[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 38 (Thursday, February 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10458-10460]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03992]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XD784


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Herring 
Fishery; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement; 
Scoping Process; Request for Comments

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

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare an environmental impact statement and 
initiate scoping process; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council announces its 
intention to prepare, in cooperation with NMFS, an environmental impact 
statement in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. An 
environmental impact statement may be necessary to provide analytical 
support for Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management 
Plan. Amendment 8 would specify a long-term acceptable biological catch 
control rule for the herring fishery and consider acceptable biological 
catch control rule alternatives that account for herring's role in the 
ecosystem. This notice is to alert the interested public of the scoping 
process and potential development of a draft environmental impact 
statement and to outline opportunity for public participation in that 
process.

DATES: Written and electronic scoping comments must be received on or 
before 5 p.m., local time, April 30, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Written scoping comments on Amendment 8 may be sent by any 
of the following methods:
     Email to the following address: [email protected];
     Mail to Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, New England 
Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 
01950; or
     Fax to (978) 465-3116.
    Requests for copies of the Amendment 8 scoping document and other 
information should be directed to Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, 
Newburyport, MA 01950, telephone (978) 465-0492. The scoping document 
is accessible electronically via the Internet at http://www.nefmc.org.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council, (978) 465-0492.

[[Page 10459]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The New England Fishery Management Council (Council), working 
through its public participatory committee and meeting processes, 
anticipates the development of an amendment that may be analyzed 
through an environmental impact statement (EIS), dependent on 
addressing applicable criteria in the Council on Environmental Quality 
regulations and guidance for implementing the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA). Amendment 8 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery 
Management Plan (Herring FMP) is anticipated to consider long-term 
harvest strategies for herring, including an acceptable biological 
catch (ABC) control rule, that address the biological needs of the 
herring resource and the role of herring in the ecosystem.
    The herring fishery is managed as one stock complex along the east 
coast from Maine to Cape Hatteras, NC, although evidence suggests that 
separate spawning components exist within the stock complex. The 
Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adopted 
management measures for the herring fishery in state and Federal waters 
in 1999 and the Federal Herring FMP became effective on January 10, 
2001.
    Following the re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Conservation 
and Fishery Management Act (MSA) in 2007, the Council developed 
Amendment 4 to the Herring FMP and implemented a process for 
establishing annual catch limits and accountability measures in the 
herring fishery. Amendment 4 also defined the herring ABC control rule 
as the specified approach to setting the ABC for a stock or stock 
complex as a function of scientific uncertainty in the estimate of the 
overfishing limit (OFL) and any other scientific uncertainty. The ABC 
control rule provides guidance to the Council's Scientific and 
Statistical Committee (SSC) regarding how to specify an annual ABC for 
herring based on scientific uncertainty, stock status, and the 
Council's risk tolerance. The ABC control rule specifies a buffer 
between the OFL and ABC to account for scientific uncertainty, such 
that there is a low risk in any given year that the OFL for herring 
will be exceeded. Establishing an ABC control is consistent with 
National Standard 1 Guidelines for implementing the provisions of the 
MSA.
    During the development of Amendment 4, there was considerable 
uncertainty surrounding the 2009 herring stock assessment. As part of 
the 2010-2012 herring fishery specifications process, the SSC 
recommended that the Council specify an ABC based on recent catch until 
a new benchmark stock assessment for herring could be completed. 
Consistent with the SSC advice, the Council specified the herring ABC 
for 2010-2012 as a three-year average catch level (2006-2008). This 
specification was adopted as the interim ABC control rule in Amendment 
4, to serve as a placeholder until a benchmark stock assessment could 
be completed and a more appropriate long-term ABC control rule for 
herring could be developed.
    Following a benchmark stock assessment for herring in 2012, the 
Council and its SSC considered several alternatives for establishing an 
ABC control rule for herring, including two ABC control rules that 
explicitly adjust for the role of a forage fish in the ecosystem, 
during the 2013-2015 fishery specifications process. At that time, the 
SSC recognized the herring stock assessment's accounting for herring's 
role in the ecosystem. The SSC recommended that using reference points 
and projections associated with explicit forage fish ABC control rules 
receive further evaluation prior to implementation in a long-term 
harvest strategy for managing the herring fishery. Ultimately, based on 
SSC advice, the Council adopted an ABC control rule that specified a 
constant ABC for 2013-2015. The ABC control rule was based on the 
annual catch projected to produce a less than or equal to 50 percent 
probability of exceeding the fishing mortality rate to support maximum 
sustainable yield in 2015. At the conclusion of the 2013-2015 
specifications process, the Council recommended a further consideration 
of long-term harvest strategies for herring either during the next 
specifications process and/or through an amendment to the Herring FMP.
    Amendment 8 is proposed to further consider long-term harvest 
strategies for herring, including an ABC control rule that addresses 
the biological needs of the herring resource and explicitly accounts 
for herring's role in the ecosystem, consistent with the requirements 
and intent of the MSA. The importance of herring as a forage species is 
underscored by the Council's specified intent to consider a wide range 
of alternatives for ABC control rules in this amendment, including 
those that explicitly account for herring's role in the ecosystem.
    The Council's Herring Oversight Committee and the Council will be 
identifying the goals and objectives for Amendment 8 following the 
scoping period and will then develop alternatives to meet the purpose 
and need of the action. Additionally, the Council's Ecosystem-Based 
Fisheries Management (EBFM) Plan Development Team and EBFM Committee 
will be developing guidance for managing forage fish within an 
ecosystem context and will be participating in the development of an 
ABC control rule and reference points for herring during this 
amendment. Following input from these Council bodies and the public, 
the Council will select a range of alternatives to consider long-term 
harvest strategies and ABC control rules for herring.

