[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 169 (Wednesday, September 1, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 47756-47758]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-22669]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 697

[Docket No. 990105002-9234-02; I.D. 071599B]
RIN 0648-AH41


Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; 
American Lobster Fishery; Control Date for American Lobster

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

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; consideration of a 
control date for the American lobster fishery.

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SUMMARY:NMFS announces that it is considering, and is seeking public 
comment on, whether there is a need under the Atlantic Coastal 
Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (Atlantic Coastal Act) to limit or 
restrict future access to the American lobster (Homarus americanus) 
fishery in certain geographic areas. This notice is intended to promote 
awareness of the potential eligibility criteria for future access to 
lobster management areas, and to discourage shifts into new areas by 
lobster trap vessels subject to Federal lobster regulations. It also 
discourages non-trap vessels from entering the trap fishery based on 
economic speculation while NMFS, in consultation with the Atlantic 
States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission), considers whether and 
how access and effort should be controlled. The potential eligibility 
criteria may be based on historical participation and/or historical 
trap levels in lobster conservation management areas (LCMAs). NMFS is 
considering September 1, 1999 as a possible ``control date,'' and such 
date may be used as a cut-off date for establishing eligibility 
criteria for future access in the lobster trap fishery subject to 
Federal authority. This document, therefore, gives the public 
notification that interested participants should locate and preserve 
records that substantiate and verify their participation in the 
American lobster fishery in Federal waters.

DATES: Comments must be received by October 1, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Harold Mears, Director, 
State, Federal and Constituent Programs Office, One Blackburn Drive, 
Gloucester, MA 01930.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Ross, Fishery Management 
Specialist, 978-281-9234.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The lobster fishery takes place from North 
Carolina to Maine. Over one-half of all American lobsters are landed in 
Maine, with most of the other landings occurring in or from 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long Island Sound, and Georges Bank. Most 
lobsters (over 80 percent) are taken in state waters, which extend from 
the coast to 3 nautical miles (5.56 kilometers) from shore. The 
offshore trap fishery, which occurs primarily in the offshore canyon 
areas at the edge of the continental shelf, has developed only in the 
past 15 years and accounts for most of the remaining landings. The 
lobster fishery is a year-round fishery in the United States, including 
the summer and fall months when the lobsters are molting. Approximately 
97 percent of lobsters are taken in lobster traps. The rest are taken 
in trawls, gillnets, dredges, and by divers.
    There has been a dramatic increase in fishing effort since the 
1970s and effort is now at an all-time high. NMFS estimates that each 
trap remains in the water about 30 percent longer than in 1970 before 
being hauled. Current fishing effort removes a large proportion of 
lobsters before they have had a chance to spawn even once, and the 
average size of lobsters landed continues to drop. Harvesters depend 
heavily on lobsters within one molt of the legal size (3-1/4 inches or 
8.26 cm carapace length). In recent years, 85 percent or more of 
landings have been composed of animals in this size range.
    The most recent NMFS assessment of the American lobster stock 
concluded that it is overfished throughout its range (22nd Northeast 
Regional Stock Assessment Workshop Document 96-13, dated September, 
1996). In the Report to Congress on the Status of Fisheries of the 
United States, dated September 1997, NMFS included American lobster on 
the list of overfished fisheries. The lobster stock is considered to be 
overfished because the number of eggs produced each year is less than 
10 percent of the number that would have been produced if the stock

[[Page 47757]]

