[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 181 (Wednesday, September 18, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57348-57350]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-22731]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 130717633-3633-01]
RIN 0648-XC772


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species 
Fisheries; Annual Specifications

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

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes to implement the annual catch limit (ACL), 
acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual catch target (ACT) and 
associated annual reference points for Pacific mackerel in the U.S. 
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific coast for the fishing 
season of July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014. This rule is proposed 
according to the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan 
(FMP). The proposed 2013-2014 ACL for Pacific mackerel is 52,358 metric 
tons (mt). The proposed ACT, which will be the directed fishing harvest 
target, is 39,268 mt. If the fishery attains the ACT, the directed 
fishery will close, reserving the difference between the ACL and ACT 
(which is 13,089 mt) as a set aside for incidental landings in other 
CPS fisheries and other sources of mortality. This rule is intended to 
conserve and manage the Pacific mackerel stock off the U.S. West Coast.

DATES: Comments must be received by October 18, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document identified by NOAA-
NMFS-2013-0135 by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0135, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Rodney R. McInnis, 
Regional Administrator, Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Blvd., 
Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802.
     Fax: (562) 980-4047.
    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 
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.
    Copies of the report ``Pacific Mackerel (Scomber japonicus) Stock 
Assessment for USA Management in the 2011-12 Fishing Year'' which was 
updated for this fishing season using a catch-only projection estimate 
may be obtained from the Southwest Regional Office (see ADDRESSES).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Lindsay, Southwest Region, 
NMFS, (562) 980-4034.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During public meetings each year, the 
estimated biomass for Pacific mackerel is presented to the Pacific 
Fishery Management Council's (Council) Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) 
Management Team (Team), the Council's CPS Advisory Subpanel (Subpanel) 
and the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), where the 
biomass and the status of the fisheries are reviewed and discussed. The 
biomass estimate is then presented to the Council along with the 
calculated overfishing limit (OFL), acceptable biological catch (ABC), 
annual catch limit (ACL) and annual catch target (ACT) recommendations 
and comments from the Team, Subpanel and SSC. Following review by the 
Council and after hearing public comment, the Council adopts a biomass 
estimate and makes its catch level recommendations to NMFS.
    The purpose of this proposed rule is to implement the 2013/2014 
ACL, ACT and other annual catch reference points, including OFL and an 
ABC that takes into consideration uncertainty surrounding the current 
estimate of biomass, for Pacific mackerel in the U.S. EEZ off the 
Pacific coast. The CPS FMP and its implementing regulations require 
NMFS to set these annual catch levels for the Pacific mackerel fishery 
based on the annual specification framework in the FMP. For the 2013/
2014 fishing season the ACL is set equal to the result of the ABC 
calculation. This formula is:

ABC = Biomass * Buffer * FMSY * Distribution with the 
parameters described as follows:

    1. Biomass. The estimated stock biomass of Pacific mackerel for the 
2013-2014 management season is 272,932 mt.
    2. Buffer. Used to addresses uncertainty in the OFL. For the 2013-
2014 fishing season the buffer value is 0.913496. This is based on the 
Council's recommendation of a P* of 0.45 and the SSC recommended sigma 
of 0.72. The sigma for this year is double that used for previous years 
due to a higher level of uncertainty in the biomass estimate.
    3. FMSY. The fishing mortality rate at maximum 
sustainable yield (MSY) is set to 0.30.
    4. Distribution. The average portion (currently 70%) of the total 
Pacific mackerel biomass that is estimated to be in the U.S. EEZ off 
the Pacific coast.
    At the June 2013 Council meeting, the Council recommended 
management measures for the Pacific mackerel fishery. These management 
measures and catch specifications are based on the control rules 
established in the CPS FMP and a biomass estimate of 272,932 mt (the 
result of a full stock assessment that was completed in 2011 and 
updated based on a projection estimate for 2013). This biomass estimate 
was reviewed and approved by the SSC as the best available science for 
use in management. Based on recommendations from the Council's SSC and 
other advisory bodies, the Council recommended and NOAA Fisheries 
(NMFS) is proposing, an OFL of 57,316 mt, an ABC of 52,358 mt, an ACL 
52,358 and an ACT of 39,268 mt for the 2013-2014 Pacific mackerel 
fishing season. The Pacific mackerel fishing season runs from July 1 to 
June 30 of the following year.
    Amendment 13 (``ACL'' amendment) to the CPS FMP established a 
framework that sets the ACL equal to the calculated ABC (reduced from 
OFL for scientific uncertainty) or the result of the harvest guideline 
(HG) equation (maximum quota prior to Amendment 13), whichever value is 
less. This is the first time in the two years since implementation of 
Amendment 13 that the ACL (maximum directed fishing quota) is based on 
the ABC as opposed to the HG; which for 2013 was calculated to be 
53,494 mt.
    If the ACT is attained, the directed fishery will close, and the 
difference between the ACL and ACT (13,089 mt) will be reserved as a 
set aside for

[[Page 57349]]

incidental landings in other CPS fisheries and other sources of 
mortality. In that event, incidental harvest measures will be in place 
for the remainder of the fishing year, including a 45 percent 
incidental catch allowance when Pacific mackerel are landed with other 
CPS. In other words, no more than 45 percent by weight of the CPS 
landed per trip may be Pacific mackerel, except that up to 1 mt of 
Pacific mackerel could be landed without landing any other CPS. Upon 
the fishery attaining the ACL/ABC (52,358 mt), no vessels in CPS 
fisheries may retain Pacific mackerel. The purpose of the incidental 
set-aside and allowance of an incidental fishery is to allow for the 
restricted incidental landings of Pacific mackerel in other fisheries, 
particularly other CPS fisheries, when the directed fishery is closed 
to reduce potential discard of Pacific mackerel and allow for continued 
prosecution of other important CPS fisheries.
    The NMFS Southwest Regional Administrator will publish a notice in 
the Federal Register announcing the date of any closure to either 
directed or incidental fishing. Additionally, to ensure the regulated 
community is informed of any closure NMFS will also make announcements 
through other means available, including fax, email, and mail to 
fishermen, processors, and state fishery management agencies.
    Detailed information on the fishery and the stock assessment are 
found in the report ``Pacific Mackerel (Scomber japonicus) Stock 
Assessment for USA Management in the 2011-12 Fishing Year'' (see 
ADDRESSES).

