[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 116 (Monday, June 19, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 27777-27780]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-12735]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 622
[Docket No. 140818679-5356-02]
RIN 0648-XF499
Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic;
Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Revised 2017 Recreational
Fishing Season for Red Snapper Private Angling Component in the Gulf of
Mexico
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; re-opening.
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SUMMARY: NMFS is re-opening the private angling component for red
snapper in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Gulf of Mexico
(Gulf) through this temporary rule. The Federal recreational season for
red snapper in the Gulf EEZ re-opens at 12:01 a.m., local time, on June
16, 2017. For recreational harvest by the private angling component,
from June 16, 2017, through Labor Day, September 4, 2017, the season
will be closed Monday through Thursday with the exception of July 3,
July 4, and September 4. After September 4, 2017, the private angling
component will be closed through the end of the current fishing year.
For recreational harvest by the Federal for-hire component, the season
is unchanged and closes at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 20, 2017.
This temporary rule supersedes the
[[Page 27778]]
previously announced Gulf red snapper 2017 private angling component
season.
DATES: The reopening is effective each weekend, from 12:01 a.m., local
time, Fridays, through 12:01 a.m., local time, Mondays, beginning June
16, 2017, until 12:01 a.m., local time, September 5, 2017. The
reopening is also effective from 12:01 a.m., local time, July 3, 2017,
until 12:01 a.m., local time, July 5, 2017; and from 12:01 a.m., local
time, September 4, 2017, until 12:01 a.m., local time, September 5,
2017. The recreational fishing season will then be closed until it
reopens on June 1, 2018.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Samuel D. Rauch, III, NMFS Office of
the Assistant Administrator, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Gulf reef fish fishery, which includes
red snapper, is managed under the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef
Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP). The FMP was prepared by the
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and is implemented by NMFS
under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) by regulations at 50 CFR part
622.
The commercial and recreational sectors are managed by separate
quotas. Amendment 26 to the FMP established an individual fishing quota
program for commercial red snapper fishermen (71 FR 67447, November 22,
2006). Amendment 27 to the FMP established an annual June 1 start date
for the recreational season that currently applies to both recreational
components of the sector (73 FR 5117, January 29, 2008). The final rule
implementing Amendment 40 to the FMP established two components within
the recreational sector fishing for Gulf red snapper: the private
angling component and the Federal for-hire component (80 FR 22422,
April 22, 2015).
Currently, the Gulf of Mexico stock of red snapper is overfished.
In 2005 (Amendment 22), NMFS adopted a rebuilding plan enacted by the
Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (GMFMC) that was designed to
rebuild the stock by 2032. Since implementation of the rebuilding plan,
red snapper are larger and more abundant and are also expanding their
range to areas of Florida where they have not been prevalent for some
time.
This has increased economic opportunity for the commercial red
snapper industry. That industry contains a limited number of tightly
regulated vessels that are able to closely monitor their catches and
stay within their allotted quota. As the quotas have increased to
reflect improved stock health, the commercial catches have gone up and
the commercial fishery has been able to reap the economic benefit of
improved stock status. The ex-vessel value of commercial red snapper
landings has increased from $10 million dollars in 2007 to nearly $30
million dollars in 2015.
The same cannot be said of private recreational fishermen. Red
snapper is harvested recreationally throughout the Gulf, with
proportionally larger landings in the eastern Gulf. The desire for
recreational fishing generates economic activity as consumers spend
their income on various goods and services needed for recreational
fishing. This spurs significant economic activity in the region where
recreational red snapper fishing from charter vessels and private
anglers generates at least $47 million dollars annually (output/sales
in 2014 dollars) from West Florida through Texas.
A decade ago, recreational fishermen could fish for red snapper for
more than 6 months. As the stock has grown, anglers are catching more
and larger fish across a broader geographic range. Catch per day has
increased because of abundance and fish size, but also more
concentrated fishing effort as the season has become compressed.
