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear (except for
Handgear A and Handgear B vessels), may not fish for, harvest, possess,
or land regulated multispecies or ocean pout in or from this area. This
closure of the White Hake Trimester TAC Area ends at the beginning of
Trimester 3 of fishing year 2023 on January 1, 2024.
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 November 13, 2023, it may complete its trip
within the GOM Cod Trimester TAC Area. A vessel that has set gillnet
gear prior to November 13, 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, unnecessary,
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 November 7, 2023, only recently became available indicating
that the common pool fishery is projected to have caught 90 percent of
its Trimester 2 TAC for white hake. The time necessary to provide for
prior notice and comment, and a 30-day delay in effectiveness, would
prevent the immediate closure of the White Hake 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 white hake. Any overage of the Trimester 2 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. Prior notice and comment and a 30-day delay in effectiveness are
unnecessary because fishermen were provided ample notice and
opportunity to comment on the regulations that require this immediate
closure. 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.
[[Page 78677]]
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: November 13, 2023.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-25365 Filed 11-13-23; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on November 16, 2023.
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