[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 68 (Monday, April 9, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 15240-15285]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06760]



[[Page 15239]]

Vol. 83

Monday,

No. 68

April 9, 2018

Part II





Department of Commerce





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





National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration





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





50 CFR Part 648





 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; 
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Essential Fish Habitat; 
Final Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 83 , No. 68 / Monday, April 9, 2018 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 15240]]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 160301163-8204-02]
RIN 0648-BF82


Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Essential Fish 
Habitat

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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

SUMMARY: This action implements approved regulations for the New 
England Fishery Management Council's Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat 
Amendment 2. This rule revises essential fish habitat and habitat area 
of particular concern designations, revises or creates habitat 
management areas, including gear restrictions, to protect vulnerable 
habitat from fishing gear impacts, establishes dedicated habitat 
research areas, and implements several administrative measures related 
to reviewing these measures, as well as other regulatory adjustments to 
implement these measures. This action is necessary to comply with the 
requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act to periodically review essential fish habitat 
designations and protections. The measures are designed to minimize to 
the extent practicable the adverse effects of fishing on essential fish 
habitat.

DATES: Effective April 9, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2, 
including the Environmental Impact Statement, the Regulatory Impact 
Review, and the Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (EIS/RIR/IRFA) 
prepared by the New England Fishery Management Council in support of 
this action are available from Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, New 
England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, 
Newburyport, MA 01950. The supporting documents are also accessible via 
the internet at: http://www.nefmc.org/library/omnibus-habitat-amendment-2 or http://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Moira Kelly, Senior Fishery Program 
Specialist, phone: 978-281-9218, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

1. General Background
2. Essential Fish Habitat Designations
3. Habitat Areas of Particular Concern Designations
4. Spatial Management for Adverse Effects Minimization
5. Spawning Protection Measures
6. Dedicated Habitat Research Areas
7. Framework Adjustments and Monitoring
8. Description of Regulatory Changes
9. Changes From the Proposed Rule
10. Comments and Responses

1. General Background

    On January 3, 2018, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service 
(NMFS), on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce, approved the majority 
of the New England Fishery Management Council's recommendations for the 
Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2 (OHA2). This action 
implements the approved management measures in OHA2. NMFS approved all 
of the updated essential fish habitat designations (EFH), all of the 
recommended habitat area of particular concern (HAPC) designations, and 
the majority of the habitat management area (HMA) recommendations, all 
of the Dedicated Habitat Research Area (DHRA) recommendations, all of 
the seasonal spawning area recommendations, and both of the framework 
and administrative recommendations. Two Council recommendations were 
disapproved: (1) Establishment of The Cox Ledge HMA, which would 
prohibit hydraulic clam dredges and ground cables on trawl vessels; and 
(2) changes to the eastern Georges Bank Areas, as described in more 
detail below.
    OHA2 was initiated in 2004 to review and update the EFH components 
of all the New England Fishery Management Council's fishery management 
plans (FMP). The Council established 10 goals and 14 objectives to 
guide the development of this action. Goals 1-8 were established in 
2004 at the onset of the Amendment's development and focus on 
identification of EFH; fishing and non-fishing activities that may 
adversely affect EFH; and the development of measures and management 
programs to conserve, protect, and enhance EFH and to minimize to the 
extent practicable the adverse effects of fishing on EFH. The 
additional goals (9 and 10) were developed after the Council voted to 
incorporate revisions to the groundfish closures in the Amendment. 
These goals are focused on enhancing groundfish productivity, including 
protection of spawning groundfish, and maximizing the societal net 
benefits from groundfish stocks.
    The 14 objectives map to one or more of the Amendment's goals and 
provide more guidance on achieving each goal. For example, the 
objectives include identifying new data sources upon which to base the 
EFH designations (Objective A), developing analytical tools for EFH 
designation, minimization of adverse impacts, and monitoring the 
effectiveness of measures (Objective D; Goals 1, 3, and 5). Other 
objectives include modifying fishing methods to reduce impacts 
(Objective E; Goal 4), supporting the restoration of degraded habitat 
(Objective F; Goal 4), improving groundfish spawning protection, 
including protection of localized spawning contingents, and improving 
protection of critical groundfish habitats (Goals 9 and 10). Please see 
Volume 1, Section 3 of the EIS for more details on the goals and 
objectives of this Amendment.

2. Essential Fish Habitat Designations

    The Magnuson-Stevens Act defines EFH as ``those waters and 
substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth 
to maturity.'' The EFH regulations (50 CFR part 600, subpart J) require 
councils to describe and identify EFH in text that clearly states the 
habitats or habitat types determined to be EFH for each life stage of a 
managed species and in maps that display the geographic locations of 
EFH or within which EFH for each species and life stage is found. 
Further, FMPs should explain the physical, biological, and chemical 
characteristics of EFH and, if known, how these characteristics 
influence the use of EFH for the species/life stage. The EFH 
regulations state that councils should periodically review the EFH 
provisions of FMPs and revise or amend as warranted, based on available 
information, and that a complete review of all EFH information should 
be conducted at least once every five years.
    A full description of the approved EFH designations, including maps 
and text designations, can be found in Volume 2 of the EIS. In 
addition, a thorough discussion of the data sources and methods used to 
assemble the designations is provided in Appendix A to the EIS. Another 
appendix (Appendix B) includes supplementary EFH information (e.g., 
prey species, temperature, and salinity preferences) for each species 
and life stage not included in the EFH text descriptions in Volume 2 
that may be considered when the potential effects of any fishing or 
non-fishing activity that could adversely affect EFH are evaluated. All 
of the

[[Page 15241]]

Council's recommendations for EFH designations are approved.

3. Habitat Area of Particular Concern Designations

    Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC) highlight specific types 
or areas of habitat within EFH that are particularly vulnerable to 
human impacts. Evaluations of such areas should give special attention 
to adverse effects, including any HAPCs designated that are 
particularly vulnerable to fishing activity. An HAPC designation alone 
does not provide any specific habitat management measures, such as gear 
restrictions, and no new measures are implemented as part of the HAPC 
designations in this amendment. Management measures are discussed under 
``Spatial Management for Adverse Effects Minimization,'' below.
    HAPC designations are based on one or more of the following 
criteria: (1) The importance of the ecological function provided by the 
habitat, including both the historical and current ecological function; 
(2) the extent to which the habitat is sensitive to human-induced 
environmental degradation; (3) whether, and to what extent, development 
activities are, or will be, stressing the habitat type; and (4) the 
rarity of the habitat type (50 CFR 600.815(a)(8)). The Council 
solicited and considered HAPC proposals from the public and added 
selection criteria, including whether the designation would improve 
fisheries management in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ); whether 
it included EFH for more than one Council-managed species or 
specifically for juvenile cod; and whether it met more than one of the 
regulatory HAPC criteria listed above. Discussion of the areas 
considered and the degree to which they satisfied the eight criteria 
can be found in Volume 2 of the EIS.
    This action approves all of the Council's recommendations for HAPC, 
including the current Atlantic Salmon HAPC and the Northern Edge 
Juvenile Cod HAPC. In addition, the action approves the following areas 
as new HAPCs: Inshore Juvenile Cod HAPC; Great South Channel Juvenile 
Cod HAPC; Cashes Ledge HAPC; Jeffreys Ledge/Stellwagen Bank HAPC; Bear 
and Retriever Seamount HAPC; and 11 canyon/canyon complexes. Maps and 
coordinates for the HAPC designations can be found in Volume 2 of the 
EIS. A summary of the rationale for each designation (or set of 
designations) was provided in the proposed rule for this action (82 FR 
51492; November 6, 2017) and further rationale is not repeated here. 
Detailed discussion of the rationale is also provided in Volume 2, 
Section 3 of the EIS.
    As described in the EIS, the HAPCs are non-regulatory designations. 
The designations are intended to provide for increased attention when 
habitat protection measures are considered. HAPCs that are particularly 
vulnerable to the potential impacts from fishing warrant special 
attention when determining appropriate management measures to minimize, 
compensate, or avoid those impacts.

4. Spatial Management for Adverse Effects Minimization

    The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that fishery management plans 
evaluate and minimize, to the extent practicable, the adverse effects 
of fishing on EFH. The evaluation should consider the effects of each 
fishing activity on each type of habitat found within EFH. Councils 
must prevent, mitigate, or minimize any adverse effects from fishing on 
EFH if there is evidence that a fishing activity adversely affects EFH 
in a manner that is more than minimal and not temporary in nature. 
Councils should consider the nature and extent of any adverse effects 
along with the long- and short-term costs and benefits of the 
management measures to EFH, associated fisheries, and the nation. A 
thorough description of the approach the Council took to achieve this 
requirement is provided in the proposed rule for this action and is not 
repeated here.
    The approved and disapproved measures and a brief description of 
the rationale for the decision are included below. A thorough 
discussion of the other alternatives considered and the potential 
impacts, including economic impacts, from those alternatives are 
included in Volumes 3, 4, and 5 of the EIS. Coordinates and maps of all 
areas can be found in Volume 3 of the EIS.

Approved Habitat Management Measures

     Establish the (Small) Eastern Maine Habitat Management 
Area (HMA), closed to mobile bottom-tending gear;
     Maintain Cashes Ledge (Groundfish) Closure Area, with 
current restrictions and exemptions;
     Modify the Cashes Ledge Habitat Closure Area, closed to 
mobile bottom-tending gear;
     Modify the Jeffreys Ledge Habitat Closure Area, closed to 
mobile bottom-tending gear;
     Establish the Ammen Rock HMA, closed to all fishing, 
except lobster traps;
     Establish the Fippennies Ledge HMA, closed to mobile 
bottom-tending gear;
     Maintain the Western Gulf of Maine Habitat Closure Area, 
closed to mobile bottom-tending gear;
     Modify the Western Gulf of Maine Groundfish Closure Area 
to align with the Western Gulf of Maine Habitat Closure Area, with 
current restrictions and exemptions;
     Exempt shrimp trawling from the designated portion of the 
northwest corner of the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Areas;
     Add the Gulf of Maine Roller Gear restriction as a habitat 
protection measure;
     Remove the Closed Area I Habitat and Groundfish Closure 
Area designations;
     Remove the Nantucket Lightship Habitat and Groundfish 
Closure Area designations; and
     Establish the Great South Channel HMA, closed to mobile 
bottom-tending gear throughout and clam dredge gear in the defined 
northeast section. Clam dredge gear would be permitted throughout the 
rest of the HMA for 1 year while the Council considers restrictions 
that are more refined.

Disapproved Habitat Management Measures

    The following recommendations were disapproved. Further rationale 
for disapproving these recommendations is included below in the 
``Georges Bank'' and ``Southern New England/Great South Channel'' 
sections.
     The Cox Ledge HMA, which would have been closed to 
hydraulic clam dredges and prohibiting ground cables of trawl vessels;
     Removal of the Closed Area II Habitat and Groundfish 
Closure Areas;
     The Northern Edge Reduced Impact HMA, which would have 
been closed to mobile bottom-tending gears except groundfish vessels 
west of 67[deg] 20' W Longitude and scallop vessels fishing in a 
scallop rotational program;
     The Northern Edge Mobile Bottom-Tending Gear HMA, which 
would have been closed to mobile bottom-tending gear; and
     The Georges Shoal HMA, which would have been closed to 
mobile bottom-tending gear, except hydraulic clam dredges that would 
have been exempted for 1 year.

Eastern Gulf of Maine

    In the Eastern Gulf of Maine, this action establishes the Small 
Eastern Maine HMA, closed to all mobile bottom-tending gears. (Note, 
the regulations refer to this area as simply

[[Page 15242]]

the ``Eastern Maine HMA.'') This measure is designed to protect 
habitats of similar species as the larger area that was considered, but 
with fewer economic impacts on the fishing industry. Its protection of 
vulnerable habitats and designated EFH coverage ranks towards the 
middle of the areas considered for this sub-region. Because there is 
currently no habitat management area in the eastern Gulf of Maine, 
implementing a mobile bottom-tending gear closure in any area 
represents an improvement in groundfish habitat protection in this sub-
region. However, bottom trawls and dredges are used sparingly in any of 
the areas that the Council considered and lobster traps are not subject 
to any of the regulations in this amendment. Therefore, no short-term 
reductions in the adverse impacts of fishing in this sub-region are 
expected. Overall, the area provides potential long-term habitat 
protection benefits with minimal costs to the fishing industry.

Central Gulf of Maine

    In the Central Gulf of Maine, this rule maintains the existing 
Cashes Ledge Groundfish Closure Area and modifies the existing Jeffreys 
Bank and Cashes Ledge Habitat Closure Areas, with their current fishing 
restrictions and exemptions; establishes the Fippennies Ledge HMA, 
closed to mobile bottom-tending gears; and establishes the Ammen Rock 
HMA, closed to all fishing except lobster traps.
    This combination of measures is appropriate for this region. 
Maintaining the existing Cashes Ledge Groundfish Closure Area supports 
the goals and objectives of improving groundfish productivity, with no 
additional economic burdens on the industry. Maintaining this closure 
will also ensure that a more diverse array of bottom habitats that 
support a greater variety of species remain protected from fishing 
impacts.
    The other actions in this sub-region are modifications to the 
existing Cashes Ledge and Jeffreys Bank habitat closures. These 
modifications were designed to more closely align with the location of 
the shallower, hard-bottom habitats and to increase fishery access to 
the deeper, less vulnerable mud and sand habitats that surround the 
ledges. Ammen Rock on top of Cashes Ledge is a unique feature within 
the Gulf of Maine and features kelp forest habitat that would benefit 
from enhanced protection, which is why there are additional management 
restrictions in that area. Fippennies Ledge is an additional hard 
bottom feature within the Cashes Ledge Groundfish Closure Area that 
would be protected by maintaining the existing groundfish closure. 
However, should the Cashes Ledge Groundfish Closure Area be modified or 
removed at some point in the future when groundfish stocks have 
recovered and the closure is no longer required, Fippennies Ledge still 
warrants protection from the adverse effects of mobile bottom-tending 
gear. In terms of habitat protection and benefits to groundfish 
resources, the approved measures are high relative to other 
alternatives in this sub-region and the economic impacts are slightly 
more positive than the current measures.

Western Gulf of Maine

    In the Western Gulf of Maine, this action maintains the existing 
Western Gulf of Maine Habitat Closure Area, closed to mobile bottom-
tending gears, and modifies the eastern boundary of the Western Gulf of 
Maine [Groundfish] Closure Area to align with the habitat closure area, 
while maintaining the current fishing restrictions and requirements. 
This rule also creates an exemption area within the northwest corner of 
those closures for shrimp trawls and designates the existing Roller 
Gear Restricted Area requirements as a habitat protection measure.
    The EIS describes the Council's rationale for these areas in 
detail. In summary, these areas were selected to maintain decades' 
worth of protections in this region, while modestly increasing fishing 
access to the eastern edge of the area. The shrimp exemption was 
designed to minimize the economic impact on a fleet whose gear has 
minimal habitat impact. The roller gear restriction has been required 
for several years and was originally implemented through Framework 
Adjustment 27 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan to 
minimize cod mortality by preventing trawl gear from fishing over rocky 
substrate. As such, it has been a de facto habitat protection measure 
and the Council wanted to note it formally as such.
    These measures are expected to have the same level of positive 
impacts on habitat and groundfish resources as the existing closures, 
with the same economic benefits.

Georges Bank

    On Georges Bank, the Council recommended removing the year-round 
and habitat closures of Closed Areas I and II and replacing them with 
three new areas: (1) The Georges Shoal 2 HMA, closed to mobile bottom-
tending gear, with a 1-year delay in closure to hydraulic clam dredges; 
(2) the Northern Edge Reduced Impact HMA, closed to mobile bottom-
tending gear, with two exceptions described below; and (3) the Northern 
Edge Mobile Bottom-Tending Gear HMA, closed to mobile bottom-tending 
gear without any exceptions. Exemptions to the Reduced Impact HMA would 
have allowed scallop dredge fishing under the scallop rotational area 
program, and trawl fishing to the west of the existing western boundary 
of Closed Area II (67[deg] 20' W long.), in what is now the Eastern 
Georges Bank Special Access Program. In addition, any portions of the 
Closed Area II groundfish closed area north of 41[deg] 30' N lat. would 
have been closed to scallop fishing between June 15 and October 31 of 
each year. Volume 3 of the EIS describes the Council's rationale in 
detail.
    We approved a portion of this recommendation. The Council 
considered Closed Areas I and II in the same sub-region and included 
recommendations in the same alternative. However, the two closed areas 
are substantially distinct in their scope, nature, and impacts, and; 
therefore, changes to either area may be assessed independently. 
Whether the HMAs recommended by the Council meet the goals and 
objectives of the Amendment and Magnuson-Stevens Act requirements may 
also be assessed independently. The Closed Area I Groundfish Closure, 
which encompasses the Closed Area I North and South Habitat Closures, 
and a central portion that has long been part of the scallop access 
area program, is generally less vulnerable to the adverse effects of 
fishing than areas of Georges Bank to the north and east. This action 
establishes the Closed Area I South Habitat Closure as a DHRA (see # 6 
below), which will be closed to mobile bottom-tending gears for at 
least 3 years and could be opened after a review of the research 
activities in the area. Closed Area I North Habitat Closure becomes a 
seasonal closure from February 1 to April 15, closed to commercial and 
recreational gears capable of catching groundfish except scallop 
dredges. (See #5 below.) The removal of the Closed Area I designations 
and proposed new designations do not compromise the ability of the 
Council's FMPs to comply with the EFH requirements of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act.
    The changes the Council proposed would have opened an area that has 
been closed to mobile bottom-tending fishing gear for over 20 years. 
This would have allowed rotational scallop dredge fishing along the 
northern edge of Georges Bank. A portion of the Northern Edge Reduced 
Impact HMA

[[Page 15243]]

that would have been opened to rotational limited access scallop 
dredging as part of the Council's preferred alternative includes the 
northern portion of an area designated as a Habitat Area of Particular 
Concern in 1998 and that is reaffirmed in this amendment due to the 
ecological importance and vulnerability of the area for juvenile cod.
    The Council's recommended areas on Georges Bank do not sufficiently 
address the impact of limited access scallop dredging on the highly 
vulnerable habitat within the Closed Area II Habitat Closure Area. 
Overall, the changes the Council recommended to Closed Area II and 
eastern Georges Bank are inconsistent with the Amendment's goals and 
objectives of improving juvenile groundfish habitat protection and the 
requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act to minimize the adverse 
effects of fishing to the extent practicable. Furthermore, the Closed 
Area II Habitat Closure Area has the same footprint as the Northern 
Edge Juvenile Cod HAPC. The area has been closed to mobile bottom-
tending gear since 1995 and designated as an HAPC since 1998. The 
Council reaffirmed that designation in this Amendment, but the 
recommendation the Council had made does not avoid, minimize, or 
compensate for the adverse effects of this action on this HAPC.
    Based on the factors analyzed in the Amendment, the quality of the 
habitat in the current Closed Area II Habitat Closure Area is 
considered much higher than the habitat in the proposed Georges Shoal 
HMA and higher than in the proposed Northern Edge Mobile Bottom-Tending 
Gear Closure Area. The Council's EIS supporting the Amendment describes 
the size, habitat content (sand/mud vs. gravel, cobble, boulder), and 
the results of an EFH overlap analysis, allowing us to compare the 
relative EFH ``value'' across areas. The EFH overlap analyses were done 
to show the extent to which the EFH designations for individual managed 
species overlap within each habitat management area the Council 
considered. This type of analysis favors larger areas and was done 
using several categories, as follows: Total number of EFH designations; 
EFH for overfished species; EFH for species/life stages with a known 
affinity for complex substrate; juvenile hotspots; and the count of 
unique species and designations.
    The proposed Georges Shoal HMA ranks at or near the bottom of the 
analysis in almost every measure of EFH coverage, despite its much 
larger size, meaning far fewer managed species and life stages utilize 
this area. Of the 49 areas considered across all sub-regions, the 
Georges Shoal HMA ranks between 36th and 47th, depending on the 
measure; in contrast, the Closed Area II EFH area ranks between 8th and 
27th in the same analysis. Among the 16 alternatives considered for the 
Georges Bank sub-region, the Georges Shoal HMA is the sixth largest, 
but last or almost last in each of the EFH overlap scores. The Georges 
Shoal HMA is sandier and more shallow, and, therefore, less vulnerable 
to fishing impacts, than Closed Area II, making it a much less 
efficient closure. The Northern Edge Mobile Bottom-Tending Gear HMA 
that had been proposed ranks in the lower half of almost every metric 
as well (from 7-12 out of 16), despite being a similar size to the 
existing Closed Area II EFH closure. The Northern Edge Reduced Impact 
HMA that had been proposed, where scallop fishing would have been 
allowed on a rotational basis, represents the most complex habitat and 
ranks in the upper half of each EFH metric (3-7 out of 16), despite its 
much smaller size.
    Removing protections from, and allowing scallop dredging in, the 
most vulnerable portion of Closed Area II compromises the ability of 
the Council's FMPs to continue to meet the requirements of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act to minimize to the extent practicable the adverse 
effects of fishing on EFH throughout the region and prevents the 
Council from achieving this action's goals and objectives. The 
potential benefits to habitat from the areas the Council had proposed 
to close do not outweigh the potential adverse effects on highly 
valuable EFH and vulnerable groundfish stocks that would result from 
opening the Closed Area II Habitat Closure Area to limited access 
scallop dredging.
    In addition to the quality and importance of the habitat on eastern 
Georges Bank, the Closed Area II Habitat Closure Area is also the 
Northern Edge Juvenile Cod HAPC. As noted above, the Council initially 
made this designation in 1998 and reaffirmed the importance of the area 
in this Amendment. One of the four considerations for HAPC designation 
is sensitivity to anthropogenic stress. The Council concluded that 
there are ``no known anthropogenic threats to this area beyond those 
associated with fishing activity.'' While there are no fishery 
restrictions associated with HAPC designations themselves, the 
designation should result in the Council taking a more precautionary 
approach to management of those areas, particularly when the only noted 
human-induced stress is fishing. The final rule for the EFH regulations 
(67 FR 2343; January 17, 2002) notes, ``. . . designation of HAPCs is a 
valuable way to highlight priority areas within EFH for conservation 
and management . . . Proposed fishing activities that might threaten 
HAPCs may likewise receive a higher level of scrutiny.'' This guidance 
suggests that councils should prioritize the protection of HAPCs where 
fishing is a primary or significant threat to the habitat.
    The Council's recommendations in this Amendment would have opened 
the most vulnerable portions of the HAPC without closing other 
comparable habitat. The Council did not adequately explain its reasons 
for concluding that this HAPC should be opened to fishing or how the 
other areas adequately mitigated or compensated for the impacts of 
fishing in this area. The Council's recommendation to allow even 
rotational fishing in this sensitive habitat is inconsistent with its 
own rationale for the designation that the habitat in this area 
warrants particular concern and consideration. The Council also did not 
explain the conditions for allowing fishing in this area that would 
sufficiently minimize adverse effects. For these reasons, we 
disapproved the recommendations to remove the Closed Area II Habitat 
and Groundfish Closure Areas and replace them with the areas described 
above.
    While disapproving the Council's recommendation for eastern Georges 
Bank will continue to result in lost opportunity costs for the scallop 
industry, approved changes to current area closures will provide 
substantial new economic opportunity for the scallop fishery. The 
Council currently estimates that access into the Closed Area I and 
Nantucket Lightship areas that were previously closed could increase 
scallop revenue by $140-$160 million in the next year (based on 
preliminary information in Scallop Framework Adjustment 29). The 
Council may choose to revisit habitat management on eastern Georges 
Bank in a subsequent action that could address the reasons for 
disapproval.

