[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 170 (Wednesday, September 3, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 52293-52296]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-20963]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 140822715-4715-01]
RIN 0648-BE37


Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Tilefish 
Fishery; 2015-2017 Specifications

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes specifications for the commercial tilefish 
fishery for the 2015, 2016, and 2017 fishing years. This action would 
set the acceptable biological catch, annual catch limit, total 
allowable landings, and harvest allocations for the individual fishing 
quota and incidental fishery components of the commercial tilefish 
fishery. The intent of this action is to establish allowable harvest 
levels and other management measures to prevent overfishing while 
allowing optimum yield, consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and

[[Page 52294]]

Management Act and the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan.

DATES: Comments must be received by September 18, 2014.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2014-0103, 
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-2014-0103, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, NMFS, 
Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, 
Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope: ``Comments on 
Tilefish Specifications.''
    Instructions: All comments received are part of the public record 
and will generally be posted to 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.
    NMFS will accept anonymous comments. Attachments to electronic 
comments will be accepted via Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, 
WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
    Copies of the specifications document, including the Environmental 
Assessment (EA) and Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) are 
available upon request from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 
Council, 800 North State Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901. The 
specifications document is also accessible via the Internet at: 
www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas Potts, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
978-281-9341.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implementing the Tilefish 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) appear at 50 CFR part 648, subparts A and 
N. The FMP (section 1.2.1.2) states that, after a ``benchmark'' stock 
assessment, conducted at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) 
sponsored stock assessment workshop (SAW), and subsequent review by the 
stock assessment review committee (SARC), from which the biological 
reference points for tilefish could change, a change to the quota may 
be warranted. The 58th SAW met in December 2013, assessed the tilefish 
stock using updated information and a new analytical model, and 
concluded that the stock is not overfished and overfishing is not 
occurring. Fishing mortality (F) was estimated to be 74 percent of the 
F that allows maximum sustainable yield (FMSY). Spawning 
stock biomass (SSB) was estimated to be 101 percent of 
SSBMSY. The stock assessment was reviewed and accepted by 
the SARC in January 2014. Based on the results of this assessment, NMFS 
has determined that the tilefish stock has been rebuilt.
    The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Scientific and 
Statistical Committee (SSC) met in March 2014 to review the assessment 
results and other available scientific information and make 
recommendations for an overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable 
biological catch (ABC) for up to a 3-year period. The SSC accepted the 
new stock assessment model, and identified the tilefish assessment as 
Level 3 under the Council's tiered ABC control rule structure. The 
previous stock assessment had been considered Level 4. The change in 
assessment level led the SSC to apply a different requirement of the 
Council's risk policy for setting ABC relative to the OFL. This change 
resulted in a lower recommended ABC, and therefore a lower harvest 
quota, than has been used in this fishery since 2001.
    The Council's Tilefish Monitoring Committee met to consider the 
SSC's recommendations as well as additional information about the 
fishery, including recent average estimated discards of tilefish, to 
recommend annual catch limit (ACL), annual catch target (ACT), and 
total allowable landings (TAL) for the same 3-year time period. The 
Monitoring Committee recommended for each of the three years that the 
ACL and ACT be set equal to the ABC. In determining a recommended TAL, 
the Monitoring Committee incorporated a deduction of 5 mt from the ACT 
to account for discards of tilefish across all fisheries. This amount 
represents the recent average discards calculated from observer data.
    The Council met on April 9, 2014, to consider the SSC's and 
Monitoring Committee's recommendations, receive public comments, and to 
formalize recommendations to NMFS for the 2015-2017 catch limit 
specifications, management measures, and research set-aside amounts. 
The Council's quota recommendations are listed in Table 1.

