[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 124 (Tuesday, June 28, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 37761-37763]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-16184]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
[Docket No. 110606318-1319-01]
RIN 0648-BA68
Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species
Fisheries; Amendment 13 to the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery
Management Plan; Annual Catch Limits
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this proposed rule to implement Amendment 13 to
the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This
proposed rule will implement parts of proposed Amendment 13 to the CPS
FMP, which is intended to ensure the FMP is consistent with advisory
guidelines published in Federal regulations. Amendment 13 revises the
framework process currently in place to set and adjust fishery
specifications and management measures and modifies this framework to
include the specification new reference points such as annual catch
limit (ACL).
DATES: Comments must be received by July 28, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by 0648-BA68, by any one
of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
Mail: Rodney R. McInnis, Regional Administrator, Southwest
Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802.
Fax: (562) 980-4047, Attn: Joshua Lindsay.
Instructions: All comments received are a part of the public record
and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without
change. All Personal Identifying Information (for example, name,
address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly
accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information.
NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required
fields if you prefer to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments
to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel,
WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
Copies of the CPS FMP as Amended through Amendment 13 and the
Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review for Amendment 13, are
available from Donald O. McIssac, Executive Director, Pacific Fishery
Management Council, 7700 NE. Ambassador Place, Suite 200, Portland, OR
97220-1384 or the Southwest Regional Office (see ADDRESSES).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua B. Lindsay, Sustainable
Fisheries Division, NMFS, at 562-980-4034 or Mike Burner, Pacific
Fishery Management Council, at 503-820-2280.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CPS fishery in the U.S. exclusive
economic zone (EEZ) off the West Coast is managed under the CPS FMP,
which was developed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council)
pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
Act (MSA). Species managed under the CPS FMP include Pacific sardine,
Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel, northern anchovy, market squid and
krill. The CPS FMP was approved by the Secretary of Commerce and was
implemented by regulations that can be found at 50 CFR part 660,
subpart I.
The MSA was amended in 2007 to include new requirements for ACLs
and accountability measures (AMs) and other provisions regarding
preventing and ending overfishing and rebuilding fisheries. On January
16, 2009, NMFS revised its guidelines implementing MSA National
Standard 1 (74 FR 3178) in response to these changes in the MSA. The
revised guidelines explain NOAA's interpretation of the new statutory
requirements for specifying ACLs at such levels that overfishing does
not occur and that measures be taken to ensure accountability with
these limits. The purpose of Amendment 13 is to amend the CPS FMP to
ensure that it is consistent with these revised advisory guidelines and
to comply with the statute. Specifically, Amendment 13 would revise the
framework process to set and adjust fishery specification and
management measures, and would establish a framework for specifying new
reference points such as ACLs and AMs, as well as other provisions for
preventing overfishing such as the potential setting of annual catch
targets (ACTs).
Additionally, Amendment 13 would amend the FMP through the
following measures that are designed to better
[[Page 37762]]
account for scientific and management uncertainty and to prevent
overfishing:
Modify the existing harvest control rules for actively
managed species to include a buffer or reduction in acceptable
biological catch (ABC) relative to overfishing limit (OFL) to account
for scientific uncertainty. This buffer will be recommended during the
annual management cycle through a combination of scientific advice from
the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and a policy
determination of the Council.
Maintain the default harvest control rules for monitored
stocks but modified to specify the new management reference points.
ACLs would likely be specified for multiple years until such time as
the species becomes actively managed or new scientific information
becomes available. The current buffer of a 75-percent reduction in the
ABC control rule (ABC equals 25 percent of OFL/MSY) will remain in use
until recommended for modification by the SSC and approved by the
Council through the annual harvest and management specification
process.
Add a mechanism for the use of sector-specific ACLs, ACTs
and AMs.
Although not a change to the FMP, the Council reaffirmed that all
management unit species (MUS) currently in the FMP, including those
species categorized as monitored species and prohibited harvest species
(krill) are ``in the fishery'' and will remain as MUS. Amendment 13
also adds Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii pallasii) and jacksmelt
(Atherinopsis californiensis) to the FMP as ecosystem component (EC)
species. Although the incidental catch of these species within CPS
fisheries is extremely small, the intent of this action is to continue
to specifically monitor the catches of these species and report catch
estimates in the annual Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation report
along with other incidental catch. In addition to the current
ecological considerations in the FMP, the amendment also adds language
to specify that the Council will include ecological considerations when
reviewing and/or adopting status determination criteria (SDCs), ACLs,
and ACTs.
Classification
Pursuant to section 304 (b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the
NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is
consistent with Amendment 13, the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other
applicable law, subject to further consideration after public comment.
The Council and NMFS prepared an EA for this amendment that
discusses the impact on the environment as a result of this proposed
rule. A copy of the EA is available from the Council or NMFS (see
ADDRESSES).
