[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 213 (Wednesday, November 4, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 68265-68267]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-28070]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[Docket No. 150121066-5717-02]
RIN 0648-XE242


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna 
Fisheries

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; inseason quota transfer.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is transferring 35 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin 
tuna (BFT) quota from the Harpoon category and 65 mt from the Reserve 
category to the General category for the remainder of the 2015 fishing 
year. This transfer results in adjusted quotas of 566.7 mt, 43.6 mt and 
82.1 mt for the General, Harpoon, and Reserve categories, respectively. 
This action is based on consideration of the regulatory determination 
criteria regarding inseason adjustments and applies to Atlantic tunas 
General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Highly Migratory 
Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels when fishing 
commercially for BFT.

DATES: Effective October 30, 2015 through December 31, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah McLaughlin or Brad McHale, 978-
281-9260.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implemented under the authority 
of the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.) and 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) governing the harvest of BFT by 
persons and vessels subject to U.S. jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR 
part 635. Section 635.27 subdivides the U.S. BFT quota recommended by 
the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas 
(ICCAT) among the various domestic fishing categories, per the 
allocations established in the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory 
Species Fishery Management Plan (2006 Consolidated HMS FMP) (71 FR 
58058, October 2, 2006), as amended by the recently published Amendment 
7 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP (Amendment 7) (79 FR 71510, December 
2, 2014). NMFS

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is required under ATCA and the Magnuson-Stevens Act to provide U.S. 
fishing vessels with a reasonable opportunity to harvest the ICCAT-
recommended quota.
    This paragraph describes the current General, Harpoon, and Reserve 
category quotas, prior to the adjustments taken in this inseason 
action. NMFS recently implemented a final rule that increased the U.S. 
BFT quota and subquotas per ICCAT Recommendation 14-05 (80 FR 52198, 
August 28, 2015). The base quotas for the General category, the Harpoon 
category, and the Reserve category are 466.7 mt, 38.6 mt, and 24.8 mt, 
respectively. See Sec.  635.27(a). Each of the General category time 
periods (January, June through August, September, October through 
November, and December) is allocated a portion of the annual General 
category quota. Although it is called the ``January'' subquota, the 
regulations allow the General category fishery under this quota to 
continue until the subquota is reached or March 31, whichever comes 
first. Based on the General category quota of 466.7 mt, the subquotas 
for each time period are as follows: 24.7 mt for January; 233.3 mt for 
June through August; 123.7 mt for September; 60.7 mt for October 
through November; and 24.3 mt for December. Any unused General category 
quota rolls forward within the fishing year, which coincides with the 
calendar year, from one time period to the next, and is available for 
use in subsequent time periods. To date, NMFS has published three 
inseason quota transfers that have adjusted the available 2015 Reserve 
category quota, which currently is 147.1 mt (80 FR 7547, February 22, 
2015; 80 FR 45098, July 29, 2015; and 80 FR 46516, August 5, 2015). The 
adjusted Harpoon category quota, following transfer of 40 mt from the 
Reserve category in the third of the above three inseason transfers as 
well as implementation of the final BFT quota rule, is 78.6 mt.

