[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 35 (Monday, February 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9438-9440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03539]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XD775
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic
Fisheries; Application for Fishing Year 2014 Sector Exemption
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Several groundfish sectors have requested regulatory
exemptions from two recently implemented Gulf of Maine cod interim
management measures. The Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic
Region, NMFS, has determined that the request warrants further
consideration. We are seeking public comment on these exemption
requests.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 2, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by the following methods:
Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject
line ``Comments on Gulf of Maine Cod Sector Exemption Request.''
Mail: John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, NMFS, NE
Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark
the outside of the envelope ``Comments on Gulf of Maine Cod Sector
Exemption Request.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Whitmore, Fisheries Policy
[[Page 9439]]
Analyst, 978-281-9182, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 13, 2014, NMFS published a
temporary rule to enhance protections for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod (79
FR 67362) in response to an updated GOM cod stock assessment that
indicated the health of the stock is worsening. The GOM cod interim
rule implemented a GOM cod trip limit of 200 lb (90.7 kg) for sector
and common pool groundfish vessels fishing within the GOM broad stock
area (BSA) and restricted commercial limited access groundfish vessels
that fish in the GOM BSA to fishing only in that BSA for the duration
of the declared trip. Additional information on the GOM cod interim
rule can be found online at www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/GOM_cod_interim_management_measures.html.
On February 9, 2015, we received an exemption request from several
sectors. These sectors worked together to assemble 30 mt of GOM cod
annual catch entitlement (ACE), which was traded to Northeast Fishery
Sector IV, a lease-only sector with no active fishing effort. That
sector has proposed to withhold and render unusable that GOM cod ACE,
including preventing its use for potential carryover to the next
fishing year, if sectors are granted regulatory exemptions from the GOM
cod trip limit and GOM BSA restriction.
The 200-lb (90.7-kg) trip limit was intended to reduce the
incentive to target GOM cod in areas that would remain open under the
interim action to ensure that open-area catch would not result in
excessive GOM cod fishing mortality. The 2014 GOM Cod Interim Rule
environmental assessment (EA) estimated that implementing the 200-lb
(90.7-kg) trip limit would likely reduce GOM cod mortality by 20 mt.
The sectors' request would reduce the GOM cod catch limit by 30 mt.
Economic modeling and simulations included in the EA suggest that there
is a substantial amount of uncertainty regarding the 20-mt estimated
mortality reduction. It should also be noted that most of the public
comments submitted in response to the GOM cod interim rule opposed the
implementation of a trip limit because trip limits can result in high
discards of GOM cod and are counter to the sector system, which limits
the fishery based on an annual quota. The requesting sectors propose
that a definite 30-mt reduction in the catch limit resulting from the
sector exemption would provide a greater biological benefit to GOM cod
than the probable reduction in mortality from the 200-lb (90.7-kg) trip
limit. Removing the trip limit, as requested by the sectors, would
provide a clear limit on overall catch of GOM cod and should minimize
regulatory discarding.
The requested exemption would also remove the restriction
preventing vessels from fishing both inside and outside of the GOM BSA
on the same trip. The sectors requesting the exemption have argued that
the single BSA restriction has severely impacted fishing operations of
vessels that traditionally fish on Georges Bank and in the GOM on the
same trip. Although recognizing that the single BSA restriction impedes
flexibility to fish in multiple stock areas on a trip, we previously
determined that the short-term benefits of this measure were necessary
to achieve the interim rule's objective of reducing mortality and
ensuring the effectiveness of other measures in the interim rule.
Specifically, the single GOM BSA restriction was intended to facilitate
more effective shore-side enforcement of the 200-lb (90.7 kg) trip
limit. It was also intended to help reduce the opportunity for vessels
to misreport their catch to ensure that GOM cod catch would be properly
accounted for between stock areas.
Reducing the overall catch limit by 30 mt and removing the trip
limit more effectively achieves the interim rule's objective of
reducing potential cod mortality and, along with additional reporting
measures, outweighs the short-term benefit of retaining the single BSA
restriction. If the trip limit is no longer in effect, there is less of
a need for the GOM BSA restriction to facilitate dockside enforcement.
In consideration of the sectors' request to be exempt from the BSA
restriction, we are proposing to replace this requirement with daily
catch reporting requirements should we approve the sectors' request. We
would still require that sector vessels that declare their intent to
fish inside and outside of the GOM BSA on the same trip submit daily
vessel monitoring system (VMS) catch reports. Vessels would also be
required to submit a VMS catch report prior to moving fishing
operations from one BSA to another. This additional reporting
requirement would help ensure that catch is properly accounted for. The
removal of any incentive to misreport trip catches in relation to the
trip limit along with additional reporting requirements to help ensure
proper apportioning of catch between BSAs replaces or mitigates the
loss of the short-term benefits expected from the single BSA
restriction.
When NMFS implemented the interim rule in November 2014, it did not
take any action to reduce the GOM cod ACL or ACE allocated to sectors.
During public discussion at the September Council meeting at which the
Council requested the agency to develop emergency measures for GOM cod,
it was clear that any unilateral action to reduce the ACE available to
sectors in the middle of the fishing year could have substantial
economic impacts to much of the industry. However, in terms of
effecting mortality reductions, a change to the ACE available for
harvest by the sectors is generally the most effective and direct means
to reduce total potential catch. Instead, NMFS imposed a trip limit to
reduce the incentive to target GOM cod within the ACE available,
recognizing that if the industry continued to encounter GOM cod,
mortality would continue largely through regulatory discarding,
potentially up to the full allocated ACE level. Although the analysis
supporting the interim measures suggested the trip limit could reduce
mortality by approximately 20 mt, there was considerable uncertainty
around this estimate, primarily due to uncertainty with the amount of
discarding that would occur.
In this request for a sector exemption, the sectors are proposing
to implement what NMFS did not: A reduction to the ACE available to
those sectors for the remainder of the fishing year. Because the
fishing industry will continue to fish through the end of the fishing
year, and will continue to encounter GOM cod, the sectors' proposed
exemption would establish a firm upper limit on total cod mortality and
is more likely to be lower than would otherwise be achieved through the
interim measures. In addition to an actual reduction in the total
potential cod catch, the sectors' proposed exemption would improve the
catch yield and reduce the uncertainty of that cod catch.
This exemption would apply only for the remainder of the 2014
fishing year. It is our intent to continue reviewing sector exemption
requests included in annual sector operations plans through a proposed
and final rulemaking process. However, future mid-year exemption
requests, or modifications to existing exemptions, may be considered,
and granted or denied, through a shortened notice and comment process
similar to this action.
If we can conclude that the exemption request is at least
conversation neutral, and if this request is granted, this exemption
will apply to all sectors who request it, and sector operations plans
and letters of authorizations will be
[[Page 9440]]
modified to include these regulatory exemptions. Minor sector exemption
modifications may be granted without further notice if they are deemed
essential to facilitate these exemptions and have minimal impacts that
do not change the scope or impact of the initially approved sector
exemption request.
A supplemental information report analyzing the environmental
impacts of this exemption request has been developed and is available
online for review at http://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/regs/.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 13, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-03539 Filed 2-18-15; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P