Great South Channel/Southern New England

    This rule establishes the Great South Channel HMA. The northeast 
corner of the HMA (12.5 percent of the area) will be closed to all 
mobile bottom-tending gears. The effective date of the closure will be 
delayed by 1 year for hydraulic clam dredges throughout the remainder 
of the area. The Council considered the unique fishing practices in the 
surfclam fishery. Based on this information, the Council is working to 
identify sub-areas

[[Page 15244]]

that are less vulnerable to clam gear to determine whether some amount 
of clam fishing may continue in a manner that sufficiently minimizes 
impacts to vulnerable substrate. The Council recommended establishing 
two small HMAs on Cox Ledge, closed to hydraulic clam dredges, and 
prohibiting ground cables on trawls fishing in the areas; however, that 
recommendation was disapproved. The Nantucket Lightship Habitat Closure 
Area and the Nantucket Lightship Closed Area are removed by this 
action.
    Throughout the development of the action, the Council's technical 
team expressed concern that the ground cable restriction measures would 
not minimize the habitat impacts of fishing. NMFS reiterated these 
concerns several times throughout the development of OHA2 management 
measures. Ground cables account for a significant portion of a bottom 
trawl's seabed impact. However, the sediment clouds they create 
``herd'' fish toward the opening of the net. The gear modifications 
that had been proposed would have reduced the effectiveness of the gear 
and, in all likelihood, cause vessels to fish longer in order to 
compensate for reduced catch rates. No studies of the trade-offs 
between reduced impacts of ground cable removal and the duration or 
frequency of bottom trawl tows were cited in the EIS for OHA2. As a 
result, we disapproved this recommendation.
    The approved recommendation of the Great South Channel HMA is a 
compromise between the larger Great South Channel East HMA (identified 
in the EIS as Alternative 3), located further to the east, and the 
slightly smaller Nantucket Shoals HMA (identified in the EIS as 
Alternative 5), located further to the west, closer to Nantucket 
Island. Bottom habitats in these areas are a mixture of less stable 
sand and more stable gravel, cobble, and boulder substrates and support 
fisheries for groundfish, clams, and scallops. The two most significant 
fisheries in the area are for surfclams and scallops. Scallop dredging 
is almost entirely restricted to deeper water along the western side of 
the Great South Channel and to an area east of Cape Cod. Clam dredging 
occurs in a large area of mixed bottom types in shallower water to the 
west. While the Council recognized the likelihood of negative economic 
impacts of these alternatives on the clam fishery, they were also 
concerned about the negative effects of hydraulic dredges on complex 
habitats occurring in the region. The discussion and development of 
more discrete exemption areas is currently occurring in a separate 
framework adjustment action.
    This action also establishes two HAPCs in this sub-region. The 
Inshore Juvenile Cod HAPC includes waters off the Massachusetts coast 
to 20 m deep, and overlaps slightly with the Nantucket Shoals and 
Nantucket Shoals West HMAs. The Great South Channel Juvenile Cod HAPC 
includes additional waters north and east of the HMAs to a depth of 120 
m and partially overlaps the Great South Channel HMA in this sub-
region. No management measures were applied specifically to these 
areas; however, they are designated as HAPCs primarily because they are 
vulnerable to adverse anthropogenic impacts from non-fishing 
activities.
    Results of the habitat impact analyses in the EIS indicated that 
the approved measures are expected to have positive habitat impacts 
compared to leaving the habitat and groundfish closures in the 
Nantucket Lightship area in place, even with the 1-year delay in 
closure for clam dredges in most of the area. Impacts to groundfish 
resources will be approximately the same for both the existing and new 
measures. The new measures will have a slightly negative economic 
impact on the groundfish fishery; approximately 1 percent of the total 
groundfish revenue from the statistical areas covered by the closure 
are expected to be impacted by this measure. A highly negative economic 
impact on the clam fishery after the 1-year delay expires would be 
expected, before more discrete exemption areas are approved and 
implemented.

5. Groundfish Spawning Measures

    The Council has considered how to most effectively manage fishing 
during the spawning periods of key fish in several actions. During the 
development of this Amendment, the Council recommended, and NMFS 
implemented, several modifications to spawning protections for cod and 
other groundfish through Framework Adjustments 45 and 53. Because these 
measures were implemented prior to the completion of OHA2, there was 
much debate over what should be done in this action. Ultimately, the 
Council recommended, and this action implements, a few minor additional 
protections to what is required currently.

Gulf of Maine

    In the Gulf of Maine, this action establishes two new, relatively 
small, cod spawning protections. They include the Winter Massachusetts 
Bay Spawning Closure, which will be in effect from November 1-January 
31 of each year. During the closure, the area will be closed to all 
fishing vessels, with the same exemptions as the existing Gulf of Maine 
Cod Spawning Protection Area (i.e., Whaleback). These exemptions 
include vessels fishing in state waters that do not have a Federal 
Northeast multispecies permit; vessels fishing with exempted gears; 
charter/party and private recreational vessels, provided they are 
fishing with pelagic hook and line gear and there is no retention of 
regulated groundfish or ocean pout; and vessels that are transiting. In 
addition, a 2-week closure (April 15-April 30) within statistical area 
125, referred to as the Spring Massachusetts Bay Spawning Protection 
Area, is established. This area will be closed to all vessels, except: 
Vessels fishing in state waters that do not have a Federal Northeast 
multispecies permit; vessels fishing with exempted gears; vessels in 
the mid-water trawl and purse seine exempted fisheries; scallop vessels 
fishing with dredges on a scallop day-at-sea; vessels fishing in the 
scallop dredge exemption area; and charter, party, and recreational 
fishing vessels.

Georges Bank

    Because the Council's recommendation to remove the Closed Area II 
Groundfish Closure Area in Georges Bank was disapproved, the current 
year-round restrictions and exemptions remain in effect. Should the 
Council revisit habitat management on Georges Bank, and recommend the 
removal of the Closed Area II closure areas, a seasonal restriction 
would be in place for Closed Area II Groundfish Closure Area and the 
Closed Area I North Habitat Closed Area from February 1-April 15. 
During the closure season, the areas will be closed to all commercial 
and recreational vessels, except those that are transiting, fishing 
with exempted gears, participating in the mid-water trawl exempted 
fishery, and fishing with scallop dredges, unless otherwise prohibited 
elsewhere.
    This action removes the May Georges Bank Spawning Closure. Sector 
vessels are exempted from this seasonal closure, rendering it virtually 
non-existent. Removing the closure should minimally reduce the 
administrative burden for sectors, as they will no longer have to 
request this exemption.

6. Dedicated Habitat Research Areas

    In order to highlight research needs, particularly relating to 
evaluating the assumptions of the Swept Area Seabed Impact (SASI) model 
that the Council used as the basis for HMA development, this rule 
establishes two Dedicated Habitat Research Areas (DHRA), which will be 
in effect for 3 years, at which time the Regional Administrator will

[[Page 15245]]

consult with the Council as to whether the designation should be 
retained. The Council developed a series of questions to assist in this 
future discussion that include consideration of where in the research 
development process an activity is, how well it aligns with the 
Council's stated habitat research priorities, and what role the DHRA 
designation plays in the research.
    This action establishes the Georges Bank DHRA (footprint is the 
same as the existing Closed Area I South Habitat Closure) and the 
Stellwagen DHRA (footprint within the existing Western Gulf of Maine 
Habitat Closure). The Georges Bank DHRA is closed to all mobile bottom-
tending gear. The Stellwagen DHRA is closed to all commercial mobile 
bottom-tending gear, commercial sink gillnet gear, and commercial 
demersal longline gear. Maps and coordinates of the approved DHRAs can 
be found in Volume 3 of the EIS.

7. Framework Adjustments and Monitoring

    The designation or removal of HMAs and changes to fishing 
restrictions within HMAs may be considered in a framework adjustment. 
In addition, this action establishes a review process to evaluate the 
performance of habitat and spawning protection measures. Finally, this 
action establishes a process for the Council to identify and 
periodically revise research priorities to improve habitat and spawning 
area monitoring.

8. Regulatory Changes

    This rule implements measures for all of the approved measures. In 
order to improve clarity of the habitat-related management measures, we 
have reorganized Sec.  648.81 to refer solely to year-round and 
seasonal closures designed for purposes of groundfish protection. All 
habitat-related measures, including the newly approved and existing 
HMAs and their accompanying regulatory text, the DHRAs and their 
accompanying text, and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's 
Deep-Sea Coral Protection area can be found in a new subpart (subpart 
Q). In addition, the Council stated that all areas currently closed to 
scallop dredging should remain closed upon the implementation of OHA2 
so that the Scallop Committee can better incorporate newly opened areas 
in the rotational management program. The existing EFH closures 
currently reside in both the groundfish (Sec.  648.81) and scallop 
(Sec.  648.61) regulations. This action adds the groundfish closed 
areas that would otherwise be removed by this action to the scallop 
closure section (Sec.  648.61) to ensure that the restrictions on 
scallop fishing remain in place until a subsequent scallop action can 
modify them. The decisions related to scallop fishing year 2018 access 
are being implemented via Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic 
Scallop FMP. The regulations also update cross-references and 
definitions as needed. The Council deemed the regulations as necessary 
and appropriate, as required in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, on March 28, 
2017.

9. Changes From the Proposed Rule

    As described above, the differences from the proposed rule relate 
to the recommended measures that were disapproved by NMFS. Closed Area 
II Habitat Closure regulations will be reassigned to the new habitat 
management section in Subpart Q, while the Closed Area II Groundfish 
Closure Area will remain codified in Sec.  648.81. Cross-references 
from other sections have also been updated to reflect these changes.

10. Comments and Responses

    The Notice of Availability for this Amendment was published on 
October 6, 2017 (82 FR 46749), and the proposed rule was published on 
November 5, 2017 (82 FR 51492). The comment periods for both ended on 
December 5, 2017. In total, 72 comments were received; many of these 
comments were submitted on behalf of environmental or fishing 
organizations or businesses. Seventeen of the comments were not 
relevant to the issues under discussion in this action and were 
nominally about the commenter(s) concerns regarding global climate 
change. Those comments are not addressed here.
    Comment 1: Nine comments focused exclusively on EFH, HAPC, and DHRA 
designations. Seven of the comments recommended approving the 
regulations, specifically the EFH, HAPC, and DHRA regulations, with 
most specifically noting the importance of the Inshore Juvenile Cod 
HAPC, that it was important to give other areas HAPC status because of 
their sensitivity to trawling, dredging, and other fishing impacts, and 
that these designations and related management measures can help boost 
the cod population. Three commenters also noted the importance of the 
Atlantic Salmon HAPC. Another comment supported the implementing OHA2 
regulations that would allow the Council to develop analytical tools 
for EFH designation, and monitor the effectiveness of current/future 
conservation efforts.
    Response: NMFS agrees that the EFH, HAPC, and DHRA regulations are 
necessary and appropriate when supported by the best available science. 
We are approving all of the Council's recommendations for these 
designations, including the Atlantic Salmon and Inshore Juvenile Cod 
HAPCs. We disagree that the 20-meter depth limit for the Inshore 
Juvenile Cod HAPC is overly broad. It was based on the best scientific 
information available that indicates a broader depth range occupied by 
young-of-year and 1-year-old cod.
    Comment 2: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers submitted a comment 
regarding the winter flounder EFH designation that the Council and 
NOAA/NMFS consult with them to better inform EFH conservation 
recommendations. They are concerned about re-suspended sediments in or 
near designated habitat, and its effect on Atlantic sturgeon.
    Response: This comment has been forwarded to NMFS staff in the 
Protected Resources Division for the Greater Atlantic Region who work 
on Atlantic sturgeon issues to address this concern with the Army 
Corps.
    Comment 3: Mystic Aquarium submitted a comment expressing concern 
for the lack of analysis and development of alternatives to conserve 
deep-sea corals EFH in Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and southern New 
England regions under the purview of the Council. This commenter 
contends that because the revision of the EFH designation for Acadian 
redfish includes deep sea corals, and deep sea corals have been 
described as the most vulnerable form of EFH in reference materials 
developed by the NMFS Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program 
and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center analysis of fishing effects 
that the Council should analyze the fishing effects on these habitats. 
Because the deep-sea coral considerations were split off into a 
separate action, the commenter requests that we leave the status quo 
HMAs and HAPCs, in both the Gulf of Maine and along the continental 
margin south and west of Georges Bank, until a refined proposal is 
produced by the Council that addresses these concerns. Alternatively, 
the commenter suggests that the Council's ongoing coral amendment could 
be redirected to address these issues regarding mitigation of the 
effects of fishing on corals functioning as EFH.
    Response: This action does not directly address the impacts of 
fishing on corals as a component of EFH for redfish. Additional 
information specific to deep-sea corals would require further 
development and consideration of information that was not available for

[[Page 15246]]

this Amendment. The Council considered what measures were necessary for 
deep-sea coral protection in the recently completed deep-sea coral 
amendment. This action implements the retention of all three status quo 
habitat management areas in the Gulf of Maine, with some minor 
modifications, and all the HAPCs along the outer shelf, largely because 
of their importance for deep-sea corals.
    Comment 4: Eighteen comments focused on maintaining the status quo 
spatial management measures. Most of these comments were from members 
of the public who identified themselves as recreational or for-hire 
fishing sector participants. Most commenters specifically opposed 
opening the Western Gulf of Maine and Closed Areas I and II to 
commercial fishing, noting that they considered the closed areas to be 
largely responsible for the recovery of the haddock stocks. A few 
commenters mentioned specific support for the new closed area off 
downeast Maine (i.e., the Small Eastern Maine HMA), the new Great South 
Channel HMA, and for maintaining the Cashes Ledge Groundfish Closure 
Area with the current restrictions. Many commenters noted that 
recreational fishermen are currently not allowed to possess cod in the 
Gulf of Maine and that allowing increased commercial fishing pressure 
in an area known for cod would be inconsistent with that restriction.
    Response: NMFS agrees that closed areas can be an effective tool in 
rebuilding overfished stocks and protecting vulnerable habitat. We have 
reviewed the best science available in this action relating to the 
costs and benefits of closed areas when determining whether the 
Council's recommendations minimize the adverse effects of fishing to 
the extent practicable, and whether they meet the Amendment's goals and 
objectives and comply with all other laws. NMFS supports the 
implementation of the Small Eastern Maine HMA and implements that 
measure in this action. We support maintaining the Cashes Ledge Closure 
Area closed as recommended by the Council. We also agree that the Cox 
Ledge proposal should not be implemented.
    We disagree that opening a portion of the Western Gulf of Maine 
Closure Area is inconsistent with the current restriction on 
recreational anglers. The Council manages Gulf of Maine cod with an 
overall annual catch limit (ACL) and distinct sub-ACLs for various 
aspects of the fishery. We believe this system is sufficient to prevent 
overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks. Specific management measures 
are developed to address the unique nature of both the commercial and 
recreational fisheries. The commercial fleet is primarily managed using 
a sector system, which further allocates the commercial sub-ACL to 
fishing sectors. The recreational sub-ACL is managed by setting an open 
fishing season, minimum fish size, and possession limit for the 
recreational and for-hire sectors that will prevent the sub-ACL from 
being exceeded.
    The approved measures would reduce the area protected by about 25 
percent; however, the area remaining closed has more vulnerable habitat 
than the area being opened. As described in the EIS, measures 
implemented by this rule will have a positive impact on groundfish, 
albeit slightly less beneficial than the status quo. Overall, however, 
NMFS determined that the collective measures in the Gulf of Maine 
represent an improvement to groundfish protections.
    The Great South Channel HMA is being approved with the clam dredge 
exemption, contrary to the recommendations in some of these comments. 
The area covered by the Great South Channel HMA is currently open to 
fishing, including by hydraulic clam dredges, scallop dredges, and 
groundfish trawls. The majority of the area would be open only to clam 
dredges for 1 year while the Council attempts to develop more specific 
exemption areas. The Council notes that hydraulic clam dredges are 
capable of fishing in discrete areas of less vulnerable habitat around 
more complex structure. If, in the coming year, the Council is unable 
to develop a solution that effectively minimizes the adverse effects of 
fishing in this area while minimizing the economic impacts to the clam 
fishery, the exemption will expire, and hydraulic clam dredges would be 
prohibited throughout the HMA.
    On Georges Bank, we partially agree with the recommendations to 
leave Closed Areas I and II as they are now. We are implementing the 
Council's recommendation to remove the Closed Area I groundfish and 
habitat closed area designations, but we are also implementing a 
seasonal spawning closure for Closed Area I North and a DHRA closed to 
mobile bottom-tending gear in Closed Area I South. We have disapproved 
the Council's recommendation for Closed Area II for the reasons 
described in the preamble of this rule.
    Comment 5: The Nature Conservancy (TNC) believed some of the 
proposed measures likely meet the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act to periodically review EFH designations and the protection of such 
habitats. In particular, they recommended that NMFS approve all new EFH 
designations; the new Small Eastern Maine Habitat Management Area 
(HMA); continue existing protections in the Cashes Ledge Groundfish 
Closure Area; and approve the Jeffreys Bank and Cashes Ledge Habitat 
Closure Areas. They also supported the approval of the Fippennies Ledge 
HMA and establishing the Ammen Rock HMA, as well as the Cox Ledge 
spawning area. TNC also supported the Western Gulf of Maine Habitat 
Closure Area and all of the Council recommended HAPCs and DHRAs.
    TNC expressed concerns with new habitat closed areas on Georges 
Bank and framework provisions that establish a pathway to allow 
exemptions for hydraulic clam dredge gear in habitat closed areas. 
Specifically, TNC is opposed to the Council's recommendation on Georges 
Bank, citing their Weighted Persistence Analysis, which is an analysis 
and that it supports the concerns noted by NMFS in the proposed rule. 
TNC also opposes the exemption for hydraulic clam dredges and suggests 
that a workshop should be held to review very high-resolution data to 
identify exemption areas that would be compatible with requirements to 
prevent adverse impacts of fishing. The letter contends that the TNC 
analysis showed that, apart from the Northern Edge Reduced Impact HMA, 
the Council recommended management measures are not located in high 
habitat value areas. According to TNC, this verifies the concerns the 
Agency expressed regarding the Georges Bank area in its request for 
comments. Because TNC feels that the proposed management measures for 
Georges Bank do not protect high value habitat, they strongly 
recommended that NMFS disapprove these provisions.
    Further, as TNC wrote in its comments in 2015, surfclam/ocean 
quahog vessel monitoring system data show that this fishery, while 
largely concentrated in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England 
regions, is active in the Great South Channel, off Cape Cod, and on 
Georges Bank. TNC also asserts that hydraulic surfclam gear is highly 
destructive to structured habitats, and has a lesser impact in high-
energy sand habitats. TNC suggests that a collaborative workshop 
process informed by very high-resolution spatial data could be used to 
identify exemption areas that would be compatible with requirements to 
prevent adverse impacts of fishing.
    Response: NMFS agrees that the Weighted Persistence Analysis 
supports