                     Table 1--Current Tilefish Harvest Limits for 2014 Relative to Proposed Specifications for 2015, 2016, and 2017
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                                                  2014                         2015                         2016                         2017
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Overfishing Limit (OFL).............  NA.........................  989 mt.....................  1,063 mt...................  1,091 mt
Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC)...  913 mt.....................  801 mt.....................  861 mt.....................  861 mt
Annual Catch Limit (ACL)............  913 mt.....................  801 mt.....................  861 mt.....................  861 mt
Total Allowable Landings (TAL)......  905 mt.....................  796 mt.....................  856 mt.....................  856 mt
Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ)        1,895,250 lb (859,671 kg)..  1,667,136 lb (756,200 kg)..  1,792,799 lb (813,200 kg)..  1,792,799 lb (813,200 kg)
 Fishery \1\.
Incidental Fishery \1\..............  99,750 lb (45,246 kg)......  87,744 lb (39,800 kg)......  94,357 lb (42,800 kg)......  94,357 lb (42,800 kg)
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\1\ Kg are converted from lb, and may not necessarily add exactly due to rounding.

    The Council recommended the same quota for 2017 as proposed for 
2016, because, even though stock assessment projections indicate that 
the quota could be increased slightly, the Tilefish FMP has used a 
constant landings management strategy since it was implemented in 2001. 
The tilefish industry has been supportive of this approach, and stated 
they benefit from the predictability that a stable quota provides. At 
the urging of the tilefish industry, and because the lower harvest in 
2017 would likely support further growth in this stock, the Council 
decided that the value of quota stability between 2016 and 2017 
outweighed the potential gain from the small amount of quota increase 
that could have been realized in 2017. As in previous years, the 
Council opted not to allocate any tilefish quota for research set-
aside. If these recommended quotas are implemented, the Council would 
have

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the opportunity to review updated information on the status of the 
tilefish fishery each year, and may choose to recommend changes to 
these specifications before the 2016 or 2017 fishing years.
    The regulation at Sec.  648.292(b)(1) specifies that the TAL for 
each fishing year will be 1.995 million lb (905,172 kg), unless 
modified by the specifications process. This default value in the 
regulations may become confusing, because this action is proposing 
different TALs for 2015, 2016, and 2017 that would not appear in the 
regulations. To avoid confusion this action would revise the 
regulations to remove this reference to a specific TAL value.

