[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 124 (Thursday, June 27, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43266-43269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-16264]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[Docket No. 020612146-2146-01; I.D. 042602F]
RIN 0648-AP90


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Quota 
Specifications and General Category Effort Controls

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

ACTION: Proposed initial 2002 quota specifications and General category 
effort controls; public hearings; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes initial specifications for the Atlantic bluefin 
tuna (BFT) fishery to set BFT quota and General category effort 
controls for the fishing year beginning June 1, 2002. The proposed 
initial quota specifications and effort controls are necessary to 
implement the 1998 recommendation of the International Commission for 
the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) establishing a rebuilding 
program for Western Atlantic BFT, which is required by the Atlantic 
Tunas Convention Act (ATCA), and to achieve domestic management 
objectives under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). NMFS will hold public hearings 
to receive comments from fishery participants and other members of the 
public regarding the proposed initial quota specifications and effort 
controls.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 24, 2002.
    The public hearings dates are:
    1. July 8, 2002, 7 p.m.--9 p.m., Gloucester, MA.
    2. July 9, 2002, 2 p.m.--4 p.m., Silver Spring, MD.
    3. July 10, 2002, 7 p.m.--9 p.m., Atlantic Beach, NC.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the proposed initial quota 
specifications and General category effort controls

[[Page 43267]]

should be sent to Christopher Rogers, Chief, Highly Migratory Species 
Management Division, Office of Sustainable Fisheries (F/SF1), NMFS, 
1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282. Comments also may 
be sent via facsimile (fax) to (301) 713-1917. Comments will not be 
accepted if submitted via e-mail or the Internet.
    The public hearing locations are:
    1. Fuller Elementary School, 4 School House Road, Gloucester, MA 
01930.
    2. Silver Spring NOAA Science Center, 1301 East-West Highway, 
Silver Spring, MD 20910.
    3. Atlantic Beach Sheraton Atlantic Beach Oceanfront Hotel, 2717 W. 
Fort Macon Road, Atlantic Beach, NC 28512.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad McHale (978) 281-9260.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Atlantic tunas are managed under the dual 
authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and ATCA. ATCA authorizes the 
Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to implement binding recommendations 
of ICCAT. The authority to issue regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act and ATCA has been delegated from the Secretary to the Assistant 
Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA (AA).

Background

    On May 28, 1999, NMFS published in the Federal Register (64 FR 
29090) final regulations, effective July 1, 1999, implementing the 
Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish, and Sharks (HMS 
FMP) that was adopted and made available to the public in April 1999. 
The proposed initial specifications are necessary to implement the 1998 
ICCAT recommendation, establishing a rebuilding program for Western 
Atlantic BFT, which is required by ATCA, and to achieve domestic 
management objectives under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The proposed 
initial quota specifications would allocate the total ICCAT-recommended 
quota among the several established fishing categories, would carryover 
any unharvested 2001 fishing year quota, and would be consistent with 
the BFT rebuilding program as set forth in the HMS FMP.
    NMFS proposes the 2002 fishing year (June 1, 2002--May 31, 2003) 
BFT initial quota specifications under the annual and inseason 
adjustment procedures of the HMS FMP. Also, in accordance with the HMS 
FMP, NMFS proposes the General category effort control schedule, 
including time-period subquotas and restricted fishing days (RFDs), for 
the upcoming fishing season. After consideration of public comment, 
NMFS will issue final initial specifications and publish them in the 
Federal Register. The final initial quota specifications may 
subsequently be adjusted during the course of the fishing year, 
consistent with the provisions of the HMS FMP. Notice of any such 
adjustments will be published in the Federal Register.

