[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 128 (Thursday, July 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39898-39900]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-16880]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 021903B]
RIN 0648-AQ24


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Rebuilding Plan for Greater 
Amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico

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

ACTION: Notice of agency action.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces approval of Secretarial Amendment 2 to the Reef 
Fish Fishery Management Plan (Secretarial Amendment 2) that establishes 
a 10-year stock rebuilding plan for greater amberjack in the Gulf of 
Mexico. The Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Gulf of Mexico 
Fishery Management Council (Council), prepared Secretarial Amendment 2. 
The greater amberjack rebuilding plan consists of a series of 3-year 
management goals and the associated management measures and actions 
necessary to achieve those goals, as determined by the status of the 
stock during each of the 3-year intervals. Secretarial Amendment 2 also 
establishes biomass-based stock rebuilding targets and thresholds 
(i.e., maximum sustainable yield (MSY), optimum yield (OY), maximum 
fishing mortality threshold (MFMT), and minimum stock size threshold 
(MSST)), consistent with the requirements of the Sustainable Fisheries 
Act of 1996 (SFA). The intended effect of Secretarial Amendment 2 is to 
prevent overfishing and rebuild the greater amberjack resource 
consistent with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) while 
minimizing, to the extent practicable, adverse economic impacts on all 
users of the resource and the affected fishing communities.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Phil Steele, telephone: 727-570-5305, 
fax: 727-570-5583, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The reef fish fishery in the exclusive 
economic zone of the Gulf of Mexico is managed under the Fishery 
Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico 
(FMP). The FMP was prepared by the Council and is implemented under the 
authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act by regulations at 50 CFR part 
622.
    On March 14, 2003, NMFS published a notice of availability of 
Secretarial Amendment 2 and requested public comment (68 FR 12344). 
After considering the public comments received, NMFS approved 
Secretarial Amendment 2, without modification, on June 12, 2003. The 
background and rationale for the measures in Secretarial Amendment 2 
are contained in the amendment and the notice of availability and are 
not repeated here.

Comments and Responses

    NMFS received one set of comments on Secretarial Amendment 2 from a 
group of environmental organizations. Those comments and NMFS' 
responses are provided below.
    Comment 1: NOAA Fisheries must assess the amount and type of 
bycatch occurring in each fishery and ensure that each plan includes 
conservation and management measures that, to the extent practicable, 
minimize bycatch and minimize the mortality of such bycatch that cannot 
be avoided.
    Response: NMFS is committed to working through the Council process 
for development and implementation of fishery management plans to 
minimize bycatch, and to the extent practicable,

[[Page 39899]]

