[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 109 (Thursday, June 6, 2002)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 38909-38912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-14235]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 020215032-2127-02; I.D. 110701D]
RIN 0648-AP59


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Final 2002 
Specifications for the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery

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

[[Page 38910]]


ACTION: Final 2002 specifications for the Atlantic bluefish fishery.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues 2002 specifications for the Atlantic bluefish 
fishery, including total allowable harvest levels (TAL), state-by-state 
commercial quotas, and a recreational harvest limit and possession 
limit for Atlantic bluefish off the east coast of the United States. 
The intent of the specifications is to conserve and manage the bluefish 
resource and provide for sustainable fisheries.

DATES: Effective June 6, 2002, through December 31, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Copies of supporting documents, including the Environmental 
Assessment (EA), Preliminary Regulatory Economic Evaluation (PREE), 
Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) and Essential Fish Habitat 
Assessment (EFHA) are available from: Daniel Furlong, Executive 
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Room 2115, Federal 
Building, 300 South New Street, Dover, DE 19904-6790. The EA, PREE, 
FRFA, EFHA, and Small Entity Compliance Guide are accessible via the 
Internet at http://www.nmfs.gov/ro/doc/nero.html. The Small Business 
Compliance Guide is also available from Patricia A. Kurkul, Regional 
Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS, 1 Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, 
MA 01930.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Myles Raizin, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
(978) 281-9104, e-mail at [email protected], fax at (978) 281-
9135.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implementing the Bluefish 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) prepared by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery 
Management Council (Council) appear at 50 CFR part 648, subparts A and 
J. Regulations requiring annual specifications are found at 
Sec. 648.160. The FMP requires that the Council recommend, on an annual 
basis, Total Allowable Landings (TAL), which is composed of a 
commercial quota and recreational harvest limit. A proposed rule to 
implement the 2002 bluefish specifications was published in the Federal 
Register on March 13, 2002 (67 FR 11276) with a comment period ending 
March 28, 2002.

Final Specifications

2002 TAL

    For the 2002 fishery, the stock rebuilding program in the FMP would 
restrict F to 0.41. However, the 2000 fishery produced an F of only 
0.326. So, in accordance with the FMP, the TAL proposed for 2002 is set 
to achieve F=0.326. The resulting Total Allowable Catch (TAC) is 29.1 
million lb (13.2 million kg). The TAL is calculated by deducting 
discards, estimated at 2.2 million lb (0.99 million kg) for 2002, from 
the TAC. Therefore, the TAL for 2002 is 26.866 million lb (12.19 
million kg).

2002 Commercial Quotas and Recreational Harvest Limits

    If the TAL for the 2002 fishery were allocated based on the 
percentages specified in the FMP, the commercial quota would be 4.567 
million lb (2.07 million kg)(17 percent) with a recreational harvest 
limit of 22.299 million lb (10.12 million kg)(83 percent). However, 
recreational landings from the last several years were much lower than 
the recreational allocation for 2002, ranging between 8.30 and 14.3 
million lb (3.76 and 6.49 million kg). Since the recreational fishery 
is not projected to land a 22.299 million-lb (10.12 million-kg) harvest 
limit in 2002, this allows the specification of a commercial quota of 
up to 10.5 million lb (4.76 million kg). NMFS is transferring 5.933 
million lb (2.677 million kg) from the initial 2002 recreational 
allocation of 22.299 million lb (10.12 million kg), resulting in 16.365 
million lb (7.42 million kg) allocated for the 2002 recreational 
harvest limit and a commercial quota of 10.5 million lb (4.76 million 
kg). The 2002 commercial quota is an increase from the 2001 quota (9.58 
million lb (4.35 million kg)) implemented by NMFS and the states under 
the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fishery 
Management Plan for Atlantic Bluefish. The recreational possession 
limit of 15 fish per person is unchanged from 2001. The proposed 
specifications included a 2-percent TAL set aside. A Request for 
Proposals was published to solicit proposals for 2002, based on 
research priorities identified by the Council (66 FR 38636, July 25, 
2001, and 66 FR 45668, August 29, 2001). No proposals were approved 
that would utilize the bluefish research TAL. Therefore, for the 2002 
fishery, the research TAL is restored to the overall TAL. The 2002 
state commercial quotas are listed in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                       2002            2002
                              State                                 % of quota      Commercial      Commercial
                                                                                    Quota (lb)      Quota (kg)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ME                                                                        0.6685          70,193          31,839
NH                                                                        0.4145          43,523          19,741
MA                                                                        6.7167         705,254         319,898
RI                                                                        6.8081         714,851         324,251
CT                                                                        1.2663         132,962          60,310
NY                                                                       10.3851       1,090,436         494,613
NJ                                                                       14.8162       1,555,701         705,654
DE                                                                        1.8782         197,211          89,453
MD                                                                        3.0018         315,189         142,967
VA                                                                       11.8795       1,247,348         565,787
NC                                                                       32.0608       3,366,384       1,526,966
SC                                                                        0.0352           3,696           1,676
GA                                                                        0.0095             998             452
FL                                                                       10.0597       1,056,269         479,115
Total                                                                   100.0000      10,500,000       4,762,720
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Comments and Responses

