[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 28, 2006)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 68752-68754]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-9435]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[I.D. 112006C]


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna 
Fisheries

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; inseason retention limit adjustment.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has determined that the daily Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) 
retention limits for the Atlantic tunas General category should be 
adjusted to provide reasonable opportunity to harvest the General 
category December time-period subquota. Therefore, NMFS increases the 
daily BFT retention limits for the entire month of December, including 
previously scheduled Restricted Fishing Days (RFDs), to provide 
enhanced commercial General category fishing opportunities in all areas 
while minimizing the risk of an overharvest of the General category BFT 
quota.

DATES: The effective dates for the BFT daily retention limits are 
provided in Table 1 under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad McHale, 978-281-9260.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implemented under the authority 
of the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.) and the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) governing the harvest of BFT by 
persons and vessels subject to U.S. jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR 
part 635.
    The 2006 BFT fishing year began on June 1, 2006, and ends May 31, 
2007. The final initial 2006 BFT specifications and General category 
effort controls

[[Page 68753]]

were published on May 30, 2006 (71 FR 30619). These final 
specifications divided the General category quota among three 
subperiods (June through August, the month of September, and October 
through January) in accordance with the Highly Migratory Species 
Fishery Management Plan (1999 FMP) published in 1999 (May 29, 1999; 64 
FR 29090), and implementing regulations at Sec.  635.27. The final 
initial 2006 BFT specifications increased the General category 
retention limit to three fish for the June though August time-period, 
as well as established the following General category RFD schedule: all 
Saturday and Sundays from November 18, 2006, through January 31, 2007, 
and Thursday November 23, 2006, and Monday December 25, 2006, 
inclusive. Due to the large amount of available quota and the low catch 
rates, NMFS extended the three-fish retention limit through September 
(71 FR 51529, August 30, 2006), October (71 FR 58287, October 3, 2006), 
and November (71 FR 64165, November 1, 2006) to enhance fishing 
opportunities while minimizing the risk of exceeding available quota. 
Later, on October 2, 2006, NMFS published a final rule (71 FR 58058) 
implementing the Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery 
Management Plan (HMS FMP). Contained in the HMS FMP is a revised 
General category time-period subquota allocation scheme that has 
divided the coastwide General category into the following five distinct 
time-periods; June through August, September, October through November, 
December, and January of the following year. The effective date of 
these time-periods and their associated subquota was November 1, 2006.

Daily Retention Limits

    Pursuant to this action and the final initial 2006 BFT 
specifications, noted above, the daily BFT retention limits for 
Atlantic tunas General category are as follows:

        Table 1. Effective dates for retention limit adjustments
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        BFT Size Class
   Permit Category      Effective Dates      Areas          Limit
------------------------------------------------------------------------
General               November 1 [dash]    All       Three BFT per
                       30, 2006,                      vessel per day/
                       inclusive                      trip, measuring 73
                                                      inches (185 cm)
                                                      curved fork length
                                                      (CFL) or larger
                     ---------------------------------------------------
                      December 1 [dash]    All       Three BFT per
                       31, 2006,                      vessel per day/
                       inclusive                      trip, measuring 73
                                                      inches (185 cm)
                                                      CFL or larger
                     ---------------------------------------------------
                      January 1 [dash]     All       One BFT per vessel
                       31, 2007,                      per day/trip,
                       inclusive                      measuring 73
                                                      inches (185 cm)
                                                      CFL or larger
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adjustment of General Category Daily Retention Limits

