[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 67 (Thursday, April 7, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 19305-19306]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-8353]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 110311194-1193-02]
RIN 0648-BA88


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast 
Multispecies Fishery; Notice of a Control Date for the Purpose of 
Limiting Excessive Accumulation of Control in the Northeast (NE) 
Multispecies Fishery; NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP)

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

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR); request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: At the request of the New England Fishery Management Council 
(Council), this notification announces that the Council and NMFS is 
considering and seeking public comment on, potential changes to the 
Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan that would be 
implemented through proposed rulemaking, under the authority of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act), to limit the accumulation of excessive control or 
ownership of fishing privileges in the NE multispecies groundfish 
fishery. The date of publication of this notification, April 7, 2011, 
shall be known as the ``control date,'' and may be used as a reference 
date for future management measures related to such rulemaking. In 
particular this notification is intended to promote awareness of this 
possible rulemaking; provide notice to the public that any current or 
future accumulation of fishing privilege interests in the NE 
multispecies fishery may be affected, restricted, or even nullified; 
and to discourage speculative behavior in the market for fishing 
privileges while the Council considers whether and how such limitations 
on accumulation of fishing privileges should be developed. This 
notification also gives the public notice that interested participants 
should locate and preserve records that substantiate and verify their 
ownership or control of groundfish permits and other fishing privileges 
in the NE multispecies fishery in Federal waters.

DATES: April 7, 2011, shall be known as the ``control date'' and may be 
used as a reference date for future management measures related to the 
maintenance of a fishery with characteristics consistent with the 
Council's objectives and applicable Federal laws. Written comments must 
be received on or before 5 p.m., local time, May 9, 2011.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-BA88, by any 
one of the following methods:
     Written comments (paper, disk, or CD-ROM) should be sent 
to Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management 
Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950. Mark the 
outside of the envelope, ``Comments on Multispecies Accumulation Limits 
Control Date.''
     Comments also may be sent via facsimile (fax) to (978) 
465-3116.
     Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-
Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
    Instructions: Comments will be posted for public viewing as they 
are received. All comments received are a part of the public record and 
will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without change. 
All Personal Identifying Information (for example, name, address, etc.) 
voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do 
not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or 
protected information.
    NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required 
fields, if you wish to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to 
electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF 
file formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Travis Ford, Fishery Management 
Specialist, 978-281-9233; fax 978-281-9135; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NE Multispecies FMP manages 20 
individual stocks comprised of the following species: Cod, haddock, 
white hake, pollock, Acadian redfish, yellowtail flounder, winter 
flounder, witch flounder, American plaice, windowpane flounder, 
Atlantic halibut, ocean pout, and Atlantic wolffish. The Council has 
managed most of these species as a unit under the FMP since 1985. Many 
of these stocks remain overfished, and strict regulations have been 
adopted to control catch and promote stock rebuilding. Current 
management measures include limited and open-access permit categories, 
limits on fishing time through days-at-sea (DAS) allocations, gear 
requirements, closed areas, retention limits, and sector allocation. 
These

[[Page 19306]]

measures have been adopted through a series of amendments and 
adjustments to the original FMP. The most recent amendment, Amendment 
16, implemented on May 1, 2010 (75 FR 18262), expanded the use of 
sectors to manage the fishery. Sectors are voluntary, self-selected 
groups of fishermen that are allocated a portion of the available 
catch. Amendment 16 also implemented Annual Catch Limits (ACLs). 
Exceeding these limits triggers responsive management actions referred 
to as Accountability Measures (AMs).
    In the most recent specification process (Framework Adjustment 44 
(75 FR 18356)), ACLs for many NE multispecies stocks were set at very 
low levels. For certain stocks, catch limits are expected to remain low 
for the near future. Some members of the fishing industry and the 
Council have expressed concern that the low catch limits, in 
conjunction with expanded sector management, will lead to excessive 
consolidation of fishing privileges and lack of diversity in the 
groundfish fleet. For example, for several stocks, the potential sector 
contribution (PSC) associated with a small number of vessel owners 
enrolled in a sector represents a large percentage of the total 
allocation to the fishery. In addition, NMFS, in its letter to the 
Council partially approving Amendment 16, requested the Council to 
consider developing measures that would mitigate potential negative 
impacts stemming from the consolidation of permits, both within sectors 
and among individual permit holders, as they relate to some of the 
social and economic objectives established in the NE multispecies FMP.
    In light of these concerns, the Council, at its January, 2011 
meeting, requested that ``NMFS publish in the Federal Register as soon 
as possible a control date to establish accumulation limits in the 
groundfish fishery.'' The Council also indicated at the time that 
Council staff should coordinate with NMFS in drafting the ``control 
date'' so that it reflected Council concerns about accumulation limits. 
Based on this coordination, this notification announces that the 
Council is considering management measures that would address, but 
would not be limited to, concerns related to preventing excessive 
control or ownership of fishing privileges, maintaining the diversity 
of the fleet, addressing impacts of market forces on a highly regulated 
industry, and maintaining fishery infrastructure and fishing ports 
throughout New England. Fishing privileges include, but are not limited 
to, vessels, fishing permits, DAS, fishing quotas, PSCs, annual catch 
entitlements, sector allocations and any other type of catch share.
    The date of publication of this notification, April 7, 2011, shall 
be known as the ``control date,'' and may be used as a reference date 
for future management measures in determining how to treat fishing 
privileges acquired before this date and those acquired after this 
date, depending on the Council's determinations on limiting control and 
ownership of such privileges. The establishment of a control date, 
however, does not obligate the Council to use this control date or take 
any action, nor does it prevent the Council from picking another 
control date or imposing limits on permits acquired prior to the 
control date.
    Accordingly, this notification is intended to promote awareness 
that the Council may be developing management measures to address these 
concerns, to provide notice to the public that any current or future 
accumulation of fishing privilege interests in the NE multispecies 
fishery may be affected, restricted, or even nullified, and discourage 
speculative behavior in the market for fishing privileges while the 
Council considers whether and how such limitations on accumulation of 
fishing privileges should be developed. Any measures the Council is 
considering may require changes to the NE multispecies FMP. Such 
measures may be adopted in a future amendment to the FMP, which would 
include opportunity for further public participation and comment.
    This notification also gives the public notice that interested 
participants should locate and preserve records that substantiate and 
verify their ownership or control of groundfish permits and other 
fishing privileges in the NE multispecies fishery in Federal waters.
This notification and control date do not impose any legal obligations, 
requirements, or expectation. This ANPR has been determined to be not 
significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.

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

    Dated: April 4, 2011.
John Oliver,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Operations, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-8353 Filed 4-6-11; 8:45 am]
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