[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 175 (Friday, September 10, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 49139-49141]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-23479]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 990830239-9239-01; I.D. 082499A]
RIN 0648-AM99
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast
Multispecies and Atlantic Sea Scallop Fisheries; Northeast Multispecies
and Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plans
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; notice of a control date
for the purposes of controlling capacity or latent effort in the
Northeast multispecies and Atlantic sea scallop fisheries.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS announces that it is considering, and is seeking public
comment on, proposed rulemaking under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) to control
future access to the Northeast multispecies and Atlantic sea scallop
fisheries. This notification is intended, in part, to discourage
speculative activation of previously unused effort or capacity while
the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS are
considering whether and how to control capacity and latent effort. The
date of publication of this notification, September 10, 1999, shall be
known as the ``control date'', and may be used for establishing
eligibility criteria for determining levels of future access to the
Northeast multispecies and Atlantic sea scallop fisheries subject to
Federal authority.
DATES: Comments must be received by October 12, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be directed to Patricia Kurkul, Regional
Director, Northeast Region, NMFS, One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA
01930-2298.
[[Page 49140]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan A. Murphy, Fishery Policy
Analyst, 978-281-9252.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Northeast multispecies fishery is a
major fishery on the Atlantic coast that extends from Cape Hatteras
north to Maine. There are over 1,650 limited access permits and
approximately 1,350 open access permits issued in the commercial
fishery. Regulations implemented under the Northeast Multispecies
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) impose an extensive system of effort
controls to control fishing mortality. In addition to a permit
moratorium to limit the number of participants in the fishery, vessels
are subject to days-at-sea (DAS) restrictions, minimum fish sizes,
closed areas, trip limits, and gear restrictions, among other measures.
The status of the individual regulated multispecies stocks varies
for each species. Overall, fishing mortality for all species, except
Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, witch flounder, and Southern New
England winter flounder, is estimated to be too high to prevent
overfishing and begin rebuilding biomass to appropriate levels. As
necessary, management measures have been implemented to control fishing
mortality and rebuild these stocks.
The Atlantic sea scallop fishery is a major commercial fishery that
targets sea scallops from Cape Hatteras north to Maine. Regulations
implemented under the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP control fishing
mortality through a variety of management measures, including a limit
on the number of permits, DAS limitations, gear and crew restrictions,
and closed areas. The fishery is presently prosecuted by about 250
vessels, although 365 permits have been issued.
According to the 29th Regional Stock Assessment
Workshop, the U.S. Georges Bank stock of sea scallops is not
overfished, but its biomass is below the BMSY level (long-
term biomass of the stock that will produce maximum sustainable yield
on a continuing basis). The Mid-Atlantic stock is at or near the
biomass threshold used to determine whether the stock is overfished.
While both stocks are below BMSY, the condition of both
stocks has improved in recent years.
Many of the measures implemented over the last 5 years, in both the
multispecies and sea scallop fisheries, reduced fishing opportunities
and revenues for commercial fishers. These measures are working, as
many of the stocks are gradually rebuilding to target levels. However,
the Council is concerned because there is an excessive amount of unused
harvesting capacity or effort that could jeopardize the continued
rebuilding of the stocks. This unused capacity or effort is often
referred to as latent effort. As fish stock sizes increase, it is more
likely that industry would activate latent effort. If latent effort is
activated too quickly, achievement of the objectives of the two FMPs to
rebuild stocks could be hampered. This would require the Council and
NMFS to impose even more restrictive management measures in order to
meet the rebuilding requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
A review of the activity of multispecies limited access vessels
indicates the potential magnitude of this problem. While the level of
fishing mortality on most species in the multispecies complex was
higher than the levels targeted by the management measures in the 1998
fishing year, about one-third (over 550) of the authorized limited
access vessels did not fish for multispecies. On average, those
permitted vessels that did fish for multispecies used only half their
available DAS. Similarly, in the scallop fishery, 133 permits (51 full-
time, 33 part-time, and 49 occasional) did not fish for scallops in
1998. Those permitted vessels (about 250) that did fish for scallops
used about 84 percent of their available DAS.