    Under Sec.  635.23(a)(4), NMFS may increase or decrease the General 
category daily retention limit of large medium and giant BFT over a 
range from zero (on RFDs) to a maximum of three per vessel to allow for 
a reasonable opportunity to harvest the quota for BFT. As part of the 
final specifications on May 30, 2006 (71 FR 30619), NMFS adjusted the 
commercial daily BFT retention limit, in all areas, for those vessels 
fishing under the General category quota, to three large medium or 
giant BFT, measuring 73 inches (185 cm) or greater curved fork length 
(CFL), per vessel per day/trip. This retention limit, which was to 
remain in effect through August 31, 2006, inclusive, was extended 
through September, October, and November via separate actions published 
in the Federal Register. From December 1, 2006, through January 31, 
2007, inclusive, the General category daily BFT retention limit was 
scheduled to revert to one large medium or giant BFT per vessel per 
day/trip.
    The June through August, September, and October through November 
time-period subquota allocations for the 2006 fishing year total 
approximately 1,041.2 metric tons (mt). As of November 20, 2006, 103.9 
mt have been landed in the General category and catch rates are less 
than 1.0 mt per day. If catch rates remain at current levels and 
December RFDs remain as scheduled, approximately 28.0 mt would be 
landed through December 31, 2006. This projection would bring the June 
through December landings to approximately 131.9 mt, resulting in an 
underharvest of approximately 909.3 mt. The October 2, 2006, final rule 
(71 FR 58058) established stand-alone General category time-periods for 
the months of December and January. Each of these time-periods are 
allocated a portion of the coastwide General category, thereby ensuring 
fishing opportunities are provided in years where high catch rates are 
experienced. The quota carryover from the previous time-period 
subquotas, combined with the December time-period subquota allocation, 
would allow for approximately 969.8 mt to be harvested through December 
31, 2006. In combination with the subquota rollover from previous time-
periods, scheduled RFDs, current catch rates, and the daily retention 
limit reverting to one large medium or giant BFT per vessel per day on 
December 1, 2006, NMFS anticipates the full December time-period 
subquota will not be harvested. Adding an excessive amount of unused 
quota from one time-period subquota to the subsequent time-period 
subquota is undesirable because it changes the time-period subquota 
allocation percentages established in the HMS FMP and may contribute to 
excessive carry-overs to subsequent fishing years. In the past, 
however, the fishery has had the capability of increasing landings 
rates dramatically in winter months, particularly off southern states. 
If the fishery was to perform at these past levels with high landings 
rates (although not witnessed during the winter of 2005/2006), it may 
alleviate concern of excessive roll-overs from one fishing year to the 
next, but raises the possibility of unprecedented, and potentially 
unsustainable, catch rates during the winter fishery.
    The final initial 2006 BFT specifications scheduled a number of 
RFDs for the month of December, including all Saturdays and Sundays, as 
well as Monday December 25, 2006. These RFDs were designed to provide 
for an extended late season, south Atlantic BFT fishery for the 
commercial handgear fishermen in the General category. For the reasons 
referred to above, NMFS has determined that the scheduled December RFDs 
are no longer required to meet their original purpose, and may in fact 
exacerbate low catch rates. Therefore, NMFS determined that an increase 
in the General category daily BFT retention limit on those previously 
established RFDs for the month of December is warranted. NMFS has 
selected these days in order to give adequate advance notice to fishery

[[Page 68754]]

participants. While catch rates have continued to be low so far this 
season, NMFS recognizes that they may increase at any time late in the 
season. In order to ensure equitable fishing opportunities in all 
areas, NMFS has not waived the RFDs scheduled in January at this time. 
If catch rates continue to be low, some or all of the remaining 
previously scheduled RFDs may be waived as well.
    Therefore, based on a review of dealer reports, daily landing 
trends, available quota, revised time-periods, and the availability of 
BFT on the fishing grounds, NMFS has determined that an increase in the 
General category daily BFT retention limit effective from December 1 
through December 31, 2006, inclusive of previously scheduled RFDs for 
the month of December, is warranted. Thus, the General category daily 
retention limit of three large medium or giant BFT per vessel per day/
trip (see Table 1) is extended through December 31, 2006, including all 
Saturdays and Sundays of December as well as Monday December 25, 2006. 
From January 1 through January 31, 2007, inclusive, the General 
category default daily BFT retention limit will be one large medium or 
giant BFT per vessel per day/trip will apply, unless further action is 
taken.
    NMFS anticipates that with a combination of the default retention 
limit starting on January 1, 2007, and the large amount of General 
category quota available, there will be sufficient quota for the 
coastwide General category season to extend through the winter months 
and allow for a southern Atlantic fishery to take place with minimal 
risk of landings exceeding available quota. However, to reduce the 
risks of excessive landings rates throughout January, NMFS has 
determined it necessary to only extend the three BFT daily retention 
limit for the one month of December and will re-examine the need to 
further extend the increased bag limit prior to the newly established 
January time-period based on landings rates and other fishery 
information.
    This adjustment is intended to provide a reasonable opportunity to 
harvest the U.S. landings quota of BFT while maintaining an equitable 
distribution of fishing opportunities, to help achieve optimum yield in 
the General category BFT fishery, to collect a broad range of data for 
stock monitoring purposes, and to be consistent with the objectives of 
the HMS FMP.

