[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 1908-1910]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-398]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 622
RIN 0648-AY74
Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic;
Snapper-Grouper Fishery Off the Southern Atlantic States; Amendment 20A
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the South Atlantic Fishery Management
Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 20A to the Fishery Management
Plan (FMP) for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region
(Amendment 20A) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS.
Amendment 20A proposes actions for the wreckfish individual
transferable quota (ITQ) program, including actions to define and
revert inactive wreckfish quota shares, redistribute reverted quota
shares to remaining shareholders, establish a cap on the number of
wreckfish quota shares a single entity may own, and establish an
appeals process for redistribution of reverted wreckfish quota shares.
The actions contained in Amendment 20A are intended to help achieve the
optimum yield (OY) from the wreckfish commercial sector in accordance
with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson-Stevens Act).
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before March 12, 2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the amendment identified by
``NOAA-NMFS-2011-0277'' by any of the following methods:
Electronic submissions: Submit electronic comments via the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Nikhil Mehta, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263
13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.
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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.
To submit comments through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov, click on ``submit a comment'', then enter ``NOAA-
NMFS-2011-0277'' in the keyword search and click on ``search''. To view
posted comments during the comment period, enter ``NOAA-NMFS-2011-
0277'' in the keyword search and click on ``search''. NMFS will accept
anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required field if you wish to
remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to electronic comments in
Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
Comments received through means not specified in this rule will not
be considered.
Electronic copies of Amendment 20A may be obtained from the
Southeast Regional Office Web site at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sf/SASnapperGrouperHomepage.htm.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nikhil Mehta, telephone: (727) 824-
5305, or email: nikhil.mehta@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires each
regional fishery management council to submit any FMP or amendment to
NMFS for review and approval, partial approval, or disapproval. The
Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving a plan or
amendment, publish an announcement in the Federal Register notifying
the public that the FMP or amendment is available for review and
comment.
The FMP being revised by Amendment 20A was prepared by the Council
and implemented through regulations at 50 CFR part 622 under the
authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Background
Wreckfish is part of the snapper-grouper fishery and is managed
under the FMP for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic
Region (Snapper-Grouper FMP). The wreckfish commercial sector has been
managed under an ITQ program since March 1992, through Amendment 5 to
the Snapper-Grouper FMP, in order to end derby fishing (race to fish)
practices. Currently, there is latent effort in the wreckfish
commercial sector with very few active participants. In August 2010,
the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) recommended an
acceptable biological catch (ABC) for wreckfish off the southern
Atlantic states of 250,000 lb (113,389 kg), round weight. The proposed
rule for the Comprehensive Annual Catch Limit Amendment (Comprehensive
ACL Amendment) published on December 1, 2011 (76 FR 74757), and would
implement an ACL of 250,000 lb (113,389 kg), round weight for
wreckfish. The Comprehensive ACL Amendment would further allocate 95
percent of the wreckfish ACL to the commercial sector (237,500 lb;
107,728 kg, round weight). In November 2011, the Council's SSC met and
recommended a revised wreckfish ABC equal to 235,000 lb (106,594 kg),
round weight. The Council then met in December 2011 and reviewed and
accepted the SSC's recommendation to reduce the wreckfish ABC which
would in turn reduce the wreckfish ACL. Therefore, to incorporate this
recommended revised ACL, NMFS published an amended proposed rule for
the Comprehensive ACL Amendment on December 30, 2011 (76 FR 82264) to
implement the revised wreckfish ABC and ACL of 235,000 lb (106,594 kg),
round weight, of which 223,250 lb (101,264 kg) would be allocated to
the commercial sector. This would be an 89 percent reduction from the
current total allowable catch for wreckfish of 2 million lb (907,185
kg), round weight. The intent of Amendment 20A is to achieve OY in the
wreckfish commercial sector while maximizing harvest potential and not
exceeding the ACL.
Define and Revert Inactive Wreckfish Quota Shares
The ACL for the wreckfish commercial sector proposed in the
Comprehensive ACL Amendment and in the amended proposed rule, would
result in a significant reduction in the amount of available harvest
associated with each wreckfish quota share, including inactive
wreckfish quota shares, in order to maintain harvest at or below the
ACL. As a result, if inactive wreckfish quota shares are not reverted
it is likely that harvest would only reach approximately 130,735-
160,338 lb (59,300-72,728 kg), round weight, after applying the new
ACL. Out of the 20 current wreckfish quota shareholders, there are 13
inactive wreckfish quota shareholders holding a combined 28.18 percent
of wreckfish quota shares. Amendment 20A proposes to revert these
wreckfish quota shares and redistribute them among the seven remaining
active wreckfish quota shareholders.
Redistribute Reverted Wreckfish Quota Shares to Remaining Shareholders
Amendment 20A proposes to redistribute the above mentioned
wreckfish quota shares to remaining wreckfish quota shareholders based
on landings history from fishing years 2006/2007 through 2010/2011. The
percentage of wreckfish quota shares redistributed to the remaining
wreckfish quota shareholders would range from 0.04 percent to 9.91
percent.
Establish a Cap on the Number of Wreckfish Quota Shares a Single Entity
May Own
Amendment 20A proposes to establish a cap of 49 percent of the
total wreckfish quota shares a single entity can own. This would
prevent any one entity from holding the majority of wreckfish quota
shares, and would result in no active entities exceeding the quota
share cap.
Establish an Appeals Process for Redistribution of Wreckfish Quota
Shares
Five percent of the wreckfish quota shares for the 2012/2013
fishing year would be set-aside by Amendment 20A, to resolve any
appeals of wreckfish quota shares for a period of 90-days starting on
the effective date of the final rule. The Regional Administrator (RA)
would review, evaluate, and provide final decisions on appeals.
Hardship arguments would not be considered. The RA would determine the
outcome of appeals based on NMFS' logbooks. If NMFS' logbooks are not
available, the RA could use state landings records. Appellants would
submit NMFS' logbooks or state landings records to support their
appeal. After the appeals process has been completed, any amount of
quota shares remaining from the set-aside would be redistributed to
remaining ITQ shareholders, according to the redistribution method
specified above.
A proposed rule that would implement measures outlined in Amendment
20A has been drafted. In accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NMFS
is evaluating the proposed rule to determine whether it is consistent
with the FMPs, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law. If
that determination is affirmative, NMFS will publish the proposed rule
in the Federal Register for public review and comment.
Comments received by March 12, 2012, will be considered by NMFS in
its
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decision to approve, disapprove, or partially approve Amendment 20A.
Comments received after that date will not be considered by NMFS in
this decision. All comments received by NMFS on Amendment 20A or the
proposed rule for Amendment 20A during their respective comment periods
will be addressed.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: January 6, 2012.
Steven Thur,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-398 Filed 1-11-12; 8:45 am]
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