[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 100 (Friday, May 23, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29741-29743]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-12021]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XD257


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska; Application 
for an Exempted Fishing Permit

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

ACTION: Notice; public comment on an application for exempted fishing 
permit.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces receipt of an application and the public 
comment period for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from Mr. John 
Gauvin of Gauvin and Associates, LLC. If granted, this permit would 
allow the applicant to continue the development and testing of a salmon 
excluder device for the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery. This activity 
is intended to promote the objectives of the Fishery Management Plan 
for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area 
(FMP) by reducing salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock trawl 
fishery.

DATES: Submit comments on or before June 23, 2014. Interested persons 
may comment on the EFP application and on the environmental assessment 
(EA) during the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) 
meeting June 2 through June 10, 2014, in Nome, AK.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by FDMS 
Docket Number NOAA-NMFS-2014-0050, by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D= NOAA-NMFS-2014-0050, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.

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     Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region 
NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, 
AK 99802-1668.
    Instructions: 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 by NMFS. 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), confidential business information, 
or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender 
will be publicly accessible. 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, 
Excel, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
    Electronic copies of the Secretarial Review Draft Environmental 
Assessment For Issuing an Exempted Fishing Permit for the Purpose of 
Testing a Salmon Excluder Device in the Eastern Bering Sea Pollock 
Fishery, May 2014, prepared for this action are available from http://www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS Alaska Region Web site at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff Hartman, 907-586-7442.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the domestic groundfish 
fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) 
under the FMP. The Council prepared the FMP under the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Regulations governing the 
groundfish fisheries of the BSAI appear at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679. 
The FMP and the implementing regulations at Sec. Sec.  600.745(b) and 
679.6 authorize issuance of EFPs to allow fishing that would otherwise 
be prohibited. Procedures for issuing EFPs are contained in the 
implementing regulations.
    NMFS received an application for an EFP from Mr. Gauvin in December 
2013. The purposes of the EFP project would be to improve the 
performance of the salmon excluder device developed under EFP 11-01 
from 2011 to 2012, and to validate the performance of this device for 
pollock trawl gear used in the BSAI. The EFP project would focus on 
testing a redesigned excluder device to reduce chum salmon and Chinook 
salmon bycatch and refine the device for use on trawl vessels fishing 
for groundfish. The goal is to develop a device for pollock trawl gear 
that reduces salmon bycatch without significantly lowering pollock 
catch rates. Salmon are prohibited species that are incidentally caught 
in the pollock fishery (Sec.  679.21(e) and (f)).
    The EFP would allow for testing of the salmon excluder device from 
January 2015 through June 2016, for several weeks in each pollock A and 
B season. Testing in each season would allow the device to be used 
under salmon occurrence and pollock fishing practices specific to each 
season. Testing in the A season would catch primarily Chinook salmon 
and roe-bearing pollock, while testing in the B season would catch 
Chinook and chum salmon and pollock that are not likely to be roe-
bearing. EFP fishing would be conducted by one to two vessels in each 
season.
    To test the salmon excluder device, exemptions would be necessary 
from regulations for salmon bycatch management, observer requirements, 
closure areas, total allowable catch amounts (TACs) for groundfish, and 
prohibited species catch (PSC) limits for the pollock fishery. Taking 
salmon during the experiment is crucial for determining the 
effectiveness of the device. Salmon taken during the experiment would 
not be counted toward the Chinook and chum salmon PSC limits under 
Sec.  679.21(e)(1)(vii), (e)(3)(i)(A)(3), and (f)(2). The amount of 
chum salmon PSC taken by the pollock trawl industry during the EFP 
period could approach or exceed the chum salmon PSC limits under Sec.  
679.21(e)(7)(vii). If the EFP salmon were counted toward the salmon PSC 
limits, the EFP salmon may create an additional burden on the pollock 
trawl fishermen not participating in an intercooperative agreement for 
chum salmon or incentive plan agreement for Chinook salmon bycatch 
reduction by causing earlier closures of the Chum Salmon Savings Area 
or violating the plan agreement for Chinook salmon. More information 
regarding the intercooperative agreement for salmon bycatch reduction 
is at 72 FR 61070 (October 29, 2007). Information regarding the 
incentive plan agreements under Amendment 91 for Bering Sea Chinook 
salmon bycatch management is at 75 FR 53026 (August 30, 2010).
    Approximately 2,500 chum salmon and 250 Chinook salmon for the 2015 
B season and 500 chum salmon and 1,200 Chinook salmon for the 2015 and 
2016 A seasons would be required to support the project. In total, the 
applicant would be limited to harvesting 3,000 chum salmon and 1,450 
Chinook salmon during the EFP period. The experimental design requires 
this quantity of salmon to ensure statistically valid results.
    The applicant also has requested an exemption from the Chum Salmon 
Savings Area (Sec. Sec.  679.21(e)(7)(vii) and 679.22(a)(10)), the 
Bering Sea Pollock Restriction Area (Sec.  679.22(a)(7)(ii)), and the 
Steller Sea Lion Conservation Area (Sec.  679.22(a)(7)(vii)). These 
overlapping areas occur in locations of salmon concentration. The 
experiment must be conducted in areas of salmon concentration 
sufficient to ensure a statistically adequate sample size. These 
locations are ideal for conducting the experiment and ensuring that the 
vessel encounters sufficient concentrations of salmon and pollock for 
meeting the experimental design.
    Groundfish taken under the EFP would be exempt from the TACs 
specified in the annual harvest specifications (Sec.  679.20). A total 
of 2,500 metric tons (mt) of groundfish (primarily pollock) would be 
taken during each A season of 2015 and 2016, and 2,500 mt of groundfish 
would be taken in the B season of 2016 for a total of 7,500 mt over the 
duration of the EFP. Approximately 96 percent of the groundfish 
harvested is expected to be pollock. The experimental design requires 
this quantity of pollock to ensure a statistically adequate sample size 
for measuring pollock escapement through the salmon excluder device.
    The EFP groundfish harvest would not be included in the harvest 
applied against the Bering Sea groundfish TACs. The preliminary 2015 
TAC for Bering Sea pollock is equal to the acceptable biological catch 
(ABC) at 1,258,000 mt, but the TAC is likely to be adjusted during the 
2015/2016 harvest specifications process and may result in a TAC less 
than ABC (79 FR 12108, March 4, 2014). TAC and ABC have not been 
specified for the 2016 fishing year at this time. The EFP fishing will 
be permitted for this proposed action if the ABC for Bering Sea pollock 
exceeds the TAC by at least 5,000 mt in 2015 and 2,500 mt in 2016. 
Because of very little groundfish incidental catch in the pollock 
fishery, the harvest of other fish species during the EFP fishing is 
expected to be 50 mt to 80 mt per season. The majority of these other 
species harvested under the EFP likely would be Pacific cod, skates, 
flatfish, halibut, and jellyfish. The amount of groundfish harvest 
under the EFP and by the commercial groundfish fisheries is not 
expected to cause ABCs for groundfish species to be exceeded in either 
2015 or 2016 because other BSAI

