[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 6 (Friday, January 9, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 1561-1563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-465]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 031229327-3327-01; I.D. 121603B]
RIN 0648-AR58


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Deep-Sea 
Red Crab Fishery

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

ACTION: Proposed 2004 specifications for the Atlantic deep-sea red crab 
fishery; request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes specifications for the 2004 Atlantic deep-sea 
red crab (red crab) fishery. The regulations for the red crab fishery 
require NMFS to publish specifications for the upcoming red crab 
fishing year and to provide an opportunity for public comment. The 
proposed target total allowable catch (TAC) and fleet days at sea (DAS) 
for fishing year (FY) 2004 is 5.928 million lb (2.69 million kg) and 
780 fleet DAS, respectively. Accordingly, since one qualified limited 
access vessel has opted out of the fishery for FY2004, the four 
remaining vessels would each be allocated 195 DAS. The intent of the 
specifications is to conserve and manage the red crab resource and 
provide for a sustainable fishery.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than 5 p.m., Eastern Standard 
Time, on February 9, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Copies of supporting documents, including the Environmental 
Assessment, Regulatory Impact Review, and the Initial Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (EA/RIR/IRFA) for the 2004 Red Crab Fishing Year, 
are available from Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England 
Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 
01950. The EA/RIR/IRFA is accessible via the Internet at http://www.nero.nmfs.gov/ro/doc/nero.html.
    Written comments on the proposed specifications should be sent to 
Patricia A. Kurkul, Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries 
Service, One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of 
the envelope: ``Comments--2004 Red Crab Specifications.'' Comments may 
also be sent via facsimile (fax) to (978) 281-9135. Comments submitted 
via e-mail or the Internet will not be accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: E. Martin Jaffe, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, (978) 281-9272.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implementing the Red Crab 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) require the New England Fishery 
Management Council (Council) to review annually the red crab 
specifications. The Council's Red Crab Plan Development Team (PDT) 
meets at least annually to review the status of the stock and the 
fishery. Based on this review, the PDT reports to the Council's Red 
Crab Committee, no later than October 1, any necessary adjustments to 
the management measures and recommendations for the specifications. 
Specifications include the specification of optimum yield (OY), the 
setting of any target TAC, allocation of DAS, and/or adjustments to 
trip/possession limits. In developing the management measures and 
recommendations for the annual specifications, the PDT reviews the 
following data, if available: Commercial catch data; current estimates 
of fishing mortality and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE); stock status; 
recent estimates of recruitment; virtual population analysis results 
and other estimates of stock size; sea sampling, port sampling, and 
survey data or, if sea sampling data are unavailable, length frequency 
information from port sampling and/or surveys; impact of other 
fisheries on the mortality of red crabs; and any other relevant 
information. Recommended specifications are presented to the Council 
for adoption and recommendation to NMFS.

Proposed 2004 Specifications

    FY2003 (March 1, 2003, through February 29, 2004) is the first full 
fishing year the FMP will have been in place. Therefore, the analysis 
for the development of annual specifications was based on information 
from FY2002 (October 21, 2002, through February 28, 2003), a partial 
year that began when the FMP was implemented, and the first part of 
FY2003, which began on March 1, 2003, and continues through the 
present. Since the FMP has not been in place for a full fishing year, 
data from the two partial fishing years were combined for analysis.
    Based on available biological information, the Council has 
recommended that the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and OY for FY2004 
should remain the same as in FY2003. The FMP defines the target TAC to 
equal OY, and OY is set at 95 percent of MSY, unless adjusted through 
the annual specifications process. The MSY for FY2004 is still 
estimated to be 6.24 million lb (2.83 million kg); therefore, absent 
any new information on which to base a change in OY, OY and the target 
TAC would remain 5.928 million lb (2.69 million kg).
    Five vessels qualified for a limited access permit in the red crab 
fishery for the 2002 and 2003 fishing years. The fleet was allocated 
780 DAS for FY2003, which translated into 156 DAS for each of the five 
limited access vessels. For the portion of FY2002 under which the 
limited access and DAS program was effective, individual qualified 
limited access vessels were each allocated 49 DAS. According to the DAS 
database, four of the five vessels that received a

