[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 68 (Tuesday, April 8, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19050-19052]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-7268]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XG92


Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Application for an Exempted Fishing 
Permit (EFP)

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of EFP applications; intent to issue EFPs; 
request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the receipt of two exempted fishing permit 
(EFP) applications, and the intent to issue EFPs for vessels 
participating in the EFP fisheries. The EFPs are necessary to allow 
activities that are otherwise prohibited by Federal regulations. The 
EFPs will be effective no earlier than May 1, 2008, and would expire no 
later than December 31, 2008, but could be terminated earlier under 
terms and conditions of the EFPs and other applicable laws.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than 5 p.m., local time on 
May 8, 2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by 0648-XG92 by any one 
of the following methods:
     Fax: 206-526-6736, Attn: Gretchen Arentzen.
     Mail: D. Robert Lohn, Administrator, Northwest Region, 
NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115-0070, Attn: Gretchen 
Arentzen.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request copies of the EFP 
applications, contact Gretchen Arentzen (Northwest Region, NMFS), 
phone: 206-526-6147, fax: 206-526-6736.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This action is authorized by the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act provisions at 50 CFR 
600.745, which states that EFPs may be used to authorize fishing 
activities that would otherwise be prohibited. At the November 2007 
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) meeting in San Diego, 
California, NMFS and the Council received applications for two EFPs 
from: (1) The Nature Conservancy and their collaborators and (2) the 
Recreational Fishing Alliance and Golden Gate Fisherman's Association. 
An opportunity for public testimony was provided during the Council 
meeting. The Council recommended that NMFS issue the EFPs and forwarded 
the EFP applications to NMFS with the contingency that all applicants 
improve the data analysis and reporting requirements detailed in their 
applications. NMFS is worked with the applicants and participants who 
would be fishing under the EFPs to resolve retention, data analysis and 
monitoring issues affecting these EFPs prior to their final application 
for EFPs.
    All EFPs, if issued, would require that all rockfish species are 
retained and that prohibited rockfish species must be surrendered to 
the State in which they are landed. All vessels participating under an 
EFP would be required to have a human observer on board during every 
trip conducted under the EFP.

Community Based Fishing Association EFP

    The Nature Conservancy (TNC) submitted their final EFP application 
package to NMFS on February 14, 2008, along with their collaborators: 
City of Morro Bay Harbor Department; Port San Luis Commercial 
Fishermen's Association; Port San Luis Harbor District; California 
Department of Fish and Game; Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen's 
Organization, Inc.; and Environmental Defense. The primary purpose of 
the EFP is to test whether establishing a cooperatively managed, 
community based fishing association that employs commercial trawl 
permits to use longline, trap, pot, and hook-and-line gear off the 
Central California coast, under shared total catch amounts for target 
and bycatch species, can provide several important economic and 
environmental performance benefits. In addition, fishing under this EFP 
is expected to provide valuable information on how to structure a more 
cost-effective monitoring system that emphasizes individual 
accountability in a rationalized fishery and also on the costs of 
managing a rationalized fishery.
    Since 2003, TNC and Environmental Defense have been working on 
various projects with participants in the bottom trawl industry along 
the Central Coast of California. In 2005, NMFS approved a plan to 
protect more than 130,000 square miles (336,698 square km) of marine 
waters off the West coast as essential fish habitat (EFH) for 
groundfish (71 FR 24601, May 11, 2006). The plan prohibits fishing 
methods that can cause long-term damage to the ocean floor, such as 
bottom trawling,

[[Page 19051]]