Further, angler access in Federal waters has declined as the Federal
recreational season has shrunk. On the commercial side, more fish has
resulted in higher catch rates and higher profits. On the private
recreational side, abundance has meant fewer and fewer days to fish in
Federal waters, which is at the heart of the recreational fishing
experience. While explicable, this situation is untenable. The
decreasing number of days allowed for the private angler component in
Federal waters has resulted in derby style fishing that forces anglers
to take increased risks to fish in bad weather and concentrates fishing
effort in a narrow time window. States have responded by setting State
seasons for the private angling component that are far longer than the
Federal season, greatly complicating fishery management and further
reducing the available days in Federal waters. The current situation
has undermined the Federal-State partnership on management of this
transboundary stock and threatens to undermine the very fabric of
Federal fisheries management in the Gulf and elsewhere.
Red snapper is primarily a deeper water species, although it does
occur patchily in deeper parts of state waters. Given that it occurs
and is caught within the jurisdiction of the 5 Gulf states and in
Federal waters, a unified approach to management is critical to
preserve the sustainability of the stock while maximizing the economic
and recreational value of the stock. The increasingly short Federal
recreational season has undermined that needed cohesiveness. As the
federal seasons have become shorter, the states have allowed for longer
and longer state water seasons. Since state catches ``come off the
top'', the long state seasons have made the Federal season even
shorter, further exacerbating the problem. So while the amount of red
snapper that can be caught by private anglers is near an all-time high,
more than 81 percent of those fish will be caught during state seasons
under status quo management.
This incongruous management has a number of direct and indirect
negative effects on the fishery. Managing the private recreational
fishery is far more difficult than managing the commercial fishery. The
commercial fishery is comprised of relatively few boats that fill out
regular reports and land their fish in a limited number of places.
Their landings can be cross-checked with dealer reports at the limited
number of licensed fish dealers and it is feasible to know where the
vessel was when it caught the fish. In comparison, there are hundreds
of thousands of private anglers who can decide to put a fishing line in
the water from shore anywhere on the coast or get in a private boat to
go virtually anywhere off shore from a public boat ramp or a dock on
private property, making it difficult to reliably track angler catches
and fishing effort.
As a result, understanding what is happening in the vast
recreational fishery and then appropriately managing it is not
something the Federal government can do alone. We rely on the states as
integral partners in the co-management effort. The States license
fishermen and collect significant amounts of independent science data
that goes into the stock assessment process. If the states are not
partners in a cohesive management scheme, the management system will
not work for anyone.
The lack of a unified approach can also significantly increase the
burden on the taxpayer from duplicative or overlapping management
structures. Historically, the states and Federal government have
cooperated in a unified management, survey and data collection program
to estimate fishing effort and overall stock abundance of red snapper
and other Gulf stocks. The effect of the non-uniform management
approach existent today is essentially the creation of six individual
management and science regimes for a
[[Page 27779]]
single species of fish. Each of the five states is creating or has
created a unique way of collecting data on and managing red snapper,
which is somewhat independent of the Federal system. This has not
always been the case and the state and Federal managers are trying to
ensure that the various systems are compatible. Nevertheless, the
disparate approaches do increase the overall cost to the taxpayer and
create inconsistent data results, further undermining the integrity of
the system.
Against this backdrop, the agreement reached today between the
Secretary of Commerce and the five states is extraordinary. For the
first time since 2007, the five States have agreed amongst themselves
on a singular private recreational summer fishing season of 39
essentially weekend days. In addition, Florida and Alabama have
committed to forgoing fall seasons, eliminating the vast majority of
private angler catch that has occurred in the fall. Mississippi and
Louisiana have also committed to reviewing their fall seasons in light
of the catch from the combined summer season, and may decide not to
allow fall fishing for red snapper. Texas, which accounts for less than
half a percent of private angler catch of red snapper in its fall
season, expects to remain open. While slightly disparate, the emergency
actions by all five States to bring their State water seasons into
alignment with the Federal water season for the rest of the summer,
when the bulk of private recreational angling occurs, is a significant
step forward in building a new Federal-State partnership in managing
this transboundary fish stock. The Secretary believes this increased
Federal-State cooperation will benefit the long term recovery of the
red snapper stock while maximizing the economic benefits from
recreational fishing in the Gulf region.
The States have now recommitted themselves to cohesive and unified
management. If Federal waters will stay open for the same amount of
time, they will modify their various individual seasons and adopt a
singular uniform season Gulf-wide through September 4. There will no
longer be any incentive to fish in closed Federal waters when State
waters are open. State and Federal managers and data collectors can
once again work as partners trying to achieve the same management
objective.