    Ten sets of public comments were received on the proposed rule: 
nine from recreational fishermen and one from a recreational fishing 
association.
    Comment 1: Several commentors stated that recreational fishermen 
have participated in a catch-and-release program to reduce pressure on 
the bluefish stock. They are of the opinion that it is not fair to 
transfer poundage from the recreational harvest limit to the commercial 
quota because doing so means that catch-and-release efforts result in 
an increased commercial quota.
    Response 1: The poundage transfer provision was included in 
Amendment

[[Page 38911]]

1 to the FMP (Amendment 1) to ensure that commercial landings would not 
be unnecessarily reduced if the recreational fishery is not expected to 
attain its harvest limit. The 83 percent/17 percent (recreational/
commercial) allocation adopted by the Council in Amendment 1 is based 
on average catch composition for the 1981-1989 fisheries. However, the 
average catch composition for the 1990-1996 fisheries was 64 percent/36 
percent with an average of 10.5 million lb (4.76 million kg) per year 
in commercial landings over that period. Therefore, a 10.5 million-lb 
(4.76 million-kg) maximum allowable commercial allocation does not 
represent a substantial increase from landings in the recent commercial 
fishery. The relatively high percentage of commercial landings to 
recreational landings in the 1990-96 fishery was a result of decreased 
recreational landings over that period. Information is not available to 
determine if the decrease in recreational landings from 1990-1996 is a 
result of catch-and-release programs, a change in targeted species, 
such as striped bass, or other factors.
    Comment 2: Several commentors stated that, even if the recreational 
harvest limit has not been met, there is no reason to transfer quota 
from the recreational harvest limit to the commercial quota. The 
commenters believe this rewards commercial fishermen for overfishing.
    Response 2: NMFS does not view ``the transfer of quota'' as a 
reward for overfishing. The Council and NMFS in this instance are 
concerned about meeting the FMP's objectives of preventing overfishing 
and maintaining landings of bluefish at an amount that complies with 
the rebuilding schedule for this fish stock. Both of those objectives 
are met with an F that would equal 0.326 in 2002. The TAL for 2002 is 
26.866 million lb (12.19 million kg) and is consistent with an F of 
0.326 which prevents overfishing and is actually less than the maximum 
level of F of 0.410, specified in the FMP as the rebuilding target for 
2002. Therefore, a commercial harvest of 10.5 million lb (4.76 million 
kg) plus recreational landings of 16.36 million lb (7.43 million kg) 
would not result in overfishing. This allocation of the bluefish TAL 
(compared with smaller amount allocated to the commercial sector) also 
better ensures achievement of optimum yield and fair allocation among 
sectors which are goals of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Classification

