[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]
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