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the 
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, has determined that this 
proposed rule is consistent with the Tilefish FMP, other provisions of 
the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law, subject to further 
consideration after public comment.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    The Council prepared a draft EA for this action that analyzes the 
impacts of this proposed rule. A copy of the draft EA is available from 
the Federal e-Rulemaking portal www.regulations.gov. Type ``NOAA-NMFS-
2014-0103'' in the Enter Keyword or ID field and click search. A copy 
of the EA is also available upon request from the Council (see 
ADDRESSES).
    The Council prepared an initial regulatory flexibility analysis 
(IRFA), as required by section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act 
(RFA), which is included in the EA for this action and supplemented by 
information contained in the preamble of this proposed rule. The IRFA 
describes the economic impact that this proposed rule, if adopted, 
would have on small entities. A description of the action, why it is 
being considered, and the legal basis for this action are contained at 
the beginning of this section in the preamble and in the SUMMARY of the 
proposed rule. A summary of the analysis follows. A copy of this 
analysis is available from the Council (see ADDRESSES).
    The Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a small business in 
the commercial harvesting sector as a firm with receipts (gross 
revenues) of up to $20.5 million for finfish businesses. A small 
business in the recreational fishery (i.e., party or charter vessel 
operations) is a firm with receipts of up to $7.5 million. The proposed 
measures regarding the 2015, 2016, and 2017 tilefish quotas could 
affect any vessel holding an active Federal permit for tilefish. Vessel 
permit data shows that in 2013 there were 1,827 vessels that held a 
valid commercial tilefish permit and 393 vessels held a valid party/
charter tilefish permit. However, not all of those vessels are active 
participants in the fishery. According to dealer-reported landings 
data, 141 vessels landed tilefish in fishing year 2013. In addition, 
according to vessel trip report data, 25 party/charter vessels reported 
catching tilefish in 2013.
    Some of the vessels with tilefish permits may be considered to be 
part of the same firm because they may have the same owners. Firms are 
classified as finfish or for-hire firms based on the activity from 
which they derive the most revenue. All of the party/charter firms fall 
within the definition of a small business according to the 2010-2012 
average revenues; however some of these firms also landed tilefish 
commercially. If the contribution of tilefish commercial receipts is 
more than 50 percent of the total, the party/charter firm is considered 
a commercial operation. Using the $20.5 million cutoff for commercial 
finfish firms, there are 190 firms that are small and 4 that are large 
assuming average revenues for the 2010-2012 period. The majority of the 
permitted vessels readily fall within the definition of small business.
    There are no new reporting or recordkeeping requirements contained 
in any of the alternatives considered for this action. In addition, 
NMFS is not aware of any relevant Federal rule that may duplicate, 
overlap, or conflict with this proposed rule.
    In general terms, the active tilefish fishery participants derive a 
small share of gross receipts from the tilefish fishery. However, for 
small entities generating on average $10,000 or more of their total 
revenues from tilefish revenues, a large number of the active 
participants generate a large share of gross receipts from the tilefish 
fishery. The category of small entities likely to be affected by the 
proposed actions is that of IFQ shareholders and fishermen in the 
commercial fishery. The overall commercial tilefish quota is allocated 
to IFQ shareholders, which are allocated 95 percent of the overall 
quota and incidental fishery vessels which are allocated 5 percent of 
the overall quota. IFQ vessels directly target tilefish using bottom 
longline gear, and incidental vessels land tilefish incidentally when 
targeting other species. Most of the incidental landings occur with 
bottom trawl gear. However, for the incidental fishery, changes in 
quotas are not expected to affect the effort of vessels that land 
tilefish incidentally (e.g., otter trawl vessels) as the catch and/or 
landings of tilefish incidentally occur as these vessels target other 
species and their fishing behavior is not expected to be driven by the 
level of the incidental tilefish quota.
    The IRFA addressed three alternatives (including a no action/status 
quo alternative) for the 2015, 2016, and 2017 tilefish fishing years. 
All quota alternatives considered in this analysis are based on various 
commercial harvest levels for tilefish. Procedurally, the economic 
effects of the quota alternatives were estimated using four steps. 
First, the dealer-reported landings data were queried to identify all 
vessels that landed at least one pound of tilefish in fishing year 2013 
(November 1, 2012--October 31, 2013). The second step was to estimate 
total revenues from all species landed by each vessel during fishing 
year 2013. This estimate provides the basis from which subsequent quota 
changes and their associated effects on vessel revenues were compared.
    The third step was to deduct or add, as appropriate, the expected 
change in vessel revenues depending upon which of the quota scenarios 
were evaluated. This was accomplished by estimating proportional 
reductions or increases in the quota scenarios for 2015 versus the base 
quota year 2013. For 2016 and 2017, proportional reductions between the 
2016-2017 measures and the status quo (no action) alternative for 2016-
2017 were used to assess revenue changes. For the purpose of estimating 
the 2015, 2016, and 2017 quotas and revenue changes, the following 
assumptions were made: (a) The industry will fully harvest, and not 
exceed, the 2014 quota; and (b) the entire tilefish quota allocations 
will be taken in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The fourth step was to compare 
the estimated 2015, 2016, and 2017 base revenues for every vessel to 
assess potential changes.
    The proposed action (Alternative 1) would set commercial tilefish 
quotas for 2015, 2016, and 2017 at 1.755 million lb (796 mt), 1.887 
million lb (856 mt), and 1.887 million lb (856 mt), respectively. Under 
Alternative 1 for 2015-2017, it is expected that the number of vessels 
impacted by revenue losses on the order of 5 percent or less (relative 
to the status quo) would range from 134 (in year 2015) to 138 (in each 
year 2016 and 2017). In addition, it is expected that that the number 
of vessels impacted by revenue losses on the order of 5 percent

