[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 8, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12076-12077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-05156]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XE478


Identification of Nations Engaged in Illegal, Unreported, or 
Unregulated Fishing, Bycatch, or Shark Fishing

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

ACTION: Notice; request for information.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is seeking information regarding nations whose vessels 
are engaged in illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing, 
bycatch of protected living marine resources (PLMRs), and/or fishing 
activities in waters beyond any national jurisdiction that target or 
incidentally catch sharks. Such information will be reviewed for the 
purposes of the identification of nations pursuant to the High Seas 
Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act (Moratorium Protection Act).

DATES: Information should be received on or before May 31, 2016. A 
public webinar will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. eastern daylight 
saving time on April 22, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Information may be submitted to either by mail to: NMFS 
Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, Attn.: MSRA 
Information, F/IS 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, or 
electronically to: [email protected]. Information on how to 
participate in the April 22, 2016, public webinar will be posted online 
at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristin Rusello, phone 301-427-8376, 
or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Shark Conservation Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 
111-348) amended the Moratorium Protection Act by requiring that 
actions be taken by the United States to strengthen shark conservation. 
In November 2015, the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing 
Enforcement Act of 2015 (IUUFEA) (Pub. L. 114-81) further amended the 
Moratorium Protection Act by, among other things, expanding the scope 
of information that can be used for the identification of nations to 
three years for the IUU fishing and bycatch provisions.
    Specifically, the Moratorium Protection Act requires the Secretary 
of Commerce (Secretary) to identify in a biennial report to Congress 
those nations whose fishing vessels are engaged, or have been engaged 
at any point during the preceding three years, in IUU fishing. The 
definition of IUU fishing can be found at 50 CFR 300.201 and includes:
    (1) Fishing activities that violate conservation and management 
measures required under an international fishery management agreement 
to which the United States is a party, including catch limits or 
quotas, capacity restrictions, bycatch reduction requirements, shark 
conservation measures, and data reporting;
    (2) In the case of non-parties to an international fishery 
management agreement to which the United States is a party, fishing 
activities that would undermine the conservation of the resources 
managed under that agreement;
    (3) Overfishing of fish stocks shared by the United States, for 
which there are no applicable international conservation or management 
measures or in areas with no applicable international fishery 
management organization or agreement, that has adverse impacts on such 
stocks;
    (4) Fishing activity that has an adverse impact on vulnerable 
marine ecosystems such as seamounts, hydrothermal vents, cold water 
corals and other vulnerable marine ecosystems located beyond any 
national jurisdiction, for which there are no applicable conservation 
or management measures or in areas with no applicable international 
fishery management organization or agreement; and
    (5) Fishing activities by foreign flagged vessels in U.S. waters 
without authorization of the United States.
    In addition, the Secretary must identify in the biennial report 
those nations whose fishing vessels are engaged, or have been engaged 
at any point during the preceding three years in fishing activities in 
waters beyond any national jurisdiction that result in bycatch of a 
PLMR, or beyond the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that result in 
bycatch of a PLMR shared by the United States, and that have not 
implemented measures to address that bycatch that are comparable in 
effectiveness to U.S. regulatory requirements. In this context, PLMRs 
are defined as non-target fish, sea turtles, sharks, or marine mammals 
that are protected under U.S. law or international agreement, including 
the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Shark 
Finning Prohibition Act, and the Convention on International Trade in 
Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. PLMRs do not include 
species, except sharks, managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act, or 
any international fishery management agreement. A list of species 
considered as PLMRs for this purpose is available online at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/msa2007/docs/list_of_protected_lmr_act_022610.pdf.
    Furthermore, the Shark Conservation Act requires that the Secretary 
of Commerce identify nations in a biennial report to Congress whose 
fishing vessels are engaged, or have been engaged during the calendar 
year prior to the biennial report in fishing activities or practices in 
waters beyond any national jurisdiction that target or incidentally 
catch sharks and the nation has not adopted a regulatory program to 
provide for the conservation of sharks, including measures to prohibit 
removal of any of the fins of a shark (including the tail) and 
discarding the carcass of the shark at sea, that is comparable to that 
of the United States, taking into account different conditions.
    More information regarding the identification process and how the 
information received will be used in that process can be found in the 
regulations codified at 50 CFR 300.200. Note that the timeframe for 
activities to be considered for IUU fishing and bycatch identifications 
has not been changed to reflect the amendments in the IUUFEA to three 
years each.
    The fourth biennial report to Congress was submitted in February 
2015 and is available online at: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/iuu/msra_page/2015noaareptcongress.pdf. The report identified six nations 
for IUU fishing.
    In fulfillment of its requirements under the Moratorium Protection 
Act, NMFS is preparing the fifth biennial report to Congress, which 
will identify nations whose fishing vessels are engaged in IUU fishing 
or fishing practices that result in bycatch of PLMRs, shark catch in 
waters beyond any national jurisdiction without a regulatory program 
comparable to the United States. NMFS is soliciting information from 
the public that could assist in its identification of nations engaged 
in activities that meet the criteria described above for IUU fishing, 
PLMR bycatch, or shark catch in waters beyond any national 
jurisdiction. Some

[[Page 12077]]

types of information that may prove useful to NMFS include:
     Documentation (photographs, etc.) of IUU activity or 
fishing vessels engaged in PLMR bycatch or catch of sharks on the high 
seas;
     Documentation (photographs, etc.) of fishing vessels 
engaged in shared PLMR bycatch in any waters beyond the U.S. EEZ;
     Fishing vessel records;
     Trade data supporting evidence that a nation's vessels are 
engaged in shark catch on the high seas;
     Reports from off-loading facilities, port-side government 
officials, enforcement agents, military personnel, port inspectors, 
transshipment vessel workers and fish importers;
     Sightings of vessels included on RFMO IUU vessel lists;
     RFMO catch documents and statistical document programs;
     Nation's domestic regulations for bycatch and shark 
conservation and management;
     Action or inaction at the national level, resulting in 
non-compliance with RFMO conservation and management measures, such as 
exceeding quotas or catch limits, or failing to report or misreporting 
data of the nation's fishing activities; and
     Reports from governments, international organizations, or 
nongovernmental organizations.
    NMFS will consider all available information, as appropriate, when 
making a determination whether or not to identify a particular nation 
in the biennial report to Congress. As stated previously, NMFS is 
limited in the data it may use as the basis of a nation's 
identification. This information includes IUU fishing activity and 
bycatch of PLMRs in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and shark fishing activity in 
waters beyond any national jurisdiction in 2016. Information should be 
as specific as possible as this will assist NMFS in its review. NMFS 
will consider several criteria when determining whether information is 
appropriate for use in making identifications, including:
     Corroboration of information;
     Whether multiple sources have been able to provide 
information in support of an identification;
     The methodology used to collect the information;
     Specificity of the information provided;
     Susceptibility of the information to falsification and 
alteration; and
     Credibility of the individuals or organization providing 
the information.

    Dated: March 3, 2016.
John Henderschedt,
Director, Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-05156 Filed 3-7-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P