[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 224 (Wednesday, November 22, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 55520-55522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25202]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[Docket No. 150121066-5717-02]
RIN 0648-XF805


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna 
Fisheries

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; inseason bluefin tuna quota transfer (Harpoon 
category to General category).

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SUMMARY: NMFS is transferring 25.6 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin 
tuna (BFT) quota from the Harpoon category to the General category for 
the remainder of the 2017 fishing year, to account for overharvests of 
the September and October through November subquotas, and utilize the 
unused portion of the adjusted Harpoon category quota. This action 
results in an adjusted General category subquota of 12.7 mt for the 
December subquota period. It is intended to preserve the opportunity 
for General category fishermen to participate in the December General 
category fishery, which reopens on December 1, 2017, and is based on 
consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding 
inseason adjustments and applies to Atlantic tunas General category 
(commercial) permitted vessels and Highly Migratory Species (HMS) 
Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels when fishing commercially 
for BFT.

DATES: The quota transfer is effective December 1, 2017, through 
December 31, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah McLaughlin or Brad McHale, 978-
281-9260.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implemented under the authority 
of the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.) and 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) governing the harvest of BFT by 
persons and vessels subject to U.S. jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR 
part 635. Section 635.27 subdivides the U.S. BFT quota recommended by 
the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas 
(ICCAT) and as implemented by the United States among the various 
domestic fishing categories, per the allocations established in the 
2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan 
(2006 Consolidated HMS FMP) (71 FR 58058, October 2, 2006), as amended 
by Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP (Amendment 7) (79 FR 
71510, December 2, 2014). NMFS is required under ATCA and the Magnuson-
Stevens Act to provide U.S. fishing vessels with a reasonable 
opportunity to harvest the ICCAT-recommended quota.
    The base quota for the General category is 466.7 mt, as established 
in the 2015 BFT quota final rule (80 FR 52198, August 28, 2015). See 
Sec.  635.27(a). Each of the General category time periods (January, 
June through August, September, October through November, and December) 
is allocated a ``subquota'' or portion of the annual General category 
quota. Although it is called the ``January'' subquota, the regulations 
allow the General category fishery under this quota to continue until 
the subquota is reached or March 31, whichever comes first. The 
subquotas for each time period are as follows: 24.7 mt for January; 
233.3 mt for June through August; 123.7 mt for September; 60.7 mt for 
October through November; and 24.3 mt for December. Any unused General 
category quota rolls forward within the fishing year, which coincides 
with the calendar year, from one time period to the next, and is 
available for use in subsequent time periods.
    On December 19, 2016, NMFS published an inseason action 
transferring 16.3 mt of quota from the December 2017 subquota to the 
January 2017 subquota period, resulting in a subquota of 41 mt for the 
January 2017 period and a subquota of 8 mt for the December 2017 period 
(81 FR 91873). For 2017, NMFS also transferred 40 mt from the Reserve 
to the General category effective March 2, resulting in an adjusted 
General category quota of 506.7 mt (82 FR 12747, March 7, 2017). In 
advance of the October 1 General category reopening, NMFS published an 
inseason action transferring 156.4 mt from the Reserve category to the 
General category to account for overharvests of the January, June 
through August, and September subquotas, resulting in an adjusted 2017 
General category quota of 663.1 mt (82 FR 46000, October 3, 2017). NMFS 
closed the General category fishery when the October through November 
subquota (60.7 mt) was met, effective October 5, 2017 (82 FR 46934, 
October 10, 2017). The Harpoon category fishery automatically closed 
for the year on November 15, 2017. Once re-opened on December 1, the 
2017 General category fishery would be open until December 31, 2017, or 
until the General category quota is reached, whichever comes first.

Quota Transfer

    Under Sec.  635.27(a)(9), NMFS has the authority to transfer quota 
among fishing categories or subcategories, after considering regulatory 
determination criteria at Sec.  635.27(a)(8). NMFS has considered all 
of the relevant determination criteria and their applicability to the 
General category fishery. These considerations include, but are not 
limited to, the following:
    NMFS considered the catches of the General category quota to date 
(including during the summer/fall and winter fisheries in the last 
several years), and the likelihood of closure of that segment of the 
fishery if no adjustment is made (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(ii) and (ix)). 
Preliminary landings data as of October 31, 2017, indicate that the 
General category has landed 676 mt this year, which exceeds the 
adjusted

[[Page 55521]]

