[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 10, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6699-6701]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-3333]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 012898B]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast 
Multispecies Fishery; Reopening of 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 reopening the scoping process for silver 
hake, offshore hake, and red hake; request for comments.

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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), offshore hake (Merluccius albidus), and red 
hake (Urophycis chuss) stocks, and to prepare an SEIS to analyze the 
impacts of any proposed management measures. The Council also formally 
announces the reinitiation of a public process to determine the scope 
of issues to be addressed in the environmental impact analysis. The 
purpose of this notice is to alert the interested public of the 
reopening 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 
March 17, 1998. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific dates and 
times of scheduled scoping meetings.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests for copies of the scoping 
document should be sent to Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New

[[Page 6700]]

England Fishery Management Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906.
    Scoping meetings will be held in New Jersey, New York, Rhode 
Island, and Massachusetts. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for locations 
of the meetings.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, 
(781)-231-0422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Silver hake and red hake became components 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 
for whiting was considered but not approved, 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 
members of the fishing industry in the Mid-Atlantic area commented that 
the mesh size increase would result in a disproportionate economic cost 
to them. Consequently, other than the measures adopted for the 
Cultivator Shoal whiting fishery, no regulations controlling fishing 
for either whiting or red hake have been developed following their 
incorporation into the multispecies management unit.
    Fishing for whiting, offshore hake, and red hake is currently 
allowed without restriction in the Mid-Atlantic Regulatory Mesh Area, 
and in the Southern New England and Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank 
Regulated Mesh Areas, in times and areas where the regulatory bycatch 
of groundfish commonly referred to as ``regulated species'' has been 
determined to be less than 5 percent. This exemption applies year-round 
in Southern New England and in Small Mesh Area 1 and Small Mesh Area 2 
in the Gulf of Maine. Experimental fisheries have also been undertaken 
to evaluate gear modifications, such as a separator grate or a raised 
footrope trawl, in reducing regulated species bycatch below the maximum 
acceptable level.
    In 1993, whiting fishers 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 an 
industry advisory panel that outlined some objectives and measures for 
a whiting management plan. The Committee held scoping meetings, 
including two in the Mid-Atlantic area in early 1994 (March 7 in Wall, 
New Jersey, and March 8 in Montauk, New York). At that time, the 
Council 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. According to 
advisors, in the period between 1993 and 1996 the juvenile whiting 
fishery expanded significantly, raising concerns for the health of the 
resource. On the recommendation of advisors and the Committee, the 
Council established a control date of September 9, 1996, for whiting 
(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 whiting advisors raised the issue of offshore hake, which they 
reported was often mixed with silver hake, but historically has not 
been separated at the docks for the sake of landings data. 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 offshore hake species. However, the 
Council agreed to include offshore hake in the FMP amendment addressing 
whiting.
    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 that the Cultivator Shoal whiting 
fishery be managed separately.
    Recently, the Council designated the Whiting Subcommittee as a full 
standing committee, tasked with developing an amendment to the FMP to 
conserve whiting stocks. According to the ``Report on the Status of 
Fisheries of the United States,'' prepared by NMFS in September 1997, 
both red hake and the southern stock of silver hake are overfished, and 
the northern silver hake stock is approaching an overfished condition. 
Consequently, according to the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) 
amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act, the Council must develop measures to end overfishing and rebuild 
these overfished stocks by September 30, 1998.

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 last 
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 overexploited and at a 
low level of abundance and that abundance continues to decline.
    The impact of the juvenile (whiting) fishery over the past 5 years 
on stock status has not been measured. Given the truncated age-
structure of the population of both silver hake stocks, the juvenile 
fishery may be detrimental to the resource.
    To date, the status of the offshore hake stock has not been 
formally assessed, and no overfishing definition has been developed. 
Offshore hake is almost indistinguishable from, and often caught in 
combination with, silver hake. Therefore, conservation and management 
measures for silver hake should also address offshore hake. The scoping 
process will help the Council by providing input about appropriate 
management measures to conserve offshore hake.
    The last stock assessment for red hake was conducted in 1990 (Stock 
Assessment Workshop/Stock Assessment Review Committee 11). Questions 
still remain regarding both the boundaries and the age structures of 
red hake stocks. While the available data are incomplete, precautionary 
steps can be taken to protect the resource and allow for a balanced and 
sustainable fishery. Additionally, in order to comply with the mandates 
of the SFA, the Council must address overfishing of red hake and work 
to rebuild the resource to a level capable of achieving optimum yield.

