[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 106 (Monday, June 4, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 30711-30714]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10718]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 300

[Docket No. 070215036-7107-02; I.D. 012307A]
RIN 0648-AU79


International Fisheries; Pacific Tuna Fisheries; Restrictions for 
2007 Purse Seine and Longline Fisheries in the Eastern Tropical Pacific 
Ocean

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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

SUMMARY: NMFS publishes this final rule to implement the 2007 
management measures to reduce overfishing of the eastern tropical 
Pacific Ocean (ETP) tuna stocks in 2007, consistent with 
recommendations by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) 
that have been approved by the Department of State (DOS) under the Tuna 
Conventions Act. The U.S. purse seine fishery for yellowfin, bigeye, 
and skipjack tunas in the ETP will be closed for a 6-week period 
beginning August 1, 2007, through September 11, 2007. The longline 
fishery for bigeye tuna will close when a 500 metric ton (mt) limit has 
been reached. These actions are taken to limit fishing mortality caused 
by purse seine fishing and longline fishing in the ETP and contribute 
to long-term conservation of the tuna stocks at levels that support 
healthy fisheries.

DATES: The 2007 purse seine fishery closure for yellowfin, bigeye, and 
skipjack tunas is effective on 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time, August 1, 2007, 
through 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time, September 11, 2007. For 2007, NMFS 
will close the bigeye longline fishery through appropriate procedures 
to ensure that the bigeye longline tuna catch does not exceed 500 mt.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the regulatory impact review/final regulatory 
flexibility analysis (FRFA) may be obtained from the Southwest Regional 
Administrator, Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 
4200, Long Beach, CA 90802-4213.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: J. Allison Routt, Sustainable 
Fisheries Division, Southwest Region, NMFS, (562) 980-4030.
    This Federal Register document is also accessible via the Internet 
at the Office of the Federal Register's website at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States is a member of the IATTC, 
which was established by international agreement through the Convention 
for the Establishment of an Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission 
(Convention), which was signed in 1949. The IATTC was established to 
ensure the effective international conservation and management of 
highly migratory species of fish in the ETP. For the purposes of these 
closures, the ETP is defined to include the waters bounded by the coast 
of the Americas, the 40[deg] N. and 40[deg] S. parallels, and the 
150[deg] W. meridian. The IATTC has maintained a scientific research 
and

[[Page 30712]]

fishery monitoring program for many years and annually assesses the 
status of stocks of tuna and the fisheries to determine appropriate 
harvest limits or other measures to prevent overexploitation of the 
stocks and promote viable fisheries.
    In June 2006, the IATTC adopted a Resolution for a Program on the 
Conservation of Tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean for 2007. The June 
2006 resolution is a 1-year program on the conservation of tuna in the 
ETP for 2007. This resolution offers a choice for closing the purse 
seine fishery: either a 6-week closure beginning August 1, 2007, or a 
6-week closure beginning November 20, 2007. The resolution of June 2006 
incorporated flexibility for nations to administer the purse seine 
closure in accordance with national legislation and national 
sovereignty. The selected measure should reduce overfishing in a manner 
that is fair, equitable, and readily enforceable.
    A proposed rule to carry out the IATTC-recommended and DOS-approved 
closures for the ETP purse seine and longline tuna fisheries for 2007 
was published in the Federal Register on February 26, 2007 (72 FR 
8333). Under the Tuna Conventions Act, 16 U.S.C. 951-961 and 971 et 
seq., NMFS must publish regulations to carry out IATTC recommendations 
and resolutions that have been approved by DOS.
    For the target tuna stocks (yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack) of 
this resolution, NMFS believes there may be a modest biological 
advantage for choosing one closure period over the other because the 
summer closure would foreclose opportunistic fishing by the southern 
California small purse seine fleet. This fleet does not fish for the 
target tuna stocks during the winter months when the target tuna stocks 
are not available within the range of the fleet's smaller vessels. NMFS 
also looked at possible economic advantages for determining which 
closure period to select. As discussed in response to comment 2, NMFS 
believes there may be value in evaluating whether a summer closure may 
be less of an economic burden to U.S. interests than a winter closure. 
For 2007, NMFS has selected the closure beginning August 1, 2007, 
through September, 11, 2007. All purse seine gear used to target 
yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack tunas must be out of the water in the 
ETP and no yellowfin, bigeye, or skipjack tunas may be retained for the 
6-week period beginning August 1, 2007, through September 11, 2007.
    This final rule also provides that the U.S. longline fishery for 
bigeye tuna in the ETP will close for the remainder of the calendar 
year 2007 after the catch of bigeye by U.S. longline vessels reaches 
500 mt. This closure will prohibit deep-set longline gear from being 
deployed and retaining bigeye tuna in the ETP. Longline vessels will 
not be subjected to this closure if the permit holder declares to NMFS 
under the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Pelagic Fisheries of 
the Western Pacific Region that they intend to shallow-set to target 
swordfish (50 CFR 665.23). NMFS will close the longline fishery through 
appropriate procedures so that the 500 mt limit is not exceeded. These 
actions ensure that U.S. vessels fish in accordance with the 
conservation and management measures that the IATTC recommended in June 
2006.

