[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 61 (Thursday, March 30, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16122-16125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-4664]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 032706B]


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern 
United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; 2006 Georges Bank Cod 
Hook Sector Operations Plan and Agreement and Allocation of Georges 
Bank Cod Total Allowable Catch

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

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Amendment 13 to the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP) (Amendment 13) authorized allocation of up to 20 
percent of the annual Georges Bank (GB) cod total allowable catch (TAC) 
to the GB Cod Hook Sector (Sector). Pursuant to that authorization, the 
Sector has submitted an Operations Plan and Sector Contract entitled, 
``Amendment 2 to Georges Bank Cod Hook Sector Operations Plan and 
Agreement'' (together referred to as the Sector Agreement), and a 
Supplemental Environmental Assessment (EA), and has requested an 
allocation of GB cod, consistent with regulations implementing 
Amendment 13. This notice provides interested parties an opportunity to 
comment on the proposed Sector Agreement prior to final approval or 
disapproval of the Sector Operations Plan and allocation of

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GB cod TAC to the Sector for the 2006 fishing year (FY).

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before April 14, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Patricia A. Kurkul, 
Regional Administrator, NMFS, Northeast Regional Office, 1 Blackburn 
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope 
``Comments on GB Cod Hook Sector Operations Plan.'' Comments may also 
be sent via fax to (978) 281-9135, or submitted via e-mail to: 
[email protected].
    Copies of the Sector Agreement and the EA are available from the NE 
Regional Office at the mailing address specified above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Warren, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
phone (978) 281-9347, fax (978) 281-9135, e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS announces that the Administrator, 
Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional Administrator), has made a preliminary 
determination that the Sector Agreement, which contains the Sector 
Contract and Operations Plan, is consistent with the goals of the FMP 
and other applicable law and is in compliance with the regulations 
governing the development and operation of a sector as specified under 
50 CFR 648.87. The final rule implementing Amendment 13 (69 FR 22906, 
April 27, 2004) specified a process for the formation of sectors within 
the NE multispecies fishery and the allocation of TAC for a specific 
groundfish species (or days-at-sea (DAS)), implemented restrictions 
that apply to all sectors, authorized the GB Cod Hook Sector, 
established the GB Cod Hook Sector Area (Sector Area), and specified a 
formula for the allocation of GB cod TAC to the Sector.
    The principal Amendment 13 regulations applying to the Sector 
specify that: (1) All vessels with a valid limited access NE 
multispecies DAS permit are eligible to participate in the Sector, 
provided they have documented landings of GB cod through valid dealer 
reports submitted to NMFS of GB cod during FY 1996 through 2001 when 
fishing with hook gear (i.e., jigs, demersel longline, or handgear); 
(2) membership in the Sector is voluntary, and each member would be 
required to remain in the Sector for the entire fishing year and could 
not fish outside the NE multispecies DAS program during the fishing 
year, unless certain conditions are met; (3) vessels fishing in the 
Sector (participating vessels) would be confined to fishing in the 
Sector Area, which is that portion of the GB cod stock area north of 
39[deg]00' N. lat. and east of 71[deg]40' W. long; and (4) 
participating vessels would be required to comply with all pertinent 
Federal fishing regulations, unless specifically exempted by a Letter 
of Authorization, and the provisions of an approved Operations Plan.
    While Amendment 13 authorized the Sector, in order for GB cod to be 
allocated to the Sector and the Sector authorized to fish, the Sector 
must submit an Operations Plan and Sector Contract to the Regional 