[[Page 15247]]

our decision for Georges Bank and notes that we referenced that 
information when making this determination. The Cox Ledge area was not 
recommended as a spawning closure and is not being implemented as an 
HMA for the reasons noted in the preamble of this rule. NMFS supports 
the idea that a workshop to identify exemption areas within the Great 
South Channel HMA would be beneficial to both the Council and the clam 
industry, should the interested parties agree on that approach as a way 
forward.
    Comment 6: The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, 
representing 150 fishing businesses and over 300 fishing families, 
expressed support for the analytical basis for the Amendment, namely 
the SASI and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) analyses, 
noting this modeling framework allowed the Habitat Committee and the 
Council to make well-informed decisions when recommending preferred 
alternatives. The Fishermen's Alliance supported the Council's full 
recommendation to create a new Habitat Management Area (HMA) in the 
Great South Channel to protect this valuable ground, including closing 
12.5 percent of the northeast HMA to all mobile bottom-tending gears. 
Additionally, the Fishermen's Alliance asserts that the prohibitions in 
the remaining area for dredging are warranted, particularly given 
opening of nearby regions to scalloping that pose less impacts to the 
benthic environment. They also strongly supported the Council's 
decision to designate the Great South Channel Juvenile Cod HAPC, 
stating that these actions would reduce fishing impacts on habitat, and 
(coupled with the Georges Bank Seasonal Closure Area) protect valuable 
spawning and rearing habitat for Atlantic cod.
    The Fishermen's Alliance also expressed strong support for the 
removal of the Nantucket Lightship and Closed Area I closures, noting 
the significance of the areas to the small boat scallop fishery (i.e., 
the limited access general category fleet), specifically noting that 
the habitat encompassed by the current closed areas is less important 
for valuable species such as Atlantic cod than the habitat that would 
be protected under the new Great South Channel HMA.
    Response: We agree with the Fishermen's Alliance that the SASI/LISA 
results were an appropriate starting point for the Council's 
discussion. Based in part on those analyses, the Nantucket Lightship 
and Closed Area I closures are removed in this action. We are also 
approving the recommendations in the Great South Channel for the 
reasons described above.
    Comment 7: The Council submitted comments in support of 
implementing the measures as proposed. The Council contends that the 
full suite of measures submitted were in compliance with the 
requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Council stated in its 
comment its recognition of the important habitats along the northern 
edge of Georges Bank for groundfish, including juvenile cod. The 
Council contends that its preferred approach to management on Georges 
Bank keeps certain areas closed to fishing with mobile bottom-tending 
gears, while allowing only rotational scallop fishing in most of the 
Reduced Impact HMA.
    The Council took issue with how the preamble of the proposed rule 
implied that scallop fishing in the Reduced Impact HMA would be 
unlimited, contending that while the Council was not prescriptive about 
how rotational scallop fisheries on the northern edge might be 
conducted, this statement ignores the eighteen years of successful 
rotational sea scallop management since Amendment 10 to the Atlantic 
Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP) formally adopted the 
approach. The Council also expressed concern that the preamble 
misconstrues the economic analysis in Volume 5 of the EIS with regard 
to the scallop fishery loss of opportunity versus realized costs. The 
Council states that they are confident that rational rotational 
management can be conducted on the northern edge while minimizing the 
adverse effects of fishing.
    Finally, the Council responded to the concern that it did not give 
due consideration to the northern edge's status as an HAPC when 
deciding on measures to minimize adverse effects. The rationale for the 
HAPC given in the EIS notes that complex gravel habitats, especially 
those with structure-forming epifauna, provide cover for juvenile cod, 
reducing predation during a critical life history stage that may be a 
bottleneck for this species.
    Response: For the reasons described in this rule's preamble, NMFS 
disapproved the Council's recommendation to allow rotational scallop 
fishing on the northern edge of Georges Bank. NMFS agrees that the 
scallop rotational program has successfully managed scallops, but the 
rotational program is designed to address scallop fishing issues. It 
was not designed specifically to minimize adverse effects on EFH or 
account for juvenile cod HAPC. NMFS determined that the Council did not 
adequately describe or consider the relationship between the frequency 
of scallop fishing and the recovery time scale of the habitat features 
that are particularly important to juvenile groundfish in the region. 
NMFS acknowledges that the proposed rule inappropriately misconstrued 
the potential lost revenues to the scallop fishery and has updated the 
language in the final rule. As described above, NMFS disagrees that the 
Council gave due consideration to the northern edge's status as an 
HAPC.
    Comment 8: The Northeast Seafood Coalition (NSC), representing 250 
fishing businesses, submitted a comment generally in favor of the 
Council's recommendations. The comment was careful to point out that, 
while NSC supports the full suite of measures recommended by the 
Council, it is not fully ``satisfied'' with the Amendment as a whole. 
Specifically, NSC is unsatisfied with retaining groundfish closure 
measures in the Western Gulf of Maine and on Cashes Ledge. The NSC 
requests that the record identify the overarching purpose of the Cashes 
Ledge Closure and the Council's intention in recommending that it 
remain closed. NSC notes that the Council was neither bound by the 
existing closures nor to selecting new areas of comparable size. 
Further, NSC states that NMFS should not be evaluating the efficiency 
of the proposed Georges Bank recommendations by comparing them to 
habitat protection coincidently provided by the existing mortality 
closures. NSC also questions NMFS's ``one-sided'' interest in CPUE as a 
relevant consideration for habitat impacts regarding the ground cable 
prohibition on Cox Ledge.
    Response: While NMFS agrees that increases in fishing efficiency 
that reduces the amount of time that gear is in contact with the bottom 
can enhance habitat protection, increased efficiency is not the only 
way to minimize the adverse effects of fishing on EFH. Even highly 
efficient fishing with mobile bottom-tending gear can have adverse 
effects, defined as effects that are more than minimal and not 
temporary, on highly vulnerable habitat. The combination of reduced 
overall effort and high quality closures is one reason we supported the 
Council's approach that smaller HMAs that protect more vulnerable 
habitat are preferable to larger HMAs that cover less vulnerable 
habitat. As noted above, our disapproval of the Council's 
recommendation on eastern Georges Bank is in line with this approach. 
The Council recommended larger, less efficient closures as compensation 
for increased impacts in

[[Page 15248]]

highly vulnerable substrate. This is also consistent with our decision 
to disapprove the Council's recommendation on Cox Ledge. The Council's 
Plan Development Team noted on several occasions that it was unable to 
determine how much less efficient an average trawl would be without 
ground cables, and; therefore, unable to determine if total bottom 
contact time would be reduced or increased.
    We disagree that the restrictions on gears capable of catching 
groundfish are unnecessary in the Western Gulf of Maine and Cashes 
Ledge groundfish closure areas and that these areas were not intended 
to support the Council's stated goals of improving protection of 
critical life stages, including spawning groundfish. In advance of the 
April 2015 Council meeting, where a motion was made to continue the 
protections on Cashes Ledge, NMFS advised the Council that the 
Council's goal of ``improving'' juvenile groundfish habitat protections 
would not likely be achieved without the Cashes Ledge Closure Area, 
particularly in combination with the reduced groundfish protections 
from the Western Gulf of Maine.
    NMFS staff reviewed the audio recording of the April 2015 Council 
meeting in response to this comment. It is clear from that recording 
that the maker of the adopted motion for the Central Gulf of Maine made 
the recommendation in response to the Regional Administrator's letter 
dated April 14, 2015, noting our concerns relating to the Habitat 
Committee's recommendations in light of the Gulf of Maine cod stock 
status. This letter stated specifically ``there is insufficient 
information in the record to show that the Committee's recommended 
preferred alternative improves juvenile groundfish habitat protections 
and would likely fail to meet the Council's stated goals and 
objectives.'' We agree that the Council discussion on the motion was 
clear that the intention was for cod protection given its current 
status, and that when the cod is considered healthy, the Council should 
consider the utility of the Cashes Ledge Closure Area under those 
conditions. NMFS would support a review of this area, as well as the 
Western Gulf of Maine Groundfish Closure measures, when cod and other 
groundfish stocks are rebuilt. The Council can revisit the overall 
objectives and collection of management measures in the Northeast 
Multispecies FMP as stock conditions change. This review should include 
all measures that have been implemented or maintained in support of 
rebuilding stocks that may no longer be necessary when stocks recover.
    Comment 9: The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries submitted 
comments in support of the Council's recommendations, particularly 
those on Georges Bank, noting the decisions being developed in Scallop 
Framework Adjustment 29 are projected to result in lower overall 
groundfish bycatch, reduced open area effort, increased scallop catch, 
and increased revenue from access to Closed Area I and the Nantucket 
Lightship West area.
    Response: While we disapproved the Council's recommendations for 
eastern Georges Bank, we are approving the recommendations to remove 
the Closed Area I and Nantucket Lightship Closure Areas as year-round 
closures. A decision on Framework 29 is pending finalization by NMFS, 
which, if approved, would authorize the scallop fishery to access 
portions of these former closure areas.
    Comment 10: The Associated Fisheries of Maine (AFM), representing 
25 fishing businesses, recommended eliminating closed area restrictions 
and allowing vessels to optimize fishing efficiency and thereby reduce 
the intensity and frequency of mobile gear on the ocean floor. 
Specifically, the AFM did not support maintaining the existing Cashes 
Ledge Groundfish Closure Area. AFM asserts that groundfish mortality 
objectives are met with annual catch limits and accountability 
measures. AFM contested the proposed rule claims that this closure was 
maintained to ``improve protection of juvenile and spawning 
groundfish'' because, according to AFM, the Closed Area Technical Team 
analysis does not show the Cashes Ledge area as either a groundfish 
juvenile or spawning ``hotspot.'' AFM does support the modifications to 
the Cashes Ledge Habitat Closure Area to allow fishery access to deep 
mud and sand habitats.
    AFM supported the proposal to align the eastern boundary of the 
Western Gulf of Maine Groundfish Closure Area with the Western Gulf of 
Maine Habitat Closure Area, as well as the exemption to allow shrimp 
trawls in the northwest portion of the area. AFM did not support 
maintaining the current groundfish restrictions in the Western Gulf of 
Maine Closure Areas, noting that groundfish mortality objectives are 
met through annual catch limits and accountability measures, and the 
use of fixed gear to target groundfish (as is allowed for recreational 
fishing) would not negatively affect any habitat objectives for this 
area.
    AFM supported removal of the Closed Area I and II Groundfish 
Closure Areas. AFM contends that the proposed exceptions to the 
Northern Edge should include all mobile tending bottom gear. AFM 
asserted that the groundfish trawl fleet with the capacity to fish 
offshore has been greatly reduced by low annual catch limits, and 
therefore the intensity and frequency of trawl access to the Northern 
Edge would be minimal. AFM also supported the proposal for seasonal 
spawning closures on Georges Bank.
    Response: As noted in the response to the Northeast Seafood 
Coalition, while NMFS agrees that increases in fishing efficiency that 
reduce the amount of time that gear is in contact with the bottom can 
enhance habitat protection, increased efficiency is not the only way to 
minimize the adverse effects of fishing on EFH. (See comment #4.) NMFS 
disagrees that the hotspot analyses in the EIS failed to show that 
Cashes Ledge area is an important area for juvenile and spawning 
groundfish species. The analysis indicates that there are a number of 
species that aggregate in this area as juveniles (redfish, American 
plaice, silver hake, white hake, and haddock) and as large adults 
(redfish, red hake, and witch flounder). In addition, research in this 
area shows there are resident and migratory populations of cod that use 
this this area, and that they are growing faster and living longer than 
cod collected outside the Cashes Ledge Groundfish Closed Area.
    Comment 11: Seven comments were received from businesses and others 
with an interest in the surfclam and ocean quahog fishery. All seven 
comments recommended that NMFS disapprove the Council's recommendations 
for the Great South Channel and Georges Shoal because of the economic 
impacts to the surfclam/quahog fishery from those HMAs. These comments 
also noted that if we did approve the HMAs, we should only do so if the 
1-year exemption for the clam fishery were extended. The commenters 
varied in the preference for the extension, but they ranged from 3 or 5 
years to a permanent exemption.
    Response: NMFS is disapproving the Georges Shoal HMA as part of the 
decision to partially disapprove the eastern Georges Bank 
recommendation. In the Great South Channel, NMFS is approving the 
Council's recommendation. The Council considered a permanent exemption, 
but selected the 1-year option instead. Currently, the Council is 
developing a framework adjustment that will consider more discrete, 
permanent exemptions for hydraulic clam dredges

[[Page 15249]]

within the Great South Channel HMA. NMFS agrees with the Council that 
the 1-year exemption is enough time to consider more discrete 
exemptions, particularly because it will have been nearly 4 years since 
the Council took final action on its recommendations when the exemption 
is scheduled to expire. The Council has been considering these issues 
during this time. The review and rulemaking development phase at NMFS 
has provided an additional 3 years for the clam industry to gather data 
and bring recommendations to the Council for consideration.
    Comment 12: Three comments were submitted specific to lobster 
fishery issues. The American Offshore Lobstermen's Association (AOLA), 
which represents the majority of offshore lobster vessels, commented on 
the Council's recommendations for eastern Georges Bank. Specifically, 
the AOLA noted that NMFS has not codified the agreement between the 
lobster and groundfish fleets that is designed to eliminate gear 
conflicts by setting seasonal restrictions for each fishery. The 
comment also noted that the language in the Council's motion to 
eliminate gear conflicts between the scallop and lobster fisheries 
incorporates language that differs from the industry discussions. The 
organization also noted that there has been an increase in Jonah crab 
fishing in the Nantucket Lightship area and that if the area were to 
open in this action, gear conflicts may arise and should be addressed. 
The letter submitted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 
Commission's American Lobster Board reiterated many of these same 
comments. The third letter, from a student in a public policy course, 
expressed his concern about the lack of impact analysis for certain 
fishing areas, specifically referencing the AOLA letter and the 
expansion of the Jonah crab fishery and lobster fisheries. The 
commenter also noted that data relied on in the document is more than 
five years old and that fish and crustacean populations are likely to 
have shifted during that time due to climate change.
    Response: We are disapproving the Council's recommendations for 
eastern Georges Bank, which renders the concerns about the gear 
conflict agreement moot. In the Nantucket Lightship area, it is 
difficult to know how the fixed gear fisheries may interact with mobile 
gear fisheries because the area has been closed and we have no data 
showing an expected increase in gear conflicts. We support industry 
initiatives to minimize gear conflict in this region. We will work with 
the Council and Commission to address these issues as they arise.
    Comment 13: The Pew Charitable Trust submitted a comment signed by 
8,493 members of the public that contends that the Amendment does not 
follow best available science, does not meet its own goals and 
objectives, and does not fulfill legal requirements to protect fish 
habitat, especially on Georges Bank and in Southern New England. 
Specifically, the letter focused on the Northern Edge of Georges Bank 
and the surrounding areas that have been closed to mobile bottom-
tending fishing gears for over 20 years. The letter contended that the 
Northern Edge is one of the most ecologically important places in New 
England waters, and it should remain closed to dredging and trawling to 
provide refuge for depleted groundfish and other marine species, and 
that NMFS should reject the Council's proposed HMAs on Georges Bank, 
including the Northern Edge Reduced Impact Habitat Management Area, 
which would allow scallop dredging in an area that has been identified 
as critically important for juvenile cod since 1998. This letter also 
stated that all clam dredge exemptions should also be rejected, and 
this gear should not operate in any HMAs identified for protection. The 
letter further contends that in Southern New England, allowing clam 
dredging in the proposed Great South Channel HMA would introduce gear 
that is destructive to seafloor habitats. The comments also stated that 
NMFS should reject the Council's proposal to allow bottom trawling 
without ground cable in the Cox Ledge HMA because the commenters 
recommend that this area should be closed to all mobile 
bottom[hyphen]tending gear. A nearly identical letter was also 
submitted by a private individual.
    Response: NMFS agrees that, as proposed, some of the Council's 
recommendations fall short of achieving its stated goals and objectives 
for this action and the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 
However, we have determined that, as approved, the Council's FMPs will 
comply with the Magnuson-Steven Act, and that the approved provisions 
of this action were based on the best available scientific information. 
We agree, and are disapproving, the Council's recommendations for the 
Northern Edge and Cox Ledge. We are approving the clam exemption, for 
the reasons stated above.
    Comment 14: The United States Department of the Interior, Office of 
Environmental Policy and Compliance, Bureau of Indian Affairs urged the 
NMFS to engage interested Indian tribes as part of this rulemaking 
process and to provide such tribes a meaningful opportunity to consult 
directly on what impacts the rule would have on tribes and tribal 
resources.
    Response: NOAA conducts government to government consultation with 
federally recognized tribes pursuant to the process identified in its 
November 2013 Tribal Consultation Handbook (http://www.legislative.noaa.gov/policybriefs/NOAA%20Tribal%20consultation%20handbook%20111213.pdf). The actions 
identified in this document are not expected to impact tribal rights or 
resources. No Federally recognized tribe expressed interest in the 
management measures proposed nor has any tribe commented on these 
measures at any time throughout the extensive public development of the 
Amendment.
    Comment 15: Four environmental non-government organizations 
(Conservation Law Foundation, Oceana, Earthjustice, and the Natural 
Resource Defense Council; hereafter ``Conservation NGOs'') submitted a 
detailed, joint comment letter on the Amendment. These organizations 
noted their years of involvement in the development of this action and 
raised concern with the Amendment process. These conservation 
organizations contend that NMFS should not approve the Amendment until 
the completion of the required Endangered Species Act consultations, 
and that a reinitiation of the consultation that covers the affected 
fishery management plans is required. The Conservation NGOs also state 
that the Amendment does not satisfy the requirements of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered 
Species Act.
    The Conservation NGOs' letter contends that OHA2 and its EIS fail 
to recognize the ecological importance of minimizing the impacts of 
fishing on EFH and actions are inconsistent with the OHA2's goals and 
related legal requirements. The Conservation NGOs contend that the 
management attention and analytical approaches on the vulnerable 
complex benthic habitats is too narrowly focused and does not 
acknowledge the potential for adverse effects to sandy or mud bottoms 
or the water column from fishing. The Conservation NGOs argue that this 
is a major deficiency of the Amendment from a Magnuson-Stevens Act, 
NEPA, and ESA perspective. This letter argues that the statutory task 
is not limited to minimizing the physical impacts of fishing gears on 
hard, complex benthic areas to which the bulk of the analysis in the 
EIS has been focused.

[[Page 15250]]

    Response: NMFS does not agree that sandy or mud bottom habitats 
were ignored during the process of identifying candidate areas, or 
selecting preferred habitat management alternatives. The SASI model was 
specifically designed to assess the relative vulnerability of different 
types of bottom habitat to fishing gear impacts and output from the 
model accounted for habitat diversity with areas that included a 
greater proportion of more complex habitats receiving a higher score. 
Many of the preferred alternatives (e.g., the Western Gulf of Maine, 
Great South Channel) include sand and mud habitats as well as rocky 
habitats. The Council and NMFS have also determined that EFH within the 
water column is not adversely affected by fishing and does not require 
protection from fishing activities.
    Comment 16: The Conservation NGOs argue that the Amendment and 
supporting documentation fails to protect EFH for managed stocks that 
its own analysis concludes is vulnerable to fishing gears.
    Response: NMFS disagrees; the intent of the action is to minimize 
impacts to EFH globally and more specifically to critical groundfish 
species. Many of the HMA alternatives that NMFS approved protect 
vulnerable EFH for a variety of managed stocks. (See the EFH overlap 
analysis for each HMA in Volume 4; Tables 7, 13, 19, 27 and 33.) 
Approval of the Great South Channel HMA and disapproval of the 
Council's proposed alternative on eastern Georges Bank was predicated 
on the need to protect vulnerable habitat for juvenile cod. OHA2 also 
includes two new juvenile cod HAPCs. Other overexploited groundfish 
stocks, such as Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, occupy less 
vulnerable sandy habitats, and were thus not the subject of area 
management decisions.
    Comment 17: The Conservation NGOs' letter argues that the OHA2 
decision-making process and the selected alternatives ignored the 
important Weighted Fish Persistence modeling work done by The Nature 
Conservancy.
    Response: NMFS acknowledges that the results of the TNC analysis 
were not formally incorporated into the EIS until after the Council 
selected preferred alternatives; however, these analyses were available 
to the Council prior to taking final action. Further, the Weighted 
Persistence Analysis did factor into NMFS's decision-making process, as 
noted above.
    Comment 18: The Conservation NGOs argue that the Amendment fails to 
identify significant HMA areas, virtually ignoring all of the habitat 
protection alternatives selected and the species hotspot and habitat 
vulnerable areas identified by the SASI, LISA, and Weighted Fish 
Persistence models. They assert numerous alternatives proposed by the 
Council's technical teams were eliminated by Committees or the Council 
out of hand, without any practicability analysis and based on multiple, 
legally irrelevant grounds.
    Response: The work done by the Habitat PDT and the Closed Area 
Technical Team (CATT) was considered by the Habitat Committee when they 
decided which HMA and spawning area alternatives to retain for 
analysis. The Committee considered public comment and other information 
available to them to develop a reasonable scope of alternatives to 
address the Amendment's goals and objectives. These decisions removed 
infeasible alternatives because of extreme costs to the industry or 
insufficient EFH protection. The Council then used the analyses in the 
EIS to weigh the benefits and costs of each alternative and selected 
preferred alternatives that minimized EFH impacts without closing 
valuable fishing grounds. Practicability assessments in the EIS were 
based on a thorough analysis and comparison of the benefits and 
economic costs of all the habitat management areas considered in the 
Amendment.
    Comment 19: The Conservation NGOs object to the Council's 
recommendations that would open extensive areas of known cod and other 
overfished groundfish EFH areas than are currently under protection.
    Response: NMFS agrees that the Council's proposed action would have 
opened three large closed areas on Georges Bank and south of Nantucket, 
that provide habitats used by overfished groundfish species. We have 
approved the opening of the habitat and groundfish closed areas in 
Closed Area I and the Nantucket Lightship area, but not in Closed Area 
II. Our decision to disapprove the proposed alternative on eastern 
Georges Bank is based, in part, on the high EFH value of the northern 
edge of Georges Bank for cod and the low overall EFH value of the 
Georges Shoal area. We believe the analysis in the EIS shows that 
fishing impacts on more vulnerable hard bottom habitats used by 
overfished groundfish species (e.g., cod) will continue to be minimized 
by the OHA2 regulations even with the opening of Closed Area I and the 
Nantucket Lightship Closure Areas. Other overfished species like 
yellowtail flounder utilize less vulnerable sandy habitats, so opening 
closed areas will have less of an impact on their habitats than opening 
areas more complex habitats.
    Comment 20: The Conservation NGOs contends that the Amendment 
contains only cursory references to reduced availability of prey 
species and does not discuss the loss of prey species and their 
habitat. They state this action does not adequately analyze the 
potential adverse effects to EFH for managed species consistent with 
the Magnuson-Stevens Act's requirement to minimize the adverse effects 
of fishing to the extent practicable.
    Response: NMFS acknowledges that prey is a component of EFH, as 
defined by the EFH final rule. NMFS and the Council considered effects 
on prey to the degree afforded by the best available science. The 
Habitat PDT attempted to include infaunal prey organisms in the 
vulnerability assessment for SASI, but there was not enough information 
regarding the impacts of fishing gear on individual prey species and 
species groups. A section of the EIS describes what is known about the 
loss of prey species and their habitat and an appendix that summarizes 
available information on their distribution in the region. There was 
not enough spatial information available on the distribution and 
abundance of prey to use in defining habitat management alternatives. 
In addition, the Council's approach to focus on vulnerable substrate 
important to managed species indirectly protects epifaunal 
invertebrates that occupy gravel and rocky habitats substrates and are 
eaten by fish and the habitats that are important to prey.
    Comment 21: The Conservation NGOs contend that, with the limited 
exception of the eastern Gulf of Maine, there are no alternatives that 
expand the area of existing protections within current closed areas or 
the size of currently protected areas.
    Response: This is accurate; however, expansion of existing 
protections within current closed areas or the size of protected areas 
is not the charge to the Council from the Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS 
and the Council have made it clear from the beginning that size of HMAs 
alone is not sufficiently effective for maintaining habitat protections 
that minimize adverse impacts to habitat to the extent practicable. It 
is more effective and efficient to close smaller areas with a higher 
proportion of more vulnerable habitat and increase fishing access to 
less vulnerable areas. This provides for an improved balance of short- 
and long-term costs and benefits for minimizing adverse fishing impacts 
to the extent practicable.