Comments and Responses

    During the comment period for the proposed rule, NMFS received four 
comments. Comments were received from tuna vessel owners, tuna industry 
organizations, and a member of the public. Key issues and concerns are 
summarized below and responded to as follows:

Timing of the Closures

    Comment 1: Comments supporting the closure period of August 1, 
2007, through September 11, 2007, were received from U.S. large-scale 
purse seine vessel owners. They noted that in past years, they chose 
not to fish during the winter as inclement weather on the normal 
fishing grounds makes fishing difficult and there was an expectation 
that they could secure dockyard space and conduct vessel repairs during 
this period. However, during the winter closures in the ETP for years 
2004-2006, vessel owners wasted much time in securing dockyard space 
due to competition for space with other nations. They expressed an 
interest in using the summer closure for one year to determine if 
vessel repairs could be conducted more efficiently during the summer 
closure period relative to past experience.
    Response: NMFS understands that the U.S. large-scale purse seine 
vessel owners prefer the summer closure for 2007 as they envision that 
this choice may have economic benefits that have not been realized 
during the past three years when U.S. purse seine vessels were subject 
to a winter closure. In addition to the potential for a modest 
conservation benefit, discussed above, adopting the summer closure 
option for 2007 would allow NMFS to evaluate whether an economic 
benefit can be realized.
    Comment 2: Two commenters expressed a preference for the winter 
closure for 2007. These comments stated that their ETP operations are 
based in Ecuador, and Ecuador in past years has chosen the summer 
closure. Assuming Ecuador's preferred closure will again be the summer 
period and the United States chooses the winter closure, this will 
provide some consistent distribution of their fish supply throughout 
the year. If the United States chooses the summer closure and Ecuador 
chooses the summer closure for 2007, their concern is that their fish 
supply opportunities will be limited.
    Response: In the years 2004 - 2006, nations party to the IATTC 
evenly choose the summer and winter closure periods. NMFS believes as 
in years past, nations party to the IATTC will again evenly choose the 
summer and winter closure periods and that the global supply of tuna 
will be balanced and available for purchase to market. At this time, 
the United States cannot anticipate the closure period Ecuador will 
select for 2007. Consequently, the U.S. closure period may or may not 
coincide with Ecuador's.

2007 U.S. Longline Catch

    Comment 3: A commenter stated that longlines should be banned 
permanently and totally forever, but noted that the longline season, as 
outlined, should be closed at a minimum of August 1 through December 1. 
The commenter added that the failure to adequately stem overfishing is 
reflected by this paucity of closure.
    Response: The longline tuna fishery closure in the ETP was 
negotiated on a multilateral basis and strikes a balance between the 
many competing interests. The nations party to the IATTC prefer to set 
national quotas rather than time/area closures for this gear type. This 
final rule provides that the U.S. longline fishery for bigeye tuna in 
the ETP will close for the remainder of the calendar year 2007 when the 
catch by U.S. longline vessels reaches 500 mt.