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, the NMFS Assistant Administrator has 
determined that this proposed rule is consistent with the CPS FMP, 
other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act, and other applicable law, subject to further 
consideration after public comment.
    These proposed specifications are exempt from review under 
Executive Order 12866.
    Pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 605(b), 
the Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, 
for the reasons as follows:
    The purpose of this proposed rule is to implement the 2013-2014 
annual specifications for Pacific mackerel in the U.S. EEZ off the 
Pacific coast. The CPS FMP and its implementing regulations require 
NMFS to set an OFL, ABC, and ACL for the Pacific mackerel fishery based 
on the harvest control rules in the FMP. These specific harvest control 
rules are applied to the current stock biomass estimate to derive these 
annual catch limits, which is used to manage the commercial take of 
Pacific mackerel.
    On June 20, 2013, the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a 
final rule revising the small business size standards for several 
industries effective July 22, 2013 (78 FR 37398). The rule increased 
the size standard for Finfish Fishing from $ 4.0 to 19.0 million, 
Shellfish Fishing from $ 4.0 to 5.0 million, and Other Marine Fishing 
from $4.0 to 7.0 million. 78 FR 37398, 37400 (See Table 1). NMFS 
conducted its analysis for this action in light of the new size 
standards
    As stated above, the U.S. Small Business Administration now defines 
small businesses engaged in finfish fishing as those vessels with 
annual revenues of or below $19 million. Under the former, lower size 
standards, all entities subject to this action in previous years were 
considered small entities, and under the new standards they all would 
continue to be considered small.
    The small entities that would be affected by the proposed action 
are the vessels that compose the West Coast CPS finfish fleet. Pacific 
mackerel harvest is one component of CPS fisheries off the U.S. West 
Coast, which primarily includes the fisheries for Pacific sardine, 
northern anchovy and market squid. Pacific mackerel are principally 
caught off southern California within the limited entry portion (south 
of 39 degrees N. latitude; Point Arena, California) of the fishery. 
Fifty-eight vessels are currently permitted in the Federal CPS limited 
entry fishery off California. The average annual per vessel revenue in 
2012 for the West Coast CPS finfish fleet was well below $19 million; 
therefore, all of these vessels are considered small businesses under 
the RFA. Because each affected vessel is a small business, this 
proposed rule has an equal effect on all of these small entities, and 
therefore will impact a substantial number of these small entities in 
the same manner.
    The profitability of these vessels as a result of this proposed 
rule is based on the average Pacific mackerel ex-vessel price per mt. 
NMFS used average Pacific mackerel ex-vessel price per mt to conduct a 
profitability analysis because cost data for the harvesting operations 
of CPS finfish vessels was limited or unavailable. For the 2012-2013 
fishing year the maximum directed fishing quota was 40,514 mt and was 
divided into a directed fishery (or ACT) of 30,386 mt and an incidental 
fishery of 10,128 mt. Approximately 5,488 mt of this HG was harvested 
in 2012-2013 fishing season with an estimated ex-vessel value of 
approximately $1.1 million. Using these figures, the average 2012-2013 
ex-vessel price per mt of Pacific mackerel was approximately $200.
    The proposed ACL (maximum fishing level) for the 2013-2014 Pacific 
mackerel fishing season is 52,358 mt, with a directed fishing harvest 
target or ACT of 39,268 mt. This season's directed fishing target is 
approximately 23% greater than the previous year. If the fleet were to 
take the entire 2013-2014 ACT, and assuming a coastwide average ex-
vessel price per mt of $220 (average of 2011 and 2012 ex-vessel), the 
potential revenue to the fleet would be approximately $8.6 million. 
However, this result will depend greatly on market forces within the 
fishery, and on the regional availability of the resource to the fleet 
and the fleets' ability to find schools of Pacific mackerel. The annual 
average U.S. Pacific mackerel harvest from 2002 to 2012 is 
approximately 4,300 mt, and over those last 10 years has not exceeded 
8,000 mt. As a result, it is unlikely that the ACT proposed in this 
rule will limit the potential profitability to the fleet from catching 
Pacific mackerel. Accordingly, vessels' profits are not expected to be 
altered as a result of this rule as it relates to recent catches in the 
fishery and the previous season's regulation.
    Based on the disproportionality and profitability analysis above, 
this rule, if adopted, will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of these small entities. As a result, an Initial 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is not required, and none has been 
prepared.
    There are no reporting, record-keeping, or other compliance 
requirements required by this proposed rule. Additionally, no other 
Federal rules duplicate, overlap or conflict with this proposed rule.
    This action does not contain a collection-of-information 
requirement for purposes of the Paper Reduction Act.

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


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    Dated: September 11, 2013.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, Performing the 
functions and duties of the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-22731 Filed 9-17-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P