[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 201 (Tuesday, October 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71710-71711]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-25137]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XE911


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic 
Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits

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

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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[[Page 71711]]

SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary 
determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application from the 
Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation and Rhode Island Department of 
Environmental Management contains all of the required information and 
warrants further consideration. This Exempted Fishing Permit would 
allow seven commercial fishing vessels and one party/charter vessel to 
collect black sea bass catch data while on routine fishing trips and 
retain a limited amount of black sea bass for laboratory analysis. 
Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act require publication of this notice to provide interested 
parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed 
Exempted Fishing Permits.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 2, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by any of the following 
methods:
     Email to: [email protected]. Include in the subject 
line ``BSB Research Fleet EFP.''
     Mail to: John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, NMFS, 
Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, 
Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope ``Comments on 
BSB Research Fleet EFP.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Reid Lichwell, Fisheries Management 
Specialist, 978-281-9112.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation 
(CFRF) and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM) 
submitted a complete application for an EFP on September 9, 2016, to 
develop a research fleet that would collect fishery-dependent 
information on black sea bass for eight months, November 2016 through 
July 2017. The EFP would authorize seven commercial fishing vessels and 
one party/charter vessel to collect data on black sea bass catch, and 
retain a limited amount of black sea bass for a laboratory study 
conducted by RI DEM. This EFP would exempt the participating vessels 
from the following Federal regulations:
    1. Recreational possession limits specified at 50 CFR 648.145;
    2. Commercial and party/charter minimum size limits for black sea 
bass specified at 50 CFR 648.147(a) and (b) respectively;
    The research fleet would be comprised of vessels fishing with 
different gear types including trawls, lobster pots, gillnets, and hook 
and line. All gear deployments would be typical of the routine fishing 
practices associated with the fishery being targeted. All vessels 
fishing under this research would have either a black sea bass 
moratorium or charter/party federal permit allowing them to legally 
land black sea bass. There will be no increase in fishing effort 
associated with this project.
    Each vessel would be randomly selected to conduct sampling events 
during three trips per month within Southern New England and the Mid-
Atlantic Bight. During each sampling event, up to 50 black sea bass 
would be temporarily held to record their length and sex. Some may be 
retained for shoreside analysis. Each vessel would be allowed to retain 
100 black sea bass per month, not to exceed a cumulative total of 6,400 
individual fish or 10,880 lb (4,935 kg) of black sea bass catch over 
the course of the project.
    All legal sized black sea bass retained for sampling by commercial 
vessels would be reported through a dealer as ``research'' landings and 
attributed to the state of Rhode Island's allocated commercial black 
sea bass quota. Undersize black sea bass retained for sampling would be 
weighed and recorded as bycatch on all appropriate fishing logs. The 
participating vessels would be able to sell their additional catch as 
they typically would under the permits they possess. Catch not retained 
for sale or sampling will be returned to the sea as soon as 
practicable. The participating vessels would be issued the appropriate 
state exemptions to all applicable state regulations. If the Federal 
commercial coastwide quota for black sea bass is reached and leads to a 
Federal black sea bass closure, then no retention of black sea bass 
would occur under this EFP until the fishery reopens.
    Vessels fishing under this research permit would be exempt from the 
commercial and party/charter minimum size limits for black sea bass, to 
allow for the retention of both adult and undersized juvenile black sea 
bass. The party/charter vessel would be exempt from the possession 
limits found at Sec.  648.145 to retain black sea bass for sampling 
above the designated possession limit; there are no federal commercial 
possession limits for black sea bass.
    If approved, CFRF and RI DEM may request minor modifications and 
extensions to the EFP throughout the study period. EFP modifications 
and extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed 
essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and have 
minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the initially 
approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope 
of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.

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

    Dated: October 13, 2016.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-25137 Filed 10-17-16; 8:45 am]
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