Notice2025-09159
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits
Primary source
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Published
May 22, 2025
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 (EFP) application contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. The EFP would allow federally permitted fishing vessels to fish outside fishery regulations in support of exempted fishing activities proposed by the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation. 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 EFPs.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 98 (Thursday, May 22, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 98 (Thursday, May 22, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21902-21903]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-09159]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XE935]
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 (EFP) application
contains all of the required information and warrants further
consideration. The EFP would allow federally permitted fishing vessels
to fish outside fishery regulations in support of exempted fishing
activities proposed by the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation.
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 EFPs.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 6, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a3cdcec5d08dc4c2d18dc6c5d3e3cdccc2c28dc4ccd5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d2bcbfb4a1fcb5b3a0fcb7b4a292bcbdb3b3fcb5bda4">[email protected]</span></a>. Include in the subject line ``Increasing Trip
Limits to Promote Full Utilization of the Skate Wing Fishery.'' All
comments received are a part of the public record and may be posted for
public viewing without change. All personal identifying information
(e.g., name, address), confidential business information, or otherwise
sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender will be
publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter
``anonymous'' as the signature if you wish to remain anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elise Scholl, Fishery Management
Specialist, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9afff6f3e9ffb4e9f9f2f5f6f6daf4f5fbfbb4fdf5ec"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="187d74716b7d366b7b707774745876777979367f776e">[email protected]</span></a>, (978) 281-9189.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The applicant has submitted a complete
application for an EFP to conduct commercial fishing activities that
the regulations would otherwise restrict. This EFP would exempt the
participating vessels from the following Federal regulations:
[[Page 21903]]
Table 1--Requested Exemptions
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CFR Citation Regulation Need for exemption
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50 CFR 648.322 (b)(1)(i)................ Skate wing possession and To exceed the skate wing fishery
landing limits, vessels fishing trip limit of 4,000 pounds (lb; 1.8
under an Atlantic sea scallop, metric tons (mt)) of skate wings
northeast multispecies, or (9,080 lb (4.1 mt) whole weight) in
monkfish day at sea. Season 1, and 6,000 lb (2.7 mt) of
skate wings (13,620 lb (6.2 mt)
whole weight) in Season 2.
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Table 2--Project Summary
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Project title..................... Increasing Trip Limits to Promote
Full Utilization of the Skate Wing
Fishery.
Project start..................... Upon approval.
Project end....................... 04/30/2026.
Project objectives................ To quantify the economic and
ecological benefits and
consequences of an increased skate
wing trip limit.
Project location.................. Statistical areas 521, 526, and 537.
Number of vessels................. 7.
Number of trips................... 700 (100 per vessel).
Trip duration (days).............. 1.
Total number of days.............. 700 (100 per vessel).
Gear type(s)...................... Gillnet.
Number of tows or sets............ Within regulated gillnet set limits.
Duration of tows or sets.......... 1-3 days.
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Project Narrative
Background: Red's Best submitted an emergency action petition to
the Regional Administrator on January 7, 2025, to increase the skate
possession limit, indicating that the skate fishery had been under
harvested since 2017, to a total of 63,000,000 lb (28,576 mt),
resulting in approximately $17 million in lost ex-vessel revenue. We
responded that an EFP would be a more appropriate mechanism to explore
opportunities for increasing the utilization of the skate resource. In
response, Red's Best has partnered with the Commercial Fisheries
Research Foundation, which submitted an EFP application that would
conditionally allow vessels with skate permits to exceed skate
possession limits for the purpose of quantifying the economic and
ecological benefits and consequences of an increased skate wing trip
limit.
Based on the annual monitoring reports for fishing years 2021-2023,
skate landings have been less than 45 percent of the total allowable
landings (TAL). The applicant seeks to address the underutilization of
the skate resource by allowing an exemption to the 4,000 lb (1.8 mt)
per trip skate wing possession limit (9,080 lb (4.1 mt) whole weight)
in Season 1 (May 1-August 31), and the 6,000 lb (2.7 mt) per trip
possession limit of skate wings (13,620 lb (6.2 mt) whole weight) in
Season 2 (September 1-April 30).
Under this EFP, the trip limits would be increased to 7,000 lb (3.1
mt) (15,890 lb (7.2 mt) whole weight) per trip in Season 1, and 9,000
lb (4.1 mt) (20,430 lb (9.3 mt) whole weight) per trip in Season 2. The
participating vessels would be authorized to take up to 700 trips that
exceed the possession limit in the 2025 fishing year, with the intent
for each vessel to be able to make up to 100 trips. Participating
vessels are a mix of a full-time and part-time gillnetters; the part-
time gillnetters would likely have all of their trips occur under this
EFP; only a portion of trips by full-time gillnetters would be taken
with the increased trip limit. If any of the 7 vessels are not able to
utilize all 100 trips, they may be utilized by the other participating
vessels. All trips under the EFP would be exclusively wing trips
without bait skate landings. This EFP could increase skate landings by
over 2 million lb (907 mt) and, given recent skate wing ex-vessel
prices, could have an approximate ex-vessel value of over $1.4 million.
In addition, given the overlap with the monkfish fishery, which at
times has been constrained by skate trip limits in the Southern Fishery
Management Area, this EFP could improve utilization of the monkfish
annual catch limit.
If approved, a condition would be placed on the EFP that, if skate
landings surpass 75 percent of total allowable landings in either
Season 1 or Season 2, the possession limit exemption would be suspended
for the remainder of the applicable season and vessels would be subject
to the fishery-wide possession limit. The 2025 skate wing TAL is 10,453
mt. This EFP could result in an additional 2.1 million lb (952 mt) in
wings being landed. Total previous year landings have represented
approximately 42 percent to 50 percent of the quota, it is estimated
that the additional catch from this EFP would bring the total catch to
just under 75 percent of the TAL, making the 75 percent trigger
sufficiently precautionary. It is unlikely that all 700 trips would
land the maximum amount of skate wings allowed, which further reduces
the potential for this EFP to impact other vessels.
All participating vessels would collect data on all large-mesh
gillnet trips fished with and without the increased skate wing trip
limit. Data collection would include trip duration, number of nets set
and soak time, quantity and value of skate catch and non-target catch,
and fuel used. Data on monkfish catch and bycatch species would also be
collected. Skate wing catch and monkfish catch would be compared
between trips conducted with and without the increased trip limit to
inform project objectives.
If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and
extensions to the EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and
extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed
essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research 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: May 16, 2025.
Kelly Denit,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-09159 Filed 5-21-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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