[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 172 (Wednesday, September 5, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 46401-46402]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-22184]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[I.D. 070201A]


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Swordfish Quota Adjustment

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

ACTION: Adjustment of annual catch quotas.

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SUMMARY: NMFS adjusts the 2001 fishing year directed fishery and 
incidental catch quotas for North Atlantic swordfish to account for 
underharvest from the 1999 fishing year. Any unharvested quota from the 
2000 fishing year will be transferred at a later date, once final 
landings have been tabulated. The 2001 South Atlantic swordfish quota 
remains at 289 mt dw. This action is consistent with the Fishery 
Management Plan for Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish, and Sharks (HMS FMP) and 
the provisions for swordfish quota adjustments at 50 CFR part 635.

[[Page 46402]]


DATES: Effective September 4, 2001 through May 31, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jill Stevenson or Mike Barnette at 
727-570-5447; Fax: 727-570-5656 or by email at [email protected] 
or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The HMS FMP and its implementing regulations 
at 50 CFR part 635 establish catch quotas and, as applicable, fishing 
category and seasonal subquotas, for the North Atlantic and South 
Atlantic swordfish stocks. Under the FMP, these catch quotas are 
required to be consistent with recommendations of the International 
Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). 
Additionally, the implementing regulations require that, if total 
landings are above or below the applicable Atlantic swordfish quotas, 
the difference must be subtracted from, or added to, the following 
year's quota for the specific management category, provided such quota 
adjustments are consistent with ICCAT recommendations. Landings reports 
for the directed fisheries for North and South Atlantic swordfish, and 
estimates of the incidental catch of North Atlantic swordfish, indicate 
that the allocations for the respective fisheries were not completely 
harvested during the 1999 fishing year (June 1, 1999 through May 31, 
2000.)

North Atlantic Swordfish

    Directed fishery landings and incidental catch of North Atlantic 
swordfish during the 1999 fishing year were reported to ICCAT to be 
2896 metric tons (mt) whole weight, equivalent to 2177.5 mt dressed 
weight (dw). The 1999 fishing year quota, after adjustment for the 
previous year's underharvest (65 FR 15873, March 24, 2000), was 2727.3 
mt dw. Therefore, a total of 549.8 mt dw of unharvested swordfish quota 
may be carried over.
    Under applicable regulations at 50 CFR 635.23 (c)(3), if total 
landings are above or below the specific North Atlantic swordfish 
annual quotas, they must be subtracted from, or added to, the following 
year's quota. Further, any carryover adjustments to the annual North 
Atlantic swordfish directed fishery quota must be apportioned equally 
between the two semiannual periods. The ICCAT recommendation on 
rebuilding the North Atlantic swordfish stock does allow for such 
carryovers. Because the 2000 fishing year ended May 31, 2001, the 
carryover amount will be applied to the current fishing year (June 1, 
2001 through May 31, 2002.)
    A total of 249 mt dw of the unharvested 1999 quota is added to the 
base 2001 directed fishery quota of 2033.2 mt dw for an adjusted North 
Atlantic swordfish directed catch quota of 2282.2 mt dw. This adjusted 
annual quota is divided into 2 equal semiannual quotas of 1141.1 mt dw 
for the periods of June 1, 2001 through November 30, 2001 and December 
1, 2001 through May 31, 2002. The remaining 300.8 mt dw of the 
unharvested 1999 fishing year quota is added to the base 2001 
incidental catch quota of 300 mt dw for an adjusted North Atlantic 
swordfish incidental catch quota of 600.8 mt dw.

South Atlantic Swordfish

    Directed fishery landings of South Atlantic swordfish during the 
1999 fishing year were reported to ICCAT to be 51 mt whole weight, 
equivalent to 38.3 mt dw. The 1999 fishing year quota was set at 289 mt 
dw (64 FR 29090, May 28, 1999). Consequently, a total of 250.7 mt dw 
was unharvested at the end of the fishing year.
    The ICCAT recommendation on allocating the total allowable catch of 
South Atlantic swordfish contains no provisions to adjust country-
specific quotas for over or under harvests in prior years. Therefore, 
the U.S. quota for South Atlantic swordfish remains at the current 
level of 289 mt dw. There is no incidental catch quota for South 
Atlantic swordfish.

Additional Quota Adjustments

    When final swordfish landings figures for the 2000 fishing year are 
available, NMFS will transfer any unharvested quota to the 2001 fishing 
year. Additionally, if NMFS estimates that U.S. fishermen discarded 
more than 320 mt ww of swordfish during the 2000 fishing year, the 
dressed weight equivalent of the amount by which that allowance is 
exceeded will be deducted from the 2001 fishing year landings quota, 
consistent with the ICCAT swordfish rebuilding recommendation and HMS 
regulations at 50 CFR 635.27 (c)(3)(iii). NMFS will publish the 2000 
fishing year swordfish landings and dead discards estimates at a later 
date and will announce any required adjustments to the 2001 fishing 
year quotas in the Federal Register.
    Under the swordfish limited access program established under the 
1999 HMS FMP and implemented by regulations at 50 CFR 635.16, NMFS has 
issued incidental catch permits. All swordfish catch by vessels so 
permitted are applied to the incidental catch quota as required by 
regulations at 50 CFR 635.27 (c). In past years, only a fraction of the 
incidental catch quota has been landed and NMFS has received comments 
requesting reallocation of a portion of the incidental catch quota to 
the directed fishery category. While under current regulations such 
reallocation is possible through an inseason quota adjustment, a 
permanent reallocation could reduce the potential for closure of the 
directed fishery mid-season. NMFS is currently evaluating the need for 
reallocation and may address this issue in a future rulemaking.
    At the 2000 meeting of ICCAT, Japan indicated that it had exceeded 
its annual allocation of North Atlantic swordfish, due to higher than 
anticipated incidental catch rates of swordfish in its bigeye tuna 
fishery. This problem is difficult to address, because swordfish are 
not a target species and overharvest of the quota has forced Japanese 
fishermen to discard all swordfish, dead or alive. At the ICCAT 
meeting, the United States agreed to assist Japan in its efforts to 
comply with the catch allocation provisions of the swordfish rebuilding 
program by transferring to Japan a total of 400 mt whole weight (300.8 
mt dw) of the U.S. North Atlantic swordfish quota for the 2001 fishing 
year. In order to accomplish this transfer, NMFS will have to reserve a 
portion of the 2001 North Atlantic swordfish quota. This reserve quota 
will be proposed in an upcoming rulemaking and the public will be 
provided with an opportunity to comment.

Classification

    This action is taken under 50 CFR 635.27 (c). This action is exempt 
from review under Executive Order 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: August 29, 2001.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 01-22184 Filed 9-4-01; 8:45 am]
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