minimize the mortality of bycatch that cannot be avoided. Within this 
mandate, NMFS is working with the Council to: (1) promote the 
development and improvement of a database on bycatch and bycatch 
mortality; (2) assess the effects of management measures on the amount 
and type of bycatch and bycatch mortality; and (3) select measures 
that, to the extent practicable, will minimize bycatch and bycatch 
mortality.
    Additionally, NMFS has established a National Bycatch Working Group 
to begin the process of developing scientific and policy strategies for 
addressing the nation's bycatch problems. The National Bycatch Strategy 
consists of six components, all of which are being implemented within 
different time frames and include: (1) Assessing progress toward 
meeting the national bycatch goal, its supporting objectives and 
strategies, and regional recommendations as set forth in NMFS' 1998 
publication Managing the Nation's Bycatch (available at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/bycatch.htm); (2) Developing a national approach to a 
standardized bycatch reporting methodology; (3) Implementing the 
national bycatch goal through regional implementation plans; (4) 
Undertaking education and outreach involving cooperative efforts to 
develop effective and efficient methods for reducing bycatch; (5) 
Utilizing existing partnerships and developing new international 
approaches to reducing bycatch of living marine resources including 
fish stocks, sea turtles, marine mammals, and migratory birds, where 
appropriate; and (6) Identifying new funding requirements to 
effectively support the NMFS National Bycatch Strategy on an ongoing 
basis.
    Comment 2: Secretarial Amendment 2 is not approvable because it 
does not address bycatch.
    Response: The greater amberjack resource in the Gulf of Mexico was 
declared overfished by NMFS on February 9, 2001, but is not considered 
to be undergoing overfishing due to Council actions taken in 1997, 
1998, and 1999. Consequently, actions to further reduce fishing 
mortality are not needed at this time. Through this amendment, NMFS 
establishes a rebuilding plan for greater amberjack in the Gulf of 
Mexico. Actions in the amendment include setting total allowable catch 
(TAC) for 3-year intervals with TAC being set at the yield associated 
with year one of the 3-year interval from the constant F40% rebuilding 
stream. TAC will be 2.9 million lb (1.3 million kg) for the years 2003-
2005, 5.2 million lb (2.6 million kg) for years 2006-2008, 7.0 million 
lb (3.2 million kg) for years 2009-2011, and 7.9 million lb (3.6 
million kg) for 2012. Additionally, the amendment contains biomass-
based definitions of maximum sustainable yield and optimum yield and 
adds new stock status determination criteria regarding definitions of 
``overfished'' (minimum stock size threshold) and ``overfishing'' 
(maximum fishing mortality threshold). These criteria are necessary to 
meet requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, as amended by the 
Sustainable Fisheries Act. The amendment does not change the current 
fishing regulations for greater amberjack.
    While Secretarial Amendment 2 does not specifically address bycatch 
reporting methodologies or methods to minimize bycatch and reduce 
bycatch mortality, methodologies for reporting this information have 
already been implemented. The methodology for reporting bycatch from 
the recreational component of the catch of greater amberjack was 
implemented through the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey 
program developed by NMFS. The commercial component of the greater 
amberjack catch has been monitored through the commercial logbook 
program since 1992. This program has required that all vessels submit a 
reporting form for each trip listing landings by species, numbers and 
pounds. Additionally, beginning in 2001, the NMFS Southeast Fisheries 
Science Center has required 20 percent of all the permitted vessels to 
submit forms for each trip listing species discarded as bycatch by 
number.
    Further, additional alternatives to address bycatch issues are 
currently being developed for the entire reef fish management unit in 
Amendment 18 to the Reef Fish Fishery Management Plan. An options paper 
for Amendment 18 is scheduled for presentation at the Gulf of Mexico 
Fishery Management Council (Council) meeting in July 2003. The Council 
is tentatively scheduled to take final action on this amendment at its 
November 2003 meeting. While Amendment 18 will focus primarily on 
grouper management actions, it will also address bycatch issues for all 
species within the reef fish fishery management unit including greater 
amberjack.
    Comment 3: Recommended Options for Status Determination Criteria
    Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) Alternatives - While Alternative 1, 
the Preferred Alternative, which sets MSY at the yield value of 9.5 
million lb (4.3 million kg) is technically consistent with expected 
values produced by the most recent stock assessment on greater 
amberjack, the legal requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and 
applicable NOAA Fisheries guidance documents, we are concerned that 
these landings are overly optimistic. Our concern is that the highest 
documented level of greater amberjack taken in the Gulf is 
approximately 10 million lb (4.5 million kg) in 1989. Landings from the 
mid 1980s through the early 1990s averaged approximately 6 million lb 
(2.7 million kg). High landings during these years are thought to be 
part of the reason greater amberjack are now in an overfished state. 
Accordingly, we ask that future scientific work be undertaken to refine 
status determination criteria for this species.
    Response: The Preferred Alternative, Alternative 1, describes the 
yield that would be associated with the fishing mortality rate (F) 
needed to maintain a population at 30 percent spawning potential ratio 
(SPR) in equilibrium conditions and so is consistent with 
recommendations made to the Council about this species for setting MSY 
in the generic Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) amendment. It is also 
consistent with the current maximum fishing mortality threshold (MFMT) 
of F30% SPR that has been approved by NMFS. In the most recent stock 
assessment, the yield estimated from fishing at F30% SPR was 9.5 
million lb (4.3 million kg). Alternative 1 is consistent with the best 
available scientific estimate of what MSY should be. Fishing at or 
below this recommended level (F30% SPR) to achieve this yield should 
allow the stock to be fished over the long term and maintain the 
highest average yield possible.
    Further, the period of highest landings for amberjack was 1986-1989 
when the annual landings averaged 7.7 million lb (3.5 million kg) and 
peaked in 1989 at 9.9 million lb (4.5 million kg). The most likely 
reason that the current estimate of MSY is so much higher than 
historical landings is that, until 1990, there were no minimum size 
limits on this species. Cummings and McClellan (2000) indicate that 
prior to 1990, a substantial amount of small fish (less than 16-inch 
(40.6-cm) fork length) were landed by the fishery. Therefore, growth 
overfishing and possibly recruitment overfishing may have been 
occurring. It was not until 1998 that all the current management 
measures were implemented and halted overfishing. NMFS will revisit 
these estimates as new information from stock assessments becomes 
available.
    Optimum Yield (OY) Alternatives - We have similar concerns with 
proposed Alternative 1, the Preferred Alternative, which sets OY at a 
value of 8.5 million lb (3.9 million kg). We are concerned that this 
level may be too

