Notice2026-06426
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits
Primary source
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Published
April 2, 2026
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 91 Issue 63 (Thursday, April 2, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 63 (Thursday, April 2, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16646-16647]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-06426]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XF643]
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 April 17, 2026.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0a64676c79246d6b78246f6c7a4a64656b6b246d657c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a2cccfc4d18cc5c3d08cc7c4d2e2cccdc3c38cc5cdd4">[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: Ashley Trudeau, Fishery Resource
Management Specialist, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a2c3d1cacec7db8cd6d0d7c6c7c3d7e2cccdc3c38cc5cdd4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7e1f0d16121b07500a0c0b1a1b1f0b3e10111f1f50191108">[email protected]</span></a>, (978) 281-9252.
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:
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 To exceed the skate
possession and wing fishery trip
landing limits, limit of 4,000
vessels fishing pounds (lb; 1.8
under an Atlantic metric tons (mt))
sea scallop, of skate wings
northeast (9,080 lb (4.1 mt)
multispecies, or 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................ 05/01/2026.
Project end.................. 04/30/2027.
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............ 17.
Number of trips.............. 650.
Trip duration (days)......... 1.
Total number of days......... 650.
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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[[Page 16647]]
Project Narrative
The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation (CFRF), in partnership
with seafood dealer Red's Best, LLC, is requesting an EFP in support of
an ongoing study 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. This application requests a renewal of
the study's permit for the 2026 fishing year. During its first year,
participating vessels used fewer than 50 out of 700 allowed trips as of
March 19, 2026. These trips took place only during Season 2 (September
1, 2025-April 30, 2026) of the skate wing fishery. This renewed EFP
would authorize a second year of the study to allow use of the
remaining balance of 650 experimental fishing trips during Seasons 1
and 2 of the 2026 fishing year.
Based on our annual monitoring reports for fishing years 2021-2024
and monitoring reports to date for fishing year 2025, skate landings
have remained well below the total allowable landings (TAL), ranging
from 40 to 70 percent of the TAL. Monthly landings in the 2025 fishing
year have been higher than those of 2024, but total landings remain at
only 67 percent of the TAL as of March 19, 2026. The applicant seeks to
continue to address the underutilization of the skate resource by
renewing for participating vessels an exemption to the 4,000 lb (1,814
kilogram (kg)) per trip skate wing possession limit (9,080 lb (4,119
kg) in whole weight) in Season 1 (May 1-August 31), and the 6,000 lb
(2722 kg) per trip possession limit of skate wings (13,620 lb (6,178
kg) in whole weight) in Season 2 (September 1-April 30).
Under this EFP, the trip limits would be increased to 7,000 lb
(3,175 kg) of skate wings, or 15,890 lb (7,208 kg) whole weight, per
trip in Season 1, and 9,000 lb (4,082 kg) of skate wings, or 20,430 lb
(9,267 kg) whole weight, per trip in Season 2. The participating
vessels would be authorized to take up to 650 trips that exceed the
possession limit in the 2026 fishing year. Participating vessels are a
mix of 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. All trips under the EFP would be exclusively wing
trips without bait skate landings. This EFP could increase skate wing
landings by almost 2 million lb (907 mt) and, given recent skate wing
ex-vessel prices, would have an approximate ex-vessel value of over
$1.5 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.
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 other catch, and
fuel used. Skate wing catch and monkfish catch would be compared
between trips conducted with and without the increased trip limit to
inform project objectives.
The EFP would include conditions to: (1) Mitigate the potential for
this EFP to trigger the 85-percent TAL possession limit reduction; (2)
avoid a sustained negative impact on ex-vessel skate price; and (3)
avoid triggering monkfish accountability measures in the monkfish
Northern Fishery Management Area (NFMA).
If skate landings surpass 70 percent of the TAL, and/or NMFS
projects that the 85-percent TAL threshold will be met in either Season
1 or Season 2, the EFP may be suspended for the remainder of the
applicable season and vessels would be subject to the fishery-wide
possession limit. This EFP could result in a maximum of 1.95 million lb
(885 mt) of skate wings being landed, or just over 14 percent of the
proposed 2026 skate wing TAL (91 FR 14674, March 26, 2026). However,
that estimate assumes that each EFP trip would land the full possession
limit. Any trip that exceeds the skate wing possession limit, even by a
small amount, would count against the 650-trip limit. The 70-percent
TAL threshold for this EFP has been selected to mitigate the potential
for this EFP to trigger the 85-percent TAL possession limit reduction.
The applicant has acknowledged concerns regarding the potential for
this project to reduce ex-vessel skate price. They are planning to
self-regulate the participating vessels in coordination with other
skate wing dealers and, if the skate market is slow and there is any
negative impact on price as a result of the increased trip landings
under this project EFP, they plan to instruct participating vessels not
to make any trips under the permit with increased landings until the
market and price stabilizes. NMFS will support ex-vessel price
monitoring using dealer reports and data reported by participating
vessels under the EFP. To further address this concern, NMFS will
regularly assess ex-vessel prices and other market changes with CFRF.
These periodic evaluations will provide opportunities to identify
unintended market consequences and, if necessary, suspend the EFP. No
sustained negative effect of the EFP on skate wing ex-vessel prices was
detected during fishing year 2025.
The monkfish TAL for the NFMA has been fully utilized in recent
years, and increased fishing effort for skate in statistical area 521
could contribute to monkfish TAL overages in the northern area.
Therefore, the EFP includes a condition that if NMFS projects that the
NFMA monkfish TAL will be exceeded and the accountability measure will
be triggered, the EFP would stop in the NFMA for the remainder of the
project period. During the 2025 fishing year, no trips under this EFP
have taken place in the NFMA.
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: March 31, 2026.
David R. Blankinship,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-06426 Filed 4-1-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
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