[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]


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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.

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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]
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