[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 4, 1994)]
[Notices]
[Pages 295-296]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 93-32090]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: January 4, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 122793A]

 

Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management 
plan; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notice that the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 32 to the Fishery 
Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP) for 
Secretarial review and is requesting comments from the public. There is 
no proposed rule accompanying this amendment. Therefore, this is the 
final opportunity to comment on this amendment.
    Copies of the amendment may be obtained from the Council (see 
ADDRESSES).

DATES: Comments on the FMP amendment should be submitted on or before 
March 7, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the FMP amendment should be submitted to Ronald 
J. Berg, Chief, Fisheries Management Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, Alaska 99802 (Attn: Lori Gravel), or delivered 
to the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, Alaska.
    Copies of Amendment 32 and the environmental assessment (EA) and 
economic analysis prepared for the amendment are available from the 
North Pacific Fishery Management Council, P.O. Box 103136, Anchorage, 
Alaska 99510 (telephone 907-271-2809).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jessica A. Gharrett, NMFS, Alaska Region, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson Act) requires that each Regional Fishery 
Management Council submit any fishery management plan or plan amendment 
it prepares to the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) for review and 
approval, disapproval, or partial disapproval. The Magnuson Act also 
requires that the Secretary, upon receiving a fishery management plan 
or amendment, immediately publish a notice that the fishery management 
plan or amendment is available for public review and comment. The 
Secretary will consider the public comments received during the comment 
period in determining public comments received during the comment 
period in determining whether to approve the FMP or amendment.
    Amendment 32 would establish a plan to rebuild stocks of the 
rockfish Pacific ocean perch (POP) (Sebastes alutus) in the Gulf of 
Alaska (GOA). POP is a highly valued groundfish. It was heavily 
exploited by a foreign trawl fleet from the early 1960's until the mid-
1980's. Thereafter, a domestic at-sea processing fleet harvested POP at 
a substantially lower rate. Catches of POP peaked in 1965 when an 
estimated 350,000 metric tons (mt) were harvested by the foreign fleet; 
catches declined sharply in the late 1960's. From 1961-1977, annual POP 
landings averaged over 40,000 mt; after 1977, landings averaged 6,000 
mt. In the domestic fishery, POP was managed as part of a larger slope 
rockfish assemblage of about 20 species until 1991, when POP was 
established as a separate target species category to prevent possible 
overfishing.
    As a result of increased concern about the status of POP stocks, 
biomass assessment methodology has been improved and domestic harvest 
levels have been reduced. The 1993 total allowable catch (TAC) of 2,560 
mt was available only as incidental catch in other groundfish 
fisheries. In recent years POP has been managed as a single species, 
harvest levels have been reduced, and directed fisheries have been 
restricted or eliminated. In spite of this conservative management in 
recent years, POP biomass has increased only slightly and remains 
depressed from historic levels. The current spawner biomass of about 
71,000 mt is estimated to be 15-20 percent of the level observed during 
the 1960's.
    The Council believes that increasing the biomass of POP to a level 
closer to historical amounts is necessary to achieve optimum yield in 
the POP fishery. Factors other than fishing mortality contribute to the 
continued depressed state of the POP resource. Ecosystem changes or 
other biological factors may preclude rebuilding success. Nevertheless, 
the Council considers minimizing POP mortality necessary to maximize 
the probability of rebuilding success in a realistic time period. 
Additionally, decreasing POP mortality should minimize resource waste 
associated with low TACs that do not fully accommodate incidental catch 
needs of existing fisheries.
    After a review of alternatives analyzed in the EA, the Council 
selected Alternative 3 as the preferred alternative. This alternative 
is projected in modeling simulations to rebuild POP biomass to a target 
level (BMSY) in about 14 years by harvesting POP at a fishing 
mortality rate lower than the optimum rate. The target biomass 
BMSY is the total biomass of mature females that would produce the 
maximum sustainable yield, on average; this number is currently 
estimated at 150,000 mt. The optimal fishing mortality rate is the rate 
that maximizes expected biological and economic yields over a range of 
plausible stock-recruitment relationships.
    The Council considered Alternative 3 superior to Alternative 1, 
which no longer represents the best scientific information about POP 
biomass and population dynamics. The Council also considered 
Alternative 3 superior to Alternative 2, which would harvest POP at the 
higher optimal fishing mortality rate. The Council believed that lower 
POP harvests and additional economic costs of Alternative 3 were 
justified because Alternative 2 would achieve the target biomass in a 
longer time (about 18 years) and with a lower probability of rebuilding 
success. Alternative 4 would harvest POP at a lower rate equivalent 
needed for unavoidable POP bycatch in remaining groundfish fisheries, 
at 1992 bycatch rates. The TACs resulting from Alternative 4 were 
considered too restrictive in relation to existing POP bycatch needs, 
causing unnecessary discards of POP that are killed in fishing 
operations after POP TACs are reached.
    Under Alternative 3, the FMP would establish the procedure for 
deriving the annual GOA TACs for POP. POP stocks are considered to be 
rebuilt when the total biomass of mature females is equal to, or 
greater than, BMSY. Annual TACs would be established as follows:
    (a) Determine the current biomass, BMSY, and the optimal 
fishing mortality rate;
    (b) Determine the fishing mortality rate halfway between the 
optimal fishing mortality rate and the fishing mortality rate estimated 
to be sufficient to supply unavoidable bycatch of POP based on 1992 
bycatch rates;
    (c) When the current biomass of mature females is less than 
BMSY, adjust the resultant fishing mortality rate in (b) by the 
ratio of current biomass to BMSY so that when BMSY is 
attained, the fishing mortality rate will be the optimal fishing 
mortality rate;
    (d) The GOA TAC of POP is the amount of fish resulting from the 
adjusted fishing mortality rate in (c); and
    (e) The TAC is apportioned among regulatory areas in proportion to 
POP biomass distribution.
    In addition to restricting the annual fishing mortality rate of 
POP, the Council seeks to reduce the total mortality of POP in other 
target fisheries. In the past, overfishing has been defined GOA-wide. 
Under Amendment 32, the overfishing level would be distributed among 
the eastern, central, and western areas in the same proportions as POP 
biomass occurs in those areas. This measure would avoid localized 
depletion of POP and would rebuild POP at equal rates in all regulatory 
areas of the GOA. The Council considers this management option 
necessary because, although POP biomass is greatest in the Eastern 
Regulatory Area, most trawl fishing activity and incidental catch of 
POP is greatest in the Central Regulatory Area. With an acceptable 
biological catch as low as the current, 3,378 mt in 1993, fishing 
mortality of POP can be expected to exceed the TAC available in the 
central GOA.
    Amendment 32 is necessary to improve conservation and management of 
POP and is intended to further the goals and objectives of the FMP. No 
regulatory changes are necessary to implement this FMP amendment 
because the FMP would provide the procedure for deriving TACs for POP, 
which are specified annually under existing regulations at 
Sec. 672.20(a)(2).

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 672

    Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: December 28, 1993.
Richard H. Schaefer,
Director of Office of Fisheries, Conservation and Management, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 93-32090 Filed 12-9-93; 11:01 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-M