[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 77 (Monday, April 22, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 23733-23734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-09390]
[[Page 23733]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
RIN 0648-AY47
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic
Herring Fishery; Amendment 5
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Announcement of availability of fishery management plan
amendment; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the New England Fishery Management Council
(Council) has submitted Amendment 5 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery
Management Plan (FMP) (Amendment 5), incorporating the Final
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and the Initial Regulatory
Flexibility Analysis (IRFA), for review by the Secretary of Commerce
and is requesting comments from the public.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before 5 p.m., local time, June
21, 2013.
ADDRESSES: The Council prepared a FEIS for Amendment 5 that describes
the proposed action and other considered alternatives and provides a
thorough analysis of the impacts of the proposed measures and
alternatives. Copies of Amendment 5, including the FEIS, the Regulatory
Impact Review (RIR), and the IRFA, are available from: Thomas A. Nies,
Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water
Street, Newburyport, MA 01950. The FEIS/RIR/IRFA is also accessible via
the internet at http://www.nero.nmfs.gov.
You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-
2013-0066, by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0066, click the
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or
attach your comments.
Mail: John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, NMFS,
Northeast Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA
01930. Mark the outside of the envelope, ``Comments on Herring
Amendment 5 NOA.''
Fax: (978) 281-9135, Attn: Carrie Nordeen.
Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period,
may not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are a part of the
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address, etc.), confidential business
information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily
by the sender will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous
comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain
anonymous). Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted in
Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF formats only.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrie Nordeen, Fishery Policy
Analyst, 978-281-9272; fax 978-281-9135.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The goals of Amendment 5 are to: (1) Improve the collection of
real-time, accurate catch information; (2) enhance the monitoring and
sampling of catch at-sea; and (3) address bycatch issues through
responsible management.
On May 8, 2008 (73 FR 26082), the Council published a notice of
intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS for Amendment 4 to Atlantic Herring FMP
to consider measures to: Improve long-term monitoring of catch
(landings and bycatch) in the herring fishery, implement annual catch
limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) consistent with the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), and
develop a sector allocation process or other limited access privilege
program for the herring fishery. The Council subsequently conducted
scoping meetings during May and June of 2008 to discuss and take
comments on alternatives to these measures. After considering the
complexity of the issues under consideration in Amendment 4, the
Council voted on June 23, 2009, to split the action into two amendments
to ensure the MSA requirements for complying with provisions for ACLs
and AMs were be met by 2011. The ACL and AM components moved forward in
Amendment 4, all other measures formerly considered in Amendment 4 were
to be considered in Amendment 5. A supplementary NOI was published on
December 28, 2009, (74 FR 68577) announcing the split between the
amendments, and that impacts associated with alternatives considered in
Amendment 5 would be analyzed in an EIS. At that time, measures
considered under Amendment 5 included: Catch-monitoring program,
measures to address river herring bycatch, midwater trawl access to
groundfish closed areas, and measures to address interactions with the
Atlantic mackerel fishery.
Following further development of Amendment 5, the Council conducted
MSA public hearings in March 2012, National Environmental Policy Act
public hearings at the beginning of June 2012, and following the public
comment period on the draft EIS that ended on June 4, 2012, the Council
adopted Amendment 5 on June 20, 2012. The Council submitted Amendment 5
to NOAA Fisheries Service (NMFS) for review on September 10, 2012.
Following a series of revisions, the Council submitted a revised
version of Amendment 5 to NMFS on March 25, 2013. In Amendment 5,
measures recommended by the Council would:
Modify the herring transfer at-sea and offload definitions
to better document the transfer of fish;
Expand possession limit restrictions to all vessels
working cooperatively, consistent with pair trawl requirements;
Eliminate the vessel monitoring system (VMS) power-down
provision for limited access herring vessels, consistent with VMS
provisions for other fisheries;
Establish an ``At-Sea Herring Dealer'' permit to better
document the at-sea transfer and sale of herring;
Establish an ``Areas \2/3\ Open Access Permit'' to reduce
the potential for the regulatory discarding of herring in the Atlantic
mackerel fishery;
Expand dealer reporting requirements;
Allow vessels to enroll as herring carriers with either a
VMS declaration or letter of authorization to increase operational
flexibility;
Expand pre-trip and pre-landing notification requirements,
as well as adding a VMS gear declaration, to all limited access herring
vessels to help facilitate monitoring;
Reduce the advance notice requirement for the observer
pre-trip notification from 72 hours to 48 hours;
Expand vessel requirements related to at-sea observer
sampling to help ensure safe sampling and improve data quality;
Establish measures to minimize the discarding of catch
before it has been made available to observers for sampling;
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Increase observer coverage on Category A and B vessels and
require industry contributions of $325 per day;
Establish the ability to consider a river herring catch
cap in a future framework to directly control river herring fishing
mortality;
Allow the joint Sustainable Fisheries Coalition/University
of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology/Massachusetts
Department of Marine Fisheries bycatch avoidance program to investigate
providing real-time, cost-effective information on river herring
distribution and fishery encounters in River Herring Monitoring/
Avoidance Areas; and
Expand at-sea sampling of midwater trawl vessels fishing
in groundfish closed areas.
Public comments are solicited on Amendment 5 and its incorporated
documents through the end of the comment period stated in this notice
of availability (NOA). Following NMFS's review of the amendment under
the MSA, a rule proposing the implementation of measures in Amendment 5
is anticipated to be published in the Federal Register for public
comment. Public comments must be received by the end of the comment
period provided in this NOA of Amendment 5 to be considered in the
approval/disapproval decision on the amendment. All comments received
by the end of the comment period on the NOA of Amendment 5, whether
specifically directed to NOA or the proposed rule, will be considered
in the approval/disapproval decision. Comments received after the end
of the comment period for the NOA will not be considered in the
approval/disapproval decision of Amendment 5.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: April 17, 2013.
Kara Meckley,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-09390 Filed 4-19-13; 8:45 am]
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