[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 110 (Thursday, June 9, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 33728-33729]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-11462]



[[Page 33728]]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 060105B]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Mackerel, 
Squid, and Butterfish Fisheries; Amendment 10 Atlantic Mackerel Limited 
Access Program and Control Date

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR); 
reaffirmation of a control date; notice of intent to develop a limited 
access program; request for comments.

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

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that it is considering, and is seeking public 
comment on, proposed rulemaking to control future access to the 
Atlantic mackerel fishery if a management regime is developed and 
implemented under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) to limit the number of 
participants in this fishery in Amendment 10 to the Atlantic Mackerel, 
Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This announcement 
alerts interested parties of potential eligibility criteria for future 
access so as to discourage speculative entry into the fishery while the 
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) considers how access 
to the Atlantic mackerel fishery should be controlled. NMFS also 
reaffirms, on behalf of the Council, the most recent control date of 
July 5, 2002, for this fishery, which may be used for establishing 
eligibility criteria for determining levels of future access to the 
Atlantic mackerel fishery; informs the public that the Council is 
developing such a program in Amendment 10 to the FMP as expeditiously 
as possible; and notifies the public of several measures that are under 
consideration by the Council for inclusion in Amendment 10.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before 5 p.m., local 
time, July 11, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted as follows:
     Written comments should be sent to Patricia A. Kurkul, 
Regional Administrator, NMFS, One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 
01930. Mark the outside of the envelope, ``Comments on Atlantic 
Mackerel Reaffirmation of Control Date.''
     Comments may be sent via facsimile (fax) to: (978) 281-
9135.
     Comments may be submitted by e-mail. The mailbox address 
for providing e-ail comments is MackContDate.gov. Include in the 
subject line of the e-mail comment the following document identifier: 
``Comments-Atlantic Mackerel Amendment 10.'' Comments may also 
be submitted electronically through the Federal e-Rulemaking portal: 
http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Jay Dolin, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, 978-281-9259; fax 978-281-9135. email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) is a 
migratory species that supports important recreational and commercial 
fisheries along the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada. The 
Council has considered the possibility of limiting entry to the 
Atlantic mackerel fishery for more than a decade. An initial 
notification establishing a control date of August 13, 1992, for all of 
the fisheries included in the FMP (i.e., Atlantic mackerel, Loligo and 
Illex squids, and Atlantic butterfish) was published on August 13, 1992 
(57 FR 36384). That document announced that, as of that date, no vessel 
would be guaranteed entry into a limited access fishery under the FMP, 
if the Council chose to implement such a program. The 1992 control date 
was rescinded for the Atlantic mackerel fishery on September 27, 1994 
(59 FR 49235), because the Council and NMFS concluded that information 
regarding biomass levels, fishing levels, fishing effort, and catch 
indicated that the Atlantic mackerel fishery would not require limited 
access management in the foreseeable future. Rescission of the 1992 
control date also was intended to remove a disincentive to fish for 
what was then considered an underutilized resource (Atlantic mackerel).
    In Amendment 5 to the FMP, the Council proposed a provision to 
require the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to publish a control date 
for the Atlantic mackerel fishery when commercial landings reached 50 
percent of its allowable biological catch. NMFS did not include that 
provision in the proposed rule for Amendment 5 (60 FR 65618, December 
20, 1995), because the proposed measure was not appropriate to 
implement by regulation, but rather was an expression of the Council's 
intent.
    In May 1997, the Council requested that NMFS publish an ANPR 
reestablishing a control date for the Atlantic mackerel fishery. The 
Council intended the control date to discourage speculative entry of 
new vessels into the Atlantic mackerel fishery while the Council 
considered development of a management program to control the rate of 
capitalization. As a result, NMFS published an ANPR (62 FR 48047, 
September 12, 1997) that established a control date of September 12, 
1997. Although the Council intended to develop a controlled access 
program for the Atlantic mackerel fishery through an amendment to the 
FMP soon after establishing the 1997 control date, subsequent FMP 
amendments focused on other issues, such as implementation of 
Sustainable Fisheries Act requirements.
    In 2002, the Council became aware that domestic processing capacity 
for Atlantic mackerel could increase rapidly in the near future based 
on testimony from members of the harvesting and processing sectors of 
the industry indicating that there was significant interest in 
expansion of domestic shore-side processing for Atlantic mackerel. 
Because the Council was concerned about rapid expansion of harvesting 
capacity in the fishery, possible overcapitalization, and the fact that 
nearly 5 years had passed since the 1997 control date was established, 
the Council requested, in April 2002, that a new control date for the 
Atlantic mackerel fishery be established. As a result, NMFS published 
an ANPR on July 5, 2002 (67 FR 44792), which established that date as 
the new control date for the Atlantic mackerel fishery. The ANPR was 
again intended to discourage speculative entry into the fishery while 
potential management regimes to control access into the fishery were 
discussed and possibly developed by the Council, and to help the 
Council distinguish established participants from speculative entrants 
to the fishery, should such a program be developed. The ANPR noted that 
the control date did not commit the Council to develop any particular 
management regime or to use any specific criteria for determining entry 
to the fishery. However, it did inform the public that the Council 
might undertake rulemaking in the future to implement a limited access 
program and that interested participants in the Atlantic mackerel 
fishery should locate and preserve records that could be used to 
substantiate and verify their participation in the Atlantic mackerel 
fishery.
    On March 4, 2005 (70 FR 10605), the Council published a notice of 
intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental

[[Page 33729]]

Impact Statement to consider impacts of alternatives for limiting 
access to the Atlantic mackerel fishery. The Council subsequently 
conducted scoping meetings on development of a limited access program 
for Atlantic mackerel which the Council planned to include in Amendment 
9 to the FMP. However, because the Council has decided to complete and 
submit for review by the Secretary of Commerce several other measures 
in Amendment 9 that are farther along in their development than the 
mackerel limited access program, the Council voted on May 4, 2005, to 
complete Amendment 9 without a limited access program for the Atlantic 
mackerel fishery, and to pursue the Atlantic mackerel limited access 
program through Amendment 10 to the FMP, which it will develop as 
expeditiously as possible, and concurrently with its completion of 
Amendment 9.
    Because of concerns that the Atlantic mackerel fishery is at, or 
very near, the harvesting capacity that can be sustained by the long-
term potential yield of the Atlantic mackerel resource, and because the 
development of a limited access program is typically complex and takes 
substantial time to complete, the Council also voted on May 4, 2005, to 
request that NMFS publish an ANPR to reaffirm the most recent control 
date for this fishery, i.e., July 5, 2002, and to notify the public of 
its development of a limited access program in Amendment 10. Further, 
the Council requested that the public be notified that it is 
considering the following measures in Amendment 10: Qualification dates 
for the Atlantic mackerel fishery between 1983 and 2005; tiered levels 
of entry to the fishery; and, limitations on the size and/or allowable 
levels of participation of U.S. at-sea domestic processing in the 
fishery. Other measures may be considered; announcement of these 
measures is for informational purposes only and does not commit the 
Council to these or any other specific measures. In order to be 
approved and implemented, any measures proposed by the Council in 
Amendment 10 must be found consistent with the requirements of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable law. The public will have the 
opportunity to comment on the measures and alternatives being 
considered by the Council through public meetings and public comment 
periods required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act, and as provided by the Administrative Procedure 
Act.
    This reaffirmation of the July 5, 2002, control date is intended to 
strongly discourage speculative entry into the fishery while limited 
access measures are developed and considered by the Council. The 
control date may be used by the Council to distinguish established 
participants from speculative entrants to the fishery. Although vessels 
that have entered, or that will enter the fishery after the control 
date are not ensured future access to the Atlantic mackerel fishery on 
the grounds of previous participation, additional and/or other 
qualifying criteria may also be applied. Consideration of a control 
date does not commit the Council or NMFS to develop any particular 
management system or criteria for participation in this fishery. The 
Council may choose a different control date, or may choose a management 
program that does not make use of such a date. This notification also 
reminds the public that interested participants should locate and 
preserve records that substantiate and verify their participation in 
the Atlantic mackerel fishery in Federal waters.

    Dated: June 3, 2005.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 05-11462 Filed 6-8-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S