[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 134 (Friday, July 14, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32534-32535]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14820]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XF510


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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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary 
determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application submitted by 
the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance contains all of the 
required information and warrants further consideration. This Exempted 
Fishing Permit would allow participants to use electronic monitoring 
systems in lieu of at-sea monitors in support of a study to develop 
electronic monitoring for the purposes of catch monitoring in the 
groundfish fishery. Additionally, vessels would be authorized to access 
portions of groundfish closed areas. Regulations under the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of 
this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to 
comment on applications for proposed Exempted Fishing Permits.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 31, 2017.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Claire Fitz-Gerald, Fishery Management 
Specialist, 978-281-9255.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Groundfish sectors are required to implement 
and fund an at-sea monitoring (ASM) program. A sector is allowed to use 
electronic monitoring (EM) to satisfy this monitoring requirement, 
provided that NMFS deems the technology sufficient for catch 
monitoring. EM typically incorporates video cameras, gear sensors, and 
electronic reporting systems into a vessel's fishing operations. For 
the groundfish fishery, the program designs currently being considered 
are the ``audit model'' and the ``maximized retention model.'' The 
audit model would use EM to verify discards reported by a captain on a 
vessel trip report (VTR). Under the maximized retention model, vessels 
would be required to retain most fish species (e.g., allocated 
groundfish stocks), but be required to discard other species, such as 
those managed by trip limits (e.g., dogfish) or protected species 
(e.g., Atlantic salmon), and EM would be used to ensure compliance with 
discarding regulations.
    NMFS has not yet approved EM as a suitable alternative to ASM for 
the groundfish fishery. There are still some issues that must be 
resolved; for example, specifying how much video needs to be reviewed 
to satisfy monitoring objectives and identifying best practices for 
species that are difficult to identify. To address these challenges, 
NMFS has been collaborating with the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's 
Alliance (CCCFA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the Gulf of Maine 
Research Institute, the Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, Ecotrust 
Canada, and several groundfish sectors since 2015. NMFS continues to 
develop an EM program with these partners that can be implemented for 
catch monitoring in the groundfish fishery. In May 2016, NMFS issued 
EFPs to vessels from the Georges Bank Cod Fixed Gear Sector, the Maine 
Coast Community Sector, the Sustainable Harvest Sector, and Northeast 
Fishery Sectors 5 and 11, which allowed them to use EM in lieu of at-
sea monitors on trips selected for ASM, at the 14 percent target 
observer coverage level. Under the EFP, 100 percent of the video from 
these trips are reviewed and used to identify and enumerate discards of 
groundfish species. NMFS did not use discarded catch reported on the 
vessel trip report. In May 2017, the EFP was renewed to continue 
efforts to improve the functionality of EM, refine fish handling 
protocols, and support future implementation of the audit model. The 
2017 target observer coverage is 16 percent. However, our partners are 
seeking to expand the use of EM and data collection, and requested this 
new, additional EFP.
    Under this newest EFP, participants would be required to use EM on 
100 percent of their groundfish trips to verify regulated groundfish 
discards, and EM would be used to replace at-sea monitors when selected 
for ASM

[[Page 32535]]

coverage. EM would not replace Northeast Fishery Observer Program 
(NEFOP) observers, but EM would run concurrently on these trips. 
Initially, 100 percent of the video from every trip would be reviewed 
for data collection to monitor discards and support ongoing analysis to 
implement an audit program (i.e., reduce video review rates below 100 
percent and/or use electronic VTR for discard data in quota 
monitoring).
    Given presumably high concentrations of healthy fish stocks in 
portions of groundfish closed areas, and because vessels would be fully 
monitored, the CCCFA also requested access to portions of groundfish 
closed areas to enable vessels to more effectively target healthy fish 
stocks (i.e., pollock, haddock, hake, and redfish), while avoiding cod. 
If approved, this request would help achieve another project objective, 
which is to increase participation and incentivize the use of EM. These 
exemptions would include: (1) Hook gear (jig machines, hand gear, 
benthic long lines) and sink gillnets in Closed Area I (CAI) and Closed 
Area II (CAII); (2) Hook gear (jig machines, hand gear, benthic long 
lines) in the Western Gulf of Maine (WGOM) Closure Area; and (3) Jig 
gear (jig machines and hand gear) in the Fippennies Ledge portion of 
Cashes Ledge. The CCCFA did not request that trawl gear vessels be 
allowed to access these closed areas under the EFP. The EFP would not 
exempt any participating vessels from the seasonal Gulf of Maine (GOM) 
Cod Protection Areas to ensure cod spawning protection is not 
undermined. EFP trips would occur year-round (excluding seasonal 
closures), although the majority of trips would occur in the summer and 
fall months. Participation in this EFP would be heavily dependent on 
how many vessels leave the already-approved EFP (i.e., 16 percent 
coverage, no closed area access), and choose to join this new EFP 
(i.e., 100 percent coverage, closed area access). There are currently 
14 vessels listed on the current EFP. Because vessels may only 
participate in one of these EFPs; these 14 vessels, plus an additional 
3 vessels, could be approved under this new 100-percent EM EFP. If 
access to the closed areas is approved, we expect most vessels would 
choose to participate in this new EFP.
    All catch of groundfish stocks allocated to sectors by vessels 
would be deducted from the sector's annual catch entitlement for each 
groundfish stock. Legal-sized regulated groundfish would be retained 
and landed, as required by the FMP. Undersized groundfish would be 
handled according to the EM project guidelines in view of cameras and 
returned to the sea as quickly as possible. All other species would be 
handled per normal commercial fishing operations. No legal-size 
regulated groundfish would be discarded, unless otherwise permitted 
through regulatory exemptions granted to the participating vessel's 
sector.
    NMFS has not yet developed the full set of business rules for an 
audit program, such as the pass/fail criteria and the video review 
rates. However, under this EFP, vessels would continue to pursue the 
audit model by reporting all catch (kept and discards) on their 
electronic VTR, and EM would be used to monitor discards from each 
trip. This EFP is expected to significantly increase EM data collection 
by requiring EM on 100 percent of trips along with increased 
opportunities for accessing healthy fish stocks within some closed 
areas. This will improve the ability to develop and implement an audit 
program, beyond the EFPs that required EM coverage of 14 percent last 
year, and 16 percent this year.
    The CCCFA requested a gear exemption from the Atlantic Highly 
Migratory Species (HMS) regulations; that request is being considered 
separately by the Atlantic HMS program.
    The CCCFA also requested an exemption from the Pre-Trip 
Notification System (PTNS), which is used in several fisheries for 
NEFOP observer deployment and for ASM deployment in the groundfish 
fishery; we do not intend to grant that exemption. Vessels 
participating in this EFP are still required to take NEFOP observers, 
and without a suitable and fair alternative, we must still use PTNS to 
facilitate and monitor observer deployments in the fishery. 
Additionally, it is highly likely that all Federal vessels will have a 
pre-trip requirement as part of the Region's Fishery-Dependent Data 
Vision (FDDV) project. We think it is important to retain this type of 
requirement, rather than temporarily exempt vessels only to have it 
replaced by a similar requirement in the near future. However, we 
recognize the concerns expressed by the applicants, and the fishing 
industry at-large regarding reporting requirements. We expect that the 
FDDV will address many of these concerns, and that EM may offer the 
ability to simplify reporting. If approved, the applicant may request 
minor modifications and extensions to the EFP throughout the year. 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: July 11, 2017.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-14820 Filed 7-13-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P