[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 190 (Friday, September 30, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 67287-67288]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-23684]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

RIN 0648-BG17


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Amendment 27 to the Pacific 
Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of proposed fishery management plan 
amendment; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) has submitted Amendment 27 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish 
Fishery Management Plan (PCGFMP) for Secretarial review. Amendment 27 
would add deacon rockfish to the FMP, reclassifies big skate as an 
actively managed stock, add a new inseason management process for 
commercial and recreational in California, and several clarifications.

DATES: Comments on Amendment 27 must be received on or before November 
29, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2016-0094, by any of the following methods:
     Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2016-0094, click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, 
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to William Stelle, Regional 
Administrator, West Coast Region, NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way NE., 
Seattle, WA 98115-0070.
    Instructions: NMFS may not consider comments if they are sent by 
any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after 
the comment period ends. All comments received are a part of the public 
record and NMFS will post for public viewing on www.regulations.gov 
without change. All personal identifying information (e.g., name, 
address, etc.), confidential business information, or otherwise 
sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender is publicly 
accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter ``N/A'' in the 
required fields if you wish to remain anonymous).
    Information relevant to Amendment 27, which includes a draft 
environmental assessment (EA), a regulatory impact review (RIR), and an 
initial regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA) are available for public 
review during business hours at the NMFS West Coast Regional Office at 
7600 Sand Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 98115.

[[Page 67288]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gretchen Hanshew, phone: 206-526-6147, 
fax: 206-526-6736, or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Electronic Access

    This notice is accessible via the Internet at the Office of the 
Federal Register Web site at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html. Background information and documents are available at the 
NMFS West Coast Region Web site at http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/fisheries/groundfish/index.html and at 
the Council's Web site at http://www.pcouncil.org.

Background

    The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each regional fishery 
management council submit any FMP or plan amendment it prepares to NMFS 
for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The 
Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an FMP or 
amendment, immediately publish a notice that the FMP or amendment is 
available for public review and comment. NMFS will consider the public 
comments received during the comment period described above in 
determining whether to approve Amendment 27 to the PCGFMP.
    Amendment 27 consists of 5 components: (1) Reclassify big skate 
from an Ecosystem Component Species to ``in the fishery'', (2) add 
deacon rockfish to the list of species in the FMP, (3) establish a new 
inseason management process in California for black, canary, and 
yelloweye rockfish, (4) make updates to clarify several stock 
assessment descriptions, and (5) update several sections because canary 
rockfish and petrale sole are rebuilt.

1. Reclassify Big Skate as ``in the fishery''

    Amendment 24 to PCGFMP classified several species, including big 
skate, as Ecosystem Component (EC) Species. However, when big skate was 
classified as an EC species it was not known that a majority of the 
skate species that were landed and described as ``unspecified skate'' 
in the Shorebased IFQ Program landings was actually big skate. In order 
for a stock to be classified as an EC species (according to National 
Standard Guideline 1), (a) it may not be determined to be subject to 
overfishing, approaching overfished, or overfished; (b) it must not be 
likely to become subject to overfishing or overfished, according to the 
best available information, in the absence of conservation and 
management measures; and (c) it may not generally be retained for sale 
or personal use. As big skate are being targeted and therefore 
generally retained for sale, it can no longer be considered an EC 
species. Therefore, Amendment 27 reclassifies big skate as in the 
fishery and this rule proposes species specific harvest specifications.

2. New California Inseason Process

    The objective of any inseason management system is to be responsive 
to the needs of fishing participants while keeping catch with the 
established harvest specifications. The scope and magnitude of options 
available to address management issues is highly dependent on the 
amount of time between when an issue is identified and when corrective 
action(s) can be implemented. The summer months tend to be the busiest 
times for both the commercial and recreational fisheries in California 
and mortality tends to accumulate more quickly during these times The 
Council meets in June and September of each year. If an action is not 
warranted based on information available at the June meeting, there is 
a lag of up to four months before additional inseason actions can be 
implemented. Because fisheries are ongoing during this time, overages 
identified at the September meeting tend to be of a higher magnitude 
requiring more severe corrective actions (e.g., closing a fishery). 
Therefore, a new inseason process for only black rockfish, canary 
rockfish, and yelloweye rockfish, and only in California was developed. 
This system would allow NMFS to take inseason action outside of a 
Council meeting when a Federal harvest specification for one of these 
species was projected to be attained or had been attained prior to the 
start of a Council meeting. Allowing NMFS to take inseason action 
outside a Council meeting can reduce the severity of management actions 
and reduce negative economic impacts to the fleets and to the coastal 
communities which depend on the revenues generated from these 
fisheries. Similar inseason management processes were not explored for 
Washington or Oregon because they have rapid inseason management 
processes sufficient for their inseason management needs.

3. Updates to the PCGFMP

    Minor edits are included in Amendment 27 which clarify several 
stock assessment procedures and categories resulting from Amendment 23 
that were inadvertently omitted. Amendment 23 modified the PCGFMP 
consistent with the revised National Standard Guidelines in 2011.

4. Updates Based on New Science for Deacon Rockfish, Canary Rockfish, 
and Petrale Sole

    Deacon rockfish (Sebastes diaconus) was recently described and 
adopted as a new Sebastes species by the American Fisheries Society 
based on evidence of the presence of two genetically distinct cryptic 
species in central California. Deacon rockfish is therefore 
acknowledged as an FMP species that is ``in the fishery'' based on the 
FMP provision, ``The category ``rockfish'' includes all genera and 
species of the family Scorpaenidae, even if not listed, that occur in 
the Washington, Oregon, and California area. The Scorpaenidae genera 
are Sebastes, Scorpaena, Sebastolobus, and Scorpaenodes.
    Finally, canary rockfish and petrale sole were declared rebuilt on 
August 4, 2015; therefore all references to them as overfished stocks 
must be updated.

Public Comments

    NMFS welcomes comments on the proposed FMP amendment through the 
end of the comment period. A proposed rule to implement Amendment 27 
has been submitted for Secretarial review and approval. NMFS expects to 
publish and request public review and comment on proposed regulations 
to implement Amendment 27, along with the groundfish specifications and 
management measures for 2017 and 2018, in the near future. Public 
comments on the proposed rule must be received by the end of the 
comment period on the amendment to be considered in the approval/
disapproval decision on the amendment. All comments received by the end 
of the comment period for the amendment, whether specifically directed 
to the amendment or the proposed rule, will be considered in the 
approval/disapproval decision.

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

    Dated: September 27, 2016.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-23684 Filed 9-29-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P