Administrator annually for approval. The Operations Plan and Sector 
Contract must contain certain elements, including a contract signed by 
all Sector participants and a plan containing the management rules that 
the Sector participants agree to abide by in order to avoid exceeding 
the allocated TAC. An additional analysis of the impacts of the 
Sector's proposed operations may be required in order to comply with 
the National Environmental Policy Act. Further, the public must be 
provided an opportunity to comment on the proposed Operations Plan and 
Sector Contract. The regulations require that, upon completion of the 
public comment period, the Regional Administrator will make a 
determination regarding approval of the Sector Contract and Operations 
Plan. If approved by the Regional Administrator, participating vessels 
would be authorized to fish under the terms of the Operations Plan and 
Sector Contract.
    The Sector was authorized for FY 2005 and, based upon the GB cod 
landings history of its 49 members, was allocated 455 mt of cod, which 
is 11.12 percent of the total FY 2005 GB cod TAC.
    On March 8, 2006, the Sector Manager submitted to NMFS Amendment 2 
to the 2004 Sector Agreement and a supplemental EA entitled ``The 
Georges Bank Cod Hook Sector Operations Plan,'' which analyzes the 
impacts of the proposed Sector Agreement.
    With three substantive exceptions, the proposed 2006 Sector 
Agreement contains the same elements as the 2005 Sector Agreement. The 
first modification to the 2005 Sector Agreement is an exemption from 
the differential DAS requirements proposed in both the Secretarial 
emergency action (71 FR 11060, March 3, 2006) and Framework Adjustment 
(FW) 42, which has been approved by the New England Fishery Management 
Council, but not yet proposed through Federal Register publication. If 
approved, implementation of the emergency action is expected to occur 
in time for the start of the May 1, 2006, fishing year, followed by FW 
42 in mid-summer 2006. Under the Sector Agreement, Sector vessels would 
be subject to the following trip limits during FY 2006: A 100-lb (45.4-
kg) trip limit for Cape Cod, GB, and Southern New England (SNE)/Mid-
Atlantic (MA) yellowtail flounder; a 2,000-lb (907.2-kg) GB winter 
flounder trip limit; and a 1,000-lb (453.6-kg)/DAS white hake trip 
limit. These trip limits are more restrictive or, in the case of white 
hake, comparable, to the trip limits proposed under FW 42 and, 
therefore, substitute for differential DAS accounting under both the 
proposed Secretarial emergency action and FW 42. The proposed FW 42 
differential DAS areas within inshore GOM and the SNE/MA Regulated Mesh 
Area are proposed primarily to protect yellowtail flounder and, in the 
case of GOM, cod. Because Sector vessels are subject to a hard cod TAC, 
and because they catch very little yellowtail flounder (a total of 7 lb 
(3.2 kg) of yellowtail flounder was landed by Sector vessels in FY 
2004), an exemption from differential DAS counting would not compromise 
the FMP fishing mortality objectives for these stocks of concern.
    The second modification proposed in the 2006 Sector Agreement is an 
exemption from the 72-hr observer notification requirement when fishing 
under an A DAS in the Western U.S./Canada Area. Vessels are currently 
required to notify the Observer Program 72 hr prior to leaving the dock 
when intending to fish under a NE multispecies DAS in the U.S./Canada 
Management Area. This measure was implemented under Amendment 13 in 
order to help monitor the hard TACs for the U.S./Canada shared stocks 
of GB cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder. All three of these stocks 
are shared in the Eastern U.S./Canada Area; however, only GB yellowtail 
flounder is shared in the Western U.S./Canada Area. Therefore, because 
Sector vessels catch virtually no yellowtail flounder, the Sector 
Agreement proposes to exempt Sector vessels from the 72-hr notification 
requirement in the Western U.S./Canada Area. This exemption would not 
impact the ability of NMFS to monitor the U.S./Canada GB yellowtail 
flounder TAC.
    The third modification proposed in the 2006 Sector Agreement is an 
exemption from the DAS Leasing Program vessel size restrictions. Under 
the current DAS Leasing Program, vessels may only lease DAS to a lessee 
vessel with a baseline engine horsepower rating that is no more than 20 
percent greater, and a baseline length overall (LOA) that is no more 
than 10

