[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 21, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55352-55355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25160]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XF760


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Application 
for an Exempted Fishing Permit

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for exempted fishing permit.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the receipt of an application and the 
public comment period for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from Mr. 
John Gauvin of Gauvin and Associates, LLC. If granted, this permit 
would allow the applicant to continue the development and testing of a 
salmon excluder device for the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery.

[[Page 55353]]

The objective of the EFP application is to identify upgraded excluder 
design(s) and specific rigging configurations most likely to produce 
the greatest relative reduction in Chinook salmon bycatch rates on 
vessels from different horsepower and size classes of the Bering Sea 
pollock fishery. The most effective current salmon excluder designs and 
rigging configurations would be refined and tested systematically under 
conditions that approximate as closely as possible actual commercial 
fishing practices in that fishery. Testing will be conducted in 2018, 
2019, and 2020, with results from each year guiding the device design 
for each vessel size class to be tested the subsequent year during the 
period of this EFP. This experiment has the potential to promote the 
objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act.

DATES: Comments on this EFP application must be submitted to NMFS on or 
before December 12, 2017. In addition, public comments can be presented 
to The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) that will 
review and consider the application at its meeting from December 4, 
2017, through December 12, 2017, in Anchorage, AK.

ADDRESSES: The Council meeting will be held at the Anchorage Hilton 
Hotel, 500 W 3rd Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501. The agenda for the Council 
meeting is available at http://www.npfmc.org. In addition to submission 
of public comments at the Council meeting, you may submit your 
comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2017-0127, by either of the following 
methods:
     Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2017-0127, click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, 
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region 
NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, 
AK 99802-1668.
    Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other 
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, 
may not be considered. All comments received are a part of the public 
record and NMFS will post the comments for public viewing on 
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address), confidential business information, 
or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender 
will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter 
``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous).
    Electronic copies of the EFP application and the basis for a 
categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act, the 
final Environmental Impact Statement on Bering Sea Chinook Salmon 
Bycatch Management (Amendment 91 under the Fishery Management Plan for 
Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area 
(FMP)), and the Environmental Assessment prepared for Amendment 110 to 
the FMP are available from the Alaska Region, NMFS Web site at http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bridget Mansfield, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the domestic groundfish 
fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) 
under the FMP, which the Council prepared under the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Regulations governing the BSAI 
groundfish fisheries appear at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679. The FMP and 
the implementing regulations at Sec.  600.745(b) and Sec.  679.6 allow 
the NMFS Regional Administrator to authorize, for limited experimental 
purposes, fishing that would otherwise be prohibited. Procedures for 
issuing EFPs are contained in the implementing regulations

Background

    Pacific salmon support large commercial, recreational, and 
subsistence fisheries and continue to be of great cultural importance 
throughout Alaska. Chinook salmon bycatch, where bycatch means fish 
caught and released while targeting another species or caught and 
released while targeting the same species, in the Bering Sea pollock 
fishery is a concern to those who depend on those salmon resources in 
Alaska and Canada, and further reduction in salmon bycatch is desired 
by those who use salmon resources and by the pollock fishing industry. 
Annual limits (PSC) are placed on the number of Chinook salmon that may 
be taken in the BSAI trawl fisheries. Chinook salmon bycatch in the 
Bering Sea pollock fishery is managed under a system of two PSC limits 
(described below); allocations among the Bering Sea pollock fishery 
sectors, inshore cooperatives, and Community Development Quota (CDQ) 
groups; and other measures designed to minimize bycatch below the 
higher PSC limit.
    The PSC limits became effective in 2011 as part of Amendment 91 to 
the FMP (75 FR 53026, August 30, 2010) to manage Chinook salmon bycatch 
in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery. Amendment 91 includes two 
Chinook salmon PSC limits: the 60,000 Chinook salmon PSC limit is 
available to those who participate in an industry-developed incentive 
plan agreement (IPA) that provides incentives for each vessel to avoid 
Chinook salmon bycatch, and a 47,591 Chinook salmon PSC limit applies 
fleet-wide if industry does not form any IPAs. Currently all vessels in 
this fishery participate in an IPA. Amendment 110 to the FMP was 
implemented in 2016 (81 FR 37534, June 10, 2016) to modify the existing 
Chinook salmon bycatch program, specifically to make it more effective 
at avoiding Chinook salmon, particularly when Chinook salmon abundance 
is low. More details on Amendments 91 and 110 may be found in the final 
Environmental Impact Statement on Bering Sea Chinook Salmon Bycatch 
Management (Amendment 91), and the Environmental Assessment prepared 
for Amendment 110 (see ADDRESSES).
    The majority of pollock fishermen in the Bering Sea use salmon 
excluder devices on a regular basis as part of the overall effort by 
the fishery to reduce salmon bycatch under the Chinook PSC limits and 
bycatch avoidance incentive programs in place in the fishery. 
Improvements in Chinook salmon escapement and pollock retention rates 
for these excluder devices would provide an enhanced opportunity to 
minimize Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery to 
the extent practicable, while maintaining the potential for the full 
harvest of the pollock total allowable catch (TAC) within specified PSC 
limits. An EFP is needed to facilitate effective testing of 
improvements to the excluder devices, because exemptions from certain 
regulations, as described below, would be required to meet the needs of 
the experimental design.