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 that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
as follows:
The purpose of this action is to implement parts of proposed
Amendment 13 to the CPS FMP which is intended to ensure the FMP is
consistent with the recently revised advisory guidelines implementing
MSA National Standard 1 (74 FR 3178). Amendment 13 revises the
framework process currently in place to set and adjust fishery
specifications and management measures and modifies this framework to
include the specification new reference points such as ACL, ACT and AM,
as well as other provisions for preventing overfishing.
The proposed action is not expected to have substantial direct or
indirect socioeconomic impacts, because harvest limits and management
measures influencing ex-vessel revenue and personal income are not
established under the range of alternatives considered. Instead, the
proposed action revises the framework used in developing management
reference points. Additionally, for the current actively managed
species within the FMP, Pacific sardine and Pacific mackerel, for which
annual harvest limits have been set since 2001, the control rules used
in the setting of these limits are not changing based on this action.
However, this action will modify the management framework in place to
further ensure that overfishing does not occur. Specific catch limits
and associated management measures will continue to go through the
appropriate rulemaking process with environmental and economic analysis
where required.
A fishing vessel is considered a ``small'' business by the U.S.
Small Business Administration (SBA) if its annual receipts are not in
excess of $4.0 million. Since all of the vessels fishing for CPS have
annual receipts below $4.0 million they would all be considered small
businesses under the SBA standards. Therefore this rule will not create
disproportionate costs between small and large vessels/businesses.
NMFS has determined that this rule will not result in a significant
economic impact to a substantial number of small entities.
As a result, a regulatory flexibility analysis is not required, and
none has been prepared.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660
Administrative practice and procedure, American Samoa, Fisheries,
Fishing, Guam, Hawaiian Natives, Indians, Northern Mariana Islands,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: June 22, 2011.
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 660 as follows:
PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES
1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
2. Amend Sec. 660.502 by removing the definition of ``Monitored
species (MS)'' and revising the definition of ``Harvest guideline'' to
read as follows:
Sec. 660.502 Definitions.
* * * * *
Harvest guideline means a specified numerical harvest objective
that is not a quota. Attainment of a harvest guideline does not require
complete closure of a fishery. It is operationally similar to an Annual
Catch Target (ACT) (as defined at Sec. 600.310(f)(2)).
* * * * *
3. Revise Sec. 660.508 as follows:
Sec. 660.508 Annual specifications.
(a) The Regional Administrator will determine any harvest
guideline, quota, Annual Catch Limit (ACL) (defined at Sec.
600.310(f)(2)) or Annual Catch Target (ACT) (defined at Sec.
600.310(f)(2)) in accordance with the framework process in the FMP.
(b) Any harvest guideline, quota, ACL, or ACT, including any
apportionment between the directed fishery and set-aside for incidental
harvest, will be published in the Federal Register.
(c) The announcement of each harvest guideline, quota, ACL or ACT
will contain the following information if available or applicable:
(1) The estimated biomass or MSY proxy on which the harvest
guideline, quota, ACL or ACT was determined;
(2) The portion, if appropriate, of the harvest guideline, quota,
ACL or ACT
[[Page 37763]]
set aside to allow for incidental harvests after closure of the
directed fishery;
(3) The estimated level of the incidental trip limit that will be
allowed after the directed fishery is closed; and
(4) The allocation, if appropriate, between Subarea A and Subarea
B.
(d) As necessary, harvest guidelines, quotas, OFLs (defined at
Sec. 600.310(f)(2)), ABCs (defined at Sec. 600.310(f)(2)), ACLs or
ACTs, will receive public review according to the following procedure:
(1) Meetings will be held by the Council's CPSMT and AP, where the
estimated biomass and/or other biological or management benchmarks will
be reviewed and public comments received. Each of these meetings will
be announced in the Federal Register before the date of the meeting, if
possible.
(2) All materials relating to the estimated biomass and/or other
biological or management benchmarks will be forwarded to the Council
and its Scientific and Statistical Committee and will be available to
the public from the Regional Administrator when available.
(3) At a regular meeting of the Council, the Council will review
the estimated biomass and/or other biological or management benchmarks
and offer time for public comment. If the Council requests a revision,
justification must be provided.
(4) The Regional Administrator will review the Council's
recommendations, justification, and public comments and base his or her
final decision on the requirements of the FMP and other applicable law.
4. Revise Sec. 660.509 to read as follows:
Sec. 660.509 Accountability measures (season closures).
(a) General rule. When the directed fishery allocation or
incidental allocation is reached for any CPS species it shall be closed
until the beginning of the next fishing period or season. Regional
Administrator shall announce in the Federal Register the date of such
closure, as well as any incidental harvest level(s) recommended by the
Council and approved by NMFS.
(b) Pacific Sardine. When the allocation and reallocation levels
for Pacific sardine in Sec. 660.511 (f)-(h) are reached, the Pacific
sardine fishery shall be closed until either it re-opens per the
allocation scheme in Sec. 660.511 (g) and (h) or the beginning of the
next fishing season as stated in Sec. 660.510 (a). The Regional
Administrator shall announce in the Federal Register the date of the
closure of the directed fishery for Pacific sardine.
[FR Doc. 2011-16184 Filed 6-27-11; 8:45 am]
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