[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 179 (Thursday, September 16, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 50266-50268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24198]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 990907245-9245-01; I.D. 082499B]
RIN 0648-AM86


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Herring 
Fishery; Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

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Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; notice of a control date 
for the Atlantic herring fishery.

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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 Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) fishery. This 
notification is intended, in part, to promote awareness of potential 
eligibility criteria for future access to the herring fishery so as to 
discourage speculative entry into the herring fishery while the New 
England Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS consider whether 
and how access and effort in all or part of the herring fishery should 
be controlled. The date of publication of this notification, September 
16, 1999 shall be known as the ``control date'', and may be used for 
establishing eligibility criteria for future access to the herring 
fishery subject to Federal authority.

DATES: Comments must be received by October 18, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be directed to Patricia Kurkul, Regional 
Administrator, Northeast Region, National Marine Fisheries Service, One 
Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-2298.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Gouveia, Fishery Management 
Specialist, 978-281-9280.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Atlantic herring is a migratory pelagic 
species that supports important commercial fisheries along the Atlantic 
coast of the United States and Canada. In addition, Atlantic herring is 
a key forage species for seabirds, marine mammals, and other species of 
fish. The Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring (FMP) is under 
Secretarial review for approval/disapproval by October 27, 1999. The 
FMP was developed by the Council to manage the fishery and prevent 
overfishing. The FMP proposes measures to manage Atlantic herring as an 
open access fishery that primarily controls fishing mortality through 
total allowable catch (TAC) levels allocated among four different 
management areas. These proposed management areas are identified as 
Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine), Area 1B (offshore Gulf of Maine), Area 
2 (south coastal area), and Area 3 (Georges Bank).
    Based on the most recent assessment, the overall stock biomass is 
estimated to be at record high levels (27th Northeast 
Regional Stock Assessment Workshop). However, while overall fishing 
mortality is very low, the resource is fully exploited in the Gulf of 
Maine. Despite current overall stock size, there appears to be 
sufficient harvesting capacity to warrant not only concern about excess 
harvesting capacity entering this fishery in all proposed management 
areas, but concern over the impact of increased fishing effort in 
proposed Management Area 1A, where most herring catches have been taken 
for the last 20 years. The FMP proposes a TAC of 45,000 metric tons 
(mt) for Management Area 1A for fishing year 1999 and the Council has 
proposed no change in this level for fishing year 2000. Landings in 
1996 and 1997 from this area exceeded 70,000 mt. Catches in 1998 did 
not exceed the proposed TAC, but clearly the capacity to exceed the TAC 
exists. Subsequently, a limitation on entry into the herring fishery in 
the inshore Gulf of Maine (proposed Management Area 1A) may be 
implemented prior to a controlled access system being implemented for 
other herring management areas.
    The Council is considering development of a controlled access 
system in the Atlantic herring fishery to address the principle of 
matching capacity to sustainable harvest level. The Council recognizes 
there may be room for an increase in fishing effort in some of the 
proposed management areas but is concerned over the impact of 
increasing fishing effort in the inshore Gulf of Maine proposed 
Management Area 1A. Therefore, the Council may consider a system that 
will control increases in fishing effort in proposed Management Area 1A 
while potentially allowing some additional fishing effort in proposed 
Management Areas 1B, 2 and 3, or in other management areas that may be 
developed. The limitation on entry into the fishery in proposed 
Management Area 1A, or any other proposed management area that may be 
developed, may be based on levels of participation or other criteria 
such as domestic harvest capacity. These limitations on entry may also 
be implemented prior to implementation of a controlled access system 
for the entire herring fishery. If a controlled access system is 
implemented, fishery participants may need to preserve records that 
substantiate and verify their participation in the Atlantic herring 
fishery in Federal waters. This announcement, therefore, gives the 
public notification that interested participants should locate and 
preserve records that substantiate and verify their participation in 
the Atlantic herring fishery in Federal waters.
    The control date is intended to discourage speculative entry into 
the Atlantic herring fishery, particularly in the inshore Gulf of 
Maine, while controlled access schemes are developed by the Council. 
Any scheme for controlling access may treat participants differently 
based on conditions in, and criteria to be established for, different 
herring management areas. Existing domestic harvesting capacity within 
fisheries of the Northeast Region of the NMFS prior to the control date 
may also be treated differently from new capacity. The control date 
will help to distinguish established participants from speculative 
entrants to the fishery. Although participants are notified that 
entering the fishery after the control date will not assure them of 
future access to the Atlantic herring resource on the grounds of 
previous participation, additional and/or other qualifying criteria may 
also be applied. The Council and NMFS may choose different and variably 
weighted methods to qualify participants, based on the type and length 
of participation in the fishery.
    This notification establishes September 16, 1999 as the control 
date for potential use in determining historical or traditional 
participation in the Atlantic herring fishery. Consideration of a 
control date does not commit the Council or NMFS to any particular 
management scheme or criteria for entry into the Atlantic herring 
fishery. This notification does not prevent any other control date for 
eligibility in the fishery, or any other method of controlling access 
and/or fishing effort, from being proposed and implemented. The Council 
and NMFS may choose a different control date or may choose a management 
scheme that does not make use of such a date. Participants who enter 
the herring fishery on or after the control date may be treated 
differently than those with a history in the herring fishery prior to 
the control date. Fishermen are not guaranteed future participation in 
the fishery, regardless of their entry date or intensity of 
participation in the fishery before or after the control date. The 
Council and NMFS may choose to give variably weighted consideration to 
fishermen 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 and NMFS will be taken pursuant to 
the requirements for FMP

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development established under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
    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 10, 1999.
Andrew A. Rosenberg,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-24198 Filed 9-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F