[[Page 15251]]

    Comment 22: The Conservation NGOs argue that because practicability 
by definition means ``capable of being put into practice or of being 
done or accomplished: Feasible,'' if an EFH impact minimization measure 
can be feasibly done, then it must be done. In several places, they 
compare to the North Pacific Council's Alaska EFH plan and the Pacific 
Council's Groundfish Amendments, where there were specific analyses on 
the amount of revenue put ``at-risk'' from the measures, ranging from 
$2.4 to 36.3 million, depending on the Council/alternative. They 
further argue that ``balancing'' between habitat protection and 
economic costs is not what is required under the EFH language.
    Response: NMFS does not agree that it is necessary to compare the 
approaches to minimizing adverse effect from fishing on EFH from other 
regional fishery management councils. Each council is afforded the 
flexibility to determine what is practicable for its particular 
fisheries and habitats. The recommendations made by the North Pacific 
and Pacific Councils, and the decisions made by NMFS in approving those 
recommendations, may be looked at for guidance on a particular 
approach, but it is not required.
    Practicability does not mean to the extent possible. NMFS disagrees 
with the assertion that the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires any EFH 
protection that is possible. The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires 
minimizing adverse fishing impacts to the extent practicable. NMFS 
agrees that this consideration includes what is feasible. But feasible 
means that which is capable of being done. ``What is capable'' is 
determined by an analysis and consideration of of the nature and extent 
of the adverse effect from fishing on EFH and the long- and short-term 
costs and benefits of potential management measures to EFH, associated 
fisheries, and the nation.
    Comment 23: The Conservation NGOs stated that the economic/
displacement discussion ``ignores the reality of New England fisheries 
where gross revenues for the groundfish fleet have increased 
dramatically in the past two decades despite ever-escalating regulatory 
limits and the current habitat closures.''
    Response: The statement that gross revenues in the groundfish 
fishery have ``dramatically increased'' over the past two decades is 
not supported by the facts. While there were increases in gross 
revenues in a few years, the overall trend in revenue has been 
downward, when adjusting for inflation, since 1981. See the ``Measuring 
the Effects of Catch Shares Project'' http://www.catchshareindicators.org/.
    Comment 24: The Conservation NGOs further contend that the 
practicability analysis fails to adequately account for the role that 
closed areas play in hedging against the numerous forms of uncertainty 
inherent in both the marine environment and in attempting to manage an 
extractive industry within that natural environment. The letter also 
argues that the practicability analysis fails to provide a model or 
other meaningful support for its assumptions related to the likely 
human behavioral responses to management measures. The Conservation 
NGOs said that the heavy reliance on a simplistic analysis of the 
impacts of lost revenues on the fleet without consideration of human 
behaviors that might mitigate against potential short-term loss renders 
the estimate of the practicability of a given measure grossly 
unreliable and often improperly inflammatory.
    Response: The Council considered potential behavioral responses to 
the degree available information supported responsive measures. The EIS 
acknowledges that there was no objective way to predict how fishermen 
would respond to new area closures, and the results of the analysis are 
described as ``revenue at risk'' calculations. While these calculations 
could have over-stated costs of area closures, NMFS believes that they 
provide a reasonable basis for incorporating potential uncertainty into 
what may be practicable. Further, our partial approval decisions were 
based on a careful evaluation of the habitat benefits and economic 
costs of the proposed alternatives.
    Comment 25: The Conservation NGOs maintain that NEPA obligates NMFS 
to make available a redline version of the EIS for public review, and 
failure to do so violates NEPA requirements. The groups also object to 
the ``ad-hoc'' method of developing the final Council alternative on 
Georges Bank because it was not within the range of previously analyzed 
alternatives. In addition, the letter points out that The Nature 
Conservancy's weighted persistence analysis was not formally 
incorporated into the draft EIS prior to the June 2015 decision 
meeting. The environmental organizations also argue that the EIS fails 
to include an adequate range of alternatives because, while the Council 
included an alternative that would have removed all closures, there was 
not an equally extreme alternative on the other end of the spectrum. 
The group also contend that EIS is deficient in that it fails to 
develop or analyze any alternatives that include mitigating the 
ubiquitous impacts of lobster gear on EFH. The letter goes on to argue 
that the analysis in the Amendment is further flawed by its failure to 
consider all the adverse environmental effects to EFH associated with 
the alternatives. Instead, the Conservation NGOs argue that the 
analysis relied too heavily on the SASI/LISA tools to predict all 
environmental impacts.
    Response: NMFS disagrees that the Council and the Agency failed to 
appropriately comply with NEPA. There is no requirement to provide a 
``red-line'' version of the EIS for public review. Further, the Council 
did not limit itself to only one end of the spectrum of possibilities. 
The Amendment included a reasonable range of alternatives that 
addressed a wide spectrum of impacts that were detailed with thorough 
analysis that sufficiently informed the public, the Council, and NMFS. 
This allowed the Council and us to take a hard look at the impacts of 
the potential choices. For example, each sub-region, with the exception 
of the Central Gulf of Maine, which was smaller than other areas and 
addressed by changes to the Cashes Ledge area, included an alternative 
or a potential combination of areas that would have dramatically 
increased either the total size or total vulnerable habitat covered by 
a closure area. The Council's selection of Alternative 10 on eastern 
Georges Bank, while insufficient for addressing the requirements of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act and the Amendment's goals and objectives, was 
within the range of alternatives previously analyzed. Further, the 
Georges Shoal HMA that the Council recommended was included in 
Alternative 7, and the concept of the Northern Edge Reduced Impact HMA, 
combined with a mobile bottom-tending gear closure to the south, was 
substantially and materially similar to Alternative 9.
    The Conservation NGOs do not provide any information that was 
overlooked that would have better informed the Council's actions or our 
decision. Nor do they provide information that contradicts our 
decision. The groups specifically point to the Bigelow Bight areas 
designed by the CATT as an example that would have better informed the 
Council's decision if it were included within the range of 
alternatives. However, a large version of that area was incorporated in 
Western Gulf of Maine Alternatives 3 and 4, and a smaller version was 
in Western Gulf of Maine Alternative 5. Some of the CATT areas in the 
Western Gulf of Maine extended into state waters, and the Council 
determined it would be inappropriate and ineffective to implement 
closures in state waters

[[Page 15252]]

because they would only apply to federally permitted vessels and only 
fishing in state-waters would still be allowed. The Nature 
Conservancy's weighted persistence analysis was not formally 
incorporated in the draft EIS that was prepared for the April and June 
2015 Council meetings because the information was received too late to 
be directly incorporated in the document. However, the information was 
distributed to Council members and was made available to the public in 
advance of those meetings.
    The SASI model that was used as a first step in identifying 
potential HMAs included an analysis of the effects of fixed gears, such 
as lobster traps, and concluded that those impacts are minimal. For 
this reason, they were not considered when developing gear management 
options in OHA2. As described in the response to Comment #15, NMFS 
determined that the impacts to non-rocky habitats were addressed 
appropriately. Further, the Council analyzed and selected preferred 
alternatives partly based on output from the SASI model as well as 
information from a number of other sources, not just the vulnerability 
scores from the model. We are not sure what is meant by ``all the 
adverse environmental effects to EFH associated with the 
alternatives.'' The only effect the Council is obligated to minimize is 
adverse impacts from fishing. To the extent that these effects are 
mitigated by natural disturbance factors, these were considered by the 
Council and NMFS in selecting and approving final HMA alternatives.
    Comment 26: The Conservation NGOs supported the revised EFH 
designations; however, they contend that because the Phase I EFH 
designations were completed in 2007 and reviewed in 2011, they are now 
beyond due for the mandated five-year review, even before they are 
approved and implemented. They state NMFS must initiate action to 
analyze and confirm the validity of the information supporting these 
changes. Any required revisions should be immediately addressed through 
an appropriate action.
    Response: The EFH final rule states that EFH designations ``should 
be'' revised, as necessary, every five years. The regulations do not 
require this. Updating the designations further in this action was 
impracticable. It could have further complicated and delayed this 
action. In practice, there is a great deal of variability in the timing 
of the EFH reviews conducted by the Councils and NMFS from region to 
region. Because it has been 20 years since the original EFH 
designations were approved in the region, we agree that the Council 
will need to consider review of EFH designations in upcoming future 
actions. That review, however, is not part of the decisions made in 
this document.
    Comment 27: The letter noted that the Conservation NGOs are deeply 
concerned that known coral areas in the Gulf of Maine that are 
essential habitat for Acadian redfish were not designated as HAPC, and 
requested that NMFS direct the Council to review those habitats for 
designation under the HAPC criteria, especially because the Council's 
Coral Amendment will not protect those areas.
    Response: The EFH Final Rule does not require the Councils or NMFS 
to establish HAPCs. The Council is currently finalizing its Deep-Sea 
Coral Amendment, which will address deep-sea coral protection issues in 
the Gulf of Maine.
    Comment 28: The Conservation NGOs further insisted that NMFS 
initiate action to use the final rule for OHA2 to confirm that each 
HAPC reflects current understanding about the vulnerability and 
susceptibility of these areas to fishing impacts. The comment states 
that any required revisions should be immediately addressed through an 
appropriate action.
    Response: There is an analysis in the EIS that shows there is a 
high degree of spatial overlap of EFH within the HAPCs for several 
groundfish species that occupy more vulnerable hard bottom habitat. The 
EFH value for adult Atlantic cod, for example, is high in four of the 
five HAPCs and high in three of them for juvenile cod. The results for 
haddock are similar. Winter flounder EFH overlaps highly in three of 
the five HAPCs. Although there is no analysis that directly addresses 
the vulnerability of these areas to fishing impacts, the HAPCs are 
clearly well located in areas with vulnerable habitats used by managed 
species of groundfish. The EIS also describes, in general terms, the 
susceptibility of each HAPC to anthropogenic stresses, including 
fishing, because that is one of the criteria that were used to justify 
the designations. There are also maps indicating how well the HAPCs 
coincide with the proposed HMAs. In some situations, an HAPC is 
entirely contained within an HMA and, in others, it is partially 
included in an HMA. NMFS agrees with the Council that the HMAs include 
appropriate habitat protections associated with the HAPCs, with the 
exception of the Northern Edge Juvenile Cod HAPC. The proposed 
management measures in the Northern Edge Reduced Impact HMA did not 
appropriately protect the HAPC from fishing impacts. This was one 
reason why the proposed alternative on Georges Bank was disapproved.
    Comment 29: Generally, the Conservation NGOs believe that the 
habitat protection measures in the Gulf of Maine do not minimize the 
adverse effects of fishing on habitat to the extent practicable. 
Specific to the eastern Gulf of Maine, the groups contend that because 
vulnerable EFH must be protected from fishing impacts to the extent 
practicable in this amendment, selection of the Small Eastern Maine HMA 
as the preferred alternative is irrational. The alternative is not the 
most protective of the alternatives considered or of alternatives 
considered but rejected earlier on practicability grounds, coming in 
somewhere ``in the middle'' of the alternatives considered in the area. 
The Conservation NGOs also assert that this alternative also 
encompasses very little of the areas identified by The Nature 
Conservancy in its peer-reviewed Weighted Persistence Analysis, which 
identified this area as one of the highest scoring areas in the entire 
region.
    Response: NMFS did note some concerns when preferred HMAs were 
being selected that prohibitions on the use of mobile bottom-tending 
gear in this area would do little to minimize the adverse impacts of 
this gear because there is little use of that gear in the area 
currently. NMFS acknowledged that the overall increase in protection in 
the region is relatively small. However, the same could be said for the 
other HMA alternatives in eastern Maine. This area was correctly deemed 
the most practicable because it was not adjacent to disputed waters 
just inside the U.S.-Canadian border and because it provided nearly the 
same degree of habitat protection as the Large Eastern Maine area. The 
primary benefit of any HMA in eastern Maine is to protect vulnerable 
bottom habitats from any future resumption of groundfishing, which used 
to be more active there.
    Comment 30: In the Central Gulf of Maine, the Conservation NGOs 
contend that the failure to designate the entire Cashes Ledge Closure 
Area as an HMA with appropriate protections is inconsistent with 
statutory mandates, the goals and objectives of the Amendment, and the 
extensive record associated with this action. The letter says that it 
was one matter to have this area treated largely as a groundfish 
closure historically, but the Amendment process is intended to advance 
all feasible EFH habitat protection as such, not just as a beneficiary 
of closures or openings associated with managed species FMPs. The 
commenters

[[Page 15253]]

maintain that the entire current Cashes Ledge Closure Area should be 
identified as a habitat management area and managed accordingly to 
prohibit all commercial fishing, including gillnets in the water column 
EFH and the pelagic mobile gears may contact the bottom. The commenters 
contend that managing the area solely as a ``groundfish mortality 
closure'' leaves open the possibility that it will be re-opened by the 
Council whenever it determines that groundfish stock conditions have 
improved sufficiently.
    The letter also argues that it is inconsistent with statutory 
purposes and the goals and objectives of the Amendment to reduce the 
size of the existing Cashes Ledge Habitat Closure area by 27 percent. 
In addition, the commenters suggest that the Council's proposed action 
in this sub-region was based in part on poor quality substrate data and 
a reliance on ``general knowledge,'' particularly in regard to the 
extent of rocky bottom in the vicinity of Cashes Ledge and the 
predominance of muddy substrate in the deeper portions of the Cashes 
Ledge Closure Area. Re-designating current groundfish closures as 
habitat closures and expanding the existing protections for the Cashes 
Ledge Closure Area to include all gears would also represent an 
appropriate precautionary approach in light of the lack of survey data 
available for this area and the severely depleted status of Gulf of 
Maine cod.
    Response: NMFS agrees with the Council recommendation that 
maintaining the gear regulations that have been in place since the 
closure was established in 2002 meets the EFH requirements to minimize 
the adverse effects of fishing on habitat. Maintaining these 
restrictions allow the protections afforded to the diversity of habitat 
types it encompasses to remain in place and more effectively protect 
the resident groundfish resources from fishing than regulations 
associated with HMAs that only prohibit the use of mobile bottom-
tending gears. NMFS agrees that this is a reasonable approach to 
achieving the stated goals and objectives of the Amendment. As noted in 
the response to Comment #4, the Council voted to maintain the Cashes 
Ledge Closure Area in response to our concerns that the goals and 
objectives relative to critical groundfish life stages, among others, 
would be compromised if these protections were removed. The Council 
could decide in the future to remove the fishing restrictions in 
response to the full recovery of Gulf of Maine cod and other important 
groundfish stocks. The Council would need to consider how the changes 
minimize the adverse effects of fishing on EFH to comply with the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act.
    NMFS does not agree that this area should be designated as an HMA 
in order to prohibit all commercial fishing activity, including mid-
water gillnets and trawls. Mid-water gears are not designed or intended 
to contact the bottom and do not impact marine habitats in any 
significant way so there is no need to prohibit their use in this area. 
In addition, the analysis in the EIS indicates that the Cashes Ledge 
HMA could be reduced in size without compromising the habitat 
protection benefits of the closure. NMFS agrees, and is implementing 
the Council's recommendation to modify the HMA on Cashes Ledge. NMFS 
agrees that substrate and resource survey data quality is poor in the 
central Gulf of Maine, but is convinced that the Council made the best 
possible use of available scientific information and did not make any 
unjustifiable decisions when selecting preferred alternatives in this 
sub-region.
    Comment 31: In the Western Gulf of Maine, the commenters argue that 
the Amendment's proposal to reduce the size of the current areas with 
year-round habitat protection by 25 percent and to increase the gear 
exemptions within the closure is inconsistent with section 303(a)(7) 
requirements, unless it were infeasible for the Council to realize 
greater habitat and managed species benefits by protecting a larger 
area with more restrictive measures. Based on the information in the 
EIS, the commenters argue that the No Action Alternative 1 (unmodified) 
is clearly the rational preferred choice to the Western Gulf of Maine 
Preferred Alternative, as it realizes more habitat benefits at 
virtually the same fisheries cost.
    Response: We approved the Council's proposed action because the 
bottom habitats just outside the eastern boundary of the current 
groundfish closure are primarily deeper, low vulnerability mud 
habitats. NMFS determined that allowing access to this area and 
maintaining the prohibitions on a wider variety of gears capable of 
catching groundfish in the smaller area would continue to minimize the 
adverse impacts of fishing and protect groundfish resources at 
approximately the same level. Allowing the groundfish fleet into 
productive fishing grounds located just outside the eastern boundary of 
the Western Gulf of Maine HMA maintains approximately the same level of 
protections in a less costly, more practicable way.
    NMFS disagrees that that the exemption for shrimp trawls in the 
northwest corner of the closed area negatively impact the protective 
measures of the closures. Shrimp trawls are not allowed to have ground 
cables; they are used in deeper, muddy bottom habitats; and are 
equipped with a grate to reduce the catch of juvenile groundfish. 
Furthermore, the shrimp resource is currently in very poor shape to the 
extent that fishing has been completely or severely restricted in 
recent years.
    Comment 32: The Conservation NGOs argue that the Council should 
have selected Western Gulf of Maine Alternative 3 with Options 1 or 2 
or Alternative 4 with Options 1 or 2, arguing that both perform the 
best in terms of minimizing the impacts of fishing on EFH and, with 
only moderately to slightly negative social and economic costs, both of 
those alternatives are feasible. They assert that any other selected 
alternative would be inconsistent with the record and contrary to law.
    Response: Both of these alternatives include the Large Bigelow 
Bight HMA, which the Council did not propose for approval because of 
their negative social and economic costs. NMFS agrees with the 
Council's determination that they would incur unacceptable costs to the 
industry, particularly the inshore groundfish fishery and are, 
therefore, impracticable.
    Comment 33: The commenters suggest that Council's proposed 
alternative on George Bank should be rejected by NMFS and returned to 
the Council for further development, public review and comment, and 
future action because the proposed assortment of HMAs do not minimize, 
to the extent practicable, the effect of fishing on the EFH in the 
Georges Bank sub-region. Of the alternatives considered, the 
alternatives that scored the highest in terms of biological benefits to 
habitats and managed resources from the habitat protection measures 
proposed were Alternative 6, Options 1 and 2 and Alternative 8, Options 
1 and 2. The Council determined these alternatives (Alternatives 6 & 8 
with Options 1 & 2) to be superior to the proposed suite of management 
measures (Alternative 10 with Options 1 & 2) for habitat generally and 
the large mesh groundfish resource. Economically, the preferred Georges 
Bank alternative (Alternative 10) is expected to provide similar short- 
and long-term economic impacts as the nine other alternatives/option 
combinations that were considered, including the No Action alternative.
    Further, the letter notes that there is little, if any, social or 
economic cost to continuing the closed habitat areas on Georges Bank 
because these areas have

[[Page 15254]]

been closed for many years. The limited access scallop fishery will 
continue to be profitable if these areas remain closed. In addition, 
the proposed Georges Bank HMAs do not satisfy the objectives of OHA2 to 
improve protection of critical groundfish habitats or improve refuge 
for critical life stages (e.g., spawning fish) and they are 
inconsistent with the Council's designation of the Northern Edge 
Juvenile Cod HAPC that was established in 1998.
    Response: NMFS agrees that there are no new direct costs to the 
industry if the status quo is maintained, although we acknowledge there 
has been substantial lost opportunity costs due to the closure of the 
northern edge that would continue. (See Comment #7.) NMFS agrees with 
the comments relating to the goals and objectives of OHA2 and the 
comment that the Council's proposal for eastern Georges Bank is 
inconsistent with the designation of the area as a juvenile cod HAPC, 
for the reasons described in the preamble. Because NMFS determined that 
the combination of newly approved and existing measures that will 
continue allow each of the Council's FMPs to comply with the EFH 
requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, we did not remand the entire 
proposal to the Council for action. The Council may choose to revisit 
habitat protection on the northern edge, and NMFS would provide the 
necessary support and guidance throughout that process as we did for 
this Amendment. In order to address a number of the concerns cited in 
the preamble regarding the disapproved measures, NMFS contends that any 
future action should thoroughly evaluate the geographic extent, 
duration, and frequency of any future scallop dredging activity within 
any new access area on the northern edge of the bank and the habitat 
features that are used by groundfish at critical life stages that need 
to be protected from impacts.
    Comment 34: Specific to the Southern New England region, the 
commenters note that the Amendment considered more than a dozen 
alternatives and options to conserve EFH in this sub-region, yet the 
Council proposed an alternative that does not minimize adverse effects 
on EFH to the extent practicable, does not satisfy the goals and 
objectives of the Amendment, and does not effectively conserve the 
newly designated Habitat Area of Particular Concern in the Great South 
Channel sub-region. The Council considered an alternative (Alternative 
3) that could have achieved these multiple tasks in Great South Channel 
East HMA, yet chose a less protective area for its preferred 
alternative. In addition, by failing to account for the displacement of 
fishing effort, the Conservation NGOs suggest that the EIS does not 
adequately evaluate the practicability of any of the action 
alternatives that were considered.
    Response: The Council is not required to select the most protective 
alternative, regardless of economic impact, but must also consider 
their costs and benefits. The analysis in the EIS shows that the 
selected alternative does minimize impacts to the extent practicable 
and complies with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS 
agrees with the Council that the Great South Channel HMA is a 
practicable HMA that minimizes adverse impacts of fishing on vulnerable 
EFH.
    Further, unlike the Northern Edge HAPC, the Great South Channel 
Juvenile Cod HAPC is vulnerable to non-fishing impacts, as well as 
fishing impacts. The Council considered the HAPC and how to mitigate or 
compensate for adverse fishing impacts. NMFS determined that the 
Council's approach to overlaying fishing restrictions on the 
substantial amount of complex, gravel, cobble, and boulder habitat 
within the HMA, but outside of the HAPC, is an appropriate approach in 
this area, rather than simply relying on the boundaries of the HAPC to 
dictate where the HMA protections should be.
    Comment 35: The chief concern of the Conservation NGOs with the 
Council's proposed action in Southern New England is the temporary one-
year exemption for hydraulic clam dredges that allows them to continue 
fishing in most of the area. The Conservation NGOs maintain that if 
clam dredging is allowed to continue in areas of vulnerable bottom 
habitat after the exemption expires, the habitat protection benefits of 
the HMA will be substantially compromised.
    Response: As approved, clam dredging will be prohibited in the 
Great South Channel HMA after one year. The Council considered the clam 
fishery's unique fishing activity as providing a possible basis for 
allowing limited fishing that would not substantially impact EFH for an 
additional year. The 1-year delay in the closure was predicated on the 
understanding that the Council and the clam industry would be working 
to identify the less vulnerable portions of the Great South Channel HMA 
where hydraulic clam dredging could be allowed to continue in such a 
way as to not compromise the protective benefits of the HMA overall. 
NMFS is working with the Council to ensure that any future framework 
adjustment achieves these goals and, as stated in the framework's 
problem statement, that any potential long-term clam dredge exemption 
meets the goals and objectives of this Amendment.
    Comment 36: The Conservation NGOs further argue that all of the 
alternatives that use gear modifications, such as trawl cable 
restrictions or elevating disks, to reduce the impacts of fishing on 
EFH rely on unproven methods to reduce adverse effects of fishing on 
EFH. Because these gear modification options would allow continued 
fishing in these vulnerable areas with no objective assessment of their 
singular or cumulative adverse effects on EFH, the commenters argue 
that the measures should be disapproved.
    Response: NMFS agrees and has disapproved the Council's 
recommendation on Cox Ledge based on the recommendation of the 
Council's PDT that there was still too much uncertainty regarding the 
loss in efficiency from the modified gears to understand if adverse 
effects would be increased or reduced.
    Comment 37: The Conservation NGOs state that the DHRAs will enhance 
habitat research and adaptive management, but that the proposed sunset 
provision that allows the DHRAs to lapse after three years if no 
habitat research is undertaken is unrealistic. The process of 
developing a research proposal, obtaining funding, and completing all 
necessary planning can take well more than three years.
    Response: NMFS agrees that the DHRAs are an important component of 
the Council's overall plans to continue to improve habitat research and 
management. NMFS disagrees that the 3-year sunset provision is 
inadequate. The EIS describes a variety of considerations that the 
Regional Administrator should take into account when determining if a 
DHRA designation should be maintained, including whether funding has 
been requested (not simply obtained). The most important consideration 
will be that the research requires the DHRA to be successful and that 
it supports achieving the Council's stated habitat research goals.
    Comment 38: The Conservation NGOs argue that the reductions of 
spawning measures from the status quo, specifically the reduction of 
current year-round groundfish closure areas to the seasonal areas 
recommended in the document, insufficiently protect spawning stocks and 
that there should be no exemptions from the spawning closures because 
any fishing can disturb spawning activities. They further assert that 
the spawning measures need to address all managed species and all 
closure areas should also be