Classification

    This action is consistent with the Tuna Conventions Act and with 
the regulations governing the Pacific Tuna Fisheries at 50 CFR 300.25.
    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for the 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    An FRFA was prepared that describes the economic impacts of this 
final rule. A copy of this analysis is available from NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES). Responses to comments received on the economic impact of 
the proposed rule were

[[Page 30713]]

provided above. A summary of the FRFA follows.
    A description of the need for and objectives of this rule is 
included in the preamble and not repeated here.
    The purse seine closure applies to the U.S. tuna purse seine fleet 
that targets yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack tunas. The fleet consists 
of five to ten small vessels (carrying capacity below 400 short tons 
(363 mt)) and one to two large vessels (carrying capacity 400 short 
tons (363 mt) or greater). The large vessels usually fish outside U.S. 
waters and deliver their catch to foreign ports or transship to 
processors outside the mainland United States. The large vessels are 
categorized as large business entities (revenues in excess of $4 
million per year). A large purse seine vessel typically generates 4,000 
to 5,000 mt of tuna valued at between $4 and $5 million per year. The 
closure should not significantly affect the operations of the one to 
two large vessels because they are capable of fishing, and do fish, in 
other areas that would remain open.
    The small vessels are categorized as small business entities 
(average annual revenues below $4 million per year). They fish out of 
California in the U.S. EEZ most of the year for small pelagic fish 
(Pacific sardine, Pacific mackerel) and for market squid in summer. 
Some small vessels harvest yellowfin and skipjack tunas seasonally when 
they are available. The southern California purse seine fishery 
opportunistically fishes for tropical tunas when the tropical tunas 
migrate further north and within range of these vessels, which are not 
equipped for long-range excursions. Specifically, yellowfin and 
skipjack tunas intermittently migrate within range of these vessels. 
However, predicting their movements is uncertain. Tuna landings 
reported by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission show that 
since 2001, yellowfin and skipjack tunas can be landed by this southern 
California purse seine fishery during the months of August, September, 
and October, although the bulk of these landings occur in September. 
However, this is not always the case. For example, neither yellowfin 
nor skipjack tunas ventured close enough to the range of the southern 
California small purse seine fleet in 2006 resulting in zero landings. 
For the summer purse seine fishery closure option, this fishery would 
be precluded from fishing in August and for 11 days in September which 
still provides the fishery the opportunity to operate for the remainder 
of September as well as the month of October. In addition, the southern 
California small purse seine fleet periodically lands albacore and 
bluefin tunas which are not covered under the IATTC resolution of June 
2006 and therefore can be fished during either closure option. It 
appears that bluefin tuna may also be the preferred species targeted by 
this fleet as bluefin provide a higher ex-vessel value than either 
yellowfin or skipjack tunas.
    The existing California based longline fishery, which consists of 
one vessel, targets bigeye tuna. For the tuna longline fleet operating 
out of Hawaii, there is a maximum of 164 permits available, and 125 
active longline vessels participated in the fishery in 2005. The 
California and Hawaii longline fleets are categorized as small business 
entities (average annual revenues below $4 million per year). The 
Hawaii longline fleet, which targets bigeye tuna and swordfish, has 
traditionally operated outside the boundaries of the ETP. However, in 
recent years, some vessels of the tuna longline fleet operating out of 
Hawaii have operated within the boundaries of the ETP. In 2004, 2005, 
and 2006, the California and Hawaii based longline fishery was limited 
to 150 mt of bigeye tuna in the ETP. For each of these three years, the 
150 mt limit was reached in the ETP and the longline fishery for bigeye 
tuna was closed. A closure would affect operations of both longline 
fleets. However, the California based longline fleet is capable of 
fishing for other species of fish with other gear types in the ETP 
which should mitigate the effects of any closure. For example, the 