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or more would range from 7 (in year 2015) to 3 (in each year 2016 and 
2017). All vessels with revenue reduction of 5 percent or greater are 
from New Jersey and/or New York, with the largest number of impacted 
vessels homeported in Suffolk County, NY.
    Overall, it is expected that Alternative 1 for 2015-2017 would 
result in a combined decrease in revenue of $1,567,979 relative to the 
status quo quota for 2015-2017. Because the overall dependence on 
tilefish for most of the vessels projected to incur revenue losses is 
small (83 to 97 percent of the vessels), it is expected that the 
potential decrease in revenue stated above would more greatly affect 
the 11 vessels that are more dependent on tilefish (i.e., IFQ vessels) 
than the vessels that incidentally catch tilefish. On average, each IFQ 
vessel that landed tilefish during fishing year 2013 (11 vessels) would 
incur a total reduction in revenues of $135,416 under Alternative 1 
over the 3-year period, when compared to the status quo alternative for 
2015-2017; and each incidental vessel (130 vessels) would incur a $603 
reduction in revenues over the same 3-year period.
    Alternative 2 is the status quo alternative, and contains 
commercial quotas of 1.995 million lb (905 mt) for tilefish for each 
2015, 2016, and 2017. Under this alternative, the tilefish 
specifications would result in no change in commercial landings when 
compared to current conditions. Therefore, commercial landings for 
tilefish would be expected to be the same relative to 2014 quota. As 
such, it is not expected that revenue changes would occur under this 
alternative when compared to existing conditions.
    Alternative 3 would set commercial tilefish quotas for 2015, 2016, 
and 2017 at 1.755 million lb (796 mt), 1.887 million lb (856 mt), and 
1.938 million lb (879 mt), respectively. Under Alternative 3 for 2015-
2017, it is expected that the number of vessels impacted by revenue 
losses on the order of 5 percent or less (relative to the status quo) 
would range from 138 (in year 2016) to 141 (in 2017). In addition, it 
is expected that that the number of vessels impacted by revenue losses 
on the order of 5 percent or more would range from 7 (in year 2015) to 
3 (in year 2016; no vessels were projected to incur revenue losses of 5 
percent or more in 2017). All vessels with revenue reduction of 5 
percent or greater are from New Jersey and/or New York, with the 
largest number of impacted vessels homeported in Suffolk County, NY.
    Overall, it is expected that Alternative 3 for 2015-2017 would 
result in a combined decrease in revenue of $1,393,547 relative to the 
status quo quota for 2015-2017. Because the overall dependence on 
tilefish for most of the vessels projected to incur revenue losses is 
small, it is expected that the potential decrease in revenue stated 
above would more greatly affect the 11 vessels that are more dependent 
on tilefish (i.e., IFQ vessels) than the vessels that incidentally 
catch tilefish. On average, each IFQ vessel that landed tilefish during 
fishing year 2013 (11 vessels) would incur a total reduction in 
revenues of $120,352 under Alternative 3 over the 3-year period, when 
compared to the status quo alternative for 2015-2017; and each 
incidental vessel (130 vessels) would incur a $536 reduction in 
revenues over the same 3-year period.
    For both Alternative 1 and Alternative 3 projected changes in ex-
vessel gross revenues associated with the quotas in 2015-2017 relative 
to the status quo are based on assumed static prices for tilefish. 
However, it is possible that given the potential decrease in landings 
for tilefish, the price for this species may increase, holding all 
other factors constant. If this occurs, an increase in the price for 
tilefish may mitigate some of the revenue losses associated with lower 
quantity of tilefish quota availability.
    The Council recommended Alternative 1 for 2015, 2016, and 2017, 
over Alternatives 2 and 3 because it is projected to prevent 
overfishing in 2015 and 2016, while allowing quota stability between 
2016 and 2017, which the tilefish industry considers important in order 
to promote stability in price and supply in the marketplace. 
Alternative 2 was not recommended by the Council because it would 
exceed the catch level recommendations of the Council's SSC, and would 
therefore be inconsistent with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act. Alternative 3 was not selected because it would not support the 
consistency of quota/landings from year to year that the tilefish 
industry considers important to maintaining price and supply stability 
in this fishery.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648

    Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: August 27, 2014.
Eileen Sobeck,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 648 is 
proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 648--FISHERIES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

0
1. The authority citation for part 648 continues to read as follows:

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


0
2. In Sec.  648.292, revise paragraph (b) to read as follows:


Sec.  648.292  Tilefish specifications.

* * * * *
    (b) TAL. (1) The TAL for each fishing year will be specified 
pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section.
    (2) The sum of the TAL and the estimated discards shall be less 
than or equal to the ACT.
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[FR Doc. 2014-20963 Filed 9-2-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P