Inseason Transfer

    The 2015 General category fishery was open January 1, 2015, through 
March 31, 2015, reopened June 1, 2015, and remains open until December 
31, 2015, or until the General category quota is reached, whichever 
comes first.
    Under Sec.  635.27(a)(9), NMFS has the authority to transfer quota 
among fishing categories or subcategories, after considering 
determination criteria provided under Sec.  635.27(a)(8), including the 
five new criteria recently added in Amendment 7, which include: The 
usefulness of information obtained from catches in the particular 
category for biological sampling and monitoring of the status of the 
stock; the catches of the particular category quota to date and the 
likelihood of closure of that segment of the fishery if no adjustment 
is made; the projected ability of the vessels fishing under the 
particular category quota to harvest the additional amount of BFT 
before the end of the fishing year; the estimated amounts by which 
quotas for other gear categories of the fishery might be exceeded; 
effects of the adjustment on BFT rebuilding and overfishing; effects of 
the adjustment on accomplishing the objectives of the fishery 
management plan; variations in seasonal distribution, abundance, or 
migration patterns of BFT; effects of catch rates in one area 
precluding vessels in another area from having a reasonable opportunity 
to harvest a portion of the category's quota; review of dealer reports, 
daily landing trends, and the availability of the BFT on the fishing 
grounds; optimizing fishing opportunity; accounting for dead discards, 
facilitating quota monitoring, supporting other fishing monitoring 
programs through quota allocations and/or generation of revenue; and 
support of research through quota allocations and/or generation of 
revenue.
    NMFS has considered the determination criteria regarding inseason 
adjustments and their applicability to the General category fishery for 
the end of 2015. These considerations include, but are not limited to, 
the following: Biological samples collected from BFT landed by General 
category fishermen and provided by tuna dealers continue to provide 
NMFS with valuable parts and data for ongoing scientific studies of BFT 
age and growth, migration, and reproductive status. Additional 
opportunity to land BFT would support the collection of a broad range 
of data for these studies and for stock monitoring purposes. Another 
principal consideration is the objective of providing opportunities to 
harvest the full annual U.S. BFT quota without exceeding it based on 
the goals of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and Amendment 7, including 
to achieve optimum yield on a continuing basis and to optimize the 
ability of all permit categories to harvest their full BFT quota 
allocations. General category landings in the winter BFT fishery, which 
typically begins in December or January each year, are highly variable 
and depend on availability of commercial-sized BFT to participants. 
Commercial-sized BFT continue to be landed by General category vessels.
    As of October 27, 2015, the General category has landed 458.8 mt, 
or 98 percent of its 2015 quota of 466.7 mt. Without a quota transfer 
at this time, NMFS would have to close the 2015 General category 
fishery as the currently available General category quota would be 
reached shortly. Overall, approximately 68 percent of the commercial 
BFT subquotas of 836.5 mt has been harvested. Approximately 90 mt of 
the Purse Seine and Harpoon categories may remain unused and activity 
in those categories has stopped for the year. NMFS will need to account 
for 2015 landings and dead discards within the adjusted U.S. quota, 
consistent with ICCAT recommendations, and anticipates having 
sufficient quota to do that even with this transfer.
    This quota transfer would provide additional opportunities to 
harvest the U.S. bluefin quota without exceeding it, while preserving 
the opportunity for General category fishermen to participate in the 
winter BFT fishery. This action is consistent with the quotas recently 
established and analyzed in the BFT tuna quota final rule (80 FR 52198, 
August 28, 2015), and consistent with objectives of the 2006 
Consolidated HMS FMP and Amendments, and is not expected to negatively 
impact stock health.
    Based on the considerations above, NMFS is transferring 35 mt of 
Harpoon category quota and 65 mt of Reserve category quota to the 
General category for the remainder of 2015, resulting in adjusted 
quotas of 566.7 mt, 43.6 mt and 82.1 mt for the General, Harpoon, and 
Reserve categories, respectively. NMFS will close the 2015 General 
category fishery when the adjusted General category quota of 566.7 mt 
has been reached, or it will close automatically on December 31, 2015.

Monitoring and Reporting

    NMFS will continue to monitor the BFT fishery closely. Dealers are 
required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of a dealer 
receiving BFT. General, HMS Charter/Headboat, Harpoon, and Angling 
category vessel owners are required to report the catch of all BFT 
retained or discarded dead, within 24 hours of the landing(s) or end of 
each trip, by accessing hmspermits.noaa.gov. Depending on the level of 
fishing effort and catch rates of BFT, NMFS may determine that 
additional adjustment or closure is necessary to ensure available quota 
is not exceeded or to enhance scientific data collection from, and 
fishing opportunities in, all geographic areas. If needed, subsequent 
adjustments will be published in the Federal Register. In addition, 
fishermen may call the Atlantic Tunas Information Line at (978)

[[Page 68267]]

281-9260, or access hmspermits.noaa.gov, for updates on quota 
monitoring and inseason adjustments.

Classification

    The Assistant Administrator for NMFS (AA) finds that it is 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest to provide prior 
notice of, and an opportunity for public comment on, this action for 
the following reasons:
    The regulations implementing the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 
Amendments provide for inseason retention limit adjustments to respond 
to the unpredictable nature of BFT availability on the fishing grounds, 
the migratory nature of this species, and the regional variations in 
the BFT fishery.
    Affording prior notice and opportunity for public comment to 
implement the quota transfer for the remainder of 2015 is impracticable 
as it would preclude NMFS from acting promptly to allow continued 
harvest of BFT that are available on the fishing grounds via a quota 
transfer from the Harpoon and Reserve categories to the General 
category. The delay would preclude the fishery from harvesting BFT that 
are available on the fishing grounds and that might otherwise become 
unavailable during a delay. Therefore, the AA finds good cause under 5 
U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for public 
comment. For all of the above reasons, there is good cause under 5 
U.S.C. 553(d) to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness.
    This action is being taken under Sec.  635.27(a)(9) and is exempt 
from review under Executive Order 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 1801 et seq.

    Dated: October 30, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-28070 Filed 10-30-15; 4:15 pm]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P