General category quota of 663.1 mt, and the Harpoon category has landed 
43 mt of the adjusted Harpoon category quota of 68.6 mt. Without a 
quota transfer at this time, there would be no quota available to 
General category participants in December because the entire adjusted 
General category quota of 663.1 mt has been reached and exceeded. 
Approximately 75 percent (816.3 mt) of the total of the BFT subquotas 
for all commercial categories (888.7 mt, as published in the 2015 BFT 
quota final rule) has been harvested as of October 31, 2017, however, 
and NMFS anticipates that some amount of that 888.7 mt of commercial 
quota may remain unused by the end of the year even with the transfer. 
Absent a transfer at this time, this segment of the fishery would have 
to remain closed if no adjustment is made, even though NMFS anticipates 
that commercial-sized BFT will be readily available to vessels fishing 
under the General category quota when the General category fishery is 
scheduled to reopen on December 1, 2017. Transferring 25.6 mt of BFT 
quota from the Harpoon category to the General category, effective 
December 1, 2017, would allow the General category to resume fishing 
and would result in an adjusted quota of 688.7 mt for the 2017 General 
category fishing season, and, specifically, 12.7 mt available for the 
December subquota period.
    Regarding the projected ability of the vessels fishing under the 
particular category quota (here, the General category) to harvest the 
additional amount of BFT quota transferred before the end of the 
fishing year (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(iii)), NMFS considered General 
category landings over the last several years and landings to date this 
year. Landings are highly variable and depend on access to commercial-
sized BFT and fishing conditions, among other factors. A portion of the 
transferred quota covers overharvests in the category as prosecuted to 
date (i.e., for late-reported September landings and landings in excess 
of the October through November subquota), and thus has already been 
harvested. For the remainder of the transferred quota, which make the 
December subquota whole to the extent that transferrable quota is 
available and to utilize unused Harpoon category quota, there is a high 
probability that the transferred quota will be harvested during the 
December time period.
    NMFS also considered the estimated amounts by which quotas for 
other gear categories of the fishery might be exceeded (Sec.  
635.27(a)(8)(iv)) and the ability to account for all 2017 landings and 
dead discards. In the last several years, total U.S. BFT landings have 
been below the total available U.S. quota such that the United States 
has carried forward the maximum amount of underharvest allowed by ICCAT 
from one year to the next. NMFS will need to account for 2017 landings 
and dead discards within the adjusted U.S. quota, consistent with ICCAT 
recommendations, and NMFS anticipates having sufficient quota to do 
that.
    Regarding the usefulness of information obtained from catches in 
the particular category for biological sampling and monitoring of the 
status of the stock (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(i)), biological samples 
collected from BFT landed by General category fishermen and provided by 
BFT dealers continue to provide NMFS with valuable data for ongoing 
scientific studies of BFT age and growth, migration, and reproductive 
status. Additional opportunity to land BFT over the longest time-period 
allowable would support the collection of a broad range of data for 
these studies and for stock monitoring purposes.
    This transfer would be consistent with the current U.S. quota, 
which was established and analyzed in the 2015 BFT quota final rule, 
and with objectives of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and amendments. 
(Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(v) and (vi)). Another principal consideration is 
the objective of providing opportunities to harvest the full annual 
U.S. BFT quota without exceeding it based on the goals of the 2006 
Consolidated HMS FMP and Amendment 7, including to achieve optimum 
yield on a continuing basis and to optimize the ability of all permit 
categories to harvest their full BFT quota allocations (related to 
Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(x)).
    Based on the considerations above, NMFS is transferring all of the 
remaining 25.6 mt of Harpoon category quota to the General category 
with the objective of accounting for underharvests of the September and 
October through November subquotas, providing the previously announced 
8 mt of BFT quota for the December subquota period, and also utilizing 
the remainder of the unused Harpoon category quota. Therefore, NMFS 
adjusts the General category quota to 688.7 mt for the 2017 General 
category fishing season (i.e., through December 31, 2017, or until the 
General category quota is reached, whichever comes first), and adjusts 
the Harpoon category quota to 43 mt. This results in 12.7 mt being 
available to the General category for the December subquota period. If 
necessary, NMFS will close the General category fishery for December 
when the available subquota for that time period is reached.

Monitoring and Reporting

    NMFS will continue to monitor the BFT fishery closely. Dealers are 
required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of a dealer 
receiving BFT. Late reporting by dealers compromises NMFS' ability to 
timely implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustment, 
as well as closures, and may result in enforcement actions. 
Additionally, and separate from the dealer reporting requirement, 
General and HMS Charter/Headboat category vessel owners are required to 
report the catch of all BFT retained or discarded dead within 24 hours 
of the landing(s) or end of each trip, by accessing hmspermits.noaa.gov 
or by using the HMS Catch Reporting App. Depending on the level of 
fishing effort and catch rates of BFT, NMFS may determine that 
additional action (e.g., quota adjustment or closure) is necessary to 
ensure available subquotas are not exceeded or to enhance scientific 
data collection from, and fishing opportunities in, all geographic 
areas. If needed, subsequent adjustments will be published in the 
Federal Register. In addition, fishermen may call the Atlantic Tunas 
Information Line at (978) 281-9260, or access hmspermits.noaa.gov, for 
updates on quota monitoring and inseason adjustments.
    NMFS reminds General category participants that when the fishery 
reopens December 1, 2017, the BFT General category daily retention 
limit will be one large medium or giant BFT (measuring 73'' or greater) 
per vessel per day/trip.

Classification

    The Assistant Administrator for NMFS (AA) finds that it is 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest to provide prior 
notice of, and an opportunity for public comment on, this action for 
the following reasons:
    The regulations implementing the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 
amendments provide for inseason retention limit adjustments to respond 
to the unpredictable nature of BFT availability on the fishing grounds, 
the migratory nature of this species, and the regional variations in 
the BFT fishery. Affording prior notice and opportunity for public 
comment to implement the quota transfer for the remainder of 2017 is 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest as such a delay would 
result in continued closure of the General category fishery (because 
the available quota has been met) and the need to re-open the fishery 
later in the

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December time period, rather than the fishery automatically re-opening 
on December 1. The delay would preclude the fishery from harvesting BFT 
that are available on the fishing grounds and that might otherwise 
become unavailable during a delay. Therefore, the AA finds good cause 
under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for 
public comment. For these reasons, there also is good cause under 5 
U.S.C. 553(d) to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness.
    This action is being taken under Sec.  635.27(a)(9) (Inseason 
adjustments) and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 1801 et seq.

    Dated: November 16, 2017.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-25202 Filed 11-21-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P