within much of this area. At roughly the same time, TNC and 
Environmental Defense purchased several limited entry trawl permits 
(LEPs) from fishermen that operated trawl vessels along the central 
California coast. Under current federal regulations, bottom trawl LEPs 
cannot be converted to LEPs for harvesting groundfish with other gear 
types, such as hook and line and pot gears. This issue was identified 
by TNC when they purchased bottom trawl permits, and they have been 
exploring ways to mitigate the negative economic effects of the bottom 
trawl LEP purchases, while exploring a shift to other harvest 
mechanisms. The commercial fishery operating out of Morro Bay and Port 
San Luis has been much reduced in recent years, causing economic 
hardship on these fishing ports and the reduction of commercial fishing 
infrastructure, including processors and ice dealers.
    In 2004, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) began 
public scoping for development of a trawl rationalization and 
individual fishing quota (IFQ) program. As the Council moves forward 
with planning and analysis in drafting an Environmental Impact 
Statement, it would be useful to have practical information on how 
rationalized fisheries, fishing with individual quotas, would operate 
in the Pacific coast groundfish fishery. TNC developed a proposal for 
working with central California coast fishery participants to form a 
community based fishing association that would cooperatively manage 
fishing operations to maintain harvests within a total catch amount for 
target and incidental species, rather than under the cumulative trip 
limit structure in current Pacific coast groundfish regulations. Target 
species with total catch amounts include: sablefish, slope rockfish, 
longspine thornyhead, shortspine thornyhead, lingcod, chilipepper 
rockfish, splitnose rockfish, spiny dogfish, Dover sole, petrale sole, 
and other flatfish. Incidental catch species with total catch amounts 
include all of the overfished species: canary rockfish, yelloweye 
rockfish, widow rockfish, darkblotched rockfish, Pacific ocean perch, 
cowcod, and bocaccio. Catches would be closely monitored by TNC and 
NMFS to ensure total catch amounts are not exceeded.
    If issued, this EFP would allow TNC to temporarily convert bottom 
trawl LEPs into longline, trap, pot, and hook and line gear LEPs. It 
would also allow TNC and designated vessels to land some groundfish 
species in excess of trip limits so that they may structure their 
fishing operation to better meet the needs of the community based 
fishing association. If the EFP is issued, no more than six vessels 
would participate in the EFP at any time. Vessels would be fishing 
between 36[deg] N. lat. and 34[deg]27.00' N. lat. with longline, trap, 
pot and hook and line gear, and would be subject to the non-trawl 
Rockfish Conservation Area (RCA) in that region. All fish harvested 
under this EFP would be landed in Morro Bay or Port San Luis, 
California. Any groundfish species for which there is not a specified 
total catch amount would be subject to the open access trip limits 
applicable during the cumulative limit period in which fish are landed, 
and for the area between 36[deg] N. lat. and 34[deg]27.00' N. lat. 
Without an EFP, these activities are otherwise prohibited by Federal 
regulations and TNC would not be able to test the usefulness of a 
community based fishing association and gear switching mechanisms to 
mitigate the impact of trawl effort reduction on communities and 
promote conservation of fishing resources.
    Data collected during this project are expected to have a broader 
significance to the management of the Pacific coast groundfish fishery 
by providing insight into the challenges and successes of managing a 
community based fishing association under a rationalized fishery, as 
well as informing fishery monitoring provisions that would need to 
accompany an IFQ program for which individual accountability is a key 
component.

Recreational Chilipepper EFP

    The Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) and the Golden Gate 
Fishermen's Association submitted their final EFP application package 
to NMFS on February 14, 2008. The primary purpose of the EFP is to do 
an area-based recreational fishing study to test if hook and line 
fishing gear can be used to access underutilized chilipepper rockfish 
seaward of the non-trawl RCA while keeping bycatch of overfished 
species low.
    Because the Pacific coast groundfish fishery is a mixed stock 
fishery, catch of healthy stocks is constrained in order to reduce the 
catch of rebuilding groundfish species. Chilipepper rockfish are an 
underutilized species, and there has been increasing interest in recent 
years in developing fisheries to target chilipepper rockfish. This EFP 
would test development of a selective recreational target fishery in 
depths seaward of 150-fm (274-m) off California, between 40[deg]10.00' 
N. lat. and 34[deg]27.00' N. lat. (the North Central and South Central 
regions).
    The RFA developed a proposal for a self-funding EFP fishery, where 
individual anglers would pay for an offshore chilipepper rockfish trip 
on a charter passenger fishing vessel that would operate throughout the 
year. Approximately 20 vessels would participate in this fishery, 
however only a few boats would fish at any one time in order to meet 
requirements for observer coverage. For every trip taken in the EFP 
fishery, each passenger would be subject to a 10 groundfish total bag 
limit for any groundfish species. Total catch of the target species, 
chilipepper rockfish, would be limited on each trip by the 10 fish bag 
limit per angler. Total catch of incidentally caught species, 
particularly overfished rockfish species, would be limited by total 
catch amounts for the entire EFP fishery. Incidental catch species with 
total catch amounts include all of the overfished species: canary 
rockfish, yelloweye rockfish, widow rockfish, darkblotched rockfish, 
Pacific ocean perch, cowcod, and bocaccio. Catches would be closely 
monitored by the RFA and NMFS to ensure total catch amounts for these 
overfished species are not exceeded.
    If issued, this EFP would allow recreational fishing for 
chilipepper rockfish seaward of 150-fm (274-m) between 40[deg]10.00' N. 
lat. and 34[deg]27.00' N. lat. It would also passengers aboard the EFP 
charter fishing vessel to be exempt from recreational sub-bag limits 
for any groundfish species, such as bocaccio, and it would also allow 
passengers to retain and land overfished species, such as canary 
rockfish, yelloweye rockfish, and cowcod, because they would be 
required to retain all rockfish for catch accounting and conservation 
purposes. Without an EFP, these activities are otherwise prohibited by 
Federal regulations and the RFA would not be able to test a new market 
for offshore recreational fishing opportunities for underutilized 
species.
    Data collected during this project are expected to have a broader 
significance to the management of the Pacific coast groundfish fishery 
by testing if a sustainable fishing opportunity could be provided in an 
offshore recreational fishery for chilipepper rockfish. Catch 
composition data and illustration of impacts to overfished species 
would be the primary measure of success for the recreational hook and 
line fishery that would be conducted under this EFP. If successful, and 
the EFP demonstrates that bycatch is avoided targeting chilipepper 
rockfish using hook and line gear seaward of 150-fm (274-m), it may be 
possible in the future that some of the central California recreational

[[Page 19052]]

fishing effort can be shifted offshore, where there are fewer 
interactions with overfished canary rockfish.

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

    Dated: April 2, 2008.
Emily H. Menashes
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-7268 Filed 4-7-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S