[[Page 39900]]

high based on an analysis of past landings and the current condition of 
greater amberjack. We therefore again recommend that this value will be 
reassessed at regular intervals to insure its soundness.
    Response: According to NMFS national standard guidelines on the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act (50 CFR Part 600.310), OY is based on MSY or MSY 
as it may be reduced to take into account social, economic, or 
ecological factors. The guidelines go on to say that Councils should 
adopt a precautionary approach in specifying OY including reference 
points set safely below limit reference points and that these targets 
be ``explicitly'' risk averse. NMFS technical guidance in setting an OY 
level suggests that OY should be set at a yield where the fishing 
mortality rate is 25 percent below the limit fishing mortality rate 
(i.e., 0.75 * FMSY). Advantages of setting F at this level 
are: (1) the probability of exceeding the MFMT is low (20-30 percent), 
and (2) because the total mortality on the stock is reduced, the stock 
size is allowed to increase. Restrepo et al. (1998) estimated that by 
fishing at 0.75 * FMSY, the stock is allowed to build to 125-131 
percent of BMSY and that the resultant reduction in yield is only about 
6 percent of MSY. Specifically for greater amberjack, fishing at the 
FMSY proxy ( 0.75 * F30%SPR) would allow the stock to build 
to 128 percent of the spawning stock biomass at MSY 
(SSBMSY), with the resultant yield of about 92 percent of 
MSY.
    The Preferred Alternative (Alternative 1) defines OY as the yield 
associated with an F40% SPR when the stock is at 
equilibrium, and is actually more conservative than what is recommended 
by NMFS. According to Turner (2002), the estimated value of F40% 
SPR is 72 percent of F30% SPR (the proxy they used for 
FMSY). Based on estimates of yield at F40% (8.5 million lb 
(3.9 million kg)) and at F30% (9.5 million lb (4.3 million 
kg)), the OY yield from Alternative 1 would be 89 percent of the 
Preferred Alternative for MSY (the yield associated with an 
F30%). Alternative 1 also is consistent with NMFS 
recommendations for OY in the generic SFA amendment that OY should 
correspond with a stock at 40 percent static SPR.
    NMFS will continue to provide the Council with annual updates on 
the greater amberjack harvest. These updates would cover each calender 
year and be presented as soon as the information can be properly 
collated. The purpose of these updates would be to insure that the 
annual harvest by the recreational and commercial fisheries was not 
exceeding the expected annual harvest needed for the rebuilding plan, 
and to provide any potential new information that may be incorporated 
into the rebuilding plan.

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

    Dated: June 27, 2003.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-16880 Filed 7-2-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S