[[Page 29743]]

groundfish TACs are set with a sufficient difference between ABC and 
TAC to accommodate EFP fishing catch of groundfish species other than 
pollock.
    The EFP is expected to take approximately 12 mt of halibut per 
season for a total of 12 mt of halibut in 2015 and 24 mt of halibut in 
2016. The EFP would require an exemption from halibut PSC limits under 
Sec.  679.21(e)(3)(ii)(C). The halibut taken under the EFP in 
combination with the groundfish fisheries is not expected to exceed the 
halibut PSC harvest specifications in 2015 or 2016.
    Using a catcher/processor for the EFP study would require exemption 
from the Catcher Vessel Operational Area (CVOA) restriction (Sec.  
679.22(a)(5)) because of the location of the Chinook salmon 
concentration in the CVOA. Catcher/processors are prohibited from 
operating in the CVOA during the B season. The EFP fishing may be done 
by either a catcher vessel or a catcher/processor. It may be necessary 
for the EFP applicant to use a catcher/processor to conduct tows in 
this area to ensure encountering sufficient pollock and salmon 
concentrations to meet the experimental design.
    The EFP would exempt vessels that are EFP fishing from closures of 
the Chum Salmon Savings Area. This is necessary because the 
experimental design for this EFP is based on testing in areas with high 
incidental catch rates of salmon that may occur in the Chum Salmon 
Savings Area.
    The EFP would include an exemption from selected observer 
requirements at Sec. Sec.  679.50, 679.51, and 679.55. Participating 
vessels would use ``sea samplers'' who are NMFS-trained observers. They 
would not be deployed as NMFS observers, however, at the time of the 
EFP fishing. The ``sea samplers'' would conduct the EFP data collection 
and perform other observer duties that normally would be required for 
vessels directed fishing for pollock. EFP fishing trips also would be 
exempted from observer requirements for trip selection and fee 
collection.
    The activities under the EFP are not expected to have a significant 
impact on the human environment as analyzed in the EA for this action 
(see ADDRESSES). The EFP would be subject to modifications pending any 
new relevant information regarding the 2015 and 2016 fishery, including 
the groundfish harvest specifications.
    In accordance with 50 CFR 679.6 and 600 CFR 745(b)(3)(ii), NMFS has 
determined that the proposal warrants further consideration and has 
forwarded the application to the Council to initiate consultation. The 
Council will consider the EFP application during its meeting June 2 
through June 10, 2014, which will be held at the Nome Mini Convention 
Center, 409 River St., Nome, AK. The applicant has been invited to 
appear in support of the application.

Public Comments

    Public comments are being solicited on the application and the EA 
through the end of the comment period stated in this notice. To be 
considered, comments must be received on or before the last day of the 
comment period; that does not mean postmarked or otherwise transmitted 
by that date. Copies of the application and EA are available for review 
from NMFS (see ADDRESSES). Interested persons also may comment on the 
application and on the EA at the June 2014 Council meeting during 
public testimony.
    Information regarding the meeting is available at the Council's Web 
site at http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/npfmc/.

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

    Dated: May 20, 2014.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-12021 Filed 5-22-14; 8:45 am]
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