Domestic Quota Allocation

    The HMS FMP and the implementing regulations established baseline 
percentage quota shares of the ICCAT-recommended U.S. BFT quota for 
each of the domestic fishing categories. These percentage shares were 
based on allocation procedures that had been developed by NMFS over 
several years. The baseline percentage quota shares established in the 
HMS FMP for fishing years beginning June 1, 1999 are as follows: 
General category-- 47.1 percent; Harpoon category--3.9 percent; Purse 
Seine category--18.6 percent; Angling category--19.7 percent; Longline 
category--8.1 percent; Trap category--0.1 percent; and Reserve --2.5 
percent.
    The current ICCAT BFT quota recommendation allows, and U.S. 
regulations require, the addition or subtraction, as appropriate, of 
any underharvest or overharvest in a fishing year to the following 
fishing year, provided that such carryover does not result in 
overharvest of the total annual quota and is consistent with all 
applicable ICCAT recommendations, including restrictions on landings of 
school BFT. Therefore, NMFS proposes to adjust the 2002 fishing year 
quota specifications for the BFT fishery to account for underharvest 
and overharvest in the 2001 fishing year.
    The General and Purse Seine category fisheries for BFT have been 
closed for the remainder of the 2001 fishing year (June 1, 2001 - May 
31, 2002). The landings figures are still preliminary, however, and may 
be updated before the 2002 specifications are finalized. For the 2001 
fishing year, NMFS has preliminarily determined that General category 
landings were higher than the adjusted General category quota by 13.0 
mt and Purse Seine category landings were fewer than the adjusted Purse 
Seine category quota by 59.7 mt. Based on the estimated amount of 
Reserve that NMFS is maintaining for the landing of BFT taken during 
ongoing scientific research projects, NMFS estimates that 6.9 mt of 
Reserve remains unharvested from the 2001 fishing year. This remaining 
Reserve quota will be used to partially cover the General category 
overharvest in 2001.
    Given estimated catch rates and available quota, the Angling 
Longline, Trap, and Harpoon category fisheries will remain open through 
May 31, 2002. As NMFS anticipates publication of final BFT quota 
specifications for the 2002 fishing year prior to the availability of 
final 2001 landings figures for these three categories, best estimates 
will be used to determine carryover amounts, if any. To date, Harpoon 
category landings are less than the adjusted Harpoon category quota by 
22.0 mt and the Angling category has the following underharvests for 
the 2001 fishing year: School BFT--84.6 mt; large school/small medium 
BFT--70.3 mt; and large medium/giant BFT--1.0 mt. In addition, 20.1 mt 
remains in the school reserve. To date, 56.6 mt remain in the Longline 
category. The final initial 2002 BFT quota specifications will be 
issued based on updated 2001 landings. Should adjustments to the final 
initial 2002 BFT quota specifications be required based on the final 
2001 BFT landings figures, NMFS will publish a Federal Register notice 
adjusting the final initial 2002 fishing year quota specifications.
    In accordance with the regulations regarding annual adjustments at 
Sec. 635.27(a)(9)(ii), NMFS proposes specifications for the 2002 
fishing year that include carryover adjustments. The proposed quotas 
are: General category--647.2 mt; Harpoon category--76.1 mt; Purse Seine 
category--317.7 mt; Angling category--429.1 mt; Longline category--
148.9 mt; and Trap category--2.3 mt. Additionally, 75.3 mt would be 
reserved for inseason allocations or to cover scientific research 
collection and potential overharvest in any category except the Purse 
Seine category. Regulations at 50 CFR 635.27(a)(9)(i) require Purse 
Seine category under or overharvests be subtracted from or added to 
each individual vessel's quota allocation, as appropriate. These 
proposed quotas include provisions for each category to carry forward 
any underharvest from 2001 to the 2002 fishing year. The exception to 
this is that the unused school reserve (approximately 20.1 mt) from 
2001, along with an additional 20.0 mt of unused Longline South 
subcategory quota would be placed into the Reserve. This additional 
reserve quota would be allocated among the domestic fishing categories, 
as appropriate during the 2002 fishing year, in accordance with the 
inseason transfer criteria in the HMS regulations.
    As part of the BFT rebuilding program, ICCAT recommended an 
allowance for dead discards. The U.S. dead discard allowance is 68 mt. 
The

[[Page 43268]]