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percent greater, than the baseline engine horsepower and the LOA, 
respectively, of the lessor vessel. Under the Sector Agreement, Sector 
vessels would be allowed to lease DAS to other Sector vessels without 
being subject to these vessel size restrictions. This exemption is not 
expected to increase effort within the Sector, since the size of the 
vessel is not the limiting factor with respect to the number of hooks 
that can be fished on board each vessel. Rather, the limiting factor to 
the number of hooks that can be fished is the tidal flow velocity 
between tides when vessels set and retrieve hooks. Because Sector 
vessels are currently constrained to leasing DAS only to the small pool 
of vessels within the Sector (50 vessels as indicated in the 2006 
Sector Agreement), this exemption would provide additional flexibility 
while not compromising conservation objectives.
    The Sector Agreement would be overseen by a Board of Directors and 
a Sector Manager. The Sector Agreement specifies, in accordance with 
Amendment 13, that the Sector's GB cod TAC would be based upon the 
number of Sector members and their historic landings of GB cod. The GB 
cod TAC is a ``hard'' TAC, meaning that, once the TAC is reached, 
Sector vessels could not fish under a DAS, possess or land GB cod or 
other regulated species managed under the FMP (regulated species), or 
use gear capable of catching groundfish (unless fishing under charter/
party or recreational regulations).
    As of March 8, 2005, 50 prospective Sector members had signed the 
2006 Sector Contract. The GB cod TAC calculation is based upon the 
historic cod landings of the participating Sector vessels, using all 
gear. The allocation percentage is calculated by dividing the sum of 
total landings of GB cod by Sector members for the FY 1996 through 
2001, by the sum of the total accumulated landings of GB cod harvested 
by all NE multispecies vessels for the same time period (113,278,842 lb 
(51,383.9 mt)). The resulting number is 11.53 percent. Based upon these 
50 prospective Sector members, the Sector TAC of GB cod would be 707 mt 
(11.53 percent times the fishery-wide GB cod target TAC of 6,132 mt, 
respectively). The fishery-wide GB cod target TAC of 6,132 mt is less 
than the GB cod target TAC proposed for 2006 (7,458 mt) because the 
7,458 mt includes Canadian catch. That is, the fishery-wide GB cod 
target TAC of 6,132 mt was calculated by subtracting the GB cod TAC 
specified for Canada under the U.S./Canada Resource Sharing 
Understanding for FY 2006 (1,326 mt), from the overall GB cod target 
TAC of 7,458 mt proposed by the Council for FY 2006 (71 FR 12665, March 
13, 2006). If prospective members of the Sector change their minds 
after the publication of this notice and prior to a final decision by 
the Regional Administrator, it is possible that the total number of 
participants in the Sector and the TAC for the Sector may be reduced 
from the numbers above.
    The Sector Agreement contains procedures for the enforcement of the 
Sector rules, a schedule of penalties, and provides the authority to 
the Sector Manager to issue stop fishing orders to members of the 
Sector. Participating vessels would be required to land fish only in 
designated landing ports and would be required to provide the Sector 
Manager with a copy of the Vessel Trip Report (VTR) within 48 hours of 
offloading. Dealers purchasing fish from participating vessels would be 
required to provide the Sector Manager with a copy of the dealer report 
on a weekly basis. On a monthly basis, the Sector Manager would 
transmit to NMFS a copy of the VTRs and the aggregate catch information 
from these reports. After 90 percent of the Sector's allocation has 
been harvested, the Sector Manager would be required to provide NMFS 
with aggregate reports on a weekly basis. A total of 1/12 of the 
Sector's GB cod TAC, minus a reserve, would be allocated to each month 
of the fishing year. GB cod quota that is not landed during a given 
month would be rolled over into the following month. Once the aggregate 
monthly quota of GB cod is reached, for the remainder of the month, 
participating vessels could not fish under a NE multispecies DAS, 
possess or land GB cod or other regulated species, or use gear capable 
of catching regulated NE multispecies. Once the annual TAC of GB cod is 
reached, Sector members could not fish under a NE multispecies DAS, 
possess or land GB cod or other regulated species, or use gear capable 
of catching regulated NE multispecies for the rest of the fishing year. 
The harvest rules would not preclude vessels from fishing under the 
charter/party or recreational regulations, provided the vessel fishes 
under the applicable charter/party and recreational rules on separate 
trips. For each fishing trip, participating vessels would be required 
to fish under the NE multispecies DAS program to account for any 
incidental groundfish species that they may catch while fishing for GB 
cod. In addition, participating vessels would be required to call the 
Sector Manager prior to leaving port. There would be no trip limit for 
GB cod for participating vessels. All legal-sized cod caught would be 
retained and landed and counted against the Sector's aggregate 
allocation. Participating vessels would not be allowed to fish with or 
have on board gear other than jigs, non-automated demersal longline, or 
handgear, and could use an unlimited number of hooks in the Sector 
Area. NE multispecies DAS used by participating vessels while 
conducting fishery research under an Exempted Fishing Permit during the 
FY 2006 would be deducted from that Sector member's individual DAS 
allocation. Similarly, all GB cod landed by a participating vessel 
while conducting research would count toward the Sector's allocation of 
GB cod TAC. Participating vessels would be exempt from the GB Seasonal 
Closure Area during May.
    The EA prepared for the Sector operations concludes that the 
biological impacts of the Sector will be positive because the hard TAC 
and the use of DAS will provide two means of restricting both the 
landings and effort of the Sector. Implementation of the Sector would 
have a positive impact on essential fish habitat (EFH) and bycatch by 
allowing a maximum number of hook vessels to remain active in the hook 
fishery, rather than converting to (or leasing DAS to) other gear types 
that have greater impacts on EFH. The analysis of economic impacts of 
the Sector concludes that Sector members would realize higher economic 
returns if the Sector were implemented. The EA asserts that fishing in 
accordance with the Sector Agreement rules enables more efficient 
harvesting of GB cod with hook gear than would be possible if the 
vessels were fishing in accordance with the common pool (non-Sector) 
rules. The social benefits of the Sector would accrue to Sector members 
as well as the Chatham/Harwichport, MA, community, which is highly 
dependent upon groundfish revenues. The EA concludes that the self-
governing nature of the Sector and the development of rules by the 
Sector enables stewardship of the cod resource by Sector members. The 
cumulative impacts of the Sector are expected to be positive due to a 
positive biological impact, neutral impact on habitat, and a positive 
social and economic impact. In contrast, the cumulative impact of the 
no action alternative is estimated to be neutral, with negative social 
and economic impacts.
    Should the Regional Administrator approve the Sector Agreement as 
proposed, a Letter of Authorization would be issued to each member of 
the Sector exempting them, conditional upon their compliance with the 
Sector Agreement, from the GB cod possession

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restrictions and the requirements of the GOM trip limit exemption 
program, limits on the number of hooks, the GB Seasonal Closure Area, 
the 72-hr observer notification requirement, the DAS Leasing Program 
vessel size restrictions, and proposed differential DAS requirements as 
specified in Sec.  648.86(b), 648.80(a)(4)(v), 648.81(g), 
648.85(a)(3)(ii)(C), 648.82(k)(4)(ix), and 648.82, respectively.
    Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act require publication of this notification to provide 
interested parties the opportunity to comment on proposed TAC 
allocations and plans of operation of sectors.

    Dated: March 24, 2006.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-4664 Filed 3-29-06; 8:45 am]
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