[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 79 (Monday, April 25, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22875-22876]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-9944]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XA355


Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; 
General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Exempted 
Fishing Permits

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

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Northeast Region, NMFS (Assistant Regional Administrator), 
has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit 
(EFP) application contains all of the required information and warrants 
further consideration. This EFP application would exempt commercial 
fishing vessels from the following Federal American lobster 
regulations: Trap escape vent requirements to allow 12 federally 
permitted commercial fishing vessels to utilize a maximum of 500 
ventless traps to collect scientific information on American lobsters, 
including juveniles, in Lobster Conservation Management Areas (LCMAs) 
3, 4, and 5 from June through

[[Page 22876]]

November 2011. This proposed project would be conducted by the New 
Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (NJ DFW) in conjunction with the 
already present New Jersey At-Sea Lobster Observer Program and New 
Jersey commercial fishermen.
    Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act require publication of this notification to provide 
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for 
proposed EFPs.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 10, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Comments on this notice may be submitted by e-mail. The 
mailbox address for providing e-mail comments is [email protected]. 
Include in the subject line ``Comments on NJ DFW Lobster EFP.'' Written 
comments should be sent to Patricia A. Kurkul, Regional Administrator, 
NMFS, NE Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 
01930. Mark the outside of the envelop ``Comments on NJ DFW Lobster 
EFP.''
     Fax: (978) 281-9135.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol Sh[eacute], Fishery Policy 
Analyst, 978-282-8464, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NJ DFW submitted a complete application for 
an EFP on March 21, 2011, to conduct commercial fishing activities that 
the regulations would otherwise restrict. This EFP application would 
exempt commercial fishing vessels from the following Federal 
regulations: Lobster trap escape vent requirements specified under 50 
CFR 697.21(c)(2) and (c)(4). The EFP would authorize 12 federally 
permitted vessels to be exempted from parts of the Federal lobster 
regulations to allow the participating vessels to fish modified lobster 
traps to attain an accurate characterization of abundance for juvenile 
and adult lobsters in waters off the coast of New Jersey and to 
determine several variables in the stock dynamics, e.g., whether there 
has been a significant decline in juvenile and adult abundance, and/or 
whether this decline is occurring throughout the range of the Southern 
New England (SNE) stock.
    NJ DFW would work in conjunction with the already present New 
Jersey At-Sea Lobster Observer Program to record: Number of lobsters 
caught; number of traps hauled; set-over-days; trap and bait type; 
carapace length (to the nearest millimeter); sex; shell hardness; culls 
and shell damage; external gross pathology (including shell disease 
symptoms); mortality; and presence of extruded ova on females through 
its Ventless Trap Survey. The Ventless Trap Survey project is designed 
to generate robust estimates of lobster abundance off the coast of New 
Jersey, from 0-60 nautical miles (0-97 kilometers), offshore, in the 
northern range of the SNE stock area and would be funded largely by the 
participating fishers through supply of gear, crew, and vessel time. 
The scientific personnel would be funded through the New Jersey 
Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program (NJ ACCSP), 
particularly the NJ ACCSP At-Sea Lobster Observer Program for Fishing 
Year 2011.
    The resulting data would be utilized by NJ DFW staff, Atlantic 
States Marine Fisheries Commission Technical Committees, and Stock 
Assessment Sub-Committees. Also, comparisons would be made of results 
from data collected in LCMAs 1, 2, and 6 with data collected in LCMAs 
3, 4, and 5. Finally, an index of lobster stock biomass in waters off 
New Jersey, in relation to overall commercial landings of lobster in 
New Jersey, would be made through the use of catch per unit effort of 
sublegal and legal size lobsters taken during observer trips in New 
Jersey.
    Each vessel would fish approximately 20-50 ventless traps within 
their strings of existing lobster traps. With exception of the waiver 
of the trap escape vent requirement, trap gear would be compliant with 
all Federal lobster regulations, including the Large Whale Take 
Reduction Plan gear configuration requirements.
    This EFP would not authorize the deployment of additional lobster 
traps in the waters off New Jersey. All traps, including ventless 
traps, would be included under each vessel's existing maximum LCMA-
specific trap allocation as determined by NMFS. Each ventless trap 
would be placed randomly on already existing strings of vented pots of 
the same dimensions and be randomly selected throughout the range of 
the survey area. All scientific ventless sampling gear would be 
identified with a state issued scientific trap tag provided by NJ DFW, 
and be affixed with both the proper state scientific tags and Federal 
trap tags. Records of latitude and longitude of trap/string location 
would be provided to the NJ DFW Bureau of Law Enforcement upon request. 
Trap deployment, maintenance, and hauling would be completed by 
participating commercial lobstermen. The NJ ACCSP staff would record 
environmental data when present on at-sea observer trips including: 
Depth; dissolved oxygen; conductivity; salinity; and temperature 
profile from the surface to bottom.
    Sampling would be conducted over five different depth zones from a 
minimum of 60 ft (18 ms) to a maximum of 220 ft (67 ms) running the 
length of the New Jersey Mudhole, Glory Hole, and Chicken Canyon, and 
other historic lobster fishing areas located within LCMAs 3 and 4 and 
over various lobster grounds such as the 17 Fathom Bank in LCMA 5.
    This project would not authorize the deployment of any additional 
trap gear; therefore, minimal environmental impacts would be 
anticipated by this EFP above those already occurring as part of a 
commercial lobster trap trawl deployed under usual industry conditions. 
Impacts to the lobster resource would be negligible. Any sublegal 
lobsters caught would briefly be retained on-board only for the 
purposes of recording their size, sex, and presence of shell disease, 
before being promptly released back into the ocean, as would those 
lobsters that do not fall within the minimum and maximum legal gauge 
sizes. There would be minimal to no impacts to bycatch species, as all 
bycatch species hauled from modified gear would be returned promptly to 
the ocean. Additionally, minimal to no impacts would occur on benthic 
habitat over that which occurs under existing lobster trap fishing 
activities. Finally, the gear would be compliant with the Atlantic 
Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, and would be deployed under usual 
industry conditions; therefore, impacts to protected resources would 
fall within those impacts already analyzed as part of the October 29, 
2010, Biological Opinion for the American lobster fishery.
    If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and 
extensions to the EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and 
extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed 
essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and have 
minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the initially 
approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope 
of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.

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

    Dated: April 20, 2011.
Margo Schulze-Haugen,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-9944 Filed 4-22-11; 8:45 am]
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