This is extraordinary and the States are sacrificing substantial
near shore fishing opportunities to allow this to happen. Many States
will forgo weeks or months of fishing in State waters in exchange for
better fishing opportunities and larger fish in Federal waters. This
represents a significant commitment from the States to restore a shared
vision of uniform management.
Both the States and the Federal government understand what is at
risk with this approach. The stock is still overfished. While the stock
is ahead of its rebuilding target, if employed for a short period of
time, this approach may delay the ultimate rebuilding of the stock by
as many as 6 years. This approach likely could not be continued through
time without significantly delaying the rebuilding timeline. Similarly,
the approach will necessarily mean that the private recreational sector
will substantially exceed its annual catch limit, which was designed to
prevent overfishing the stock. Nevertheless, NMFS calculates that the
stock will continue to grow, although at substantially more modest pace
if this approach is adopted for one year. Given the precipitous drop in
Federal red snapper fishing days for private anglers notwithstanding
the growth of the stock, the increasing harm to the coastal economies
of Gulf States, and that the current disparate approaches to management
are undermining the very integrity of the management structure,
creating ever-increasing uncertainty in the future of the system, the
Secretary of Commerce has determined that a more modest rebuilding pace
for the stock is a risk worth taking.
As such, in coordination with the five Gulf States, the Secretary
of Commerce has determined to re-open the Federal private recreational
season. The 2017 Federal recreational season was previously closed at
12:01 a.m., local time, on June 4, 2017, for the private angling
component. The Federal for-hire component will close at 12:01 a.m.
local time, on July 20, 2017 (86 FR 21140, May 5, 2017). All five Gulf
States have indicated they will adopt State recreational fishing
seasons through September 4, 2017, compatible with the Federal season
announced through this temporary rule. The 2017 Federal recreational
season for the private angling component is revised through this
temporary rule and will be open an additional 39 days for a total of 42
days. In 2017, the private angling component will be open from June 1
through 4, June 16 through 18, June 23 through 25, June 30 through July
4, July 7 through 9, July 14 through 16, July 21 through 23, July 28
through 30, August 4 through 6, August 11 through 13, August 18 through
20, August 25 through 27, and September 1 through 4. The Federal season
for the Federal for-hire component will remain the same and close at
12:01 a.m., local time, July 20, 2017. The commercial individual
fishing quota program and the 2017 commercial quota remain unchanged
through this temporary rule. The 2018 Federal recreational fishing
seasons for the respective components will begin on June 1, 2018.
When the recreational component is closed, the bag and possession
limits for red snapper in the respective component are zero.
Additionally, when the Federal charter vessel/headboat component or
entire recreational sector is closed, these bag and possession limits
apply in the Gulf on board a vessel for which a valid Federal charter
vessel/headboat permit for Gulf reef fish has been issued, without
regard to where such species were harvested, i.e., in State or Federal
waters.
Classification
This action is taken under 50 CFR part 622 and is exempt from
review under Executive Order 12866.
These measures are exempt from the procedures of the Regulatory
Flexibility Act because the temporary rule is issued without
opportunity for prior notice and comment.
The Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries (AA), finds that the
need to immediately implement this action to provide additional
recreational private angling fishing season days constitutes good cause
to waive the requirements to provide prior notice and opportunity for
public comment on this temporary rule pursuant to the authority set
forth in 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), because such procedures are unnecessary
and contrary to the public interest. Such procedures are unnecessary
because the rule implementing the requirement to close the recreational
components have already been subject to notice and comment, and all
that remains is to notify the public of the closures. Providing prior
notice and opportunity for public comment are contrary to the public
interest because of the need for timely re-opening of the Federal
private angling component season. In addition, prior notice and
opportunity for public comment would require time and many of those
affected by the length of the recreational fishing season, particularly
vacationing private anglers and associated businesses that are
dependent on private anglers, need as much advance notice as NMFS is
able to provide to adjust their personal and business plans to account
for the recreational fishing season.
For the aforementioned reasons, the AA also finds good cause to
waive the 30-day delay in the effectiveness of this action under 5
U.S.C. 553(d)(3).
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
[[Page 27780]]
Dated: June 14, 2017.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Acting Assistant Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-12735 Filed 6-14-17; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P