[[Page 1562]]

limited access permit used a total of 191 days in FY2002, 65 percent of 
the full 294 DAS that were allocated (the fifth vessel did not fish in 
FY2002). That amount of fishing effort resulted in 1,137,462 lb (515.9 
mt) of red crab landed by the limited access fleet. FY2003 began on 
March 1, 2003, and, as of September 1, 2003, four of the five limited 
access vessels had used 234 DAS and landed 1,744,961 lb (791.5 mt) of 
red crab. Since the fleet has only used 30 percent of the allocated DAS 
for FY2003, it is likely that the fleet will fish additional DAS during 
the remainder of FY2003.
    There seems to be some seasonal variability in fishing activity, 
but data collection under the FMP has not been implemented long enough 
to evaluate seasonal trends accurately at this time. For the portions 
of both fishing years combined (October 21, 2002, through September 1, 
2003), 425 DAS have been used, and 2,882,423 lb (1,307.5 mt) of red 
crab have been landed. This period covers 315 calendar days, not a full 
calendar year, so there is potential for the effort values to increase 
as FY2003 continues. As of September 1, 2003, all of the five vessels 
with limited access permits had DAS remaining for FY2003.
    In addition to the vessels with limited access permits, there are 
about 865 vessels with open access incidental take red crab permits. 
These permits allow a vessel to land up to 500 lb (226.8 kg) of whole 
red crab per trip. Some anecdotal reports suggest that bycatch levels 
of red crab may occasionally be quite high, and that the mortality of 
red crabs caught may be high, as well. To determine the scope and 
extent of red crab bycatch and bycatch mortality and whether it may be 
a problem requires more information on the level of bycatch of red 
crabs in the monkfish fishery (as well as other deep-water fisheries, 
such as lobster and tilefish), the mortality rates associated with this 
red crab bycatch, and the sex and size distributions of the red crab 
bycatch.
    The Council considered six alternative ways to calculate fleet DAS. 
Each alternative would result in a different fleet DAS allocation. A 
complete description of each alternative is found in section 4.0 of the 
Council's Red Crab Specifications document and is not repeated here. 
The total fleet DAS for FY2004 would vary from 745 under Alternative 1, 
to 874 under Alternative 4. (An explanation of the reasons the Council 
selected the preferred alternative is found in the Classification 
section.)
    Based on the Council's analysis in its annual Red Crab 
Specifications document, the Council recommended that the current 
FY2003 specifications be maintained for FY2004. NMFS concurs that the 
Council's recommended specifications meet the objectives of the FMP 
and, therefore, proposes the following specifications for FY2004:

Proposed Target TAC and Fleet DAS

Target TAC: 5.928 million lb (2.69 million kg)
Fleet DAS: 780 (since one vessel has opted out of the fishery for 
FY2004, the remaining four vessels would thus receive 195 DAS each)

Classification

    This action is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.
    The Council and NMFS prepared an IRFA as required under section 603 
of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The IRFA describes the economic 
impact that these proposed specifications, if adopted, would have on 
small entities. A summary of the analysis follows.
    A description of the legal basis and reasons for the action, and 
its objectives, can be found in the preamble of these proposed 
specifications and are not repeated here. This action does not contain 
any new collection-of-information, reporting, or recordkeeping 
requirements. It would not duplicate, overlap, or conflict with any 
other Federal rules.
    All of the affected businesses (fishing vessels) are considered 
small entities under the standards described in NMFS guidelines because 
they have gross receipts that do not exceed $3.5 million annually. All 
fishing vessels with limited access permits are considered affected 
businesses; there are currently five vessels. The economic impacts of 
this action may vary based on which method is selected to calculate 
annual fleet DAS. If the individual DAS were less than what was 
allocated in FY2003, resulting in fewer landings, then it is probable 
that the economic impacts would be negative for the limited access 
fleet compared to FY2003. On the other hand, if an alternative were 
selected that allocates a greater number of individual DAS to each 
vessel than in FY2003, thereby increasing landings, economic impacts 
would likely be equal to or greater compared to FY2003. It is important 
to note that a vessel has temporarily opted out of this fishery for 
FY2004, resulting in that vessel's DAS being allocated equally among 
the remaining limited access vessels. Thus, individual DAS of active 
vessels during FY2004 are higher than each active vessel received in 
FY2003. Sections 8.8 and 8.9 of the RIR and IRFA section of the 
Council's Red Crab Specifications document highlights the economic 
impacts that would be expected from each of the alternatives.