2000 preliminary estimate of U.S. dead discards, as reported in pelagic 
longline vessel logbooks, totaled 67.0 mt (U.S. National Report to 
ICCAT 2001). As estimates of BFT dead discards for the 2001 fishing 
year will not be available for some time, the estimate for the 2000 
calendar year was used to calculate the amount to be added to, or 
subtracted from, the U.S. BFT landings quota for 2002 as a result of 
dead discards. Estimates of dead discards from other gear types and 
fishing sectors that do not use the pelagic longline vessel logbook are 
unavailable at this time and thus are not included in this calculation. 
As U.S. fishing activity is estimated to have resulted in less dead 
discards than its allowance, the ICCAT recommendation and U.S. 
regulations state that the U.S. may add one half of the difference 
between the amount of dead discards and the allowance (i.e., 68.0 mt - 
67.0 mt = 1.0 mt, 1.0 mt/2 = 0.5 mt) to its total allowed landings for 
the following year, or to individual fishing categories or to the 
Reserve. NMFS proposes to allocate the 0.5 mt to the Reserve quota, 
which could than be allocated to individual fishing categories as 
necessary during the fishing year.
    Based on the proposed initial specifications, the Angling category 
quota of 429.1 mt would be divided as follows: School BFT--175.1 mt, 
with 98.1 mt to the northern area (north of 39 deg. 18' N. latitude), 
77.0 mt to the southern area (south of 39 deg. 18' N. latitude), plus 
20.5 mt held in reserve; large school/small medium BFT-- 226.2 mt, with 
120.5 mt to the northern area and 105.7 mt to the southern area; and 
large medium/giant BFT--7.3 mt, with 3.1 mt to the northern area and 
4.2 mt to the southern area. These subquotas reflect the adjusted 
north-south dividing line (39 deg. 18' N. latitude) and percentage 
quota allocations in the northern and southern areas for the Angling 
category, as implemented by NMFS through a final rule on August 15, 
2001 (66 FR 42801).
    The Longline category quota of 148.9 mt would be subdivided as 
follows: 30.9 mt to longline vessels landing BFT north of 34 deg. N. 
latitude and 118.0 mt to longline vessels landing BFT south of 34 deg. 
N. latitude.

General Category Effort Controls

    For the last several years, NMFS has implemented General category 
time-period subquotas to increase the likelihood that fishing would 
continue throughout the late summer and early fall fishing seasons. The 
subquotas are consistent with the objectives of the HMS FMP and are 
designed to address concerns regarding allocation of fishing 
opportunities, to assist with distribution and achievement of optimum 
yield, to allow for a late season fishery, and to improve market 
conditions and scientific monitoring.
    The HMS FMP divides the annual General category quota into three 
time-period subquotas as follows: 60 percent for June-August, 30 
percent for September, and 10 percent for October-December. These 
percentages would be applied to the adjusted 2002 coastwide quota for 
the General category of 637.2 mt, with the remaining 10.0 mt being 
reserved for the New York Bight fishery. Therefore, coastwide, 382.3 mt 
would be available in the period beginning June 1 and ending August 31; 
191.2 mt would be available in the period beginning September 1 and 
ending September 30; and 63.7 mt would be available in the period 
beginning October 1 and ending December 31, 2001.
    In addition to time period subquotas, NMFS also has implemented 
General category RFDs to extend the fishing season throughout the 
summer and fall. The RFDs are consistent with the objectives of the HMS 
FMP and are designed to address the same issues addressed by time-
period subquotas. For the 2002 fishing year, NMFS proposes a schedule 
of RFDs that is similar to that implemented in 2001, adjusted as 
necessary to coordinate with Japanese market holidays.
    As proposed, persons aboard vessels permitted in the General 
category would be prohibited from fishing, including tag-and-release, 
for BFT of all sizes on the following days: August 10, 11, and 12; 
September 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23, 25, 29, and 30; 
October 2, 6, 7, and 9. These proposed RFDs would improve distribution 
of fishing opportunities without increasing BFT mortality.

