[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 210 (Tuesday, November 1, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 65861-65863]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21618]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 050302053-5120-03; I.D. 042605G]
RIN 0648-AT38


Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Spiny Dogfish; Open Access; Routine 
Management Measure; Closure Authority

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

ACTION:  Emergency rule and extension of expiration date.

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SUMMARY:  This action extends an emergency rule, now in effect, that 
establishes routine management measure authority, under the Pacific 
Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (Pacific Coast Groundfish 
FMP), to reduce trip limits to incidental levels in the open access 
fishery for groundfish before the sector has taken its full target 
groundfish species' allocations, to minimize impacts on overfished 
species. The mechanism established by this action is necessary to 
quickly restrict the directed open access groundfish fishery if NMFS 
estimates that the incidental catch of an overfished species is too 
high.

DATES:  The amendments in this rule are effective November 1, 2005, 
through May 1, 2006, except for Sec.  660.383(f), which is effective 
November 1, 2005. The expiration date of the emergency rule published 
on May 5, 2005 (70 FR 23804) is extended until May 1, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) 
for the harvest specifications and management measures for the 2005-
2006 groundfish fisheries are available from Donald McIsaac, Executive 
Director, Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council), 7700 NE 
Ambassador Place, Portland, OR 97220, phone: 503-820-2280. Copies of 
the Record of Decision, final regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA), 
and the Small Entity Compliance Guide for the groundfish harvest 
specifications for 2005-2006 are available from D. Robert Lohn, 
Administrator, Northwest Region (Regional Administrator), NMFS, 7600 
Sand Point Way, NE, Seattle, WA 98115-0070.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Yvonne deReynier (Northwest Region, 
NMFS), phone: 206-526-6129; fax: 206-526-6736 and; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    This rule is accessible via the Internet at the Office of the 
Federal Register's Web site at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html. Background information and documents are available at the 
NMFS Northwest Region Web site at http://www/nwr.noaa.gov/1sustfsh/gdfsh01.htm and at the Council's Web site at http://www.pcouncil.org.

Background

    On May 5, 2005, NMFS published an emergency rule (70 FR 23804) 
establishing bycatch limits of 1.0 mt of canary rockfish and 0.6 mt of 
yelloweye rockfish for the directed open access fishery for groundfish. 
If those limits were estimated to be achieved inseason, the trip limit 
levels for the open access fishery would be reduced via NMFS automatic 
action at Sec.  660.370(d) to a level that would accommodate incidental 
catch in the non-directed open access fishery. This emergency rule 
implemented a provision setting the incidental trip limit level for the 
open access fishery at 200 lb (90.7 kg) of groundfish per month.
    The impetus for this emergency rule was a high capacity freezer-
longliner announcing its intent to join the open access fishery for 
spiny dogfish. Historical data indicated that traditional dogfish 
longliners operating off the Washington coast have had incidental catch 
of canary and yelloweye rockfish that concerned the agency. When 
applied to the expected catch of spiny dogfish by that a high-capacity 
vessel inexperienced with operating in northern West Coast waters, 
these bycatch rates could have jeopardized the optimum yields (OYs) for 
these

[[Page 65862]]

overfished rockfish bycatch species. Bycatch limits for the directed 
open access fishery were intended to ensure that any increased open 
access harvest levels that could result from the participation of any 
high capacity vessels in the open access fishery would not jeopardize 
either overfished species' OYs or the availability of incidental 
overfished species catch in fisheries other than the directed open 
access fishery.
    The Council reviewed NMFS's action at its June 13-17, 2005, meeting 
and recommended raising the open access bycatch limits for canary and 
yelloweye rockfish to 3.0 mt each. The Council also determined that a 
more direct way of addressing the potential for canary and yelloweye 
rockfish bycatch in the open access fisheries would be to review the 
need for spiny dogfish trip limits. Thus, the Council has been 
following the groundfish fishery management plan's (FMP's) procedures 
for establishing new routine management measures by considering dogfish 
trip limits at its September and November 2005 Council meetings. Once 
the Council finalizes its decision on whether to implement spiny 
dogfish trip limits, NMFS will publish a proposed rule to send the 
Council's action out for public review and comment.
    NMFS implemented the Council recommendation to set annual canary 
and yelloweye rockfish bycatch limits for the open access fishery at 
3.0 mt each via an inseason action published on July 5, 2005 (70 FR 
38596.) Therefore, NMFS is both renewing this emergency action through 
May 1, 2006, and re-publishing the Council-recommended annual open 
access bycatch limits for canary and yelloweye rockfish at 3.0 mt each. 
NMFS anticipates publishing a proposed rule to implement spiny dogfish 
trip limits in late 2005.
    Additional information concerning the open access fisheries for 
groundfish may be found in the EIS for the 2005-2006 West Coast 
groundfish harvest specifications and management measures. NMFS 
provided a 30-day comment period on both the emergency rule published 
on May 5 and on the inseason action published on July 5, 2005. No 
comments were received on either action. Extension of this emergency 
rule is authorized under section 305(c)(3)(B) of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