Exempted Fishing Permit

    On August 15, 2017, Mr. John Gauvin, of Gauvin and Associates, LLC, 
submitted an application for an EFP for 2018 through 2020 to improve 
the performance of the salmon excluder device developed under EFP 15-01 
from 2015 to 2016, and to validate the performance of this device for 
pollock trawl gear used in the Bering Sea. The objective of the 
proposed 2018 EFP is to test refinements to existing salmon excluder 
devices on vessels from different horsepower and size classes in the 
Bering Sea pollock fishery to

[[Page 55354]]

identify the excluder design(s) and specific rigging variations that 
are most likely to produce the greatest relative improvements to 
reductions in Chinook salmon bycatch rates without significantly 
lowering pollock catch rates. Salmon are designated as prohibited 
species that are incidentally caught in the pollock fishery (Sec.  
679.21(e) and (f)). The most effective current excluder designs and 
rigging configurations will be refined and tested systematically under 
conditions that approximate as closely as possible actual commercial 
fishing practices in the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery. Testing will 
be conducted in 2018, 2019, and 2020 during the ``A'' season for 
pollock from January 20 through June 10. Results from each year would 
guide the device design tests in each vessel size class for each 
subsequent year of this EFP.
    The experiment would be conducted on vessels authorized to fish in 
the Bering Sea pollock trawl fishery. Tests would be performed in each 
of the following three vessel classes: (1) Catcher vessels equal to or 
less than 1,800 horsepower, (2) catcher vessels greater than 1,800 
horsepower, and (3) catcher processors. Experimental methods specify 
that each device and specific adjustments to be tested be inserted into 
a pollock trawl net with improved camera and lighting systems to 
monitor the flow of salmon and pollock within the net and the level of 
escapement through the excluder portal during normal fishing 
operations. The effectiveness of the excluder devices will be monitored 
under a set of systematic vessel operations for each vessel class.
    Approximately 600 non-Chinook salmon and 600 Chinook salmon from 
the ``A'' season for each year from 2018 through 2020 would be required 
to support the project. In total, the applicant would be limited to 
harvesting 1,800 non-Chinook and 1,800 Chinook salmon during the EFP 
period. The experimental design requires this quantity of salmon to 
ensure statistically valid results. A total of 2,500 metric tons (mt) 
of groundfish (primarily pollock) would be taken during each ``A'' 
season in 2018 through 2020 over the duration of the EFP. Approximately 
97 to 99 percent of the groundfish harvested is expected to be pollock. 
The experimental design requires this quantity of pollock to ensure a 
statistically adequate sample size for measuring pollock escapement 
through the salmon excluder device.
    To test the salmon excluder devices, exemptions would be necessary 
from regulations for salmon bycatch management, observer requirements, 
closure areas, TACs for groundfish, and PSC limits for the pollock 
fishery. Following the practice that the Council and NMFS have approved 
for past EFP experiments dedicated to salmon bycatch reduction, 
groundfish and prohibited species taken during the experiment would not 
be counted against the annual TAC and PSC limits (65 FR 55223, 
September 13, 2000). Chinook salmon taken during the experiment would 
not be counted toward the Chinook salmon PSC limits under Sec.  
679.21(f). If the EFP salmon were counted toward and exceeded PSC 
limits, possibly triggering additional management measures, those EFP 
salmon could create an additional burden on pollock trawl fishermen.
    The final 2018 Bering Sea pollock harvest specifications were 
published on February 27, 2017 (82 FR 11826). The acceptable biological 
catch (ABC) level is 2,979,000 mt, and the TAC is 1,345,000 mt. Up to 
2,500 mt of pollock per year would be allowed to be harvested under the 
proposed EFP without accruing against the Bering Sea pollock TAC. That 
amount equates to 0.08 percent of the 2018 Bering Sea pollock ABC, 1.8 
percent of the TAC, and 1.5 percent of the difference between the ABC 
and the TAC. The ABC and TAC levels for 2019 and 2020 would be set 
under the normal harvest specifications setting process as stipulated 
at Sec.  679.20. If Bering Sea pollock ABC and TAC levels for those 
years are similar to 2018, the amount of pollock taken under the EFP 
would represent similarly low fractions of the ABC and TAC. The EFP 
fishing will be permitted for this proposed action if the ABC for 
Bering Sea pollock exceeds the TAC by at least 2,500 mt in 2019 and 
2020.