    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    NMFS prepared an FRFA for this action, which includes the IRFA, the 
comments and responses contained herein, and a summary of the analyses 
done in support of this final rule. A copy of the FRFA is available 
from NMFS (see ADDRESSES). The preamble to the proposed rule included a 
detailed summary of the analyses contained in the IRFA and that 
discussion is not repeated in its entirety here. A summary of the FRFA 
follows:
    The reasons for the agency's consideration of this action and its 
objectives are explained in the preambles to the proposed rule and this 
final rule and are not repeated here. This action does not contain 
reporting and recordkeeping requirements. It will not duplicate, 
overlap, or conflict with any other Federal rules. This action is taken 
under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act and regulations at 50 CFR part 648.

Public Comments

    Ten sets of comments were received on the proposed rule and are 
responded to in the final rule. None of the comments directly or 
indirectly addressed the results of the IRFA.

Number of Small Entities

    An active participant in the commercial sector is defined as any 
vessel that reported having landed 1 or more pounds of bluefish in the 
dealer data during calendar year 2000. These data cover activity by 
unique vessels. Of the active vessels reported in 2000, 829 vessels 
landed bluefish from Maine to North Carolina. The dealer data do not 
provide information about vessel activity in the states from South 
Carolina to Florida. The dealer data indicate that 126 federally 
permitted vessels landed bluefish in North Carolina in 2000. State trip 
Ticket Reports indicate that 1,088 vessels landed bluefish in North 
Carolina in 2000. Some of these vessels may be included in the 126 
vessels identified in the Federal dealer data. As such, double counting 
is possible. In addition, the most recent data available indicate that 
136 vessels landed bluefish on Florida's east coast in 1999. Bluefish 
landings in South Carolina and Georgia are negligible; therefore, it 
was assumed there was no vessel activity for those two states. In 
addition, it was estimated that, in recent years, approximately 2,063 
party/charter vessels may have caught bluefish.

Minimizing Economic Impacts on Small Entities

    The FMP includes a provision to minimize economic impacts on 
commercial vessels in states that face closure by allowing states to 
transfer surplus commercial quota within the coastwide allocation. 
However, under certain circumstances where state surplus quotas are not 
available for transfer, there are no other means to mitigate 
significant economic impact. The commercial quota of 10.50 million lb 
(4.76 million kg) would result in allocations of 1.09 million lb (0.49 
million kg) of bluefish to New York and 3.37 million lb (1.53 million 
kg) to North Carolina. Actual 2001 landings amounted to 1.19 million lb 
(0.54 million kg) for New York and 3.58 million lb (1.63 million kg) 
for North Carolina. All other states landed less bluefish in 2001 than 
their proposed 2002 allocations, and, therefore, will likely not be 
negatively impacted by the 2002 allocations. Under the assumption that 
2002 allocations for New York and North Carolina represent harvest 
constraints to those fisheries, and bluefish abundance and harvesting 
capacity would allow those states to harvest an amount equal to their 
2001 landings, there could be an 8-percent reduction in bluefish 
revenues in New York and a 6--percent reduction in bluefish revenues in 
North Carolina when compared to 2001 landings. Based on 2001 state 
landings, the 2002 state quotas are not expected to be reached in all 
states. Consequently, transfers could take place to offset overages in 
some states.
    Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act of 1996 states that for each rule or group of related rules for 
which an agency is required to prepare an FRFA, the agency shall 
publish one or more guides to assist small entities in complying with 
the rule, and shall designate such publications as ``small entity 
compliance guides.'' The agency shall explain the actions a small 
entity is required to take to comply with a rule or group of rules. As 
part of this rulemaking process, a small entity compliance guide was 
prepared. The guide will be sent to all holders of permits issued for 
the Atlantic bluefish fishery. In addition, copies of this final rule 
and guide (i.e., permit holder letter) are available from the Regional 
Administrator (see ADDRESSES) and are also available at the following 
web site:
http://www.nmfs.gov/ro/doc/nero.html.


[[Page 38912]]


    Dated: June 3, 2002.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 02-14235 Filed 6-5-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S