Public Hearings and Special Accommodations

    The public is reminded that NMFS expects participants at the public 
hearings to conduct themselves appropriately. At the beginning of each 
public hearing, a NMFS representative will explain the ground rules 
(e.g., alcohol is prohibited from the hearing room; attendees will be 
called to give their comments in the order in which they registered to 
speak; each attendee will have an equal amount of time to speak; and 
attendees should not interrupt one another). The NMFS representative 
will attempt to structure the hearing so that all attending members of 
the public will be able to comment, if they so choose, regardless of 
the controversial nature of the subject(s). Attendees are expected to 
respect the ground rules, and, if they do not, they will be asked to 
leave the hearing.
    The public hearing sites are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to Brad McHale (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT) at least 7 days prior to the hearing.

Classification

    These proposed specifications and effort controls are published 
under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et 
seq., and the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act, 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. 
Preliminarily, the AA has determined that the proposed specifications 
and the effort controls are consistent with the HMS FMP, the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, and the 1998 ICCAT BFT catch recommendation.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce has 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that the proposed specifications and effort controls 
would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities as follows:
    The current level of participation in the Atlantic BFT fisheries 
has remained relatively consistent over the last couple of years 
since the HMS FMP was finalized. For instance, in 2001 there were 
22,289 vessels that possessed either an Atlantic tunas permit or a 
HMS CHB permit. In 2000 and in 1999 there were 24,845 and 23,005 
vessel permits respectively. The number of Atlantic tunas permit 
holders in each quota category has also remained relatively 
consistent since the HMS FMP was finalized. For example, in 2000 
there were 9,468 vessels that possessed either a General category 
Atlantic tunas permit or a HMS Charter/Headboat permit, in 2001 
there were 9,332 vessels permitted in either the General category 
Atlantic tunas permit or the HMS Charter/Headboat permit category. 
The similarity in number of vessels participating in a particular 
quota category from year to year holds true for the remaining 
category types (Angling, Longline, Harpoon, Purse Seine, and Trap) 
as well. In addition, according to the 2002 SAFE report, the value 
of the BFT fishery has increased from $17,488,624 in 1996 to 
$18,810,704 in 2000.
    Due to the fact that the value of the BFT fishery is increasing, 
the overall U.S. Atlantic baseline BFT quota has not changed, the 
domestic breakdown of the U.S. Atlantic baseline BFT quota has not 
changed, and the level of participation in the U.S. Atlantic BFT 
fishery has remained relatively consistent since the original 
economic analyses were conducted in the HMS FMP, as reflected more 
recently in the 2002 SAFE report, NMFS has determined the Proposed 
Initial 2002 Quota Specifications and General Category Effort 
Controls, if implemented, would not have a significant economic

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impact on a substantial number of small entities.
    As mentioned above, NMFS has certified to the Small Business 
Administration that the proposed rule is not significant. As a 
result of this certification, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility 
Analysis was not prepared for this action.
    Because of this certification, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility 
Analysis was not prepared.
    These proposed quota specifications and General category effort 
controls have been determined to be not significant for purposes of 
Executive Order 12866.
    On September 7, 2000, NMFS reinitiated formal consultation for all 
HMS commercial fisheries under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. 
A Biological Opinion (BiOp) issued June 14, 2001, concluded that 
continued operation of the Atlantic pelagic longline fishery is likely 
to jeopardize the continued existence of endangered and threatened sea 
turtle species under NMFS jurisdiction. NMFS is currently implementing 
the reasonable and prudent alternative required by the BiOp. These 
proposed quota specifications and effort controls would not have any 
additional impact on sea turtles as these actions would not likely 
increase or decrease pelagic longline effort, nor are they expected to 
shift effort into other fishing areas. No irreversible or irretrievable 
commitments of resources are expected from this proposed action that 
would have the effect of foreclosing the implementation of the 
requirements of the BiOp.
    The area in which this proposed action is planned has been 
identified as EFH for species managed by the New England Fishery 
Management Council, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the 
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery 
Management Council, the Caribbean Fishery Management Council, and the 
Highly Migratory Species Division of the Office of Sustainable 
Fisheries at NMFS. It is not anticipated that this action will have any 
adverse impacts to EFH and, therefore, no consultation is required.

    Dated: June 24, 2002.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 02-16264 Filed 6-24-02; 3:07 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S