[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 228 (Wednesday, November 26, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 70497-70498]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-28034]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

RIN 0648-BE27


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Amendment 24 to the Pacific 
Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of proposed fishery management plan 
amendment; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) has submitted Amendment 24 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish 
Fishery Management Plan (PCGFMP) for Secretarial review. Amendment 24 
would modify the PCGFMP to implement default harvest control rules, 
make minor changes to clarify routine management measure adjustment and 
implementation procedures, add two rockfish species to the PCGFMP, and 
designate several species as Ecosystem Component Species.

DATES: Comments on Amendment 24 must be received on or before January 
26, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2014-0138, 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-2014-0138, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to William W. Stelle, Jr., 
Regional Administrator, 7600 Sand Point Way, NE., Seattle, WA, 98115.
     Fax: 206-525-4736; Attn: Sarah Williams
    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, etc.), 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.
    Information relevant to Amendment 24, which includes a draft 
environmental impact statement (EIS), a regulatory impact review (RIR), 
and an initial regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA) are available for 
public review during business hours at the office of the Pacific 
Fishery Management Council (Council), at 7700 NE Ambassador Place, 
Portland, OR 97220, phone: 503-820-2280, or at www.pcouncil.org. Copies 
of additional reports referred to

[[Page 70498]]

in this document may also be obtained from the Council.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah Williams, phone: 206-526-4646, 
fax: 206-526-6736, or email: [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    This notice is accessible via the Internet at the Office of the 
Federal Register Web site at https://www.federalregister.gov. 
Background information and documents are available at the NMFS West 
Coast Region Web site at http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/fisheries/groundfish/index.html and at the Council's Web site at http://www.pcouncil.org.

Background

    The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each regional fishery 
management council submit any FMP or plan amendment it prepares to NMFS 
for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The 
Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an FMP or 
amendment, immediately publish a notice that the FMP or amendment is 
available for public review and comment. NMFS will consider the public 
comments received during the comment period described above in 
determining whether to approve Amendment 24 to the PCGFMP.
    Amendment 24 consists of three components: (1) Default harvest 
control rules; (2) a suite of minor changes, including clarification of 
routine management measures and adjustments to those measures, 
clarification to the harvest specifications decision making schedule, 
changes to the description of the biennial management cycle process, 
technical changes, updates to make the FMP consistent with SSC guidance 
on the FMSY proxy for elasmobranchs, and clarifications to 
definitions; and (3) addition of two rockfish species to the PCGFMP and 
the designation of EC species.

Default Harvest Control Rules, Clarifications, and Adding Species

    Over the past 3 years, the Council has been examining the harvest 
specifications and management measures decision-making process, and 
related analytical requirements in an effort to simplify these 
processes. Several biennial harvest specifications cycles have not met 
their intended January 1 start date and it was thought that 
efficiencies could be gained by adjusting Council decision-making and 
the analysis undertaken each biennial cycle. Therefore, the Council 
undertook Amendment 24 to examine ways to streamline the Council 
decision-making in each biennium to implement the harvest 
specifications and management measures. This resulted in several 
changes to how the Council will address harvest specifications 
beginning in the 2017-2018 biennium.
    The use of default harvest control rules and their addition to the 
FMP is intended to simplify the Council's harvest specifications 
process and acknowledge that the Council generally maintains the policy 
choices from the previous biennium to determine the annual catch limits 
for the next biennium. Under Amendment 24, the harvest control rules 
used to determine the previous biennium's harvest specifications (i.e., 
overfishing limits, acceptable biological catches, and annual catch 
limits) would automatically be applied to the best scientific 
information available to determine the future biennium's harvest 
specifications. NMFS would implement harvest specifications based on 
the default harvest control rules unless the Council makes a different 
recommendation. In addition to the use of defaults to simplify the 
harvest specifications process, Amendment 24 makes changes to the 
description of the type of management measures that may be addressed 
through the biennial process. Clarifying that the management measures 
should be: (1) Management measures to be classified as routine the 
first time these measures are used; (2) adjustments to current 
management measures that are classified as routine; and (3) new 
management measures, not previously analyzed. This clarifies the focus 
of management measures and is intended to simplify the management 
measures proposed through each biennial cycle.
    The addition of sunset rockfish to the PCGFMP recognizes new 
information from the most recent stock assessment on vermillion 
rockfish, which shows that there are two stocks (vermillion and sunset 
rockfish) instead of one as previously thought. Blackspotted rockfish 
are being added to the PCGFMP because blackspotted/rougheye were 
assessed as one stock and a sorting requirement is proposed for 
blackspotted/rougheye rockfish through the 2015-2016 harvest 
specifications and management measures proposed rule.

Designation of Ecosystem Component Species

    Finally, Amendment 24 designates several species and species groups 
as Ecosystem Component (EC) species. The concept of EC species was 
added to the PCGFMP under Amendment 23, which revised the PCGFMP to 
comply with the revised MSA National Standard 1 Guidelines. However, no 
species were designated as EC species at that time. Generally, EC 
species should be a non-target stock, not be subject to overfishing or 
determined to be overfished or approaching an overfished condition, and 
not likely to become so in the absence of management measures; and not 
generally retained for sale or personal use. Amendment 24 proposes to 
designate the following species, which were already in the PCGFMP, as 
EC species: big skate, California skate, Pacific grenadier, soupfin 
shark, spotted ratfish, and finescale codling. Additionally, the 
following species or species groups are proposed to be added to the 
PCGFMP as EC species: Aleutian skate, Bering/sandpaper skate, 
roughtail/black skate, all other skates, giant grenadier, and all other 
grenadiers. EC species are not considered ``in the fishery'', and do 
not require establishment of harvest specifications (e.g. OFLs, ABCs 
and ACLs).

Public Comments

    NMFS welcomes comments on the proposed FMP amendment through the 
end of the comment period. A proposed rule to implement Amendment 24 
has been submitted for Secretarial review and approval. NMFS expects to 
publish and request public review and comment on proposed regulations 
to implement Amendment 24, along with the groundfish specifications and 
management measures for 2015 and 2016, 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: November 21, 2014.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-28034 Filed 11-25-14; 8:45 am]
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