[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 19, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12983-12985]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-6821]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 030797C]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast 
Multispecies Fishery; Scoping Process for Hake

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

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement (SEIS) and notice of scoping process; request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) announces 
its intent to prepare an amendment to the Northeast Multispecies 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to conserve silver hake (whiting, 
Merluccius bilinearis) and offshore hake (Merluccius albidus) stocks, 
and to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) to 
analyze the impacts of any proposed management measures. The Council 
also formally announces a public process to determine the scope of 
issues to be addressed in the environmental impact analysis. The 
purpose of this document is to alert the interested public of the 
commencement of the scoping process and to provide for public 
participation in compliance with environmental documentation 
requirements.

DATES: Written comments on the scope of the SEIS may be submitted until 
April 7, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests for copies of the SEIS should 
be sent to Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England Fishery 
Management Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, (617) 231-0422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Whiting became a component of the multispecies fishery management 
unit in Amendment 4 to the FMP (56 FR 24724, May 31, 1991). At that 
time, a proposed 2.5-inch (6.35-cm) minimum mesh size was disapproved 
because NMFS determined that it would do little to prevent overfishing. 
Also, the economic analysis failed to demonstrate a net benefit over a 
10-year period, and fishermen in the Mid-Atlantic area commented that 
the mesh size increase

[[Page 12984]]

would result in a disproportionate economic cost to them. Consequently, 
besides the measures adopted for the Cultivator Shoal whiting fishery, 
no regulations controlled whiting fishing following its incorporation 
into the management unit.
    Whiting fishing is currently allowed without restriction in times 
and areas where the regulated species bycatch has been determined to be 
below 5 percent. This exemption applies year-round in Southern New 
England, and in two seasonal areas in the Gulf of Maine. Experimental 
fisheries have been undertaken to demonstrate the efficacy of gear 
modifications, such as a separator grate or a raised-footrope trawl, in 
reducing regulated species bycatch to below the maximum acceptable 
level.
    In 1993, whiting fishermen brought concerns to the Council about 
the emergence of an export market for juvenile whiting. The Council's 
Groundfish Committee (Committee) formed a whiting subcommittee and 
industry advisory panel that outlined some measures and objectives for 
a management plan. The Committee held several scoping meetings, 
including two scoping hearings in the Mid-Atlantic area in early 1994 
(March 7 in Wall, NJ, and March 8 in Montauk, NY). The staff prepared a 
draft public hearing document, but the Council suspended plan-
development efforts while it worked on Amendment 7 to the FMP.
    The whiting subcommittee reconvened in June 1996. In the period 
between 1993 and 1996, according to advisors, the juvenile whiting 
fishery expanded significantly, raising concerns for the health of the 
resource. On the recommendation of the advisors and the Committee, the 
Council established a control date for whiting on September 9, 1996 (61 
FR 47473), and announced that it is considering limiting future access 
to anyone not in possession of a multispecies limited access permit as 
of that date.
    The advisors raised the issue of offshore hake, which they reported 
was often mixed with silver hake, but that has not been separated in 
landings statistics. They also asked about the impact of proposed 
management measures for silver hake on offshore hake fishing. In 
response, the Council obtained a scientific report from the Northeast 
Fisheries Science Center in October 1996. The report summarized 
available information and noted that very little is known about the 
species of offshore hake.
    In December 1996, the whiting subcommittee and advisors outlined a 
plan for whiting management. The subcommittee agreed that, for 
management purposes, the whiting resource should be divided into two 
stocks, a northern stock in the Georges Bank/Gulf of Maine Regulated 
Mesh Area, and a southern stock in the Southern New England and Mid-
Atlantic Regulated Mesh Areas. The subcommittee recommended that, for 
management purposes, offshore hake be treated as a component of the 
southern stock of silver hake and also that the Cultivator Shoal 
whiting fishery be managed separately.

