[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 14, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13562-13563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-04959]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 170207156-7225-01]
RIN 0648-XF219


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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 2016 fishing year, which ends on April 30, 2017. This quota 
transfer is justified when the scallop fishery is not expected to catch 
its entire allocations of yellowtail flounder. The quota transfer is 
intended to provide additional fishing 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 March 13, 2017, through April 30, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Keiley, Fishery Management 
Specialist, (978) 281-9116.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS is required to estimate the total 
amount of yellowtail flounder catch from the scallop fishery on or 
around 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 2016 fishing year. The 
scallop fishery is projected to catch approximately 2 mt of GB 
yellowtail flounder, or 5 percent of its 2016 fishing year sub-ACL, and 
approximately 17 mt of SNE/MA yellowtail flounder, or 53 percent of its 
2016 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 March 13, 2017, through 
April 30, 2017. 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 summarizes the revisions to the 2016 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 2016.

[[Page 13563]]



            Table 1--Georges Bank and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic Yellowtail Flounder Sub-ACLs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                   Initial  sub-   Revised  sub-                      Percent
             Stock                   Fishery         ACL  (mt)       ACL  (mt)     Change  (mt)       change
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GB Yellowtail Flounder........  Groundfish......             211           250.8           +39.8             +19
                                Scallop.........              42             2.2           -39.8             -95
SNE/MA Yellowtail Flounder....  Groundfish......             189           204.2           +15.2              +8
                                Scallop.........              32            16.8           -15.2             -48
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                              Table 2--Allocations for Sectors and the Common Pool
                                                   [In pounds]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                      GB yellowtail flounder        SNE/MA yellowtail flounder
                   Sector name                   ---------------------------------------------------------------
                                                      Revised        Original         Revised        Original
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fixed Gear Sector/FGS...........................              78              66           1,664           1,540
Maine Coast Community Sector....................              20              17           3,460           3,203
Maine Permit Bank...............................              76              64             143             132
Northeast Coastal Communities Sector............           4,620           3,887           3,238           2,997
North East Fishery Sector (NEFS) 1..............  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............
NEFS 2..........................................          10,312           8,675           7,779           7,200
NEFS 3..........................................             248             209             300             277
NEFS 4..........................................          11,951          10,055          10,569           9,783
NEFS 5..........................................           7,443           6,262         104,801          97,000
NEFS 6..........................................          14,943          12,571          23,697          21,933
NEFS 7..........................................          18,865          15,872          11,114          10,287
NEFS 8..........................................          58,817          49,483          23,468          21,722
NEFS 9..........................................         139,287         117,183          39,219          36,300
NEFS 10.........................................               6               5           2,388           2,210
NEFS 11.........................................               8               7              79              73
NEFS 12.........................................               2               2              47              44
NEFS 13.........................................         190,714         160,449          94,545          87,507
New Hampshire Permit Bank.......................               0               0               0               0
Sustainable Harvest Sector 1....................           6,702           5,639           2,691           2,491
Sustainable Harvest Sector 2....................          12,216          10,278          10,095           9,344
Sustainable Harvest Sector 3....................          68,558          57,678          33,573          31,074
Common Pool.....................................           8,053           6,775          77,312          71,558
Sector Total....................................         544,866         458,400         372,871         345,116
Groundfish Total................................         552,919         465,175         450,184         416,674
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens 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 Assistant Administrator for Fisheries finds good cause pursuant 
to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for 
public comment for these adjustments because notice and comment would 
be impracticable and contrary to the public interest. NMFS is required 
to project GB and SNE/MA yellowtail flounder catch in the scallop 
fishery on or around January 15 of each year so that projected unused 
quota can be transferred to the groundfish fishery. The data did not 
become available until February 8, 2017. There is insufficient time to 
allow for prior public notice and comment for the transfer of quota for 
these yellowtail flounder if the transfer is to be of benefit to the 
groundfish fishery. The Northeast multispecies fishing year ends on 
April 30, 2017. 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 not receive additional allocation that is 
intended to offset their current negative economic circumstances due to 
the severe decreases in ACLs of several important groundfish stocks. 
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. 
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 9, 2017.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-04959 Filed 3-13-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P