Rule2024-01455
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Herring Fishery; 2024 River Herring and Shad Catch Cap Reached for Midwater Trawl Vessels in the Cape Cod Catch Cap Closure Area
Primary source
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Published
January 25, 2024
Effective
January 23, 2024
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
NMFS is reducing the Atlantic herring possession limit for herring vessels fishing with midwater trawl in the River Herring and Shad Cape Cod Catch Cap Closure Area. This is required because NMFS projects that catch of river herring and shad by midwater trawl herring vessels will reach the Cape Cod Catch Cap threshold for river herring and shad before the end of the fishing year. This action is intended to prevent overharvest of river herring and shad.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 17 (Thursday, January 25, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 17 (Thursday, January 25, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 4834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01455]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 230316-0077; RTID 0648-XD685]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Herring
Fishery; 2024 River Herring and Shad Catch Cap Reached for Midwater
Trawl Vessels in the Cape Cod Catch Cap Closure Area
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; possession limit adjustment.
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SUMMARY: NMFS is reducing the Atlantic herring possession limit for
herring vessels fishing with midwater trawl in the River Herring and
Shad Cape Cod Catch Cap Closure Area. This is required because NMFS
projects that catch of river herring and shad by midwater trawl herring
vessels will reach the Cape Cod Catch Cap threshold for river herring
and shad before the end of the fishing year. This action is intended to
prevent overharvest of river herring and shad.
DATES: Effective 00:01 hours local time, January 23, 2024, through
December 31, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Louis Forristall, Fishery Management
Specialist, (978)-281-9321.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Regional Administrator of the Greater
Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office monitors river herring and shad
catch by Atlantic herring vessels. River herring and shad catch caps
are allocated to the herring fishery by area and gear type.
The Cape Cod Catch Cap Area river herring and shad cap is allocated
to Atlantic herring vessels using midwater trawl gear in the Cape Cod
Catch Cap Area. Catch from all Atlantic herring trips using midwater
trawl gear in that area that land more than 6,600 pounds (lb),
equivalent to 2,994 kilograms (kg), of herring is counted towards the
river herring and shad catch cap. Regulations at 50 CFR
648.201(a)(4)(ii) require NMFS to implement a 2,000-lb (907.2-kg)
Atlantic herring possession limit for vessels fishing with the
specified gear in a specified catch cap closure area beginning on the
date that catch is projected to reach 95 percent of the river herring
and shad catch cap for that area.
Based on vessel reports, dealer reports, and other available
information, the Regional Administrator projects that midwater trawl
herring vessels will have caught 95 percent of the river herring and
shad 2024 Cape Cod Catch Cap by January 23, 2024. Therefore, effective
00:01 hours local time January 23, 2024, through 24:00 hours local time
on December 31, 2024, Atlantic herring vessels using midwater trawl
gear may not attempt or do any of the following: Fish for, possess,
transfer, receive, land, or sell more than 2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of
Atlantic herring from the Cape Cod Catch Cap Closure Area per trip; or
land Atlantic herring from the Cape Cod Catch Cap Closure Area more
than once per calendar day. Also effective 00:01 hours local time,
January 23, 2024, through 24:00 hours local time, December 31, 2024,
unless it is from a vessel that enters port before 00:01 hours local
time on January 23, 2024, and catch is landed in accordance with state
management measures, federally permitted dealers may not attempt or do
any of the following: purchase; receive; possess; have custody or
control of; sell; barter; trade; or transfer more than 2,000 lb (907.2
kg) of Atlantic herring per trip or calendar day from an Atlantic
herring midwater trawl vessel fishing in the Cape Cod Catch Cap Closure
Area.
Midwater trawl vessels may transit through or land in the Cape Cod
Catch Cap Closure Area with more than 2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of Atlantic
herring on board, provided that: The herring were caught in an area not
subject to a 2,000-lb (907.2-kg) limit; all fishing gear is stowed and
not available for immediate use as defined at Sec. 648.2 while the
vessel is in the Closure Area; and the vessel is issued a permit
appropriate to the amount of herring on board and the area where the
herring was harvested.
Classification
This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from
review under Executive Order 12866.
NMFS finds good cause pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B) to waive
prior notice and the opportunity for public comment because it would be
impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest. Data
only recently became available indicating that midwater trawl herring
vessels will catch 95 percent of the river herring and shad Cape Cod
Catch Cap before the end of the fishing year. High-volume catch and
landings in the herring fishery can increase river herring and shad
catch relative to catch caps quickly. If implementation of this action
is delayed to solicit prior public comment, the 2024 Cape Cod Catch Cap
will likely be exceeded; thereby undermining the conservation
objectives of the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP).
Additionally, the regulations at Sec. 648.201(a)(4)(ii) are designed
to be implemented as quickly as possible to prevent catch from
exceeding river herring and shad catch caps. NMFS is acting in
accordance with those regulations to carry out the fishery management
plan under the authority provided in section 305(d) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. These regulations were
subject to public notice and opportunity to comment when they were
first adopted in 2014. Further, Atlantic herring fishing industry
participants monitor catch closely and anticipate potential possession
limit adjustments as catch totals approach river herring and shad catch
caps, and they expect these actions to occur in a timely way consistent
with the FMP's objectives. For the reasons stated above, NMFS also
finds good cause to waive the 30-day delayed effectiveness in
accordance with 5 U.S.C 553(d)(3).
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: January 22, 2024.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-01455 Filed 1-22-24; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 25, 2024.
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