were not fished. The more eggs produced, the greater the margin of 
safety for the population if environmental conditions become 
unfavorable for the survival of juvenile lobsters to marketable size 
and the greater the likelihood of rebuilding. Increasing egg production 
will reduce the risk that the stock will collapse and increase the 
chances of rebuilding the resource.
    The lobster fishery has been managed from the Federal perspective 
under regulations at 50 CFR part 649 pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The 
fishery in state waters is mostly managed through an interstate plan 
developed by the Commission, consistent with the Atlantic Coastal Act. 
Since the majority of lobsters are harvested from state waters, NMFS 
has proposed that lobsters would be managed more effectively through an 
interstate plan and Federal regulations issued under the authority of 
Atlantic Coastal Act [61 FR 13478]. Accordingly, this potential control 
date would be associated with Federal lobster regulations under either 
the Magnuson-Stevens Act or the Atlantic Coastal Act, depending on if 
and when NMFS withdraw the Magnson-Stevens Act regulations.
    The Commission approved Amendment 3 to the American Lobster 
Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP) in December 1997. The 
states, through adoption of Amendment 3 to the Commission's American 
Lobster ISFMP, recognized the need to end overfishing and rebuild 
stocks of American lobster. Amendment 3 identified a variety of new 
requirements in state waters, including the establishment of a 
procedure whereby fishermen, including some who fish exclusively in 
Federal waters, may make recommendations for further management 
measures on an area by area basis. In the spring of 1998, in each of 
the seven lobster management areas identified in the ISFMP, Lobster 
Conservation Management Teams (LCMTs) were formed to advise and make 
recommendations to the Commission on management measures necessary to 
restore egg production for the American lobster resource in each of the 
management areas to greater than the overfishing definition. For each 
LCMT that submitted a management proposal, the recommended management 
measures were reviewed by the Commission's Lobster Technical Committee 
to assess their ability to achieve the egg production milestones for 
the year 2000. The proposals vary by management area, and each proposal 
includes one or more of the following management measures: Increasing 
the minimum gauge size, implementing a maximum gauge size, increasing 
the escape vent size, capping fishing effort, limiting the number of 
traps per vessel, and closing areas. In April and May 1999, the 
Commission took a selective list of management measures identified in 
the LCMT area proposals to public hearings as a draft Addendum 1 to 
Amendment 3 of the ISFMP.
    The Commission approved Addendum 1 on August 3, 1999. It includes 
area management measures to further limit access to the lobster 
fishery. Subsequent implementation of these measures is intended by the 
Commission to be based upon historic participation guidelines approved 
as part of Addendum 1. These guidelines include consideration of unique 
limitations, fishing practices, and records for evaluating previous 
fishing history, which would lead to resource allocation decisions in 
selected management areas. As a result of this addendum to the ISFMP, 
the Commission will likely recommend area-specific actions for Federal 
waters, which could include management measures based upon the historic 
participation guidelines. The Commission intends to assess other 
aspects of the area based management proposals, including an increase 
in the minimum gauge size and increases in the escape vent size, after 
the status of the stock is updated during the fall, 1999. This 
assessment could also lead to additional recommendations for management 
measures in Federal waters.
    NMFS is also aware that recent constraints on participation in 
several traditional otter trawl fisheries, including the Mid-Atlantic 
summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass fisheries and the New England 
multispecies fisheries, and broader use of area closures may result in 
a shift in fishing effort to the lobster trap fishery by vessels that 
have traditionally harvested lobsters by non-trap methods. An unchecked 
increase in effort in the lobster trap fishery, as a result of a shift 
from non-trap to trap gear, may jeopardize current efforts to end 
overfishing and rebuild stocks.
    For these reasons, NMFS, in consultation with the Commission, is 
considering proposed rulemaking to address whether and how to limit 
entry of vessels currently holding a Federal American lobster limited 
access fishing permit, or vessels that are subject to Federal lobster 
regulations, in to LCMAs where such vessels have not historically 
fished, as well as limiting or restricting non-trap vessels from using 
traps to fish for lobsters. Proposed rulemaking may include potential 
eligibility criteria based on historical participation and/or 
historical trap levels in LCMAs. NMFS is considering September 1, 1999 
as a possible control date and NMFS may use such date as a cut-off date 
for establishing eligibility criteria for future access in the lobster 
fishery subject to Federal authority. The establishment of this control 
date is intended, in part, to discourage speculative shifting of effort 
by fishermen subject to Federal lobster regulations into certain LCMAs 
or from non-trap to trap gear.
    Consideration of a control date does not commit NMFS to any 
particular management regime or criteria, either for entry into lobster 
management areas not historically fished by Federal permit holders, or 
for the restrictions on the transfer of non-trap fishing effort. 
Fishermen are not guaranteed future participation in any lobster 
management area, regardless of their entry date or intensity of 
participation in the fishery before or after the control date under 
consideration. NMFS subsequently may choose a different control date or 
may choose a management regime that does not make use of a control 
date. NMFS may choose to give variably weighted consideration to 
fishermen active in the fisheries before and after the control date. 
Other qualifying criteria, such as, but not limited to, documentation 
of landings and sales, may be applied for entry. NMFS may also choose 
to take no further action to control entry or access into the lobster 
management areas or address the shift in effort from non-trap to trap 
gear, in which case the control date may be rescinded. Any action will 
be taken pursuant to the requirements established under the Atlantic 
Coastal Act. This document, therefore, gives the public notification 
that interested participants should locate and preserve records that 
substantiate and verify their participation in the American lobster 
fishery in Federal waters.
    NMFS is seeking public comment on this advance notice of proposed 
rulemaking (see ADDRESSES) under the Atlantic Coastal Act. Public 
comment is sought as to whether there is a need to limit or restrict 
future access to the American lobster fishery in certain geographic 
areas, known as LCMTs, and, if there is a need, as to what should be 
the eligibility criteria.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1851 note; 16 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.


[[Page 47758]]


    Dated: August 24, 1999.
Penelope D. Dalton,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-22669 Filed 8-31-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F