[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 231 (Wednesday, December 2, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 66490-66491]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-32017]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 630

[I.D. 111698C]


Atlantic Swordfish Fishery; Quota Adjustment

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

ACTION: Notification of quota adjustment.

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

SUMMARY: NMFS adjusts the 1998 North Atlantic swordfish fishery quota 
to carryover the unharvested portion of the 1997 quota.

DATES: Effective December 2, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jill Stevenson, 301-713-2347.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Atlantic swordfish fishery is 
managed under the Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Swordfish. 
Regulations at 50 CFR part 630 are issued under the authority of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act) (codified at 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) and the Atlantic 
Tunas Convention Act (ATCA) (codified at 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.). 
Regulations issued under the authority of ATCA implement the 
recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of 
Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
    NMFS recently revised quota adjustment procedures for the Atlantic 
swordfish fishery in a final rule published on September 29, 1998 (63 
FR 51856). These revised procedures allow for carryover of unharvested 
quota from one fishing year to the next, provided such carryover is 
consistent with the applicable recommendation of ICCAT. Current ICCAT 
recommendations provide for carryover from 1997 to 1998 of unharvested 
swordfish quota from the North Atlantic stock but not the South 
Atlantic stock. Therefore, this quota adjustment pertains to the 1998 
quota for the North Atlantic swordfish stock only.
    For both semiannual periods of the 1997 fishing year, NMFS closed 
the longline/harpoon directed fishery for North Atlantic swordfish 
based on projections of when the quota for each semiannual period would 
be caught. The closures were effective October 12, 1997, for the first 
semiannual period and March 31, 1998, for the second. When NMFS tallied 
actual catches for both periods, NMFS determined that the entire 1997 
longline/harpoon quota of 2121.2 metric tons dressed weight was not 
harvested, leaving 224.6 metric tons available for carryover. 
Additionally, the entire 1997 directed fishery quota of 42.8 mt 
allocated to driftnet gear remained unharvested due to a year long 
emergency closure of that fishery issued under authority of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act (62 FR 30775, June 5, 1997) and the Endangered 
Species Act (62 FR 63467, December 1, 1997). Finally, out of the 1997 
incidental catch quota of 300 mt, a total of 232.1 mt of swordfish were 
taken incidentally in fisheries targeting other species (e.g., 
yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, squid) including longline landings after 
the directed fishery closures. This leaves 335.3 mt (224.6 + 42.8 + 
67.9) available for carryover to the 1998 fishing year.
    Regulations on adjustment procedures require that any underharvest 
from the prior fishing year be apportioned equally between the two 
semiannual fishing periods and be allocated so that the new directed 
fishery gear quotas represent the same proportion of the adjusted quota 
as they did before the quota adjustment. Given that the first 1998 
semiannual period will end on November 30, 1998, that the driftnet 
fishery remains closed for the remainder of the 1998 fishing year, and 
that NMFS has published a proposed rule to prohibit further use of 
driftnet gear in the North Atlantic swordfish fishery (63 FR 55998, 
October 20, 1998), NMFS has decided to allocate the entire amount of 
the 1997 underharvest (335.3 mt) to the 1998 second semiannual directed 
fishery for longline and harpoon gear.
    In addition to the 1997 carryover adjustment, NMFS also makes 
inseason adjustments to the 1998 North Atlantic swordfish allocations. 
According to the regulations, if NMFS determines it is necessary to 
close a directed fishery, any estimated underharvest of that directed 
fishery quota will be used to adjust the annual incidental catch quota. 
In 1998, a closure based on catch projections (63 FR 41205, August 3, 
1998) resulted in an underharvest of the 1998 North Atlantic swordfish 
driftnet quota (14.6 mt remaining). NMFS did not reopen this fishery 
due to protected species bycatch concerns. Therefore, NMFS allocates 
the unharvested 14.6 mt of the 1998 driftnet quota to the 1998 North 
Atlantic swordfish incidental catch category.
    The quotas for the 1998 North Atlantic swordfish fishery were 
previously established (62 FR 55357, October 24, 1997) to provide 
1028.5 mt for each semiannual period in the directed (longline/harpoon) 
fishery, 41.6

[[Page 66491]]

mt for the driftnet fishery, and 300 mt reserved for incidental catch. 
Given the regulatory requirements on carryover and inseason 
reallocation, NMFS adjusts the 1998 second semiannual directed North 
Atlantic swordfish quota to 1363.8 mt (1028.5 + 335.3) and adjusts the 
1998 incidental catch quota to 314.6 mt (300.0 + 14.6).

Classification

    This action is taken under 50 CFR 630.24(e) and (f) and is exempt 
from review under E.O. 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. and 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.

    Dated: November 25, 1998.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 98-32017 Filed 11-27-98; 1:13 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F