[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 1908-1910]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-398]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 622

RIN 0648-AY74


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
Snapper-Grouper Fishery Off the Southern Atlantic States; Amendment 20A

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

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the South Atlantic Fishery Management 
Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 20A to the Fishery Management 
Plan (FMP) for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region 
(Amendment 20A) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. 
Amendment 20A proposes actions for the wreckfish individual 
transferable quota (ITQ) program, including actions to define and 
revert inactive wreckfish quota shares, redistribute reverted quota 
shares to remaining shareholders, establish a cap on the number of 
wreckfish quota shares a single entity may own, and establish an 
appeals process for redistribution of reverted wreckfish quota shares. 
The actions contained in Amendment 20A are intended to help achieve the 
optimum yield (OY) from the wreckfish commercial sector in accordance 
with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act).

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before March 12, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the amendment identified by 
``NOAA-NMFS-2011-0277'' by any of the following methods:
     Electronic submissions: Submit electronic comments via the 
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Nikhil Mehta, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 
13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

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    Instructions: 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.
    To submit comments through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov, click on ``submit a comment'', then enter ``NOAA-
NMFS-2011-0277'' in the keyword search and click on ``search''. To view 
posted comments during the comment period, enter ``NOAA-NMFS-2011-
0277'' in the keyword search and click on ``search''. NMFS will accept 
anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required field if you wish to 
remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to electronic comments in 
Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
    Comments received through means not specified in this rule will not 
be considered.
    Electronic copies of Amendment 20A may be obtained from the 
Southeast Regional Office Web site at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sf/SASnapperGrouperHomepage.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nikhil Mehta, telephone: (727) 824-
5305, or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires each 
regional fishery management council to submit any FMP or amendment to 
NMFS for review and approval, partial approval, or disapproval. The 
Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving a plan or 
amendment, publish an announcement in the Federal Register notifying 
the public that the FMP or amendment is available for review and 
comment.
    The FMP being revised by Amendment 20A was prepared by the Council 
and implemented through regulations at 50 CFR part 622 under the 
authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Background

    Wreckfish is part of the snapper-grouper fishery and is managed 
under the FMP for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic 
Region (Snapper-Grouper FMP). The wreckfish commercial sector has been 
managed under an ITQ program since March 1992, through Amendment 5 to 
the Snapper-Grouper FMP, in order to end derby fishing (race to fish) 
practices. Currently, there is latent effort in the wreckfish 
commercial sector with very few active participants. In August 2010, 
the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) recommended an 
acceptable biological catch (ABC) for wreckfish off the southern 
Atlantic states of 250,000 lb (113,389 kg), round weight. The proposed 
rule for the Comprehensive Annual Catch Limit Amendment (Comprehensive 
ACL Amendment) published on December 1, 2011 (76 FR 74757), and would 
implement an ACL of 250,000 lb (113,389 kg), round weight for 
wreckfish. The Comprehensive ACL Amendment would further allocate 95 
percent of the wreckfish ACL to the commercial sector (237,500 lb; 
107,728 kg, round weight). In November 2011, the Council's SSC met and 
recommended a revised wreckfish ABC equal to 235,000 lb (106,594 kg), 
round weight. The Council then met in December 2011 and reviewed and 
accepted the SSC's recommendation to reduce the wreckfish ABC which 
would in turn reduce the wreckfish ACL. Therefore, to incorporate this 
recommended revised ACL, NMFS published an amended proposed rule for 
the Comprehensive ACL Amendment on December 30, 2011 (76 FR 82264) to 
implement the revised wreckfish ABC and ACL of 235,000 lb (106,594 kg), 
round weight, of which 223,250 lb (101,264 kg) would be allocated to 
the commercial sector. This would be an 89 percent reduction from the 
current total allowable catch for wreckfish of 2 million lb (907,185 
kg), round weight. The intent of Amendment 20A is to achieve OY in the 
wreckfish commercial sector while maximizing harvest potential and not 
exceeding the ACL.

Define and Revert Inactive Wreckfish Quota Shares

    The ACL for the wreckfish commercial sector proposed in the 
Comprehensive ACL Amendment and in the amended proposed rule, would 
result in a significant reduction in the amount of available harvest 
associated with each wreckfish quota share, including inactive 
wreckfish quota shares, in order to maintain harvest at or below the 
ACL. As a result, if inactive wreckfish quota shares are not reverted 
it is likely that harvest would only reach approximately 130,735-
160,338 lb (59,300-72,728 kg), round weight, after applying the new 
ACL. Out of the 20 current wreckfish quota shareholders, there are 13 
inactive wreckfish quota shareholders holding a combined 28.18 percent 
of wreckfish quota shares. Amendment 20A proposes to revert these 
wreckfish quota shares and redistribute them among the seven remaining 
active wreckfish quota shareholders.

Redistribute Reverted Wreckfish Quota Shares to Remaining Shareholders

    Amendment 20A proposes to redistribute the above mentioned 
wreckfish quota shares to remaining wreckfish quota shareholders based 
on landings history from fishing years 2006/2007 through 2010/2011. The 
percentage of wreckfish quota shares redistributed to the remaining 
wreckfish quota shareholders would range from 0.04 percent to 9.91 
percent.

Establish a Cap on the Number of Wreckfish Quota Shares a Single Entity 
May Own

    Amendment 20A proposes to establish a cap of 49 percent of the 
total wreckfish quota shares a single entity can own. This would 
prevent any one entity from holding the majority of wreckfish quota 
shares, and would result in no active entities exceeding the quota 
share cap.

Establish an Appeals Process for Redistribution of Wreckfish Quota 
Shares

    Five percent of the wreckfish quota shares for the 2012/2013 
fishing year would be set-aside by Amendment 20A, to resolve any 
appeals of wreckfish quota shares for a period of 90-days starting on 
the effective date of the final rule. The Regional Administrator (RA) 
would review, evaluate, and provide final decisions on appeals. 
Hardship arguments would not be considered. The RA would determine the 
outcome of appeals based on NMFS' logbooks. If NMFS' logbooks are not 
available, the RA could use state landings records. Appellants would 
submit NMFS' logbooks or state landings records to support their 
appeal. After the appeals process has been completed, any amount of 
quota shares remaining from the set-aside would be redistributed to 
remaining ITQ shareholders, according to the redistribution method 
specified above.
    A proposed rule that would implement measures outlined in Amendment 
20A has been drafted. In accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NMFS 
is evaluating the proposed rule to determine whether it is consistent 
with the FMPs, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law. If 
that determination is affirmative, NMFS will publish the proposed rule 
in the Federal Register for public review and comment.
    Comments received by March 12, 2012, will be considered by NMFS in 
its

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decision to approve, disapprove, or partially approve Amendment 20A. 
Comments received after that date will not be considered by NMFS in 
this decision. All comments received by NMFS on Amendment 20A or the 
proposed rule for Amendment 20A during their respective comment periods 
will be addressed.

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

    Dated: January 6, 2012.
Steven Thur,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-398 Filed 1-11-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P