[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 175 (Friday, September 9, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 55865-55866]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23125]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

RIN 0648-BB27


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Notice of Availability for 
Secretarial Amendment 1 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery 
Management Plan

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

ACTION: Availability of Secretarial amendment to a fishery management 
plan; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has prepared Secretarial Amendment 1 to the Pacific Coast 
Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Secretarial Amendment 1 would 
modify the FMP to add an overfished species rebuilding plan for petrale 
sole and revise existing overfished species rebuilding plans. In 
addition, Secretarial Amendment 1 would modify the default proxy values 
for FMSY and BMSY as they apply to the flatfish 
species, including petrale sole; and the harvest control rule policies. 
Finally the amendment makes non-substantive changes and updates factual 
information.

DATES: Comments on Secretarial Amendment 1 must be received on or 
before November 8, 2011.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS 2011-0207, by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the e-Rulemaking Portal, 
first click the ``submit a comment'' icon, then enter NOAA-NMFS 2011-
0207 in the keyword search. Locate the document you wish to comment on 
from the resulting list and click on the ``Submit a Comment'' icon on 
the right of that line.
     Mail: William W. Stelle, Jr., Regional Administrator, 
Northwest Region, NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 98115-
0070, Attn: Sarah Williams.
     Fax: 206-526-6736, Attn: Sarah Williams.
    Instructions: Comments must be submitted by one of the above 
methods to ensure that the comments are received, documented, and 
considered by NMFS. Comments sent by any other method, to any other 
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, 
may not be considered. All comments received are a part of the public 
record and will generally be posted for public viewing on http://www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address, etc.) submitted voluntarily by the 
sender will 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). Attachments to electronic comments will be 
accepted in Microsoft Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file 
formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah Williams (Northwest Region, 
NMFS), phone: 206-526-4646; fax: 206-526-6736; and e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 55866]]

Electronic Access

    This Federal Register document is also accessible via the internet 
at the Web site of the Office of the Federal Register: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su-docs/aces/aces140.html.

Background

    On December 27, 2010, NMFS disapproved Amendment 16-5 to the 
Pacific Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) because there was not 
an adequate National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document to base a 
decision on; consequently, the provisions of 16-5 were implemented 
pursuant to emergency authority under section 305(c) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and can only be 
effective 365 days and therefore further action is necessary to extend 
the provisions of the Amendment through 2012. A Secretarial Amendment 
is necessary before the expiration of the emergency provisions, because 
the Council at its June 2011 meeting chose not to resubmit Amendment 
16-5 and instead deferred to NMFS to take action to develop and adopt 
the amendment. Therefore NMFS has prepared Secretarial Amendment 1 
which is a modified version of Amendment 16-5.

Provisions of Secretarial Amendment 1

    Secretarial Amendment 1 proposes to establish one new rebuilding 
plan, modify seven existing plans, modify the default proxy values for 
FMSY and BMSY as they apply to the flatfish 
species, and the harvest control rule policies.
    The new rebuilding plan is needed because petrale sole was declared 
overfished on February 9, 2010. The following groundfish species 
currently being managed under rebuilding plans which are proposed to be 
modified by Secretarial Amendment 1 are: Bocaccio in the Monterey and 
Conception areas; canary rockfish; cowcod south of Point Conception to 
the U.S. Mexico boundary; darkblotched rockfish, Pacific Ocean Perch 
(POP), widow rockfish, and yelloweye rockfish. The proposed revisions 
to these existing rebuilding plans are based on new stock assessments 
or assessment updates and include revisions to the rebuilding 
parameters such as rebuilding years, BMSY, and other 
parameters.
    The new flatfish harvest control rule is necessary because 
sufficient information became available to develop more appropriate 
values of FMSY and BMSY, for all flatfish 
species. Therefore Secretarial Amendment 1 would revise the proxy 
FMSY value for all flatfish species from 
F40 to F30 and revises the proxy 
BMSY value for all flatfish species from 
B40 to B25. A rebuilding analysis 
is used to project the status of the overfished resource into the 
future under a variety of alternative harvest strategies to determine 
the probability of recovering to BMSY within a specified 
time-frame. The overfished threshold would also be revised. The 
overfished threshold or minimum stock size threshold (MSST) is the 
estimated biomass level of the stock relative to its unfished biomass 
(i.e., depletion level), below which the stock is considered 
overfished. Secretarial Amendment 1 would revise the default proxy MSST 
for the assessed flatfish species from B25 to 
B12.5, which is 50 percent of the 
BMSY target of B25.
    Secretarial Amendment 1 would add to the FMP a new harvest control 
rule referred to as the 25-5 harvest control rule for stocks with a 
BMSY proxy of 25 percent (B25). When the 
estimated biomass has fallen below B25 and when the 
stock is not managed under an overfished species rebuilding plan, the 
25-5 harvest control rule would be applied. Under the 25-5 harvest 
control rule, a precautionary adjustment is made to the ACL when the 
stock's depletion drops below B25 and at 
B5, the ACL is set to zero. The 25-5 harvest control 
rule is designed to prevent stocks from becoming overfished.
    Finally, Secretarial Amendment 1 would also move the elements of 
the rebuilding plans into an appendix and update factual information. 
This revision is being proposed to provide the public and fishery 
managers easy access to the current rebuilding plans. Consistent with 
the existing provisions of the FMP, any changes to rebuilding plans 
will be available for public comment, be thoroughly reviewed in the 
Council process and by NMFS and be evaluated through analytical 
documents prepared by the Council and NMFS.
    NMFS welcomes comments on the proposed FMP amendment through the 
end of the comment period. A proposed rule to implement Secretarial 
Amendment 1 has been submitted for Secretarial review and approval. 
NMFS expects to publish and request public review and comment on 
proposed regulations to implement Secretarial Amendment 1, along with 
the groundfish specifications and management measures for 2012, in the 
near future. Public comments on the proposed rule must be received by 
the end of the comment period on the amendment to be considered in the 
approval/disapproval decision on the amendment. All comments received 
by the end of the comment period for the amendment, whether 
specifically directed to the amendment or the proposed rule, will be 
considered in the approval/disapproval decision.

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

    Dated: September 6, 2011.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-23125 Filed 9-8-11; 8:45 am]
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