closure has occurred in the past several years beginning in the summer 
months when North Pacific albacore tuna appear on the west coast and 
vessels can switch to surface troll gear to participate in that 
fishery. Similarly, the Hawaii based longline fleet also fishes for 
swordfish and can also direct its efforts at bigeye tuna outside the 
ETP. Because both fleets are capable of fishing for other species, or 
in the case of the Hawaii longline fleet, in other areas outside the 
ETP that would remain open, they have the opportunity to continue to 
fish during the closure.
    This rule does not impose reporting or recordkeeping requirements, 
and the compliance requirements for the closure areas are as described 
at the outset of this summary.
    NMFS considered three alternatives for this final rule: a 6-week 
summer closure of the purse seine fishery from August 1 through 
September 20 of 2007, a 6-week winter closure of the purse seine 
fishery from November 20 through December 31, 2007, or no closures at 
all. The summer closure best satisfies the objectives of the resolution 
and the statute to conserve tuna stocks by prohibiting purse seine 
fishing for the target tuna stocks during the only time when the small 
purse seine fleet out of southern California might engage in 
opportunistic fishing for yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack tuna. The 
opportunistic chance for the southern California small purse seine 
fleet to target yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack tunas is not available 
in the winter as the tropical tunas do not migrate within the range of 
these vessels, which are not equipped for long-range excursions, during 
the winter season. While such fishing is only a very small portion of 
the overall catch of these species, NMFS believes that by foreclosing 
this additional fishing opportunity, the summer closure may provide a 
slightly greater conservation benefit than the winter closure.
    The August 1 - September 11 closure alternative may have a slightly 
greater economic impact on small entities than the November 20 December 
31 closure because the additional fishing opportunity for the southern 
California small purse seine fleet will not be available during the 
closure period, though this impact is not expected to be significant. 
The southern California small purse seine fishery normally fishes for 
coastal pelagic species such as Pacific sardines, Pacific mackerel and 
market squid. Fishing for these species of fish is not affected by this 
closure. In recent years, the seasonal tuna harvest has amounted to no 
more than 5-7% of the total catch for these vessels. The seasonal tuna 
catch is also intermittent - as stated previously, neither yellowfin 
nor skipjack tunas ventured close enough to the range of the southern 
California small purse seine fleet in 2006 resulting in zero landings. 
Based on an average since 2001, the economic impact on small entities 
in the California small purse seine fleet who opportunistically are 
able to target yellowfin, bigeye, and skipjack tunas is less than $0.5 
million. Because the opportunity to fish seasonally for yellowfin, 
bigeye, and skipjack tuna will be available after the closure, during 
the latter half of September and for the month of October, the economic 
impact is likely to be less than $0.5 million on average. The ex-vessel 
value of all small purse seine vessels fishing for coastal pelagic 
species was $43.5 million in 2005. Therefore NMFS does not believe that 
the summer closure and an average of less than $0.5 million not 
realized for the southern California small purse seine fleet will be 
significant.
    NMFS considered the option of a 6-week closure during the winter 
season beginning on November 20, 2007. Given that NMFS believes the 
summer closure

[[Page 30714]]

may provide a slightly greater conservation benefit than the winter 
closure, and that NMFS believes it is reasonable to evaluate whether 
the winter closure will allow fishery participants to realize an 
economic benefit pertaining to vessel operations, NMFS did not choose 
this alternative.
    NMFS also considered the alternative of not implementing the 2006 
IATTC Tuna Conservation Resolution. This alternative would have imposed 
no economic costs on small entities. However, failure to implement 
measures that have been agreed to pursuant to the Convention would 
violate the United States' obligations under the Convention, and would 
violate the Tuna Conventions Act.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 951-961 and 971 et seq.

    Dated: May 29, 2007.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-10718 Filed 6-1-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S