The Council is examining the activity of these permits in detail to
determine whether there is a justified concern over unused harvesting
capacity. Some of the questions the Council must consider include:
1. What is the definition of latent effort?
2. Are permit holders who have not participated in the multispecies
or scallop fisheries participating in another fishery?
3. Are these vessels likely to increase their effort in the
multispecies or scallop fisheries or enter these fisheries?
4. Are these permits issued to vessels that can have a significant
impact on fishing mortality?
5. Will these permitted vessels enter the fishery faster than
rebuilt stocks can support the additional effort?
6. If these permitted vessels are likely to enter the fisheries and
if having entered, they adversely impact the fishery, what can be done
to mitigate or reverse these impacts?
7. How will limited access permit holders who have stopped fishing
on multispecies or scallops or who have reduced their effort on these
species (for any reason) be treated by the Council?
8. What will happen to vessels that hold a Confirmation of Permit
History?
The Council and NMFS recognize the controversiality of limiting
access to current permit holders. The Council and public discussion of
alternatives to control capacity or latent effort in the absence of a
control date may lead members of the fishing industry to reach
premature conclusions on how, or whether the Council will choose to
address these issues. Permit holders who have unused capacity or effort
may believe that they are at risk of losing their opportunity to
participate in the multispecies or scallop fisheries in the future if
they do not immediately enter the fisheries. A rapid increase in effort
may increase fishing mortality and could jeopardize the rebuilding of
multispecies and scallop stocks. It would also complicate a reasoned
discussion of the available alternatives because the Council would have
to act quickly in response to the effort increase. Publication of a
control date is intended to discourage speculative activation of
previously unused effort or capacity in the Northeast multispecies and
Atlantic sea scallop fisheries while potential management regimes to
control capacity or latent effort are discussed and possibly developed
and implemented. The control date communicates to permit holders that
performance or fishing effort after the date of publication may not be
treated the same as performance or effort that was expended prior to
the control date. Although vessel owners are notified that
participation in these fisheries after the control date will not assure
them future access to the Northeast multispecies and Atlantic sea
scallop fisheries on the grounds of previous participation, additional
and/or other qualifying criteria may also be applied. The Council could
choose different and variably weighted methods to qualify fishers,
based on the type and length of participation in the fishery.
This notification establishes September 10, 1999, as the control
date for potential use in determining historical or traditional
participation in the Northeast multispecies and Atlantic sea scallop
fisheries. Consideration of a control date does not commit the Council
or NMFS to any particular management regime or criteria for
participation in these fisheries. The Council and NMFS may choose a
different control date or may choose a management program that does not
make use of such a date. This notification does not prevent any other
control date for determining levels of future effort in these fisheries
or another method of controlling access and/or
[[Page 49141]]
latent effort from being proposed and implemented. Fishers are not
guaranteed future participation in the fishery, regardless of their
entry date or intensity of participation in these fisheries before or
after the control date. Participants who enter, or additional effort
expended in, the Northeast multispecies or Atlantic sea scallop
fisheries on or after the control date may be treated differently than
those with a history in these fisheries prior to the control date. The
Council and NMFS may choose to give variably weighted consideration to
fishers active in the fishery before and after the control date. The
Council and NMFS may also choose to take no further action to control
entry or access to the fishery, in which case the control date may be
rescinded. Any action by the Council or NMFS will be taken pursuant to
the requirements for FMP development established under the Magnuson-
Stevens Act.
The public is also advised by this action that interested
participants should locate and preserve records that substantiate and
verify their participation in the Northeast multispecies and Atlantic
sea scallop fisheries in Federal waters. This control date notification
has been determined to be not significant under E.O. 12866.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: September 2, 1999.
Andrew A. Rosenberg,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-23479 Filed 9-9-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F