[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 163 (Tuesday, August 23, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57489-57490]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-20056]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 160617540-6702-02]
RIN 0648-XE695


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species 
Fisheries; Annual Specifications

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this final rule to implement annual management 
measures and harvest specifications to establish the allowable catch 
levels (i.e. annual catch limit (ACL)/harvest guideline (HG)) for 
Pacific mackerel in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the West 
Coast for the fishing season of July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017. 
This rule is implemented according to the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The 2016-2017 HG for Pacific mackerel is 
21,161 metric tons (mt). This is the total commercial fishing target 
level. NMFS is also implementing an annual catch target (ACT), of 
20,161 mt. If the fishery attains the ACT, the directed fishery will 
close, reserving the difference between the HG (21,161 mt) and ACT as a 
1,000 mt set-aside for incidental landings in other CPS fisheries and 
other sources of mortality. This final rule is intended to conserve and 
manage the Pacific mackerel stock off the U.S. West Coast.

DATES: Effective September 22, 2016 through June 30, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Lindsay, West Coast Region, 
NMFS, (562) 980-4034, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During public meetings each year, the 
estimated biomass for Pacific mackerel is presented to the Pacific 
Fishery Management Council's (Council) CPS

[[Page 57490]]

Management Team (Team), the Council's CPS Advisory Subpanel (Subpanel) 
and the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), and the 
biomass and the status of the fishery are reviewed and discussed. The 
biomass estimate is then presented to the Council along with the 
recommended overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch 
(ABC) calculations from the SSC, along with the calculated ACL, HG, and 
ACT recommendations, and comments from the Team and Subpanel. Following 
review by the Council and after reviewing public comment, the Council 
adopts a biomass estimate and makes its catch level recommendations to 
NMFS. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., NMFS manages the Pacific mackerel fishery 
in the U.S. EEZ off the Pacific coast (California, Oregon, and 
Washington) in accordance with the FMP. Annual Specifications published 
in the Federal Register establish the allowable harvest levels (i.e. 
OFL/ACL/HG) for each Pacific mackerel fishing year. The purpose of this 
action is to implement the 2016-2017 ACL, HG, ACT and other annual 
catch reference points, including an OFL and an ABC that take into 
consideration uncertainty surrounding the current estimate of biomass 
for Pacific mackerel in the U.S. EEZ off the Pacific coast.
    The CPS FMP and its implementing regulations require NMFS to set 
these annual catch levels for the Pacific mackerel fishery based on the 
annual specification framework and control rules in the FMP. These 
control rules include the HG control rule, which in conjunction with 
the OFL and ABC rules in the FMP, are used to manage harvest levels for 
Pacific mackerel, in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. According to 
the FMP, the quota for the principal commercial fishery is determined 
using the FMP-specified HG formula. The HG is based, in large part, on 
the current estimate of stock biomass. The annual biomass estimates are 
an explicit part of the various harvest control rules for Pacific 
mackerel, and as the estimated biomass decreases or increases from one 
year to the next, the resulting allowable catch levels similarly trend. 
The harvest control rule in the CPS FMP is HG = [(Biomass-Cutoff) * 
Fraction * Distribution] with the parameters described as follows:
    1. Biomass. The estimated stock biomass of Pacific mackerel age one 
and above. For the 2016-2017 management season this is 118,968 mt.
    2. Cutoff. This is the biomass level below which no commercial 
fishery is allowed. The FMP established this level at 18,200 mt.
    3. Fraction. The harvest fraction is the percentage of the biomass 
above 18,200 mt that may be harvested.
    4. Distribution. The average portion of the Pacific mackerel 
biomass estimated in the U.S. EEZ off the Pacific coast is 70 percent 
and is based on the average historical larval distribution obtained 
from scientific cruises and the distribution of the resource according 
to the logbooks of aerial fish-spotters.
    At the June 2015 Council meeting, the Council adopted a new full 
stock assessment for Pacific mackerel completed by NMFS Southwest 
Fisheries Science Center and along with the Council's SSC, approved the 
resulting Pacific mackerel biomass estimate of 118,968 mt as the best 
available science for use in the 2016-2017 fishing year. Based on 
recommendations from its SSC and other advisory bodies, the Council 
recommended and NMFS is implementing, an OFL of 24,983 mt, an ABC and 
ACL of 22,822 mt, an HG of 21,161 mt, and an ACT of 20,161 mt for the 
fishing year of July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017.
    Upon attainment of the ACT, the directed fishing would close, 
reserving the difference between the HG and ACT (1,000 mt) as a set 
aside for incidental landings in other CPS fisheries. For the remainder 
of the fishing year incidental landings would also be constrained to a 
45 percent incidental catch allowance when Pacific mackerel are landed 
with other CPS (in other words, no more than 45 percent by weight of 
the CPS landed per trip may be Pacific mackerel), except that up to 3 
mt of Pacific mackerel could be landed incidentally without landing any 
other CPS. Upon attainment of the HG (21,161 mt), no retention of 
Pacific mackerel would be allowed in CPS fisheries. In previous years, 
the incidental set-aside established in the mackerel fishery has been, 
in part, to ensure that if the directed quota for mackerel was reached 
that the operation of the Pacific sardine fishery was not overly 
restricted. There is no directed Pacific sardine fishery for the 2016-
2017 season; therefore, the need for a high incidental set-aside is 
reduced. The purpose of the incidental set-aside and the allowance of 
an incidental fishery are to allow for restricted incidental landings 
of Pacific mackerel in other fisheries, particularly other CPS 
fisheries, when the directed fishery is closed to reduce potential 
discard of Pacific mackerel and allow for continued prosecution of 
other important CPS fisheries.
    The NMFS West Coast Regional Administrator would publish a notice 
in the Federal Register announcing the date of any closure to either 
directed or incidental fishing. Additionally, to ensure the regulated 
community is informed of any closure, NMFS would also make 
announcements through other means available, including fax, email, and 
mail to fishermen, processors, and state fishery management agencies.
    On June 23, 2016, a proposed rule was published for this action and 
public comments solicited (81 FR 40844, as corrected by 81 FR 47154), 
with a comment period that ended on July 25, 2016. NMFS received no 
comments regarding the proposed Pacific mackerel specifications and no 
changes were made from the proposed rule. Detailed information on the 
fishery and the stock assessment are found in the report ``Pacific 
Mackerel (Scomber japonicus) Stock Assessment for USA Management in the 
2015-16 Fishing Year'' (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, the Assistant Administrator, NMFS, has 
determined that this final rule is consistent with the CPS FMP, other 
provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act, and other applicable law.
    These specifications are exempt from review under Executive Order 
12866.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration during the proposed rule stage that this action would 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. The factual basis for the certification was published in the 
proposed rule and is not repeated here. No comments were received 
regarding this certification. As a result, a regulatory flexibility 
analysis was not required and none was prepared.
    This action does not contain a collection-of-information 
requirement for purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

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

    Dated: August 12, 2016.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-20056 Filed 8-22-16; 8:45 am]
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