[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 35 (Monday, February 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9438-9440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03539]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XD775


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic 
Fisheries; Application for Fishing Year 2014 Sector Exemption

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

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Several groundfish sectors have requested regulatory 
exemptions from two recently implemented Gulf of Maine cod interim 
management measures. The Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic 
Region, NMFS, has determined that the request warrants further 
consideration. We are seeking public comment on these exemption 
requests.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 2, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by the following methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject 
line ``Comments on Gulf of Maine Cod Sector Exemption Request.''
     Mail: John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, NMFS, NE 
Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark 
the outside of the envelope ``Comments on Gulf of Maine Cod Sector 
Exemption Request.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Whitmore, Fisheries Policy

[[Page 9439]]

Analyst, 978-281-9182, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 13, 2014, NMFS published a 
temporary rule to enhance protections for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod (79 
FR 67362) in response to an updated GOM cod stock assessment that 
indicated the health of the stock is worsening. The GOM cod interim 
rule implemented a GOM cod trip limit of 200 lb (90.7 kg) for sector 
and common pool groundfish vessels fishing within the GOM broad stock 
area (BSA) and restricted commercial limited access groundfish vessels 
that fish in the GOM BSA to fishing only in that BSA for the duration 
of the declared trip. Additional information on the GOM cod interim 
rule can be found online at www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/GOM_cod_interim_management_measures.html.
    On February 9, 2015, we received an exemption request from several 
sectors. These sectors worked together to assemble 30 mt of GOM cod 
annual catch entitlement (ACE), which was traded to Northeast Fishery 
Sector IV, a lease-only sector with no active fishing effort. That 
sector has proposed to withhold and render unusable that GOM cod ACE, 
including preventing its use for potential carryover to the next 
fishing year, if sectors are granted regulatory exemptions from the GOM 
cod trip limit and GOM BSA restriction.
    The 200-lb (90.7-kg) trip limit was intended to reduce the 
incentive to target GOM cod in areas that would remain open under the 
interim action to ensure that open-area catch would not result in 
excessive GOM cod fishing mortality. The 2014 GOM Cod Interim Rule 
environmental assessment (EA) estimated that implementing the 200-lb 
(90.7-kg) trip limit would likely reduce GOM cod mortality by 20 mt. 
The sectors' request would reduce the GOM cod catch limit by 30 mt. 
Economic modeling and simulations included in the EA suggest that there 
is a substantial amount of uncertainty regarding the 20-mt estimated 
mortality reduction. It should also be noted that most of the public 
comments submitted in response to the GOM cod interim rule opposed the 
implementation of a trip limit because trip limits can result in high 
discards of GOM cod and are counter to the sector system, which limits 
the fishery based on an annual quota. The requesting sectors propose 
that a definite 30-mt reduction in the catch limit resulting from the 
sector exemption would provide a greater biological benefit to GOM cod 
than the probable reduction in mortality from the 200-lb (90.7-kg) trip 
limit. Removing the trip limit, as requested by the sectors, would 
provide a clear limit on overall catch of GOM cod and should minimize 
regulatory discarding.
    The requested exemption would also remove the restriction 
preventing vessels from fishing both inside and outside of the GOM BSA 
on the same trip. The sectors requesting the exemption have argued that 
the single BSA restriction has severely impacted fishing operations of 
vessels that traditionally fish on Georges Bank and in the GOM on the 
same trip. Although recognizing that the single BSA restriction impedes 
flexibility to fish in multiple stock areas on a trip, we previously 
determined that the short-term benefits of this measure were necessary 
to achieve the interim rule's objective of reducing mortality and 
ensuring the effectiveness of other measures in the interim rule. 
Specifically, the single GOM BSA restriction was intended to facilitate 
more effective shore-side enforcement of the 200-lb (90.7 kg) trip 
limit. It was also intended to help reduce the opportunity for vessels 
to misreport their catch to ensure that GOM cod catch would be properly 
accounted for between stock areas.
    Reducing the overall catch limit by 30 mt and removing the trip 
limit more effectively achieves the interim rule's objective of 
reducing potential cod mortality and, along with additional reporting 
measures, outweighs the short-term benefit of retaining the single BSA 
restriction. If the trip limit is no longer in effect, there is less of 
a need for the GOM BSA restriction to facilitate dockside enforcement.
    In consideration of the sectors' request to be exempt from the BSA 
restriction, we are proposing to replace this requirement with daily 
catch reporting requirements should we approve the sectors' request. We 
would still require that sector vessels that declare their intent to 
fish inside and outside of the GOM BSA on the same trip submit daily 
vessel monitoring system (VMS) catch reports. Vessels would also be 
required to submit a VMS catch report prior to moving fishing 
operations from one BSA to another. This additional reporting 
requirement would help ensure that catch is properly accounted for. The 
removal of any incentive to misreport trip catches in relation to the 
trip limit along with additional reporting requirements to help ensure 
proper apportioning of catch between BSAs replaces or mitigates the 
loss of the short-term benefits expected from the single BSA 
restriction.
    When NMFS implemented the interim rule in November 2014, it did not 
take any action to reduce the GOM cod ACL or ACE allocated to sectors. 
During public discussion at the September Council meeting at which the 
Council requested the agency to develop emergency measures for GOM cod, 
it was clear that any unilateral action to reduce the ACE available to 
sectors in the middle of the fishing year could have substantial 
economic impacts to much of the industry. However, in terms of 
effecting mortality reductions, a change to the ACE available for 
harvest by the sectors is generally the most effective and direct means 
to reduce total potential catch. Instead, NMFS imposed a trip limit to 
reduce the incentive to target GOM cod within the ACE available, 
recognizing that if the industry continued to encounter GOM cod, 
mortality would continue largely through regulatory discarding, 
potentially up to the full allocated ACE level. Although the analysis 
supporting the interim measures suggested the trip limit could reduce 
mortality by approximately 20 mt, there was considerable uncertainty 
around this estimate, primarily due to uncertainty with the amount of 
discarding that would occur.
    In this request for a sector exemption, the sectors are proposing 
to implement what NMFS did not: A reduction to the ACE available to 
those sectors for the remainder of the fishing year. Because the 
fishing industry will continue to fish through the end of the fishing 
year, and will continue to encounter GOM cod, the sectors' proposed 
exemption would establish a firm upper limit on total cod mortality and 
is more likely to be lower than would otherwise be achieved through the 
interim measures. In addition to an actual reduction in the total 
potential cod catch, the sectors' proposed exemption would improve the 
catch yield and reduce the uncertainty of that cod catch.
    This exemption would apply only for the remainder of the 2014 
fishing year. It is our intent to continue reviewing sector exemption 
requests included in annual sector operations plans through a proposed 
and final rulemaking process. However, future mid-year exemption 
requests, or modifications to existing exemptions, may be considered, 
and granted or denied, through a shortened notice and comment process 
similar to this action.
    If we can conclude that the exemption request is at least 
conversation neutral, and if this request is granted, this exemption 
will apply to all sectors who request it, and sector operations plans 
and letters of authorizations will be

[[Page 9440]]

modified to include these regulatory exemptions. Minor sector exemption 
modifications may be granted without further notice if they are deemed 
essential to facilitate these exemptions and have minimal impacts that 
do not change the scope or impact of the initially approved sector 
exemption request.
    A supplemental information report analyzing the environmental 
impacts of this exemption request has been developed and is available 
online for review at http://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/regs/.

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

    Dated: February 13, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-03539 Filed 2-18-15; 4:15 pm]
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