[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 244 (Thursday, December 19, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 76807-76809]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-30134]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Parts 622 and 640
RIN 0648-BC12
Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic;
Revisions to Dealer Permitting and Reporting Requirements for Species
Managed by the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management
Councils
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
[[Page 76808]]
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) and South Atlantic Fishery
Management Councils (Councils) have submitted a Generic Amendment to
the Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) in the Gulf and South Atlantic
Regions (Generic Dealer Amendment) for review, approval, and
implementation by NMFS. The Generic Dealer Amendment amends the
following FMPs: Reef Fish Resources and the Red Drum Fishery of the
Gulf; the Snapper-Grouper Fishery (including wreckfish), the Golden
Crab Fishery, and the Shrimp Fishery (excluding penaeid shrimp) of the
South Atlantic Region; the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery of the Atlantic;
and Coastal Migratory Pelagic (CMP) Resources and the Spiny Lobster
Fishery of the Gulf and South Atlantic. The Generic Dealer Amendment
would modify the permitting and reporting requirements for seafood
dealers who first receive species managed by the Councils through the
previously mentioned FMPs. These revisions would create a single dealer
permit for dealers who first receive fish managed by the Councils,
require both purchase and non-purchase reports to be submitted online
on a weekly basis, not authorizing dealers to purchase fish from
federally-permitted vessels if they are delinquent in submitting
reports, and modify the sale and purchase provisions based on the new
dealer permitting requirements. The intent of the amendment is to
obtain timelier purchase information from dealers to help reduce annual
catch limit (ACL) underages and overages, and achieve optimum yield in
accordance with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before February 18,
2014.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the amendment identified by
``NOAA-NMFS-2012-0206'' 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: Rich Malinowski, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS,
263 13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.
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 field if you wish to
remain anonymous).
To submit comments through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov, enter ``NOAA-NMFS-2012-0206'' in the search field
and click on ``search.'' After you locate the notice of availability,
click the ``Submit a Comment'' link in that row. This will display the
comment web form. You can then enter your submitter information (unless
you prefer to remain anonymous), and type your comment on the web form.
You can also attach additional files (up to 10MB) in Microsoft Word,
Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
Comments received through means not specified in this notice will
not be considered.
For further assistance with submitting a comment, see the
``Commenting'' section at http://www.regulations.gov/#!faqs or the Help
section at http://www.regulations.gov.
Electronic copies of the amendment may be obtained from the
Southeast Regional Office Web site at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rich Malinowski, Southeast Regional
Office, NMFS, telephone 727-824-5305; email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires each
regional fishery management council to submit any fishery management
plan or amendment to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or
partial approval. 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 plan or amendment is
available for review and comment.
The FMPs being revised by this amendment were prepared by the
Councils and are implemented through regulations at 50 CFR part 622 and
part 640 under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Background
The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires NMFS and regional fishery
management councils to prevent overfishing and achieve, on a continuing
basis, the optimum yield from federally managed fish stocks. These
mandates are intended to ensure fishery resources are managed for the
greatest overall benefit to the nation, particularly with respect to
providing food production and recreational opportunities, and
protecting marine ecosystems. To further this goal, the Magnuson-
Stevens Act requires fishery managers to specify their strategy to
rebuild overfished stocks to a sustainable level within a certain time
frame, to minimize bycatch and bycatch mortality to the extent
practicable, and to establish accountability measures (AMs) for a stock
to ensure ACLs are not exceeded.
The intent of the Generic Dealer Amendment is to improve the
timeliness and accuracy of dealer reporting, which will help achieve
harvest targets. Many commercial fisheries have AMs that implement
closures of fisheries when the commercial ACLs are projected to be met.
The current reporting frequency reduces the precision of the
projections, which may result in estimates of landings significantly
less or greater than the ACL. When fisheries are closed well before the
ACL is met, optimum yield may not be achieved. In turn, overages have
the potential to result in significant disruption in fishing behavior
the following fishing year and, reduce revenue and profit for
fishermen. Overages also decrease the ability of stocks to rebuild when
overfished and may lead to overfishing conditions. The proposed
actions, including increasing the frequency of dealer reporting and
requiring more dealers to report, are intended to result in better
monitoring of the ACLs. Actions Contained in the Generic Dealer
Amendment.