[[Page 15255]]

redesignated as spawning protection areas. They do not support 
selection of Northeast multispecies Framework Adjustment 53 spawning 
measures.
    Response: The Council has and continues to address spawning 
protection with a variety of approaches, generally relying on species- 
or fishery-specific actions. NMFS agrees with the Council that the 
measures proposed in this action augment existing spawning protection 
measures previously enacted, and, in combination with the approved 
HMAs, achieve the requirements to minimize to the extent practicable 
the adverse effects of fishing on EFH.
    Comment 39: The Conservation NGOs contend that the proposed 
frameworking measures in the Amendment are directly contrary to NMFS 
guidance and should be disapproved. By adopting an exhaustive list of 
issues that can be addressed in a framework adjustment, the Council 
will make virtually anything possible through an abbreviated framework 
process that can take place in as few as two Council meetings. The 
commenters argue that this approach will make the proposals to modify, 
adjust, or reduce management restrictions implemented through this 
Amendment a continual target and will not provide these areas the long-
term protection that they require.
    Response: NMFS disagrees. Framework measures are limited to 
adjustments to FMPs and amendments. The frameworkable measures allow 
the Council to modify or adjust previously considered measures through 
a less onerous approach, provided the measures are not novel or 
substantial, and this is considered when determining in what manner a 
council may address the need for management changes. Further, the 
Council's collection of FMPs will still be required to comply with the 
requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act to continue to minimize to the 
extent practicable the adverse effects of fishing on EFH. As such, 
substantial changes in habitat measures would only be permitted if the 
Council could demonstrate, and NMFS agreed, that the changes would not 
compromise that requirement.
    Comment 41: The Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF), representing over 
250 full-time active Atlantic scallop limited access permit holders, 
submitted a detailed comment recommending that we fully implement the 
amendment as recommended by the Council as quickly as possible, with 
the exception of the ``lobster closure'' within Closed Area II. FSF 
contends that fishery closures in historic areas of scallop abundance, 
as considered in certain alternatives, directly threaten the future 
success of scallop area management. Providing access to the most 
productive areas decreases scallop dredge bottom time and promotes 
bycatch reduction, cost efficiency, and safety, and fosters economic 
stability in our fishing communities.
    FSF notes that the Magnuson-Stevens Act allows actions for habitat 
management only within a ``practicability'' standard, and requires FMPs 
only to avoid, minimize, or compensate for adverse impacts to habitat 
from fishing, and that the Council's recommendations properly weighed 
these mandates in choosing preferred alternatives from the many options 
available. That is, the letter contends the Council's recommendations 
balanced a comprehensive and strategic approach to protecting the 
improvement of fish habitat in New England with economic benefits to 
fisheries communities and the achievement of optimum yield.
    Response: NMFS agrees that the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires the 
Council to avoid, minimize, or compensate for adverse effects from 
fishing on EFH in manner that is practicable. NMFS determined that, for 
the majority of the Council's recommendations, this requirement was 
met. However, for the reasons described above, the Council's 
recommendations for eastern Georges Bank did not. As FSF noted, the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act requires a habitat protection measure to meet two 
standards. While the recommendations for this region may have been 
practicable from an economic standpoint, they fell short of minimizing 
or compensating for adverse effects of fishing on highly vulnerable 
habitat, and within an HAPC designated specifically because of its 
vulnerability to fishing impacts.
    Comment 42: FSF notes that fishery management decisions must be 
based on the best scientific information available. FSF asserts that, 
despite the Council's thorough efforts to update the scientific record 
and the abundance of scientific information upon which its preferred 
alternatives were selected, NMFS and the EIS continue to 
inappropriately rely on biased, qualitative statements to negatively 
characterize the Council's preferred alternative for Georges Bank (and, 
to a lesser extent, for Southern New England). The letter states that 
NMFS ``falsely rel[ied] on the premise that any decrease in total area 
where fishing is prohibited results in negative impacts to habitat 
protection--regardless of the quality of habitat located in those 
areas--and that closed areas, once closed, should not re-open 
regardless of what science dictates.'' FSF also notes that not only 
does the SASI model not support the contention that ``bigger is 
better'' for habitat closures, but asserts that NMFS staff advocated 
for this approach.
    Response: NMFS agrees that fishery management decisions need to be 
based on the best scientific information available, and that overall, 
the Council's recommendations meet these standards. However, the SASI 
model and LISA cluster analyses were not developed to be the sole basis 
for habitat management decisions. For example, in areas where there is 
relatively poor data, the SASI model outputs, and consequently, the 
LISA cluster analysis, can overestimate the coverage of vulnerable 
substrate in a specific area if a single data point is ``blown out'' as 
the grid develops. This is why the Georges Shoal HMA appears, through 
the LISA cluster results, to be highly vulnerable. The Council's PDT, 
recognizing this shortcoming, removed the layers of the LISA cluster 
analysis to examine the underlying substrate data. Doing so, reveals 
that the Georges Shoal HMA is not a highly vulnerable area. Further, 
the SASI/LISA analyses are not the only measures of habitat value in 
the EIS. As described above, the utility of the area to fish stocks, 
represented by the EFH overlap analyses, demonstrate that the Georges 
Shoal HMA value is low, despite its much larger size, than current 
Closed Area II Closure Area. FSF assertion that NMFS required a 
``bigger is better'' approach is an incorrect characterization of the 
Agency's advice during the development of the Amendment and of our 
decision. NMFS staff routinely pointed to the idea that smaller, higher 
quality closures were preferable to larger, less efficient closures in 
areas of less vulnerable habitat. We contend that our decision to 
disapprove the Council's recommendation on eastern Georges Bank 
supports this approach. The combination of the Council's two mobile 
bottom-tending gear closures are significantly larger than the existing 
Closed Area II habitat closure; however, these areas are less efficient 
in protecting vulnerable habitat, and, despite their size, include less 
EFH for managed species and life stages, as described above.
    Comment 43: FSF states that NMFS must approve any FMP amendment 
submitted by a council unless that amendment is inconsistent with the 
law; that OHA2 is consistent with all relevant laws; therefore, it must 
be implemented as submitted, with the exception of the lobster closure, 
``even if some on NMFS' staff may not have

[[Page 15256]]

selected the same alternatives the Council did.''
    Response: NMFS agrees that we are obligated to approve any FMP 
amendment submitted by a council if that action is determined to be 
consistent with applicable law. NMFS disagrees that all of the 
Council's recommendations met this standard and; therefore, disapproved 
the portions of the Amendment that did not. Throughout the development 
of the Amendment, there were alternatives in many areas that NMFS staff 
appropriately advocated for that were ultimately not selected as 
preferred. However, with the exception of eastern Georges Bank and Cox 
Ledge, NMFS approved the Council's recommendations.
    Comment 44: FSF states that through the process of developing this 
amendment, the Council and its committees made enormous scientific 
advances using both new and existing analytical tools, relying on far 
more detailed substrate profiling information that was not available 
when the existing closures were implemented in the first Omnibus 
Habitat Amendment in 1998, such as scallop video survey work by the 
University of Massachusetts' School for Marine Science and Technology, 
and that, therefore, spatial management for habitat conservation 
purposes will be improved by the selection of any science-based 
alternative.
    Response: NMFS agrees, however, the scientific information 
presented in the EIS by the Council recognizes that there are areas 
within existing closures that are highly vulnerable to the adverse 
effects of fishing and that warrant continued protection. NMFS 
determined that the Council's recommendations for eastern Georges Bank 
and Cox Ledge were not adequately supported by the scientific 
information in the EIS, for the reasons described above.
    Comment 45: FSF notes that the supporting analyses for the EIS and 
proposed rule completely omit any consideration of possible unintended 
consequences that can, and do, result from effort displacement in areas 
with mixed fisheries. FSF contends that such consequences could readily 
nullify any possible benefits of closures or even incur greater harm to 
fishery resources. Failure to consider fishermen's behavioral changes 
associated with closures can undermine the achievement of fishery 
management goals.
    Response: NMFS agrees that displacement of fishing effort from an 
area that is closed into an area that is open to fishing could have an 
unintended consequence of increasing habitat impacts in the open area, 
especially if it causes increased impacts on sensitive habitats that 
have not previously been exposed to much bottom fishing activity.
    However, this is not likely to happen in the region affected by 
this action. With the exception of the clam fishery operating in 
proposed habitat management area east of Nantucket, none of the new 
HMAs that were approved are located in areas where there is much mobile 
bottom-tending gear fishing activity that could be displaced into 
vulnerable habitat areas. Hydraulic clam dredge vessels that fish here 
are likely to shift into nearby, less vulnerable sandy habitats in the 
current Nantucket Lightship Habitat Management Area (which will open 
because of OHA2) if and when they are required to stop fishing in the 
new Great South Channel HMA. In general, any vessel that is forced to 
leave a recently closed area is more likely to move into an area that 
is already being fished rather than a new undisturbed area, in which 
case the effects of the additional effort will have little added impact 
on the quality of bottom habitats. In this more likely scenario, the 
habitat benefits of prohibiting fishing in a closed area would exceed 
the habitat losses caused by additional bottom contact in an open area.
    Comment 46: FSF also suggests that because management measures were 
developed based on consideration of whole sub-regions, the Council's 
proposed measures provide far better protections for the depleted 
Georges Bank cod stock. FSF's letter states that the proposed action on 
Georges Bank closes approximately 1,120 nm\2\ of ocean bottom in areas 
of ``high vulnerability.'' They further note that the areas cover over 
600 nm\2\ of cobble, boulder, and granule pebble habitat, which in 
total exceeds all three no action habitat closures combined, and that a 
large area that is currently open with ``demonstrably high habitat 
vulnerability on Georges Shoal would be completely closed to fishing.'' 
They also note that most of the existing Northern Edge habitat closure 
would remain closed and that only the Northern Edge Reduced Impact HMA 
would be open to rotational scallop fishing. Last, they state that the 
Great South Channel HMA covers 1,400 nm\2\ that is highly vulnerable, 
and that this alternative ``includes more than sufficient mitigation 
measures to offset this action.''
    Response: As noted above, the suggestion that the Georges Shoal HMA 
is more vulnerable than the Northern Edge HAPC area is demonstrably 
incorrect. Our conclusion is based on other indicators of habitat 
suitability and vulnerability in addition to the output from the SASI 
model, which the Council relied on to initially identify areas of more 
vulnerable habitat where other information (e.g., EFH value, substrate 
composition, and stability) proved to be more useful. The mean SASI 
vulnerability scores for bottom trawls for the Georges Shoal area are 
higher than for the HAPC, but only by about 4 percent and because the 
HAPC was sampled more intensively. Data support for substrate--the key 
underlying data for the SASI model--is much higher there than on 
Georges Shoal.
    We agree that it is important to evaluate the benefits of spatial 
habitat management measures across individual groundfish stocks and 
that the effects of these alternatives on the Georges Bank cod stock in 
the Great South Channel and Georges Bank sub-region was not explicitly 
weighed against each other in this action. Nevertheless, this action 
includes the goal of improving groundfish protections overall. Because 
the Georges Bank cod stock is in such poor condition, protection for 
juvenile cod in both the Great South Channel and on the northern edge 
of Georges Bank is a positive element of this action. Improving 
benefits to the Georges Bank stock of cod is best achieved by approving 
the Great South Channel HMA and disapproving the proposed HMA in Closed 
Area II. Further, the rationale for the Council's proposals on eastern 
Georges Bank does not adequately justify allowing an increase in 
adverse effects from fishing on an HAPC that was designated 
specifically because of its vulnerability to fishing.
    Comment 47: The FSF letter also contends that the HAPC is 
appropriately treated because Reduced Impact HMA extends into currently 
open fishing area (that would remain open under the Haddock SAP rules) 
to compensate for impacts in the HAPC. Further, the comment states, 
``it is entirely permissible to allow fishing in the HAPC.'' They also 
note that rotational scallop fishing will not have unlimited adverse 
habitat impacts and that any increased impacts in Reduced Impact HMA 
are offset by reduced bottom contact time.
    Response: NMFS agrees that the designation of an area as an HAPC 
does not inherently require a fishing closure in the area. However, the 
Council provided insufficient information to understand which aspects 
of the area are critical to juvenile cod survival, how those aspects of 
the habitat are impacted

[[Page 15257]]

by scallop dredges, the recovery time for such impacts, and the 
anticipated rotation periods for scallop fishing that would 
sufficiently address the practicability of any proposed fishing or 
protective measures. Without a more full discussion of these critical 
components, it is not possible to sufficiently evaluate the nature, 
extent, and scope of rotational scallop fishing that may be permitted 
in the Northern Edge HAPC. The Council's recommendations in this 
Amendment would open the most vulnerable portions of the HAPC and do 
not adequately avoid, mitigate, or compensate for those adverse 
effects. The Council's recommendation to allow even rotational fishing 
in this sensitive habitat appears to be inconsistent with its own 
rationale for the designation that the habitat in this area is 
particularly susceptible to adverse fishing effects and warrants 
particular concern and consideration.
    Comment 48: The scallop industry argues that the ``lobster 
closure'' should be rejected because it violates Council policy and 
adequate alternatives were not analyzed.
    Response: NMFS is disapproving the lobster closure in conjunction 
with the recommendations on eastern Georges Bank. We agree that further 
discussion of this issue would be beneficial if the Council decides to 
revisit habitat management in Closed Area II.
    Comment 49: FSF supported the designation of a DHRA within the 
existing Closed Area I South in Georges Bank. The scallop industry 
proposed this area to be dedicated to research because of the 
importance of ongoing scallop studies there. The fleet has collected 
video survey data in the area that will serve as baseline information 
for future studies. These studies will provide valuable information 
about scallop productivity, distribution, abundance, and growth. The 
designation of the DHRA is expected to streamline the permitting 
process for these research activities and to reduce administrative 
hurdles. Areas that are designated as DHRAs must have sunset provisions 
that will open an area if there is no habitat research conducted there 
within three years. FSF contends that there is no benefit to excluding 
commercial fishing from a DHRA if there is no interest in or capacity 
for actively pursuing research there.
    Response: NMFS agrees and is implementing the DHRAs with the sunset 
provisions, as recommended.
    Comment 50: Additionally, FSF supported adding changes in HMA 
designations or restrictions to the list of items that may be modified 
through framework action.
    Response: NMFS agrees and is implementing the recommendation as 
proposed.

Classification

    The Administrator, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, determined that 
the approved portions of OHA2 are necessary for the conservation and 
management of the New England Fishery Management Council's fishery 
management plans and that the final rule is consistent with the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other 
applicable laws.
    The Council prepared a final environmental impact statement for the 
Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment 2. The EIS was filed with the 
Environmental Protection Agency on October 18, 2017. A notice of 
availability was published on October 27, 2017 (82 FR 49802). In 
approving the amendment on January 3, 2018, NMFS issued a Record of 
Decision (ROD) identifying the selected alternative. A copy of the ROD 
is available from NMFS (see ADDRESSES).
    This rule has been determined to be significant for purposes of 
Executive Orders (E.O.) 12866. Thus, this final rule is considered an 
E.O. 13771 deregulatory action. For the reasons stated earlier 
regarding updated scallop biomass information, in the accompanying EIS, 
and ``Description of Methods and Supplemental Analysis of Economic 
Benefits of OHA2,'' we anticipate this rule will result in additional 
harvest opportunities.
    Congressional Review Act: The Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs has determined that this rule is major under 5 U.S.C. 801 et 
seq. Under 5 U.S.C. 808, the minimum 60-day delay in effectiveness 
required for major rules is not applicable because this rule 
establishes a regulatory program for a commercial activity related to 
fishing.
    This rule does not contain policies with Federalism, as defined in 
E.O. 13132, or ``takings,'' as clarified in E.O. 12630.
    Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) establishes 
procedural requirements applicable to rulemaking by Federal agencies. 
The purpose of these requirements is to ensure public access to the 
Federal rulemaking process and to give the public opportunity for 
comment as well as adequate notice. Because this rule opens some areas 
that are currently closed, those portions of the regulations are 
relieving restrictions and, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1), are not 
subject to the APA's requirement for a 30-day delay in effectiveness.
    Additionally, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), the Assistant 
Administrator for Fisheries finds good cause to waive the 30-day delay 
in effectiveness for the remainder of the rule's provisions because 
such a delay is unnecessary and contrary to the public interest. The 
delayed effectiveness is intended to provide adequate time for the 
affected public to comply with the new regulations. Because this rule 
is being implemented at the start of the fishing year when these types 
of changes are typically implemented and expected, there is minimal 
effort or time needed for vessel owners to come into compliance with 
the new measures, which generally only requires updating navigation 
systems to identify the new areas. In addition, fishermen are 
accustomed to adjusting to changes in available fishing areas.
    Implementing the measures at the start of the fishing provide 
allows the fishing industry the maximum amount of time to fish in newly 
available areas. As such, the delay in effectiveness is unnecessary to 
allow sufficient time for vessel owners to comply with the new 
structure. Further, because NMFS's partial approval of the Council's 
recommendations was announced in early January, the affected public, 
i.e., primarily the commercial groundfish, scallop, and clam 
industries, have been well aware of what changes are coming and have 
been anticipating the changes implemented via this rule.
    Although this rule does impose new restrictions in that certain 
areas previously opened will be closed, the overall impact of the 
measures being implemented is a reduction in management restrictions in 
the majority of the areas considered. Particularly significant is the 
removal of Closed Area I and the Nantucket Lightship Closure Areas that 
will allow the scallop fishery, via Scallop Framework Adjustment 29, to 
establish access areas and allocations that are projected to result in 
an additional $140-160 million in potential fishing revenue for the 
scallop fishery in the coming year. The regulated entities will benefit 
far more from these provisions that lift restrictions going into 
immediate effect, than they would be disadvantaged by the waiver of the 
30-day delay for the aspects of the rule that impose restrictions. Even 
in areas that are resulting in new closures, the impacts are minimal 
because the Eastern Maine HMA closure is not expected to have any 
immediate impact on mobile bottom-tending gear fishing; the hydraulic 
clam dredge fishery is

[[Page 15258]]

exempted for one year from the date of implementation of the Great 
South Channel HMA; the Closed Area I Seasonal Closure is the same 
footprint as current year-round closure; and the Spring Massachusetts 
Bay Spawning Closure is small and not effective until April 15. Thus, 
NMFS finds good cause to waive the 30-delay in effectiveness because it 
is in the regulated entities' interest.
    A final regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA) was prepared for 
this action. The FRFA incorporates the IRFA, a summary of the 
significant issues raised by the public comments in response to the 
IRFA, and NMFS responses to those comments, and a summary of the 
analyses completed to support the action. A copy of this analysis is 
available from the Council (see ADDRESSES). A summary of this analysis 
is provided below.
    Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act of 1996 states that, for each rule or group of related rules for 
which an agency is required to prepare a FRFA, the agency shall publish 
one or more guides to assist small entities in complying with the rule, 
and shall designate such publications as ``small entity compliance 
guides.'' The agency shall explain the actions a small entity is 
required to take to comply with a rule or group of rules. As part of 
this rulemaking process, a letter to permit holders that also serves as 
a small entity compliance guide was prepared. Copies of this final rule 
are available from the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office 
(GARFO), and the guide, i.e., permit holder letter, will be sent to all 
holders of any GARFO permit because many of the measures impact 
fisheries at the gear, rather than permit, level. The guide and this 
final rule will be available upon request.

A Statement of the Need for and Objectives of the Rule

    A statement of the necessity for and for the objectives of this 
action are contained in the Omnibus Amendment EIS, Volume 1, and in the 
preamble to this final rule, and is not repeated here.

A Summary of the Significant Issues Raised by the Public in Response to 
the IRFA, a Summary of the Agency's Assessment of Such Issues, and a 
Statement of Any Changes Made in the Final Rule as a Result of Such 
Comments

    No significant issues relative to the IRFA were raised in the 
public comments.

