[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 54 (Monday, March 21, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 14986-14988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06306]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 160202070-6070-01]
RIN 0648-XE427


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast 
Multispecies Fishery; Adjustment of Georges Bank and Southern New 
England/Mid-Atlantic Yellowtail Flounder Annual Catch Limits

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; adjustment of annual catch limits.

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SUMMARY: This action transfers unused quota of Georges Bank and 
Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder from the Atlantic 
scallop fishery to the Northeast multispecies fishery for the remainder 
of the 2015 fishing year. This quota transfer is justified when the 
scallop fishery is not expected to catch the entire allocation of 
either stock of yellowtail flounder. The quota transfer is intended to 
provide additional harvest opportunities for groundfish vessels to help 
achieve the optimum yield for these stocks while ensuring sufficient 
amounts of yellowtail flounder are available for the scallop fishery.

DATES: Effective April 18, 2016, through April 30, 2016.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aja Szumylo, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
978-281-9195.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS is required to estimate the total 
amount of

[[Page 14987]]

yellowtail flounder catch from the scallop fishery by January 15 each 
year. If the scallop fishery is expected to catch less than 90 percent 
of its Georges Bank (GB) or Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA) 
yellowtail flounder sub-ACL, the Regional Administrator (RA) has the 
authority to reduce the scallop fishery sub-annual catch limit (sub-
ACL) for these stocks to the amount projected to be caught, and 
increase the groundfish fishery sub-ACL for these stocks up to the 
amount reduced from the scallop fishery. This adjustment is intended to 
help achieve optimum yield for these stocks, while not threatening an 
overage of the ACLs for the stocks by the groundfish and scallop 
fisheries.
    Based on the most current available data, we project that the 
scallop fishery will have unused quota in the 2015 fishing year. We 
expect that the scallop fishery will catch up to 30 mt of GB yellowtail 
flounder, or 79 percent of its 2015 fishing year sub-ACL, and up to 44 
mt of SNE/MA yellowtail flounder, or 66 percent of its 2015 fishing 
year sub-ACL. Because the scallop fishery is not expected to catch its 
entire allocation of GB and SNE/MA yellowtail flounder, this rule 
reduces the scallop sub-ACL for both stocks to the upper limit 
projected to be caught, and increases the groundfish sub-ACLs for these 
stocks by the same amount, effective April 18, 2016, through April 30, 
2016.
    This results in a transfer of 7.9 mt of GB yellowtail flounder and 
22.3 mt of SNE/MA yellowtail flounder, from the scallop fishery to the 
groundfish fishery. Table 1 summarizes the revisions to the 2015 
fishing year sub-ACLs, and Table 2 shows the revised allocations for 
the groundfish fishery as allocated between the sectors and common pool 
based on final sector membership for fishing year 2015. This transfer 
is based on the upper limit of expected yellowtail flounder catch by 
the scallop fishery, which is expected to minimize any risk of an ACL 
overage by the scallop fishery while still providing additional fishing 
opportunities for groundfish vessels.

                                Table 1--Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Yellowtail Flounder Sub-ACLs
                                                                    [In metric tons]
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                                                                                           Initial sub-                    Revised sub-
                     Stock                                       Fishery                     ACL (mt)       Change (mt)      ACL (mt)     Percent change
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GB Yellowtail Flounder.........................  Groundfish.............................             195            +7.9           202.9              +4
                                                 Scallop................................            38.0            -7.9            30.1             -21
SNE/MA Yellowtail Flounder.....................  Groundfish.............................             557           +22.3           579.3              +4
                                                 Scallop................................            66.0           -22.3            43.7             -34
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                              Table 2--Allocations for Sectors and the Common Pool
                                                   [In pounds]
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                      Stock                           GB yellowtail flounder        SNE/MA yellowtail flounder
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                   Sector name                       Original         Revised        Original         Revised
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Fixed Gear Sector...............................              60              63           4,537           4,719
Maine Coast Community Sector....................              15              16           8,095           8,419
Maine Permit Bank...............................              59              62             390             405
Northeast Coast Communities Sector..............           3,594           3,739           8,826           9,179
Northeast Fishery Sector I......................               0               0               0               0
Northeast Fishery Sector II.....................           8,197           8,529          17,162          17,849
Northeast Fishery Sector III....................             197             205           5,014           5,214
Northeast Fishery Sector IV.....................           9,296           9,672          28,813          29,966
Northeast Fishery Sector V......................           5,420           5,639         253,651         263,807
Northeast Fishery Sector VI.....................          11,622          12,093          64,600          67,186
Northeast Fishery Sector VII....................          44,912          46,732          53,151          55,279
Northeast Fishery Sector VIII...................          41,896          43,593          66,703          69,374
Northeast Fishery Sector IX.....................         115,114         119,778          96,962         100,844
Northeast Fishery Sector X......................               7               7           6,724           6,993
Northeast Fishery Sector XI.....................               7               7             240             249
Northeast Fishery Sector XIII...................         106,377         110,687         228,053         237,183
New Hampshire Permit Bank.......................               0               0               0               0
Sustainable Harvest Sector 1....................           3,974           4,135           5,343           5,557
Sustainable Harvest Sector 3....................          70,954          73,828         127,312         132,409
All Sectors Combined............................         421,701         438,785         975,574       1,014,632
Common Pool.....................................           8,200           8,533         252,401         262,506
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Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, the NMFS Assistant Administrator has 
determined that the management measures implemented in this final rule 
are necessary for the conservation and management of the Northeast 
multispecies fishery and consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and 
other applicable law.
    This action is authorized by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from 
review under Executive Order 12866.
    The NMFS Assistant Administrator finds good cause pursuant to 5 
U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for public 
comment for this in season sub-ACL adjustment because notice and 
comment would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest. 
Because NMFS is required to project GB and SNE/MA yellowtail flounder 
catch in the scallop fishery on or around January 15 of each year, 
there

[[Page 14988]]

is insufficient time to allow for prior public notice and comment for 
the transfer of quota for these yellowtail flounder stocks from the 
scallop fishery to the groundfish fishery. The NE multispecies fishing 
year ends on April 30, 2016. If NMFS allowed for the time necessary to 
provide for prior notice and comment, it would be unlikely that the 
transfer would occur in time to allow groundfish vessels to harvest the 
additional quota of these stocks before the end of the fishing year. As 
a result, groundfish fishermen would be prevented from offsetting their 
current negative economic circumstances due to the severe decreases in 
ACLs of several important groundfish stocks, thus undermining the 
intent of the rule. Giving effect to this rule as soon as possible will 
help relieve fishermen from more restrictive ACLs for the yellowtail 
stocks and help achieve optimum yield in the fishery. For these same 
reasons, the NMFS Assistant Administrator also finds good cause 
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to waive the 30-day delay in 
effectiveness for this action for these same reasons. Further, there is 
no need to allow the industry additional time to adjust to this rule 
because it does not require any compliance or other action on the part 
of individual scallop or groundfish fishermen.
    Because notice and opportunity for comment are not required 
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or any other law, the analytical requirements 
of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) are 
inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis is not 
required and one has not been prepared.

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

    Dated: March 15, 2016.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-06306 Filed 3-18-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P