Classification

    The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA (AA,) has 
determined that this extension is needed to prevent the canary and 
yelloweye rockfish OYs from being exceeded in either 2005 or 2006. Both 
of these species are overfished and are managed under rebuilding plans. 
This emergency rule needs to be extended in order to address concerns 
that high-capacity entrants to the directed open access fisheries could 
jeopardize the OYs for canary and yelloweye rockfish, and thereby take 
away fishing opportunities from hundreds of other commercial vessels 
and thousands of recreational vessels that also take these species 
incidentally. Maintaining the 2005-2006 bycatch limits set by the 
emergency rule (70 FR 23804, May 5, 2005,) will serve to protect canary 
and yelloweye rockfish from overharvest for the remainder of 2005 and 
in the early part of 2006. Accordingly, the AA is extending the 
expiration date of this emergency rule until May 1, 2006.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

    Administrative practice and procedure, American Samoa, Fisheries, 
Fishing, Guam, Hawaiian Natives, Indians, Northern Mariana Islands, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: October 25, 2005.
John Oliver,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 660 is amended as 
follows:

PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES AND IN THE WESTERN 
PACIFIC

0
1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as follows:

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

0
2. In Sec.  660.370, paragraph (c)(1)(iv) is added and paragraph (i) is 
revised to read as follows:


Sec.  660.370  Specifications and management measures.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (iv) Differential trip landing limits and frequency limits based on 
gear type, closed seasons. Trip landing and frequency limits that 
differ by gear type and closed seasons may be imposed or adjusted on a 
biennial or more frequent basis for the purpose of rebuilding and 
protecting overfished or depleted stocks. To achieve the rebuilding of 
an overfished or depleted stock, the Pacific whiting primary seasons 
described at Sec.  660.373(b), may be closed for any or all of the 
fishery sectors identified at Sec.  660.373 (a) before the sector 
allocation is reached if any of the bycatch limits identified at Sec.  
660.373(b)(4) are reached. To achieve the rebuilding of an overfished 
or depleted stock, groundfish trip limits in the open access fishery 
may be reduced to an incidental level if any of the bycatch limits 
identified at Sec.  660.383(f) are reached.
* * * * *
    (i) Automatic actions. Automatic management actions may be 
initiated by the NMFS Regional Administrator without prior public 
notice, opportunity to comment, or a Council meeting. These actions are 
nondiscretionary, and the impacts must have been taken into account 
prior to the action. Unless otherwise stated, a single notice will be 
published in the Federal Register making the action effective if good 
cause exists under the APA to waive notice and comment. Automatic 
actions are used in the Pacific whiting fishery to close the fishery or 
reinstate trip limits when a whiting harvest guideline, commercial 
harvest guideline, or a sector's allocation is reached, or is projected 
to be reached; or to reapportion unused allocation to other sectors of 
the fishery. An automatic action may also be used in the open access 
fishery to reduce groundfish trip limits to an incidental level when 
overfished species bycatch limits at Sec.  660.383(f) are reached.

0
3. In Sec.  660.383, paragraph (f) is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  660.383  Open access fishery management measures.

* * * * *
    (f) 2005 and 2006 bycatch limits in the directed open access 
fishery. Bycatch limits for the directed open access fishery may be 
used inseason to reduce overall groundfish trip limits to incidental 
levels to achieve the rebuilding of an overfished or depleted stock, 
under routine management measure authority at Sec.  660.370(c)(1)(ii). 
These limits are routine management measures under Sec.  660.370(c) 
and, as such, may be adjusted inseason or may have new species added to 
the list of those with bycatch limits. For 2005 and 2006, the directed 
open access fishery bycatch limits are 3.0 mt of canary rockfish and 
3.0 mt of yelloweye rockfish in each year. Under automatic action 
authority at Sec.  660.370(d), if either of these limits is reached, 
groundfish trip limits will be reduced to an incidental level. Under 
this authority, reducing groundfish trip limits to an incidental level 
means that any vessel operating off the West Coast that is not 
registered for use with a limited entry

[[Page 65863]]

permit will be constrained to a trip limit for all groundfish, 
excluding Pacific whiting of no more than 200 lb (90.7 kg) per month.
[FR Doc. 05-21618 Filed 10-31-05; 8:45 am]
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