Preferred Alternative

    The preferred alternative would consist of no changes in the target 
TAC available to the fishery or in the total number of fleet DAS from 
FY2003, but because one vessel opted out of the FY2004 fishery, the 
allocation of DAS per vessel would be increased to 195.
    Under Alternatives 1 through 4, the allocation of DAS per vessel 
for each of the four vessels in the FY2004 fishery would vary from 186 
to 218. Alternative 1 would result in an allocation of 186 DAS to each 
of the four participating vessels, based on a fleet allocation of 745 
DAS. Alternative 2 would result in an allocation of 215 DAS to each 
participating vessel, based on an allocation of 861 DAS to the fleet. 
Alternative 3 would result in an allocation of 210 DAS per 
participating vessel, based on a fleet allocation of 840 DAS. 
Alternative 4 would result in an allocation of 218 DAS to each of the 
participating vessels, based on an allocation of 874 DAS to the fleet. 
The PDT also evaluated an additional alternative, referred to as 
alternative 4a. This alternative would provide for an annual fleet 
allocation of 794 DAS. This would translate into 198 DAS per vessel for 
each of the four vessels in the fishery in FY2004. A complete 
description of each alternative is found in section 4.0 of the 
Council's Red Crab Specifications document and is not repeated here.
    The No Action/Status Quo Alternative was selected because the 
current management measures have been in place for only a short time, 
and there is no basis to revise the allocation at this time. 
Consequently, this alternative, as was determined for FY2003 
specifications, is reasonable because it is most likely to allow 
vessels to harvest the 2004 TAC without exceeding it, based on 
preliminary data available for the same specifications in place for 
FY2003.

Summary of Economic Impacts

    Uncertainty about the status of the red crab stock, as well as the 
limited time-series available in the data, makes it difficult to 
accurately predict the economic outcomes of the various alternatives.
    The level of landings and revenue expected is considered directly 
related to the allocated number of DAS, and Alternative 4 provides the 
most fleet DAS. The ranking of alternatives (using FY2002 and FY2003 
combined data) based solely on fleet DAS, from highest

[[Page 1563]]

to lowest, would be Alternative 4, Alternative 2, Alternative 3, 
Alternative 4a, the preferred alternative, and finally, Alternative 1. 
As expected, the highest number of fleet DAS (Alternative 4) would have 
the greatest potential to ensure that vessels harvest the TAC, but at 
the expense of possibly exceeding the TAC.
    According to section 8.8 of the Red Crab Specifications document, 
Alternative 1 would be expected to generate the lowest level of 
landings and revenue because it allocates 35 fewer fleet DAS than the 
preferred alternative. On the other hand, Alternatives 2, 3, and 4 
would allocate more fleet DAS than the preferred alternative; 81, 60, 
and 94 more fleet DAS, respectively. The additional allocated DAS would 
enable each vessel to take extra trips, and the economic benefits would 
be expected to increase compared to FY2003 with more DAS available, 
depending on which alternative is selected. But each of these other 
alternatives would be more likely to result in exceeding the TAC. The 
opting out of one red crab vessel, however, means that the remaining 
four vessels will have 195 DAS each instead of 156 under the preferred 
alternative. This increase in individual DAS significantly increases 
the landings and economic benefits for these vessels, compared to 
FY2003. In balancing the FMP objectives of providing the fleet with the 
greatest number of landings without exceeding the TAC, the preferred 
alternative is considered to be the best. Section 5.0 of the FMP 
includes more detailed economic impact analysis of DAS measures.

    Authority: 16 USC 1801 et seq.

    Dated: January 6, 2004.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrtaor for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 04-465 Filed 1-8-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S