[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 211 (Tuesday, October 31, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 64894-64895]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-27867]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 000426114-0114-01; I.D. 101700E]
RIN 0648-AN53


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Spiny Dogfish 
Fishery; 2000 Specifications; Extension of an Interim Rule

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

ACTION:  Extension of the effective date of an interim rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS informs the public that the interim rule published on May 
4, 2000, to implement specifications and seasonal trip limits for 
fishing year 2000 (May 1, 2000, through April 30, 2001) for the spiny 
dogfish (Squalus acanthias) fishery, is extended through April 24, 
2001. The extension maintains the total quota for the 2000 fishing year 
and sets aside a portion of the total quota for vessels participating 
in spiny dogfish exempted fishing projects. The interim final rule is 
necessary to prevent overfishing of spiny dogfish and extend the 
effective period of the quota.

DATES: Effective October 29, 2000, through April 24, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Copies of documents supporting this action are available 
from the Northeast Regional Office, NMFS, Office of Sustainable 
Fisheries, 1 Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter W. Christopher, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, 978-281-9288, fax 978-281-9135, e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan 
(FMP) prepared by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management 
Councils (Councils) was partially approved by NMFS on behalf of the 
Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) on September 29, 1999. The final rule 
implementing the FMP was published on January 11, 2000 (65 FR 1557), 
and was initially scheduled to be effective on February 10, 2000. 
However, the Councils were unable to reach agreement on a preferred 
commercial quota and trip limit measure for this action. After delays 
in implementing the FMP from February to April, 2000, in order to 
provide the Councils additional opportunities to reach agreement, NMFS, 
on behalf of the Secretary, published an interim rule on May 4, 2000 
(65 FR 25887), which established a quota and trip limits for fishing 
year 2000.
    The interim rule allocated quota into two periods (May 1 through 
October 31, and November 1 through April 30), with trip limits intended 
to preclude directed fishing. As of September 23, 2000, reported 
landings have exceeded the annual quota of 4 million lb (1,814 mt), 
with approximately 4.7 million lb (2,131 mt) reported. In addition, the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts closed its waters to spiny dogfish 
fishing on August 26, 2000, based on its determination that landings in 
that state reached the 7 million lb (3,175 mt) of spiny dogfish that 
the Commonwealth believed appropriate. Therefore, the landings of 4.6 
million lb (2,086 mt) currently included in Federal landings records is 
incomplete. Due to the excessive landings in quota period 1, which have 
exceeded the annual quota, the fishery will not be reopened for quota 
period 2.
    The research quota set--aside of 500,000 lb (226.7 mt) was 
established for vessels participating in research projects designed to 
improve selectivity of spiny dogfish fishing gear and methods. The 
primary goal in providing this incentive for research is to investigate 
ways to shift fishing effort away from female spiny dogfish, which

[[Page 64895]]

in turn would help to rebuild the female portion of the stock and to 
provide greater rebuilding capacity to the stock as a whole. In 
addition, spiny dogfish gear selectivity research would contribute to 
improving current information on the species, including bycatch and 
discard mortality. This measure will remain in place for quota period 2 
to allow for this research.

Comments and Responses

    Comment 1: Two commenters felt that measures other than those in 
the interim rule would be more fair. One stated that the interim final 
rule measures are unfair to gillnet vessels and that management 
measures such as weekly trip limits, individual quotas based on vessel 
history, and a minimum mesh size of 7 inches (17.8 cm) would reduce 
discarding. Another commentor stated that the shutdown of the directed 
spiny dogfish fishery would eliminate a portion of his vessel's income 
for a part of the year.
    Response: Management alternatives were considered during the 
development of the annual specifications for the spiny dogfish fishery 
and in the interim final rule. Individual quotas were not considered by 
the Councils when the Spiny Dogfish FMP was under development because 
of a moratorium enacted by Congress in section 303(d) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act that prohibited the 
development of management options involving individual quotas through 
October 1, 2000, pending a study of individual transferable quotas by 
the National Research Council. Other management alternatives were 
determined to be either unlikely to achieve the necessary conservation 
targets or infeasible. For example, mesh-size restrictions may not 
provide the necessary conservation benefits because, while the larger 
mesh size may exclude juvenile spiny dogfish, it would still capture 
the larger female spiny dogfish, which are of special concern to the 
reproductive capacity of the stock. The interim final rule implemented 
measures to end overfishing while providing the greatest future 
benefits to the fishing communities, based on the available 
information. In the future, the Councils are expected to consider 
additional alternatives designed to reduce bycatch of spiny dogfish in 
other fisheries and to mitigate short--erm economic hardships, as 
requested by the Secretary.
    Comment 2: One commentor reiterated its concerns expressed during 
the comment period of the proposed rule for the FMP. The commentor 
believes that a lack of information on the fishery and the stock status 
continues to be a problem with the interim final rule. The commentor 
believes that some NMFS analyses indicate that the level of discards of 
spiny dogfish in non-directed fisheries would be so great that it would 
cause the FMP measures to fail. The commentor stated that the 
experimental fishery quota set-aside was an attempt to shield the lack 
of substantive information that is usually required to establish an FMP 
and an attempt to indicate to the industry that serious work will be 
done to support changes in the plan that would forestall the closure of 
directed harvesting and the consequent loss of markets.
    Response: The need for restrictive management measures for spiny 
dogfish was established in the FMP. The Secretary delayed 
implementation of the FMP in order for the Councils to consider 
additional information and to reach an agreement on management measures 
for the 2000 fishing year. When the Councils failed to come to an 
agreement, the Secretary implemented the interim final rule to be 
consistent with the FMP and to end overfishing. As required by the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act, the FMP and the interim final rule are based on 
the best available scientific information and on established measures 
to end overfishing on spiny dogfish. While an analysis prepared by NMFS 
does indicate that a high amount of spiny dogfish discards is possible 
with low trip limits, it does not indicate that such discards 
compromise the rebuilding plan established in the FMP. The trip limit 
analysis was unable to quantify the expected changes in fishing 
practices by fishermen to avoid spiny dogfish due to low trip limits. 
Also, low trip limits essentially eliminate the directed spiny dogfish 
fishery, thereby preventing the high amount of discards of small spiny 
dogfish known to be associated with the directed spiny dogfish fishery. 
The research set-aside encourages industry and researchers to improve 
selectivity of spiny dogfish gear and methods.
    Comment 3: The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MADMF) 
commented on the rationale behind the management measures implemented 
in Massachusetts shortly before the interim final rule was implemented. 
In late April, the MADMF implemented a 7- million lb (3,175-mt) quota, 
a 7,000-lb (3,175-kg) trip limit, a 31-inch (78.7-cm) minimum fish 
size, and gillnet restrictions. The MADMF believes that these measures 
allow a small-scale directed fishery while remaining consistent with 
the FMP and the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Further, the MADMF believes that 
the small-scale directed fishery would reduce discards while allowing 
the processing sector to maintain its infrastructure.
    Response: The MADMF management strategy does not eliminate 
overfishing as required by the FMP because it does not result in a 
fishing mortality rate of F = 0.03 or less. The Spiny Dogfish Technical 
Committee is continuing to evaluate alternative management approaches 
and will consider updated stock status information. The Spiny Dogfish 
Joint Committee and the Councils may consider the new information and 
new alternatives in 2001 in an amendment to the FMP. An FMP amendment 
would be necessary to modify the rebuilding program in the FMP.

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

    Dated: October 25, 2000.
William T. Hogarth,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 00-27867 Filed 10-26-00; 1:08 pm]
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