Description and Estimate of the Number of Small Entities To Which the 
Rule Would Apply

    The Small Business Administration (SBA) defines a small business as 
one that is:
     Independently owned and operated;
     Not dominant in its field of operation;
     Has annual receipts that do not exceed--
    [cir] $20.5 million in the case of commercial finfish harvesting 
entities (NAIC \1\ 114111)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is 
the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying 
business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, 
and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business 
economy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [cir] $5.5 million in the case of commercial shellfish harvesting 
entities (NAIC 114112)
    [cir] $7.5 million in the case of for-hire fishing entities (NAIC 
114119); or
     Has fewer than--
    [cir] 750 employees in the case of fish processors
    [cir] 100 employees in the case of fish dealers.
    This rule affects commercial and recreational fish harvesting 
entities engaged in fisheries throughout New England that utilize 
bottom-trawls (large and small mesh), longlines, rod and reel, 
gillnets, pots and traps, scallop dredges, and hydraulic clam dredges. 
The gears primarily affected by this action are two non-mutually 
exclusive fishing operations: Fishermen using gears capable of catching 
groundfish and fishermen using mobile bottom-tending gears. 
Individually permitted vessels may hold permits for several fisheries, 
harvesting species of fish that are regulated by several different 
FMPs. Furthermore, multiple-permitted vessels and/or permits may be 
owned by entities affiliated by stock ownership, common management, 
identity of interest, contractual relationships, or economic 
dependency. For the purposes of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 
analysis, the ownership entities, not the individual vessels, are 
considered the regulated entities.
    Ownership entities are defined as those entities with common 
ownership personnel as listed on the permit application. Only permits 
with identical ownership personnel are categorized as an ownership 
entity. For example, if five permits have the same seven persons listed 
as co-owners on their permit application, those seven persons would 
form one ownership entity that holds those five permits. If two of 
those seven owners also co-own additional vessels, these two persons 
would be considered a separate ownership entity.
    On June 1 of each year, NMFS identifies ownership entities based on 
a list of all permits for the most recent complete calendar year. The 
current ownership dataset used for this analysis was created based on 
calendar year 2014 and contains average gross sales associated with 
those permits for calendar years 2012 through 2014.
    In addition to classifying a business (ownership entity) as small 
or large, a business can also be classified by its primary source of 
revenue. A business is defined as being primarily engaged in fishing 
for finfish if it obtains greater than 50 percent of its gross sales 
from sales of finfish. Similarly, a business is defined as being 
primarily engaged in fishing for shellfish if it obtains greater than 
50 percent of its gross sales from sales of shellfish.
    A description of the specific permits that are likely to be 
affected by this action is provided below, along with a discussion of 
the impacted businesses, which can include multiple vessels and/or 
permit types.
    NMFS issued a final rule establishing a small business size 
standard of $11 million in annual gross receipts for all businesses 
primarily engaged in the commercial fishing industry (NAICS 11411) for 
RFA compliance purposes only (80 FR 81194; December 29, 2015). The $11 
million standard became effective on July 1, 2016, and is intended to 
be used in place of the SBA's current standards of $20.5 million, $5.5 
million, and $7.5 million for the finfish (NAICS 114111), shellfish 
(NAICS 114112), and other marine fishing (NAICS 114119) sectors, 
respectively, of the U.S. commercial fishing industry.
    The Council took final action on OHA2 in June 2015, and the 
analyses in support of this action were developed throughout the 
decision process and following the Council's action, but prior to July 
1, 2016. This analysis was not updated to reflect a small business re-
classification for all of the vessels affected by this amendment using 
our new size-standards because we have determined that this analysis 
provides a sufficient estimate of the number of small entities to which 
the proposed rule applies for purposes of determining this action's 
impacts on small entities and the considerations required under the 
RFA. For the fisheries directly affected by this rule, RFA analyses 
have been completed on other actions since the implementation of the 
revised size standard. As described in the IRFA, data showed a change 
in the total number of entities from the last fishery

[[Page 15259]]

management action analyzed under the SBA size standards and the first 
fishery management action analyzed under the revised NMFS policy 
standard. However, in terms of percentage of each of the major affected 
fisheries, the size standard change results in minimal changes in 
categories. As a result, the revised size standard does not change the 
conclusions of the analysis or notably change the estimation of the 
impact on small entities from this action. As such, it is reasonable to 
rely upon the Council's economic analyses. No comments or concerns were 
received specific to this analysis or about the change in size 
classifications.

Regulated Commercial Fish Harvesting Entities

    Table 2 describes revenue by business type (large or small) and 
Table 3 describes the total number of commercial business entities 
potentially regulated by the action. As of the time of the Council's 
decisionmaking (2015), there were 4,071 small businesses (925 finfish, 
2,713 shellfish, 433 for-hire) and 18 large businesses (all shellfish) 
potentially affected by this action. For fisheries utilizing mobile 
bottom-tending gear, the approved action directly regulates affected 
entities through restrictions on when and where vessels may fish to 
comply with the Magnuson-Stevens Act requirement to minimize to the 
extent practicable the adverse effects of fishing on essential fish 
habitat. For fisheries that use gears capable of catching groundfish, 
this final rule additionally restricts location and timing of fishing 
to minimize impacts on spawning groundfish. According to the EIS, 
individuals fishing with mobile bottom-tending gear and midwater trawls 
tend to generate a substantial portion of their revenue from other gear 
types. The vast majority of individuals either fishing with mobile 
bottom-tending gear capable of catching groundfish or for-hire do not 
deviate from that mode, which could relate to the specialized nature of 
either the vessels or the captains' skills needed for these types of 
fishing.

                                                            Table 2--Business Revenue by Type
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                             Business        Shellfish        Finfish        For-hire
                 Year                    NAICS classification         Business  type          revenue         revenue         revenue         revenue
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012.................................  Finfish.................  Small..................    $217,560,996     $33,546,543    $183,380,312        $634,141
2012.................................  For-hire................  Small..................      56,153,981         331,674         611,532      55,210,775
2012.................................  Shellfish...............  Large..................     265,665,371     242,801,113      22,860,746           3,512
2012.................................  Shellfish...............  Small..................     710,485,816     679,195,607      30,897,738         392,471
2013.................................  Finfish.................  Small..................     191,870,635      25,008,297     166,326,851         535,487
2013.................................  For-hire................  Small..................      55,556,751         125,755         588,984      54,842,012
2013.................................  Shellfish...............  Large..................     228,892,465     208,244,173      20,642,659           5,633
2013.................................  Shellfish...............  Small..................     690,608,565     663,848,959      26,381,386         378,220
2014.................................  Finfish.................  Small..................     209,370,022      23,888,931     185,335,274         145,817
2014.................................  For-hire................  Small..................      57,843,562          15,735         412,061      57,415,766
2014.................................  Shellfish...............  Large..................     223,065,022     202,580,548      20,484,474  ..............
2014.................................  Shellfish...............  Small..................     741,518,137     717,031,087      24,316,466         170,584
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


      Table 3--Number of Businesses and Revenue Generated by Small and Large Businesses, by Commercial Gear
                                                 Classification
   [MBTG = Mobile bottom-tending gear, Groundfish = gear capable of catching groundfish, Both = Both MBTG and
Groundfish designation, Midwater = Midwater trawls, Clam = clam dredge. Note some data not presented for privacy
                                                   concerns.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Number of
               Year                       Gear type            Business type        businesses      VTR revenue
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012..............................  Both.................  Large................              17    $231,658,238
2012..............................  Both.................  Small................             574     580,827,338
2013..............................  Both.................  Large................              17     185,435,086
2013..............................  Both.................  Small................             539     445,971,382
2014..............................  Both.................  Large................              17     173,348,111
2014..............................  Both.................  Small................             528     396,470,511
2012..............................  Clam.................  Large................               5      31,160,893
2012..............................  Clam.................  Small................              42      27,738,596
2013..............................  Clam.................  Large................               4      30,008,134
2013..............................  Clam.................  Small................              47      27,874,110
2014..............................  Clam.................  Large................               2  ..............
2014..............................  Clam.................  Small................              41      26,867,813
2012..............................  Groundfish...........  Large................               2  ..............
2012..............................  Groundfish...........  Small................             668      74,103,358
2013..............................  Groundfish...........  Large................               2  ..............
2013..............................  Groundfish...........  Small................             605      47,920,414
2014..............................  Groundfish...........  Large................               1  ..............
2014..............................  Groundfish...........  Small................             592      48,959,328
2012..............................  MBTG.................  Large................               3       1,072,716
2012..............................  MBTG.................  Small................             125       6,120,800
2013..............................  MBTG.................  Large................               3       1,375,902
2013..............................  MBTG.................  Small................              87       2,940,183
2014..............................  MBTG.................  Large................               3       1,216,387
2014..............................  MBTG.................  Small................              26       2,857,405
2012..............................  Midwater.............  Large................               3       9,289,884
2012..............................  Midwater.............  Small................              14      22,865,976
2013..............................  Midwater.............  Large................               3       5,535,922

[[Page 15260]]

 
2013..............................  Midwater.............  Small................              13      26,214,983
2014..............................  Midwater.............  Large................               3       4,909,077
2014..............................  Midwater.............  Small................              14      25,058,119
2012..............................  Other................  Large................               2  ..............
2012..............................  Other................  Small................             566      79,087,347
2013..............................  Other................  Large................               4  ..............
2013..............................  Other................  Small................             539      80,355,177
2014..............................  Other................  Large................               3  ..............
2014..............................  Other................  Small................             514      84,446,720
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Description of the Projected Reporting, Record-keeping, and Other 
Compliance Requirements of This Proposed Rule

    The action does not contain a collection-of-information requirement 
subject to review and approval by the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), and the rule does not 
impose any other reporting or record-keeping requirements. This final 
rule requires compliance only with standard fishing-related issues, 
including compliance with gear restricted fishing areas or seasons.

Description of the Steps the Agency Has Taken To Minimize the 
Significant Economic Impact on Small Entities Consistent With the 
Stated Objectives of Applicable Statutes

    The economic impacts of each type of habitat management measure are 
discussed in more detail in Volumes 3, 4, and 5 of the EIS. Because the 
primary objective of the Amendment is to comply with the Magnuson-
Stevens Act requirement to minimize to the extent practicable the 
adverse effects of fishing on EFH, a variety of combinations of areas 
could have achieved those goals. The EFH and HAPC designations are 
primarily administrative in nature and are not expected to result in 
any direct economic impacts to the fisheries; although, indirect 
positive affects to stocks are expected.
    In general, the overall approved changes are relatively modest, 
particularly when compared to other alternatives considered. The 
majority of areas approved are already closed to fishing. The current 
open areas that will close include the Eastern Maine HMA and the Great 
South Channel HMA. As described above, there is currently very little 
mobile bottom-tending gear fishing in the Eastern Maine HMA because 
groundfish stocks have decreased locally in that region. The Great 
South Channel HMA was designed to minimize impact to the scallop 
fishery, particularly the design of the eastern boundary. Scallops 
occur primarily at depths beyond the closure boundary. There is not a 
significant amount of trawl fishing in that area because of the high 
level of natural disturbance. The hydraulic clam fishery will be 
allowed to continue to operate in this HMA for 1 year, while the 
Council develops more discrete exemption areas. It is expected that the 
subsequent action will attempt to balance the economic needs of the 
clam fishery with the objectives of OHA2 and the EFH protections 
required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
    The approved measures that will increase fishing opportunities 
include: (1) Modifying the Western Gulf of Maine Groundfish Closure 
Area by aligning the eastern boundary with the Habitat Closure Area; 
(2) modifying the Jeffreys Bank Habitat Closure Area and exposing the 
deeper, northern portion to potential fishing; (3) eliminating the 
Nantucket Lightship Groundfish and Habitat Closure Areas; and (4) 
implementing Closed Area I North as a seasonal, versus year-round, 
closure area. The partial opening of the areas in the Gulf of Maine are 
expected to result in modest increases in groundfish revenue. The 
opening of the Nantucket Lightship and Closed Area I Closure Areas are 
expected to result in notable increases in scallop fishing. Scallop 
Framework Adjustment 29, which is intended to set management measures 
for the 2018 and 2019 scallop fishing years, estimates that with access 
to these newly opened areas will result in an additional $140-160 
million to the scallop fishery beyond what the status quo measures 
would have generated.

Habitat Management Measure Alternatives

    In the Eastern Gulf of Maine, this action establishes the Small 
Eastern Maine Habitat Management Area (HMA), closed to all mobile 
bottom-tending gears. (Note, the regulations refer to this area as 
simply the ``Eastern Maine HMA.'') Other alternatives considered would 
have continued with no habitat management in this sub-region or 
implemented one or more additional areas. The Toothaker Ridge HMA, the 
Large Eastern Maine HMA, the Machias HMA, and the Small Eastern Maine 
were assembled into two alternatives. The EIS concluded, and NMFS 
agreed, that the Small Eastern Maine HMA achieves a notable level of 
protection for vulnerable habitat without significant economic impacts.
    In the Central Gulf of Maine, this action maintains the existing 
Cashes Ledge Groundfish Closure Area, modifies the existing Jeffreys 
Bank and Cashes Ledge Habitat Closure Areas, with their current fishing 
restrictions and exemptions, establishes the Fippennies Ledge HMA, 
closed to mobile bottom-tending gears, and the Ammen Rock HMA, closed 
to all fishing except lobster traps. Other alternatives considered 
would have various combinations of eight total areas. In addition to 
the areas recommended as preferred, the Council considered habitat 
management in the existing Jeffreys Bank and Cashes Ledge habitat 
closure areas, two areas on Platts Bank and a small area on the top of 
Fippennies Ledge. The Council did not recommend the areas on Platts 
Bank because of the concern regarding the displacement of current 
fishing and the economic impact to a sub-set of the fleet. The final 
approved measures provide the best habitat protection without 
significant economic impacts.
    In the Western Gulf of Maine, this action maintains the existing 
Western Gulf of Maine Habitat Closure Area, closed to mobile bottom-
tending gears, and modifies the eastern boundary of the Western Gulf of 
Maine [Groundfish]

[[Page 15261]]

Closure Area to align with the Habitat Closure Area, while maintaining 
the current fishing restrictions and requirements. An exemption area 
within the northwest corner of those closures for shrimp trawls is also 
established and the existing Roller Gear Restricted Area requirements 
is designated as a habitat protection measure. Other alternatives would 
have established a large (Council's Alternatives 3 and 4 in Volume 3 of 
the EIS) or small (Alternative 5) version of a closure area along the 
state waters boundaries of New Hampshire and Maine covering Bigelow 
Bight, which was deemed by the Council to have overly severe economic 
impacts. Still other options included consideration of breaking up the 
existing Western Gulf of Maine Habitat Closure Area to focus on the 
most vulnerable sections of Jeffreys Ledge and Stellwagen Bank, either 
in two smaller combinations (Alternatives 4 and 5) or only a larger 
section of the Stellwagen Bank area (Alternatives 3 and 6). Finally, 
one option would have implemented the roller gear restriction over only 
the footprint of the other proposed habitat management areas 
(Alternative 7b).
    On Georges Bank, this final action maintains the Closed Area II 
groundfish and habitat closure areas, but removes the Closed Area I 
groundfish and habitat closures as year-round closures.
    Various combinations of 19 areas, including the 5 existing habitat 
and groundfish closed areas, were considered for this sub-region. When 
combined, these areas covered nearly the entire Bank area from the 
Hague Line up to the Great South Channel. Some areas were deemed too 
costly from an economic standpoint because of their size or specific 
location. These areas included the two alternatives across the majority 
of the bank: The Northern Georges mobile bottom-tending gear closure 
(Alternative 8) and the Northern Georges gear modification area 
(Alternatives 5). Various options of smaller areas on Georges Shoal, 
namely the Georges Shoal 1 (Alternative 5), Georges Shoal Gear 
Modification Area (Alternative 4), Georges Shoal 2 (Alternative 7), and 
Western HMA (Alternative 9), were also considered. Further variations 
focused more on the northern edge, included the Northern Edge HMA in 
Alternatives 3 and 4; two variations of expanding the existing Closed 
Area II habitat closure (Alternatives 6A and 6B); the EFH South HMA as 
part of Alternative 7; the Eastern HMA and a Mortality Closure in 
Alternative 9. The Council's recommendation (Alternative 10) was 
disapproved for the reasons described above. The final approved 
measures maintain a long-standing closure, but opens Closed Area I. As 
described above, the opening of Closed Area I is expected to result in 
significant economic gains for the scallop fishery.
    In the Great South Channel, this action establishes the Great South 
Channel HMA, closed to mobile bottom-tending gear, except hydraulic 
clam dredges for 1 year, outside of the northeast corner of the area. 
The Nantucket Lightship Habitat Closure Area and the Nantucket 
Lightship Closed Area are removed. Other alternatives were variations 
around the approved alternative, some extending farther to the east, 
and some extending farther to the west. The Council also recommended an 
HMA on Cox Ledge that would have prohibited hydraulic clam dredges and 
ground cables on trawl vessels. That recommendation was disapproved for 
the reasons described above. The Council also considered a single box 
to cover both Cox Ledge areas. The opening of the Nantucket Lightship 
Closure Areas is expected to result in significant economic gains for 
the scallop fishery in 2018 and 2019.

Groundfish Spawning Measure Alternatives

    In the Gulf of Maine, the final rule establishes two new, 
relatively small cod spawning protections. They include the Winter 
Massachusetts Bay Spawning Closure, which would be in effect from 
November 1-January 31 of each year, and a 2-week closure (April 15-
April 30) within statistical area 125. Other alternatives considered 
would have reinstated or added to existing rolling closures in the 
Western Gulf of Maine.
    On Georges Bank, this action establishes the existing Closed Area 
II Groundfish Closure Area and the Closed Area I North Habitat Closed 
Area as seasonal closures from February 1-April 15, and removes the May 
Georges Bank Spawning Closure. The Council considered making all of the 
existing Closed Area I groundfish closure area a seasonal spawning 
closure, but instead chose just the subset of that area in the northern 
portion.
    Management alternatives in both regions included all commercial 
gears capable of catching groundfish (recreational fishing exempted), 
all commercial and recreational gears capable of catching groundfish, 
and an exemption for scallop dredges.

Dedicated Habitat Research Area Alternatives

    This action establishes two DHRAs. The DHRAs will be effective for 
3 years, at which time the Regional Administrator would consult with 
the Council as to whether the designation should be retained. The 
Council considered three potential DHRAs, with varying management 
restrictions within them. The action establishes the Georges Bank DHRA 
(footprint is the same as the existing Closed Area I South Habitat 
Closure) and the Stellwagen DHRA (footprint within the existing Western 
Gulf of Maine Habitat Closure). The Council considered two ``reference 
areas'' within the Stellwagen DHRA that would have prohibited all 
fishing, including recreational groundfish fishing. No reference area 
was recommended and none will be implemented. The Georges Bank DHRA is 
closed to all mobile bottom-tending gear. The Stellwagen DHRA is closed 
to all mobile bottom-tending gear, sink gillnet gear, and demersal 
longline gear.

Framework Adjustments and Monitoring

    Through this action, the designation or removal of HMAs and changes 
to fishing restrictions within HMAs may be considered in a future 
framework adjustment. In addition, this action establishes a review 
process to evaluate the performance of habitat and spawning protection 
measures. Finally, this action establishes a commitment by the Council 
to identify and periodically revise research priorities to improve 
habitat and spawning area monitoring. Alternatively, the Council 
considered not implementing a new process for habitat and spawning 
protection measures review and modification and using the existing ad-
hoc process under its authority currently.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648

    Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

    Dated: March 29, 2018.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
    For the reasons stated in the preamble, 50 CFR part 648 is amended 
as follows:

PART 648--FISHERIES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

0
1. The authority citation for part 648 continues to read as follows:

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


0
2. Amend Sec.  648.2 as follows:
0
a. Revise the definition of ``Bottom-tending mobile gear;''
0
b. Add a definition for ``Bridles,'' in alphabetical order;

[[Page 15262]]

0
c. Revise the definition of ``Gillnet gear capable of catching 
multispecies;''
0
d. Add a definition for ``Ground cables,'' in alphabetical order; and
0
e. Revise the definition of ``Open areas.''
    The revisions and additions read as follows:


Sec.  648.2  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Bottom-tending mobile gear, means gear in contact with the ocean 
bottom, and towed from a vessel, which is moved through the water 
during fishing in order to capture fish, and includes otter trawls, 
beam trawls, hydraulic dredges, non-hydraulic dredges, and seines (with 
the exception of a purse seine).
    Bridles connect the wings of a bottom trawl to the ground cables. 
The ground cables lead to the doors or otter boards. The doors are 
attached to the towing vessel via steel cables, referred to as wires or 
warps. Each net has two sets of bridles, one on each side.
* * * * *
    Gillnet gear capable of catching multispecies means all gillnet 
gear except pelagic gillnet gear specified at Sec.  648.81(b)(2)(ii) 
and (d)(5)(ii) and pelagic gillnet gear that is designed to fish for 
and is used to fish for or catch tunas, swordfish, and sharks.
* * * * *
    Ground cables on a bottom trawl run between the bridles, which 
attach directly to the wings of the net, and the doors, or otter 
boards. The doors are attached to the towing vessel via steel cables, 
referred to as wires or warps.
* * * * *
    Open areas, with respect to the Atlantic sea scallop fishery, means 
any area that is not subject to restrictions of the Sea Scallop 
Rotational Areas specified in Sec. Sec.  648.59 and 648.60, the 
Northern Gulf of Maine Management Area specified in Sec.  648.62, EFH 
Closed Areas specified in Sec. Sec.  648.61 and 648.370, Dedicated 
Habitat Research areas specified in Sec.  648.371, or the Frank R. 
Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area described in Sec.  648.372.
* * * * *

0
3. Amend Sec.  648.11 by revising paragraph (m)(1) to read as follows:


Sec.  648.11   At-sea sea sampler/observer coverage.