    Very little groundfish incidental catch occurs in the pollock 
fishery, and the harvest of other fish species during the EFP fishing 
is expected to be 25 mt to 75 mt per season. The majority of these 
other species harvested under the EFP likely would be Pacific cod, 
skates, flatfish, halibut, and jellyfish. The amount of groundfish 
harvest under the EFP and by the commercial groundfish fisheries is not 
expected to cause the ABCs for any groundfish species to be exceeded in 
any year from 2018 through 2020 because other groundfish TACs are set 
with a sufficient difference between ABC and TAC to accommodate EFP 
fishing catch of groundfish species other than pollock.
    The EFP would include an exemption from selected observer 
requirements at Sec.  679.50. Participating vessels would use ``sea 
samplers,'' who are NMFS-trained observers. They would not be deployed 
as NMFS observers, however, at the time of the EFP fishing. Space 
limitations aboard the participating vessels would preclude placing 
both sea samplers and observers aboard and allowing for concurrent 
operations. The ``sea samplers'' would conduct the EFP data collection 
and perform other observer duties that normally would be required for 
vessels directed fishing for pollock. Vessels would not be exempt from 
observer requirements for non-EFP fishing during trips in which both 
EFP and non-EFP fishing occurs.
    The applicant also requested an exemption to fish in areas 
otherwise closed to fishing with trawl gear under 50 CFR part 679: 
Sec.  679.22(a)(7)(ii) and the Steller Sea Lion Conservation Area (SCA) 
(Sec.  679.22(a)(7)(vii)). Exempted fishing must be conducted outside 
Steller sea lion protection areas closed to pollock trawl fishing, as 
described at Sec.  679.22(a)(7), except the sector closure of the 
Steller Sea Lion Conservation Area (SCA) under Sec.  
679.22(a)(7)(vii)(C)(2). The SCA exemption will only apply as long as 
the combined amount of pollock taken from the SCA does not exceed the 
28 percent annual total allowable catch limit (TAC) before April 1, as 
specified in the Steller sea lion protection measures (Sec. Sec.  
679.20(a)(5)(i)(C) and 679.22(a)(7)(vii)). The experimental design 
requires that the tests be conducted in areas of salmon concentration 
sufficient to ensure a statistically adequate sample size. The SCA 
includes areas of high salmon concentration and is therefore an ideal 
location for conducting the experiment and ensuring that the vessel 
encounters sufficient concentrations of salmon and pollock for meeting 
the experimental design.
    The applicant would be required to submit to NMFS a final report of 
the EFP results by December 31, 2020. The report would include the 
salmon excluder device designs and rigging configurations tested in the 
experiment; how the tests were conducted, including operational 
variables tested (such as towing speeds, water conditions, target catch 
rates); performance of the device in terms of salmon bycatch reduction, 
target catch escapement, handling, and maintenance; and the total catch 
of each groundfish species and Pacific halibut in metric tons and the 
total number of each salmon species caught during EFP fishing.
    The activities that would be conducted under this EFP are not 
expected to have a significant impact on the human environment, as 
detailed in the draft categorical exclusion prepared

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for this action (see ADDRESSES). The EFP would be subject to 
modifications pending any new relevant information regarding the 2018 
through 2020 fishery, including the groundfish harvest specifications.
    In accordance with Sec.  679.6 and 600 CFR 745(b)(3)(ii), NMFS has 
determined that the application warrants further consideration and has 
forwarded the application to the Council to initiate consultation. The 
Council is scheduled to consider the EFP application during its 
December 2017 meeting, which will be held at the Anchorage Hilton 
Hotel, 500 W 3rd Ave, Anchorage, AK. The applicant has been invited to 
appear in support of the application.

Public Comments

    Interested persons may comment on the application at the December 
2017 Council meeting during public testimony or until December 12, 
2017. Information regarding the meeting is available at the Council's 
Web site at http://www.npfmc.org. Copies of the application and 
categorical exclusion are available for review from NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES). Comments also may be submitted directly to NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES) by the end of the comment period (see DATES).

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

    Dated: November 15, 2017.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-25160 Filed 11-20-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P