Public Comment

    All persons affected by or otherwise interested in herring 
management are invited to participate in determining the scope and 
significance of issues to be analyzed by submitting written comments 
(see ADDRESSES) or by attending one of the four scoping meetings for 
this amendment. Scoping consists of identifying the range of actions, 
alternatives, and impacts to be considered. At this time in the 
process, the Council believes that the alternatives considered in 
Amendment 8 would consider long-term harvest strategies and ABC control 
rules for herring that explicitly account for herring's role in the 
ecosystem. After the scoping process is completed, the Council will 
begin development of Amendment 8 and will prepare an EIS to analyze the 
impacts of the range of alternatives under consideration. Impacts may 
be direct, individual, or cumulative. The Council will hold public 
hearings to receive comments on the draft amendment and on the analysis 
of its impacts presented in the Draft EIS.
    In addition to soliciting comment on this notice, the public will 
have the opportunity to comment on the measures and alternatives being 
considered by the Council through public meetings and public comment 
periods consistent with NEPA, the MSA, and the Administrative Procedure 
Act. The following scoping meetings have been scheduled. The Council 
will take and discuss scoping comments on this amendment at the 
following public meetings:
    1. Friday, March 6, 2015; 10:30 a.m.; Samoset Resort, Rockland 
Room, 220 Warrenton Street, Rockport, ME 04856; (207) 594-2511.
    2. Thursday, March 26, 2015; 6 p.m.; DoubleTree by Hilton, 50 
Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA 01923; (978) 777-2500.

[[Page 10460]]

    3. Monday, April 6, 2015; 6 p.m.; Webinar; Register to participate: 
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/700212250002809602; call-in 
(631) 992-3221; Access Code 541-819-750.
    4. Monday, April 20, 2015; 6 p.m.; Hilton Hotel, 20 Coogan 
Boulevard, Mystic, CT 06355; (860) 572-0731.

Special Accommodations

    The meetings are accessible to people with physical disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Thomas A. Nies (see ADDRESSES) at least five days 
prior to this meeting date.

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

    Dated: February 23, 2015 .
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-03992 Filed 2-25-15; 8:45 am]
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