Status of the Stocks

    The last stock assessment for whiting was presented to the Council 
in February 1994. This assessment was hampered by several problems, 
particularly by uncertainty about stock boundary definitions and 
discarding of juveniles, and by insufficient biological sampling to 
determine the length and age composition of the catch. More recently, 
recognition that a separate species (offshore hake) has been mixed with 
catches of silver hake compounds the difficulty of establishing an age-
based assessment.
    Based on analysis of landings and trawl survey data, the assessment 
concluded that the Gulf of Maine/Northern Georges Bank stock was fully-
exploited and at a low level of abundance, although abundance appeared 
to be increasing. The assessment also concluded that the Southern 
Georges Bank/Middle Atlantic stock is over-exploited and at a low level 
of abundance and that abundance continues to decline.
    The impact of the juvenile (silver hake) fishery over the past 5 
years on stock status has not yet been measured. Given the truncated 
age-structure of the population of both stocks, this fishery may be 
detrimental to the resource. On the other hand, discards of juvenile 
fish have historically been substantial, and increased landings of 
juvenile whiting do not necessarily represent an increase in 
exploitation rates.

Purpose

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to provide basic 
protection for whiting, pending the development of scientific 
information pertaining to potential overfishing and biological 
characteristics, and to allow for a balanced, sustainable fishery 
maximizing economic benefit.

Management Options

A. Moratorium on Permits--Limited Access

    The Committee recommends that, to land whiting, a vessel without a 
current limited-access multispecies permit meet the following 
qualification criteria: (1) That it held an open-access, non-regulated 
multispecies permit as of the control date (September 9, 1996), and (2) 
that it had landed at least one pound of whiting prior to the control 
date. All vessels with a current limited-access multispecies permit 
would retain access to the whiting fishery.

B. Southern Stock

    Management of the southern stock is complicated by the diversity of 
fisheries where whiting is caught; specifically, the squid/whiting 
fishery uses a 1.75-inch (4.44-cm) mesh, and other mixed-trawl 
fisheries use meshes of 2-2.5 inches (5-6.35 cm). The Council is 
considering requiring a vessel retaining whiting to use a codend of 2.5 
inches (6.35 cm) or larger, and to prohibit the retention of whiting on 
vessels using smaller mesh. During the spawning season from May through 
August, vessels would be limited to 500 lb (0.227 mt) of whiting per 
registered length overall per trip. For example, a 50-ft vessel could 
retain 25,000 lb (11.340 mt) of whiting.

C. Northern Stock

    Scientific information indicates that the northern stock may be 
able to sustain a fishery utilizing both small and large whiting, 
provided the catch is limited or controlled. The Committee intends to 
consider results from experimental fisheries that have evaluated grate/
mesh size management strategy. The Committee recommends requiring a 
vessel retaining whiting to use a codend of 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) or 
larger if the vessel is not in an approved fishery requiring a 
separator grate. As in the southern stock area during the spawning 
season from May through August, vessels would be limited to 500 lb 
(0.227 mt) of whiting per foot of registered length overall per trip.

D. Other Measures Under Consideration

    The Council is also considering, and will take comments on other 
management options, including: (1) A minimum fish size of 11 inches 
(29.74 cm) with a 20-percent tolerance for undersized fish, with or 
without a minimum mesh size; (2) minimum mesh sizes up to 3 inches 
(7.62 cm), with or without a minimum fish size; (3) a square-mesh panel 
in the net and other gear modifications; and (4) a raised-footrope 
trawl design.

Other Issues to be Addressed

    The Council seeks comments on two other issues identified by the 
Committee: (1) Whiting permits for non-

[[Page 12985]]

federally permitted shrimp boats, and (2) the impact of eliminating the 
possession-limit-only permit (established by Amendment 7 to the FMP) on 
vessels in the Southern New England and Mid-Atlantic area.

Scoping Process

    The Council discussed and took scoping comments at its meeting on 
March 12-13, 1997. Additional scoping meetings may be scheduled later 
as needed. All persons affected by or otherwise interested in whiting 
fisheries management are invited to participate in determining the 
scope and significance of issues to be analyzed by submitting written 
comments (see ADDRESSES). Scope consists of the range of actions, 
alternatives and impacts to be considered. Alternatives include not 
developing a management plan, developing amendments to existing plans 
or other reasonable courses of action. Impacts may be direct, indirect, 
individual or cumulative. The scoping process also will identify and 
eliminate from detailed study issues that are not significant. Once a 
draft FMP amendment and an Environmental Impact Statement or 
Environmental Assessment is developed, the Council will hold public 
hearings to receive comments.

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

    Dated: March 13, 1997.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-6821 Filed 3-18-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F