[[Page 6701]]

Purpose

    The purpose of the proposed amendment is to end and prevent 
overfishing on silver hake and red hake stocks, to provide basic 
protection for offshore hake, and to rebuild and maintain healthy 
spawning stocks in order to allow for a balanced, sustainable fishery 
that maximizes economic benefits without compromising the health of the 
resources.

Management Options

Moratorium on Permits--Limited Access

    The Whiting Committee recommends that, in order to land whiting, a 
vessel without a current limited access multispecies permit must meet 
the following criteria: (1) That it held an open access, nonregulated 
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.

Southern Stock

    Management of the southern stock is complicated by the diversity of 
the fisheries where whiting is caught; specifically, the squid/whiting 
fishery uses a 1.88-inch (4.78-cm) mesh, and the 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 from June 1 to September 1 of each year. 
Vessels retaining whiting from September 1 through May 31 would be 
required to switch to a 2.5-inch (6.35-cm) mesh upon reaching a 
specific threshold amount of whiting on board. The minimum mesh size 
for retaining whiting from September 1 to May 31 would be the minimum 
mesh size for Loligo squid as determined by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery 
Management Council.
    The Whiting Committee is also considering several options for a 
whiting trip limit, including a sliding scale trip limit based on 
overall vessel length. A trip limit may be imposed year-round or 
seasonally.

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 Whiting Committee 
intends to consider results from experimental fisheries that have 
evaluated grate/mesh size management strategies. The Whiting 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. The Whiting Committee is also considering 
the same trip limit options for the northern stock as for the southern 
stock.

Other Measures Under Consideration

    The Council is also considering and will take comments on other 
management options, including (1) a minimum fish size for whiting of 11 
inches (27.94 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; (4) a raised footrope trawl 
design; (5) spawning area closures; and (6) a provision to utilize 
additional management tools from the FMP to manage these stocks in the 
future.

Scoping Process

    The Council discussed and took scoping comments at a previous 
meeting on March 12 and 13, 1997. A notice of intent to prepare an SEIS 
and notice of scoping process for silver hake and offshore hake stocks 
was published in the Federal Register on March 19, 1997 (62 FR 12983). 
Because both red hake and silver hake have recently been listed as 
overfished, the Whiting Committee felt that reopening the scoping 
process was necessary to receive further comments about managing silver 
hake, offshore hake, and red hake. Therefore, the Council will accept 
public comments about the scope of whiting, offshore hake, and red hake 
management at its next meeting on February 25, 1998, in Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire. Additional scoping meetings are scheduled as follows (a 
notice will be published in the Federal Register at a later date giving 
complete addresses for the meetings):
    1. March 3, 1998, 7 p.m.--Holiday Inn, Toms River, NJ.
    2. March 4, 1998, 7 p.m.--Holiday Inn at MacArthur Airport, 
Ronkonkoma, NY.
    3. March 5, 1998, 4 p.m.--Holiday Inn at the Crossings, Warwick, 
RI.
    4. March 9, 1998, 2 p.m.--Town Hall, Provincetown, MA.
    Additional meetings of the Council, Whiting Committee, or Advisory 
Panel during the scoping period will provide opportunities for public 
comments on specific issues identified in the respective agendas.
    All persons affected by, or otherwise interested in, whiting and 
red hake 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 will 
also identify and eliminate from detailed study issues that are not 
significant. Once a draft FMP amendment and an SEIS or Environmental 
Assessment are developed, the Council will hold public hearings to 
receive comments on them.

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

    Dated: February 4, 1998.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 98-3333 Filed 2-9-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F