The Generic Dealer Amendment would modify the current permitting
and reporting requirements for seafood dealers who first receive fish
managed by the Councils through eight FMPs. Currently, the following
six Federal dealer permits exist for purchasing product in the
Southeast Region: Atlantic Dolphin-Wahoo, Gulf Reef Fish, South
Atlantic Golden Crab, South Atlantic Rock Shrimp, South Atlantic
Snapper Grouper (excluding wreckfish), and South Atlantic Wreckfish.
The Generic Dealer Amendment proposes to create a single dealer permit
that would be required for the species currently covered by the six
dealer permits. In addition, the dealer permit would be required to
first receive the following species from federally permitted vessels:
Gulf and South Atlantic CMP, Gulf and South Atlantic spiny lobster, and
Gulf Red Drum. If the proposed actions are implemented, the universal
dealer permit would be required for all species managed by the Councils
except for
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species in the following five FMPs: Coral, Coral Reefs, and Live/Hard
Bottom Habitats of the South Atlantic Region; Pelagic Sargassum Habitat
of the South Atlantic Region; Coral and Coral Reefs of the Gulf, Shrimp
Fishery of the Gulf, and Shrimp Fishery of the South Atlantic Region
(excluding rock shrimp).
The Councils exempted penaeid shrimp species from the universal
dealer permit because there are no ACLs established for these species.
Thus, the current reporting system is adequate for determining catch
and effort for these species and the administrative burden of issuing
such a large number of shrimp dealer permits would outweigh the
benefits from more timely shrimp dealer reports. The Councils did not
include corals or pelagic Sargassum because coral harvest is limited to
octocoral harvest off Florida and does not require a Federal harvest
permit if landed in Florida, and no recorded harvest of pelagic
Sargassum from Federal waters occurs.
Currently, federally permitted Gulf reef fish, South Atlantic
snapper-grouper, and South Atlantic wreckfish dealers, and dealers with
records of king mackerel or Spanish mackerel from the previous year,
are required to submit dealer purchase forms every 2 weeks via fax or
online through the appropriate state trip ticket reporting system.
South Atlantic golden crab, rock shrimp, and Atlantic dolphin-wahoo
dealers are required to submit dealer purchase forms on a monthly basis
via fax or online through the appropriate state trip ticket reporting
system. Reports are currently due 5 days after the end of each
reporting period.
If implemented, the Generic Dealer Amendment would require
federally permitted dealers to submit forms electronically (via
computer or internet) on a weekly basis. Dealer reports for trips
landing species between Sunday through Saturday would be required to be
submitted by 11:59 p.m., local time, the following Tuesday. In
addition, federally permitted dealers would be required to submit
records of no purchases electronically (via computer or internet) at
the same frequency and via the same process as records for purchases.
Dealer reports would be required to be submitted through the dealer
electronic trip ticket reporting system. Electronic reports are
currently authorized in each state, except for South Carolina, which
currently requires paper reporting. The data elements that would be
required through this Generic Dealer Amendment are consistent with the
information currently required by the state trip ticket programs.
This amendment would also stipulate that dealers who are delinquent
in submitting their reports are not authorized to receive fish from
federally-permitted vessels until they have submitted all reports on
purchases and no purchases.
This amendment would place new restrictions on certain dealers who
currently are not required to have a Federal dealer permit and on
certain fishermen who can currently sell to state dealers. Dealers who
first receive CMP fish and spiny lobster from federally permitted
commercial vessels or charter vessels/headboats, including federally
permitted shrimp vessels, would be required to have a Federal dealer
permit and would be required to report electronically on a weekly
basis. Federally permitted vessels that currently sell CMP fish and
spiny lobster to state dealers would be required to sell them to
federally permitted dealers.
A proposed rule that would implement the management measures
outlined in the Generic Dealer Amendment 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 laws. If the determination
is affirmative, NMFS will publish the proposed rule in the Federal
Register for public review and comment.
Consideration of Public Comments
The Councils submitted the Generic Dealer Amendment for Secretarial
review, approval, and implementation. NMFS' decision to approve,
partially approve, or disapprove the Amendment will be based, in part,
on consideration of comments, recommendations, and information received
during the comment period on this notice of availability.
Public comments received by 11:59 p.m. eastern time, on February
18, 2014, will be considered by NMFS in its decision to approve,
partially approve, or disapprove the Generic Dealer Amendment. All
comments received by NMFS on the Generic Dealer Amendment or the
proposed rule during their respective comment periods would be
addressed in a final rule.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: December 13, 2013.
Sean Corson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-30134 Filed 12-18-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P