Monitoring and Reporting

    NMFS selected the daily retention limits and their duration after 
examining current and previous fishing year catch and effort rates, 
taking into consideration public comment on the annual specifications 
and inseason management measures for the General category received 
during the 2006 BFT quota specifications rulemaking process, and 
analyzing the available quota for the 2006 fishing year. NMFS will 
continue to monitor the BFT fishery closely through dealer landing 
reports, the Automated Landings Reporting System, state harvest tagging 
programs in North Carolina and Maryland, and the Large Pelagics Survey. 
Depending on the level of fishing effort and catch rates of BFT, NMFS 
may determine that additional retention limit adjustments are necessary 
to ensure available quota is not exceeded or, to enhance scientific 
data collection from, and fishing opportunities in, all geographic 
areas.
    Closures or subsequent adjustments to the daily retention limits, 
if any, will be published in the Federal Register. In addition, 
fishermen may call the Atlantic Tunas Information Line at (888) 872-
8862 or (978) 281-9260, or access the internet at www.hmspermits.gov, 
for updates on quota monitoring and retention limit adjustments.

Classification

    The Assistant Administrator for NMFS (AA), finds that it is 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest to provide prior 
notice of, and an opportunity for public comment on, this action for 
the following reasons:
    NMFS has recently become aware of increased availability of large 
medium and giant BFT off southern Atlantic fishing grounds from fishing 
reports and landings data from dealers. This increase in abundance 
provides the potential to increase General category landings rates if 
fishery participants are authorized to harvest three large medium or 
giant BFT per day. Although landings to date have been low (i.e., less 
than one mt per day) there is the potential for increased availability 
of BFT during the winter to allow for an increase in fishery landing 
rates. The regulations implementing the HMS FMP provide for inseason 
retention limit adjustments to respond to the unpredictable nature of 
BFT availability on the fishing grounds, the migratory nature of this 
species, and the regional variations in the BFT fishery. Adjustment of 
retention limits, including waiving previously scheduled RFDs in the 
month of December, is also necessary to avoid excessive quota rollovers 
to subsequent General category time-period subquotas. Affording prior 
notice and opportunity for public comment to implement these retention 
limits is impracticable as it would preclude NMFS from acting promptly 
to allow harvest of BFT that are still available on the fishing 
grounds. Analysis of available data shows that the General category BFT 
retention limit may be increased for the Atlantic tuna General and HMS 
Charter/Headboat permit holders with minimal risks of exceeding the 
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas 
allocated quota.
    Delays in increasing the retention limits would be contrary to the 
public interest. Limited opportunities to harvest the respective quotas 
may have negative social and economic impacts to U.S. fishermen that 
either depend on catching the available quota within the time-periods 
designated in the HMS FMP, or depend on multiple BFT retention limits 
to attract individuals to book charters. For both the General and the 
HMS Charter/Headboat sectors, the retention limits must be adjusted as 
expeditiously as possible so the impacted sectors can benefit from the 
adjustment.
    Therefore, the AA finds good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to 
waive prior notice and the opportunity for public comment. For all of 
the above reasons, and because this action relieves a restriction 
(i.e., current default retention limit is one fish per vessel/trip but 
this action increases that limit and allows retention of more fish), 
there is also good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(d) to waive the 30-day 
delay in effectiveness.
    This action is being taken under 50 CFR 635.23(a)(4) and is exempt 
from review under Executive Order 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 1801 et seq.

    Dated: November 22, 2006.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 06-9435 Filed 11-22-06; 2:52 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S