* * * * *
    (m) * * *
    (1) Pre-trip notification. At least 48 hr prior to the beginning of 
any trip on which a vessel may harvest, possess, or land Atlantic 
herring, a vessel issued a Limited Access Herring Permit or a vessel 
issued an Areas \2/3\ Open Access Herring Permit on a declared herring 
trip or a vessel issued an All Areas Open Access Herring Permit fishing 
with midwater trawl gear in Management Areas 1A, 1B, and/or 3, as 
defined in Sec.  648.200(f)(1) and (3), and herring carriers must 
provide notice of the following information to NMFS: Vessel name, 
permit category, and permit number; contact name for coordination of 
observer deployment; telephone number for contact; the date, time, and 
port of departure; gear type; target species; and intended area of 
fishing, including whether the vessel intends to engage in fishing in 
the Northeast Multispecies Closed Areas (Closed Area I North (Sec.  
648.81(c)(3)), Closed Area II (Sec.  648.81(a)(5)), Cashes Ledge 
Closure Area (Sec.  648.81(a)(3)), and Western GOM Closure Area (Sec.  
648.81(a)(4))) at any point in the trip. Trip notification calls must 
be made no more than 10 days in advance of each fishing trip. The 
vessel owner, operator, or manager must notify NMFS of any trip plan 
changes at least 12 hr prior to vessel departure from port.
* * * * *

0
4. Amend Sec.  648.14 by:
0
a. Revising paragraph (b)(10);
0
b. Adding paragraphs (b)(11) and (12);
0
c. Revising paragraphs (i)(1)(vi)(A)(1) and (2), (k)(6)(i)(E), 
(k)(6)(ii)(A)(5), and (k)(7)(i)(A) through (D);
0
d. Removing and reserving paragraph (k)(7)(i)(E);
0
e. Revising paragraph (k)(7)(i)(F);
0
f. Removing and reserving paragraph (k)(7)(i)(G); and
0
g. Revising paragraphs (k)(7)(ii), (k)(12)(iii)(B), (k)(16)(iii)(B), 
and (r)(2)(v) and (vi).
    The revisions and addition read as follows:


Sec.  648.14  Prohibitions.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (10) Fish with bottom-tending gear within the Frank R. Lautenberg 
Deep-sea Coral Protection Area described at Sec.  648.372, unless 
transiting pursuant to Sec.  648.372(d), fishing lobster trap gear in 
accordance with Sec.  697.21 of this chapter, or fishing red crab trap 
gear in accordance with Sec.  648.264. Bottom-tending gear includes but 
is not limited to bottom-tending otter trawls, bottom-tending beam 
trawls, hydraulic dredges, non-hydraulic dredges, bottom-tending 
seines, bottom longlines, pots and traps, and sink or anchored gill 
nets.
    (11) If fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear, fish in, enter, be 
on a fishing vessel in, the EFH closure areas described in Sec.  
648.371, unless otherwise exempted.
    (12) Unless otherwise exempted, fish in the Dedicated Habitat 
Research Areas defined in Sec.  648.371.
* * * * *
    (i) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (vi) * * *
    (A) * * *
    (1) Fish for scallops in, or possess or land scallops from, the EFH 
Closed Areas and Habitat Management Areas specified in Sec. Sec.  
648.61 and 648.370, respectively.
    (2) Transit or enter the EFH Closure Areas or Habitat Management 
Areas specified in Sec. Sec.  648.61 and 648.370, respectively, except 
as provided by Sec.  648.61(b).
* * * * *
    (k) * * *
    (6) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (E) Use, set, haul back, fish with, possess on board a vessel, 
unless stowed and not available for immediate use as defined in Sec.  
648.2, or fail to remove, sink gillnet gear and other gillnet gear 
capable of catching NE multispecies, with the exception of single 
pelagic gillnets (as described in Sec.  648.81(b)(2)(ii) and 
(d)(5)(ii)), in the areas and for the times specified in Sec.  
648.80(g)(6)(i) and (ii), except as provided in Sec.  648.80(g)(6)(i) 
and (ii), and Sec.  648.81(b)(2)(ii) and (d)(5)(ii), or unless 
otherwise authorized in writing by the Regional Administrator.
* * * * *
    (ii)
    (A)
    (5) Enter, fail to remove sink gillnet gear or gillnet gear capable 
of catching NE multispecies from, or be in the areas, and for the 
times, described in Sec.  648.80(g)(6)(i) and (ii), except as provided 
in Sec. Sec.  648.80(g)(6)(i) and 648.81(i).
* * * * *
    (7) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (A) Groundfish Closure Area restrictions. Enter, be on a fishing 
vessel in, or fail to remove gear from the EEZ portion of the areas 
described in Sec.  648.81(a)(3), (4), and (5) and (d)(3), except as 
provided in Sec.  648.81(a)(2), (d)(2), and (i).
    (B) Groundfish Closure Area possession restrictions. Fish for, 
harvest, possess, or land regulated species in or from the closed areas 
specified in Sec.  648.81(a) through (d) and (n), unless otherwise 
specified in Sec.  648.81(c)(2)(iii), (d)(5)(i), (iv), (viii), and 
(ix), (i), (b)(2), or as authorized under Sec.  648.85.
    (C) Restricted Gear Areas. (1) Fish, or be in the areas described 
in Sec.  648.81(f)(3) through (6) on a fishing

[[Page 15263]]

vessel with mobile gear during the time periods specified in Sec.  
648.81(f)(1), except as provided in Sec.  648.81(f)(2).
    (2) Fish, or be in the areas described in Sec.  648.81(f)(3) 
through (5) on a fishing vessel with lobster pot gear during the time 
periods specified in Sec.  648.81(f)(1).
    (3) Deploy in or fail to remove lobster pot gear from the areas 
described in Sec.  648.81(f)(3) through (5), during the time periods 
specified in Sec.  648.81(f)(1).
    (D) Georges Bank Seasonal Closure Areas. Enter, fail to remove gear 
from, or be in the areas described in Sec.  648.81(c) during the time 
periods specified, except as provided in Sec.  648.81(c)(2).
    (E) [Reserved]
    (F) Closed Area II. Enter or be in the area described in Sec.  
648.81(a)(5) on a fishing vessel, except as provided in Sec.  
648.81(a)(5)(ii).
    (G) [Reserved]
    (ii) Vessel and permit holders. It is unlawful for any owner or 
operator of a vessel issued a valid NE multispecies permit or letter 
under Sec.  648.4(a)(1)(i), unless otherwise specified in Sec.  648.17, 
when fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear, fish in, enter, be on a 
fishing vessel in, the Habitat Management Areas described in Sec.  
648.370.
* * * * *
    (12) * * *
    (iii) * * *
    (B) Enter or fish in Closed Area II as specified in Sec.  
648.81(a)(5), unless declared into the area in accordance with Sec.  
648.85(b)(3)(v) or (b)(8)(v)(D).
* * * * *
    (16) * * *
    (iii) * * *
    (B) Fail to comply with the requirements specified in Sec.  
648.81(d)(5)(v) when fishing in the areas described in Sec.  
648.81(b)(3) and (4) and (d) during the time periods specified.
* * * * *
    (r) * * *
    (2) * * *
    (v) Fish with midwater trawl gear in any Northeast Multispecies 
Closed Area, as defined in Sec.  648.81(a)(3) through (5) and (c)(3) 
and (4), without a NMFS-approved observer on board, if the vessel has 
been issued an Atlantic herring permit.
    (vi) Slip or operationally discard catch, as defined at Sec.  
648.2, unless for one of the reasons specified at Sec.  648.202(b)(2), 
if fishing any part of a tow inside the Northeast Multispecies Closed 
Areas, as defined at Sec.  648.81(a)(3) through (5) and (c)(3) and (4).
* * * * *


Sec.  648.27  [Removed]

0
5. Remove Sec.  648.27.

0
 6. Add Sec.  648.58 to read as follows:


Sec.  648.58  Closed Area II Seasonal Scallop Closure.

    From June 15 through October 31 of each year, no fishing vessel may 
fish with scallop dredge gear in the portion of Closed Area II, as 
specified in Sec. Sec.  648.61(c)(4) and 648.81(c)(4), north of 
41[deg]30' N lat.

0
7. In Sec.  648.59, revise paragraph (a) introductory text to read as 
follows:


Sec.  648.59   Sea Scallop Rotational Area Management Program and 
Access Area Program requirements.

    (a) The Sea Scallop Rotational Area Management Program consists of 
Scallop Rotational Areas, as defined in Sec.  648.2. Guidelines for 
this area rotation program (i.e., when to close an area and reopen it 
to scallop fishing) are provided in Sec.  648.55(a)(6). Whether a 
rotational area is open or closed to scallop fishing in a given year, 
and the appropriate level of access by limited access and LAGC IFQ 
vessels, are specified through the specifications or framework 
adjustment processes defined in Sec.  648.55. When a rotational area is 
open to the scallop fishery, it is called an Access Area and scallop 
vessels fishing in the area are subject to the Access Area Program 
Requirements specified in this section. Areas not defined as Scallop 
Rotational Areas specified in Sec.  648.60, EFH Closed Areas specified 
in Sec. Sec.  648.61 and 648.370, Dedicated Habitat Research Areas 
specified in Sec.  648.371, or areas closed to scallop fishing under 
other FMPs, are governed by other management measures and restrictions 
in this part and are referred to as Open Areas.
* * * * *

0
8. In Sec.  648.60, revise paragraph (c)(1) to read as follows:


Sec.  648.60   Sea Scallop Rotational Areas.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (1) The Closed Area I Scallop Rotational Area is defined by 
straight lines connecting the following points in the order stated 
(copies of a chart depicting this area are available from the Regional 
Administrator upon request), and so that the line connecting points 
CAIA3 and CAIA4 is the same as the portion of the western boundary line 
of Closed Area I, defined in Sec.  648.61(c)(3), that lies between 
points CAIA3 and CAIA4:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                             N lat.                      W long.                  Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAIA1................................  41[deg]26' N                 68[deg]30' W                 ...............
CAIA2................................  40[deg]58' N                 68[deg]30' W                 ...............
CAIA3................................  40[deg]54.95' N              68[deg]53.37' W                       (\1\)
CAIA4................................  41[deg]04' N                 69[deg]01' W                          (\1\)
CAIA1................................  41[deg]26' N                 68[deg]30' W                 ...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ From Point CAIA3 to Point CAIA4 along the western boundary of Closed Area I, defined in Sec.   648.61(c)(3).

* * * * *

0
9. In Sec.  648.61, revise the section heading and add paragraph (c) to 
read as follows:


Sec.  648.61  EFH and Groundfish Closed Areas.

* * * * *
    (c) Groundfish Closure Areas. No vessel fishing for scallops, or 
person on a vessel fishing for scallops, may enter, fish in, or be in 
the Closure Areas described in paragraphs (c)(1) through (5) of this 
section, unless otherwise exempted in the scallop access area program, 
described in Sec.  648.59. A chart depicting these areas is available 
from the Regional Administrator upon request.
    (1) Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area. The Western Gulf of Maine 
Closure Area is defined by straight lines connecting the following 
points in the order stated:

                   Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WGM1..........................  42[deg]15' N         70[deg]15' W
WGM2..........................  42[deg]15' N         69[deg]55' W
WGM3..........................  43[deg]15' N         69[deg]55' W
WGM4..........................  43[deg]15' N         70[deg]15' W
WGM1..........................  42[deg]15' N         70[deg]15' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) Cashes Ledge Closure Area. The Cashes Ledge Closure Area is 
defined by

[[Page 15264]]

straight lines connecting the following points in the order stated:

                        Cashes Ledge Closure Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CL1...........................  43[deg]07' N         69[deg]02' W
CL2...........................  42[deg]49.5' N       68[deg]46' W
CL3...........................  42[deg]46.5' N       68[deg]50.5' W
CL4...........................  42[deg]43.5' N       68[deg]58.5' W
CL5...........................  42[deg]42.5' N       69[deg]17.5' W
CL6...........................  42[deg]49.5' N       69[deg]26' W
CL1...........................  43[deg]07' N         69[deg]02' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (3) Closed Area I. Closed Area I is defined by straight lines, 
unless otherwise noted, connecting the following points in the order 
stated:

                              Closed Area I
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CI1...........................  41[deg]30'           69[deg]23'
CI2...........................  40[deg]45'           68[deg]45'
CI3...........................  40[deg]45'           68[deg]30'
CI4...........................  41[deg]30'           68[deg]30'
CI1...........................  41[deg]30'           69[deg]23'
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (4) Closed Area II. Closed Area II is defined by straight lines 
connecting the following points in the order stated:

                                                 Closed Area II
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                             N lat.                      W long.                  Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAII1................................  41[deg]00' N                 67[deg]20' W                 ...............
CAII2................................  41[deg]00' N                 66[deg]35.8' W               ...............
CAII3................................  41[deg]18.45' N              (\1\)                                 (\2\)
CAII4................................  (\3\)                        67[deg]20' W                          (\2\)
CAII5................................  42[deg]22' N                 67[deg]20' W                 ...............
CAII1................................  41[deg]00' N                 67[deg]20' W                 ...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The intersection of 41[deg]18.45' N lat. And the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 41[deg]18.45'
  N lat. and 66[deg]24.89' W long.
\2\ From Point CAII3 to Point CAII4 along the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary.
\3\ The intersection of 67[deg]20' W long. And the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 42[deg]22.06' N
  lat. and 67[deg]20' W long.

    (5) Nantucket Lightship Closure Area. The Nantucket Lightship 
Closure Area is defined by straight lines connecting the following 
points in the order stated:

                    Nantucket Lightship Closure Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NL1...........................  40[deg]50' N         69[deg]00' W
NL2...........................  40[deg]20' N         69[deg]00' W
NL3...........................  40[deg]20' N         70[deg]20' W
NL4...........................  40[deg]50' N         70[deg]20' W
NL1...........................  40[deg]50' N         69[deg]00' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------


0
 10. Amend Sec.  648.80 by:
0
 a. Revising paragraphs (a)(9)(i)(A), (a)(11) introductory text, 
(a)(11)(i)(C), (a)(12), and the introductory text of paragraphs 
(a)(13), (14), (15), (16), (18), and (19);
0
 b. Removing paragraph (b)(11)(ii)(D); and
0
c. Revising paragraphs (d)(2) introductory text, (d)(2)(i), (d)(5), and 
(g)(6).
    The revisions read as follows:


Sec.  648.80   NE Multispecies regulated mesh areas and restrictions on 
gear and methods of fishing.

* * * * *
    (a) * * *
    (9) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (A) Unless otherwise prohibited in Sec.  648.81, Sec.  648.370, or 
Sec.  648.371, a vessel subject to the minimum mesh size restrictions 
specified in paragraph (a)(3) or (4) of this section may fish with or 
possess nets with a mesh size smaller than the minimum size, provided 
the vessel complies with the requirements of paragraph (a)(5)(ii) or 
(a)(9)(ii) of this section, and Sec.  648.86(d), from July 15 through 
November 15, when fishing in Small Mesh Area 1; and from January 1 
through June 30, when fishing in Small Mesh Area 2. While lawfully 
fishing in these areas with mesh smaller than the minimum size, an 
owner or operator of any vessel may not fish for, possess on board, or 
land any species of fish other than: Silver hake and offshore hake, 
combined, and red hake--up to the amounts specified in Sec.  648.86(d); 
butterfish, Atlantic mackerel, or squid, up the amounts specified in 
Sec.  648.26; spiny dogfish, up to the amount specified in Sec.  
648.235; Atlantic herring, up to the amount specified in Sec.  648.204; 
and scup, up to the amount specified in Sec.  648.128.
* * * * *
    (11) GOM Scallop Dredge Exemption Area. Unless otherwise prohibited 
in Sec.  648.81, Sec.  648.370, or Sec.  648.371, vessels with a 
limited access scallop permit that have declared out of the DAS program 
as specified in Sec.  648.10, or that have used up their DAS 
allocations, and vessels issued a General Category scallop permit, may 
fish in the GOM Regulated Mesh Area specified in paragraph (a)(1) of 
this section, when not under a NE multispecies DAS, providing the 
vessel fishes in the GOM Scallop Dredge Exemption Area and complies 
with the requirements specified in paragraph (a)(11)(i) of this 
section. The GOM Scallop Dredge Fishery Exemption Area is defined by 
the straight lines connecting the following points in the order stated 
(copies of a map depicting the area are available from the Regional 
Administrator upon request):

                    GOM Scallop Dredge Exemption Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SM1...........................  41[deg]35'           70[deg]00'
SM2...........................  41[deg]35'           69[deg]40'
SM3...........................  42[deg]49.5'         69[deg]40'
SM4...........................  43[deg]12'           69[deg]00'
SM5...........................  43[deg]41'           68[deg]00'
SM6...........................  43[deg]58'           67[deg]22'
SM7...........................  (\1\)                (\1\)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Northward along the irregular U.S.-Canada maritime boundary to the
  shoreline.

    (i) * * *
    (C) The exemption does not apply to the Cashes Ledge Closure Area 
or the Western GOM Area Closure specified in Sec.  648.81(a)(3) and 
(4), respectively.
* * * * *
    (12) Nantucket Shoals Mussel and Sea Urchin Dredge Exemption Area. 
Unless otherwise prohibited in Sec.  648.81, Sec.  648.370, or Sec.  
648.371, a vessel may fish with a dredge in the Nantucket Shoals Mussel 
and Sea Urchin Dredge Exemption Area, provided that any dredge on board 
the vessel does not exceed 8 ft (2.4 m), measured at the widest point 
in the bail of the dredge, and the vessel does not fish for, harvest, 
possess, or land any species of fish other than mussels and sea 
urchins. The area coordinates of the Nantucket Shoals Mussel and Sea 
Urchin Dredge Exemption Area are the same coordinates as those of the 
Nantucket

[[Page 15265]]

Shoals Dogfish Fishery Exemption Area specified in paragraph (a)(10) of 
this section.
    (13) GOM/GB Dogfish and Monkfish Gillnet Fishery Exemption Area. 
Unless otherwise prohibited in Sec.  648.81, Sec.  648.370, or Sec.  
648.371, a vessel may fish with gillnets in the GOM/GB Dogfish and 
Monkfish Gillnet Fishery Exemption Area when not under a NE 
multispecies DAS if the vessel complies with the requirements specified 
in paragraph (a)(13)(i) of this section. The GOM/GB Dogfish and 
Monkfish Gillnet Fishery Exemption Area is defined by straight lines 
connecting the following points in the order stated:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 N lat.                               W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
41[deg]35'..............................  70[deg]00'
42[deg]49.5'............................  70[deg]00'
42[deg]49.5'............................  69[deg]40'
43[deg]12'..............................  69[deg]00'
(\1\)...................................  69[deg]00'
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Due north to Maine shoreline.

* * * * *
    (14) GOM/GB Dogfish Gillnet Exemption. Unless otherwise prohibited 
in Sec.  648.81, Sec.  648.370, or Sec.  648.371, a vessel may fish 
with gillnets in the GOM/GB Dogfish and Monkfish Gillnet Fishery 
Exemption Area when not under a NE multispecies DAS if the vessel 
complies with the requirements specified in paragraph (a)(14)(i) of 
this section. The area coordinates of the GOM/GB Dogfish and Monkfish 
Gillnet Fishery Exemption Area are specified in paragraph (a)(13) of 
this section.
* * * * *
    (15) Raised Footrope Trawl Exempted Whiting Fishery. Unless 
otherwise prohibited in Sec.  648.370 or Sec.  648.371, vessels subject 
to the minimum mesh size restrictions specified in paragraphs (a)(3) or 
(4) of this section may fish with, use, or possess nets in the Raised 
Footrope Trawl Whiting Fishery area with a mesh size smaller than the 
minimum size specified, if the vessel complies with the requirements 
specified in paragraph (a)(15)(i) of this section. This exemption does 
not apply to the Cashes Ledge Closure Areas or the Western GOM Area 
Closure specified in Sec.  648.81(a)(3) and (4), respectively. The 
Raised Footrope Trawl Whiting Fishery Area (copies of a chart depicting 
the area are available from the Regional Administrator upon request) is 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated:

          Raised Footrope Trawl Whiting Fishery Exemption Area
                    [September 1 through November 20]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
RF 1..........................  42[deg]14.05'        70[deg]08.8'
RF 2..........................  42[deg]09.2'         69[deg]47.8'
RF 3..........................  41[deg]54.85'        69[deg]35.2'
RF 4..........................  41[deg]41.5'         69[deg]32.85'
RF 5..........................  41[deg]39'           69[deg]44.3'
RF 6..........................  41[deg]45.6'         69[deg]51.8'
RF 7..........................  41[deg]52.3'         69[deg]52.55'
RF 8..........................  41[deg]55.5'         69[deg]53.45'
RF 9..........................  42[deg]08.35'        70[deg]04.05'
RF 10.........................  42[deg]04.75'        70[deg]16.95'
RF 11.........................  42[deg]00'           70[deg]13.2'
RF 12.........................  42[deg]00'           70[deg]24.1'
RF 13.........................  42[deg]07.85'        70[deg]30.1'
RF 1..........................  42[deg]14.05'        70[deg]08.8'
------------------------------------------------------------------------


          Raised Footrope Trawl Whiting Fishery Exemption Area
                    [November 21 through December 31]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
RF 1..........................  42[deg]14.05'        70[deg]08.8'
RF 2..........................  42[deg]09.2'         69[deg]47.8'
RF 3..........................  41[deg]54.85'        69[deg]35.2'
RF 4..........................  41[deg]41.5'         69[deg]32.85'
RF 5..........................  41[deg]39'           69[deg]44.3'
RF 6..........................  41[deg]45.6'         69[deg]51.8'
RF 7..........................  41[deg]52.3'         69[deg]52.55'
RF 8..........................  41[deg]55.5'         69[deg]53.45'
RF 9..........................  42[deg]08.35'        70[deg]04.05'
RF 1..........................  42[deg]14.05'        70[deg]08.8'
------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *
    (16) GOM Grate Raised Footrope Trawl Exempted Whiting Fishery. 
Unless otherwise prohibited in Sec.  648.370 or Sec.  648.371, vessels 
subject to the minimum mesh size restrictions specified in paragraphs 
(a)(3) or (4) of this section may fish with, use, and possess in the 
GOM Grate Raised Footrope Trawl Whiting Fishery area from July 1 
through November 30 of each year, nets with a mesh size smaller than 
the minimum size specified, if the vessel complies with the 
requirements specified in paragraphs (a)(16)(i) and (ii) of this 
section. The GOM Grate Raised Footrope Trawl Whiting Fishery Area 
(copies of a chart depicting the area are available from the Regional 
Administrator upon request) is defined by straight lines connecting the 
following points in the order stated:

     GOM Grate Raised Footrope Trawl Whiting Fishery Exemption Area
                      [July 1 through November 30]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRF1..........................  43[deg]15'           70[deg]35.4'
GRF2..........................  43[deg]15'           70[deg]00'
GRF3..........................  43[deg]25.2'         70[deg]00'
GRF4..........................  43[deg]41.8'         69[deg]20'
GRF5..........................  43[deg]58.8'         69[deg]20'
------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *
    (18) Great South Channel Scallop Dredge Exemption Area. Unless 
otherwise prohibited in Sec.  648.370 or Sec.  648.371, vessels issued 
a LAGC scallop permit, including limited access scallop permits that 
have used up their DAS allocations, may fish in the Great South Channel 
Scallop Dredge Exemption Area, as defined under paragraph (a)(18)(i) of 
this section, when not under a NE multispecies or scallop DAS or on a 
sector trip, provided the vessel complies with the requirements 
specified in paragraph (a)(18)(ii) of this section and applicable 
scallop regulations in subpart D of this part.
* * * * *
    (19) Cape Cod Spiny Dogfish Exemption Areas. Unless otherwise 
prohibited in Sec.  648.370 or Sec.  648.371, vessels issued a NE 
multispecies limited access permit that have declared out of the DAS 
program as specified in Sec.  648.10, or that have used up their DAS 
allocations, may fish in the Eastern or Western Cape Cod Spiny Dogfish 
Exemption Area as defined under paragraphs (a)(19)(i) and (ii) of this 
section, when not under a NE multispecies or scallop DAS, provided the 
vessel complies with the requirements for the Eastern or Western area, 
specified in paragraphs (a)(19)(i) and (ii) of this section, 
respectively.
* * * * *
    (d) * * *
    (2) When fishing under this exemption in the GOM/GB Exemption Area, 
as defined in paragraph (a)(17) of this section, the vessel has on 
board a letter of authorization issued by the Regional Administrator, 
and complies with the following restrictions:
    (i) The vessel only fishes for, possesses, or lands Atlantic 
herring, blueback herring, or mackerel in areas north of 42[deg]20' N 
lat. and in the areas described in Sec.  648.81(c)(3) and (4); and 
Atlantic herring, blueback herring, mackerel, or squid in all other 
areas south of 42[deg]20' N. lat.; and
* * * * *
    (5) To fish for herring under this exemption, a vessel issued an 
All Areas Limited Access Herring Permit and/or an Areas 2 and 3 Limited 
Access

[[Page 15266]]

Herring Permit fishing on a declared herring trip, or a vessel issued a 
Limited Access Incidental Catch Herring Permit and/or an Open Access 
Herring Permit fishing with midwater trawl gear in Management Areas 1A, 
1B, and/or 3, as defined in Sec.  648.200(f)(1) and (3), must provide 
notice of the following information to NMFS at least 72 hr prior to 
beginning any trip into these areas for the purposes of observer 
deployment: Vessel name; contact name for coordination of observer 
deployment; telephone number for contact; the date, time, and port of 
departure; and whether the vessel intends to engage in fishing in 
Closed Area I, as defined in Sec.  648.81(c)(3), at any point in the 
trip; and
* * * * *
    (g) * * *
    (6) Gillnet requirements to reduce or prevent marine mammal takes--
(i) Requirements for gillnet gear capable of catching NE multispecies 
to reduce harbor porpoise takes. In addition to the requirements for 
gillnet fishing identified in this section, all persons owning or 
operating vessels in the EEZ that fish with sink gillnet gear and other 
gillnet gear capable of catching NE multispecies, with the exception of 
single pelagic gillnets (as described in Sec.  648.81(b)(2)(ii) and 
(d)(5)(ii)), must comply with the applicable provisions of the Harbor 
Porpoise Take Reduction Plan found in Sec.  229.33 of this title.
    (ii) Requirements for gillnet gear capable of catching NE 
multispecies to prevent large whale takes. In addition to the 
requirements for gillnet fishing identified in this section, all 
persons owning or operating vessels in the EEZ that fish with sink 
gillnet gear and other gillnet gear capable of catching NE 
multispecies, with the exception of single pelagic gillnets (as 
described in Sec.  648.81(b)(2)(ii) and (d)(5)(ii)), must comply with 
the applicable provisions of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction 
Plan found in Sec.  229.32 of this title.
* * * * *

0
 11. Revise Sec.  648.81 to read as follows:


Sec.  648.81   NE multispecies year-round and seasonal closed areas.

    (a) Year-round groundfish closed areas. (1) Restrictions. No 
fishing vessel or person on a fishing vessel may enter, fish, or be in, 
and no fishing gear capable of catching NE multispecies may be used or 
on board a vessel in, the, Cashes Ledge, Western Gulf of Maine, or 
Closed Area II Closure Areas, unless otherwise allowed by or exempted 
under this part. Charts of the areas described in this section are 
available from the Regional Administrator upon request.
    (2) Exemptions. Unless restricted by the requirements of subpart P 
of this part or elsewhere in this part, paragraph (a)(1) of this 
section does not apply to a fishing vessel or person on a fishing 
vessel when fishing under the following conditions:
    (i) Fishing with or using exempted gear as defined under this part, 
except for pelagic gillnet gear capable of catching NE multispecies, 
unless fishing with a single pelagic gillnet not longer than 300 ft 
(91.4 m) and not greater than 6 ft (1.83 m) deep, with a maximum mesh 
size of 3 inches (7.6 cm), provided that:
    (A) The net is attached to the boat and fished in the upper two-
thirds of the water column;
    (B) The net is marked with the owner's name and vessel 
identification number;
    (C) No regulated species or ocean pout are retained; and
    (D) No other gear capable of catching NE multispecies is on board;
    (ii) Fishing in the Midwater Trawl Gear Exempted Fishery as 
specified in Sec.  648.80(d);
    (iii) Fishing in the Purse Seine Gear Exempted Fishery as specified 
in Sec.  648.80(e);
    (iv) Fishing under charter/party or recreational regulations 
specified in Sec.  648.89, provided that:
    (A) A letter of authorization issued by the Regional Administrator 
is onboard the vessel, which is valid from the date of enrollment until 
the end of the fishing year;
    (B) No harvested or possessed fish species managed by the NEFMC or 
MAFMC are sold or intended for trade, barter or sale, regardless of 
where the fish are caught;
    (C) Only rod and reel or handline gear is on board the vessel; and
    (D) No NE multispecies DAS are used during the entire period for 
which the letter of authorization is valid.
    (3) Cashes Ledge Closure Area. The Cashes Ledge Closure Area is 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated:

                        Cashes Ledge Closure Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CL1...........................  43[deg]07' N         69[deg]02' W
CL2...........................  42[deg]49.5' N       68[deg]46' W
CL3...........................  42[deg]46.5' N       68[deg]50.5' W
CL4...........................  42[deg]43.5' N       68[deg]58.5' W
CL5...........................  42[deg]42.5' N       69[deg]17.5' W
CL6...........................  42[deg]49.5' N       69[deg]26' W
CL1...........................  43[deg]07' N         69[deg]02' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (4) Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area. The Western Gulf of Maine 
Closure Area is defined by straight lines connecting the following 
points in the order stated:

                   Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WGM1..........................  42[deg]15'           70[deg]15'
WGM2..........................  42[deg]15'           69[deg]55'
WGM3..........................  43[deg]15'           69[deg]55'
WGM4..........................  43[deg]15'           70[deg]15'
WGM1..........................  42[deg]15'           70[deg]15'
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (5) Closed Area II Closure Area. (i) The Closed Area II Closure 
Area is defined by straight lines, unless otherwise noted, connecting 
the following points in the order stated:

                                           Closed Area II Closure Area
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                             N lat.                      W long.                  Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAII1................................  41[deg]00'                   67[deg]20'                   ...............
CAII2................................  41[deg]00'                   66[deg]35.8'                 ...............
CAII3................................  41[deg]18.45'                (\1\)                                 (\2\)
CAII4................................  (\3\)                        67[deg]20'                            (\2\)
CAII5................................  42[deg]22'                   67[deg]20'                   ...............
CAII1................................  41[deg]00'                   67[deg]20'                   ...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The intersection of 41[deg]18.45' N lat. and the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 41[deg]18.45'
  N lat. and 66[deg]24.89' W long.
\2\ From Point CAII3 to Point CAII4 along the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary.
\3\ The intersection of 67[deg]20' W long. And the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 42[deg]22.06' N
  lat. and 67[deg]20' W long.


[[Page 15267]]

    (ii) Unless otherwise restricted under the EFH Closure(s) specified 
in paragraph (h) of this section, paragraph (a)(5)(i) of this section 
does not apply to persons on fishing vessels or fishing vessels--
    (A) Fishing with gears as described in paragraph (a)(2) this 
section.
    (B) Fishing with tuna purse seine gear outside of the portion of 
Closed Area II known as the Habitat Area of Particular Concern, as 
described in Sec.  648.370(g).
    (C) Fishing in the CA II Yellowtail Flounder/Haddock SAP or the 
Eastern U.S./Canada Haddock SAP Program as specified in Sec.  
648.85(b)(3)(ii) or (b)(8)(ii), respectively.
    (D) Transiting the area, provided the vessel's fishing gear is 
stowed and not available for immediate use as defined in Sec.  648.2; 
and
    (1) The operator has determined, and a preponderance of available 
evidence indicates, that there is a compelling safety reason; or
    (2) The vessel has declared into the Eastern U.S./Canada Area as 
specified in Sec.  648.85(a)(3)(ii) and is transiting CA II in 
accordance with the provisions of Sec.  648.85(a)(3)(vii).
    (E) Fishing for scallops within the Closed Area II Access Area 
defined in Sec.  648.59(c)(3), during the season specified in Sec.  
648.59(c)(4), and pursuant to the provisions specified in Sec.  648.60.
    (b) Gulf of Maine spawning groundfish closures. (1) Restrictions. 
Unless allowed in this part, no fishing vessel or person on a fishing 
vessel may enter, fish, or be in, and no fishing gear capable of 
catching NE multispecies may be used or on board a vessel in, the 
spawning closure areas described in paragraphs (b)(3) and (4) of this 
section, during the times specified in this section. Charts depicting 
the areas defined here are available from the RA upon request.
    (2) Exemptions. Paragraph (b)(1) of this section does not apply to 
a fishing vessel or person on a fishing vessel:
    (i) That has not been issued a NE multispecies permit that is 
fishing exclusively in state waters;
    (ii) That is fishing with or using exempted gear as defined under 
this part, excluding pelagic gillnet gear capable of catching NE 
multispecies, except for a vessel fishing with a single pelagic gillnet 
not longer than 300 ft (91.4 m) and not greater than 6 ft (1.83 m) 
deep, with a maximum mesh size of 3 inches (7.6 cm), provided:
    (A) The net is attached to the vessel and fished in the upper two-
thirds of the water column;
    (B) The net is marked with the vessel owner's name and vessel 
identification number;
    (C) No regulated species or ocean pout are retained; and
    (D) No other gear capable of catching NE multispecies is on board;
    (iii) That is fishing as a charter/party or recreational fishing 
vessel, provided that:
    (A) With the exception of tuna, fish harvested or possessed by the 
vessel are not sold or intended for trade, barter, or sale, regardless 
of where the species are caught;
    (B) Any gear other than pelagic hook and line gear, as defined in 
this part, is properly stowed and not available for immediate use as 
defined in Sec.  648.2; and
    (C) No regulated species or ocean pout are retained; and
    (iv) That is transiting pursuant to paragraph (e) of this section.
    (3) GOM Cod Spawning Protection Area. Except as specified in 
paragraph (b)(2) of this section, from April through June of each year, 
no fishing vessel or person on a fishing vessel may enter, fish, or be 
in, and no fishing gear capable of catching NE multispecies may be used 
or on board a vessel in, the GOM Cod Spawning Protection Area, as 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated:

                    GOM Cod Spawning Protection Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CSPA1.........................  42[deg]50.95'        70[deg]32.22'
CSPA2.........................  42[deg]47.65'        70[deg]35.64'
CSPA3.........................  42[deg]54.91'        70[deg]41.88'
CSPA4.........................  42[deg]58.27'        70[deg]38.64'
CSPA1.........................  42[deg]50.95'        70[deg]32.22'
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (4) Winter Massachusetts Bay Spawning Protection Area. Except as 
specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, from November 1 through 
January 31 of each year, no fishing vessel or person on a fishing 
vessel may enter, fish, or be in, and no fishing gear capable of 
catching NE multispecies may be used or be on board a vessel in, the 
Massachusetts Bay Protection Area, as defined on the west and south by 
the outer limit of Massachusetts waters and on the northeast by a 
straight line connecting the following points, which fall along the 
Massachusetts state waters boundary:

            Winter Massachusetts Bay Spawning Protection Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WSPA1.........................  42[deg] 23.61'       70[deg] 39.21'
WSPA2.........................  42[deg] 07.68'       70[deg] 26.79'
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (5) Spring Massachusetts Bay Spawning Protection Area. (i) From 
April 15 through April 30 of each year, no fishing vessel or person on 
a fishing vessel may enter, fish, or be in, and no fishing gear capable 
of catching NE multispecies may be used or on board a vessel in the 
thirty- minute block defined by straight lines, unless otherwise noted, 
connecting the following points in the order stated:

                                Spring Massachusetts Bay Spawning Protection Area
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                           N latitude                  W longitude                Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SSPA1................................  42[deg]30'                   (\1\)                        ...............
SSPA2................................  42[deg]30'                   70[deg]30'                   ...............
SSPA3................................  42[deg]00'                   70[deg]30'                   ...............
SSPA4................................  42[deg]00'                   (\2\)                                 (\3\)
SSPA5................................  (\4\)                        71[deg]00'                            (\3\)
SSPA6................................  (\5\)                        71[deg]00'                            (\6\)
SSPA1................................  42[deg]30'                   (\1\)                                 (\6\)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The intersection of 42[deg]30' N lat. and the coastline at Marblehead, MA.
\2\ The intersection of 42[deg]00' N lat. and the coastline at Kingston, MA.
\3\ From Point SSPA4 to Point SSPA5 following the coastline of Massachusetts.
\4\ The intersection of 71[deg]00' W long. and the coastline at Quincy, MA.
\5\ The intersection of 71[deg]00' W long. and the northernmost coastline at East Boston, Boston, MA.
\6\ From Point SSPA6 back to Point SSPA 1 following the coastline of Massachusetts.


[[Page 15268]]

    (ii) Unless otherwise restricted in this part, the Spring 
Massachusetts Bay Spawning Protection Area closure does not apply to a 
fishing vessel or person on a fishing vessel that meets the criteria in 
paragraphs (d)(5)(ii) through (vi) and (x) of this section (listed 
under the exemptions for the GOM Cod Protection Closures). This 
includes recreational vessels meeting the criteria specified in 
paragraphs (d)(5)(v)(A) through (D) of this section.
    (c) Georges Bank Spawning Groundfish Closures. (1) Restrictions. 
Unless otherwise allowed in this part, no fishing vessel or person on a 
fishing vessel may enter, fish, or be in, and no fishing gear capable 
of catching NE multispecies may be used on board a vessel in the 
spawning closure areas described in paragraphs (b)(3) and (4) of this 
section, and during the times specified in this section. Charts 
depicting the areas defined here are available from the RA upon 
request.
    (2) Exemptions. Paragraph (c)(1) of this section does not apply to 
a fishing vessel or person on a fishing vessel:
    (i) That is fishing with or using exempted gear as defined under 
this part, excluding pelagic gillnet gear capable of catching NE 
multispecies, except for vessels fishing with a single pelagic gillnet 
not longer than 300 ft (91.4 m) and not greater than 6 ft (1.83 m) 
deep, with a maximum mesh size of 3 inches (7.6 cm), provided:
    (A) The net is attached to the vessel and fished in the upper two-
thirds of the water column;
    (B) The net is marked with the vessel owner's name and vessel 
identification number;
    (C) No regulated species or ocean pout are retained; and
    (D) No other gear capable of catching NE multispecies is on board.
    (ii) That is fishing for scallops consistent with the requirements 
of the scallop fishery management plan, including rotational access 
program requirements specified in Sec.  648.59.
    (iii) That is fishing in the mid-water trawl exempted fishery.
    (iv) That is transiting pursuant to the requirements described in 
Sec.  648.2.
    (3) Closed Area I North. Except as specified in paragraph (c)(2) of 
this section, from February 1 through April 15 of each year, no fishing 
vessel or person on a fishing vessel may enter, fish, or be in; and no 
fishing gear capable of catching NE multispecies may be used or on 
board a vessel in, Closed Area I North, as defined by straight lines 
connecting the following points in the order stated:

                          Closed Area I--North
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                     N lat.              W long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CIN1..........................  41[deg]30'           69[deg]23'
CIN2..........................  41[deg]30'           68[deg]30'
CIN3..........................  41[deg]26'           68[deg]30'
CIN4..........................  41[deg]04'           69[deg]01'
CIN1..........................  41[deg]30'           69[deg]23'
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (4) Closed Area II. Except as specified in paragraph (c)(2) of this 
section, from February 1 through April 15 of each year, no fishing 
vessel or person on a fishing vessel may enter, fish, or be in, and no 
fishing gear capable of catching NE multispecies may be used or on 
board a vessel in, Closed Area II, as defined by straight lines, unless 
otherwise noted, connecting the following points in the order stated:

                                                 Closed Area II
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                             N lat.                      W long.                  Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAII1................................  41[deg]00'                   67[deg]20'                   ...............
CAII2................................  41[deg]00'                   66[deg]35.8'                 ...............
CAII3................................  41[deg]18.45                 (\1\)                                 (\2\)
CAII4................................  (\3\)                        67[deg]20'                            (\2\)
CAII5................................  42[deg]22'                   67[deg]20'                   ...............
CAII1................................  41[deg]00'                   67[deg]20'                   ...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The intersection of 41[deg]18.45' N lat. and the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 41[deg]18.45'
  N lat. and 66[deg]24.89' W long.
\2\ From Point CAII3 to Point CAII4 along the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary.
\3\ The intersection of 67[deg]20' W long. and the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary, approximately 42[deg]22.06' N
  lat. and 67[deg]20' W long.

    (d) GOM Cod Protection Closures. (1) Restrictions. Unless otherwise 
allowed in this part, no fishing vessel or person on a fishing vessel 
may enter, fish, or be in, and no fishing gear capable of catching NE 
multispecies may be used or on board a vessel in, GOM Cod Protection 
Closures I through V as described, and during the times specified, in 
paragraphs (d)(4)(i) through (v) of this section.
    (2) Review of closure. The New England Fishery Management Council 
shall review the GOM Cod Protection Closures Areas specified in this 
section when the spawning stock biomass for GOM cod reaches the minimum 
biomass threshold specified for the stock (50 percent of 
SSBMSY).
    (3) Seasons. (i) GOM Cod Protection Closure I is in effect from May 
1 through May 31.
    (ii) GOM Cod Protection Closure II is in effect from June 1 through 
June 30.
    (iii) GOM Cod Protection Closure III is in effect from November 1 
through January 31.
    (iv) GOM Cod Protection Closure IV is in effect from October 1 
through October 31.
    (v) GOM Cod Protection Closure V is in effect from March 1 through 
March 31.
    (4) GOM Cod Protection Closure Areas. Charts depicting these areas 
are available from the Regional Administrator upon request.
    (i) GOM Cod Protection Closure I. GOM Cod Protection Closure I is 
the area bounded by the following coordinates connected in the order 
stated by straight lines, unless otherwise noted:

                      GOM Cod Protection Closure I
                             [May 1-May 31]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPCI 1........................  43[deg]30' N         (\1\)
CPCI 2........................  43[deg]30' N         69[deg]30' W
CPCI 3........................  43[deg]00' N         69[deg]30' W
CPCI 4........................  43[deg]00' N         70[deg]00' W
CPCI 5........................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]00' W
CPCI 6........................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]30' W
CPCI 7........................  42[deg]20' N         70[deg]30' W
CPCI 8........................  42[deg]20' N         (\2\) (\3\)
CPCI 1........................  43[deg]30' N         (\1\) (\3\)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The intersection of 43[deg]30' N latitude and the coastline of
  Maine.
\2\ The intersection of 42[deg]20' N latitude and the coastline of
  Massachusetts.
\3\ From Point 8 back to Point 1 following the coastline of the United
  States.

    (ii) GOM Cod Protection Closure II. GOM Cod Protection Closure II 
is the area bounded by the following coordinates connected in the order

[[Page 15269]]

stated by straight lines, unless otherwise noted:

                      GOM Cod Protection Closure II
                            [June 1-June 30]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPCII 1.......................  (\1\)                69[deg]30' W
CPCII 2.......................  43[deg]30' N         69[deg]30' W
CPCII 3.......................  43[deg]30' N         70[deg]00' W
CPCII 4.......................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]00' W
CPCII 5.......................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]30' W
CPCII 6.......................  42[deg]20' N         70[deg]30' W
CPCII 7.......................  42[deg]20' N         (\2\)(\3\)
CPCII 8.......................  42[deg]30' N         (\(4)\)(\3\)
CPCII 9.......................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]30' W
CPCII 10......................  43[deg]00' N         70[deg]30' W
CPCII 11......................  43[deg]00' N         (\5\) (\6\)
CPCII 1.......................  (\1\)                69[deg]30' W (\6\)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The intersection of 69[deg]30' W longitude and the coastline of
  Maine.
\2\ The intersection of 42[deg]20' N latitude and the coastline of
  Massachusetts.
\3\ From Point 7 to Point 8 following the coastline of Massachusetts.
\4\ The intersection of 42[deg]30' N latitude and the coastline of
  Massachusetts.
\5\ The intersection of 43[deg]00' N latitude and the coastline of New
  Hampshire.
\6\ From Point 11 back to Point 1 following the coastlines of New
  Hampshire and Maine.

    (iii) GOM Cod Protection Closure III. GOM Cod Protection Closure 
III is the area bounded by the following coordinates connected in the 
order stated by straight lines, unless otherwise noted:

                     GOM Cod Protection Closure III
                         [November 1-January 31]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPCIII 1......................  42[deg]30' N         (\1\)
CPCIII 2......................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]30' W
CPCIII 3......................  42[deg]15' N         70[deg]30' W
CPCIII 4......................  42[deg]15' N         70[deg]24' W
CPCIII 5......................  42[deg]00' N         70[deg]24' W
CPCIII 6......................  42[deg]00' N         (\2\) (\3\)
CPCIII 1......................  42[deg]30' N         (\1\) (\3\)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The intersection of 42[deg]30' N latitude and the Massachusetts
  coastline.
\2\ The intersection of 42[deg]00' N latitude and the mainland
  Massachusetts coastline at Kingston, MA.
\3\ From Point 6 back to Point 1 following the coastline of
  Massachusetts.

    (iv) GOM Cod Protection Closure IV. GOM Cod Protection Closure IV 
is the area bounded by the following coordinates connected in the order 
stated by straight lines, unless otherwise noted:

                      GOM Cod Protection Closure IV
                         [October 1-October 31]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPCIV 1.......................  42[deg]30' N         (\1\)
CPCIV 2.......................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]00' W
CPCIV 3.......................  42[deg]00' N         70[deg]00' W
CPCIV 4.......................  42[deg]00' N         (\2\) (\3\)
CPCIV 1.......................  42[deg]30' N         (\1\) (\3\)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The intersection of 42[deg]30' N latitude and the Massachusetts
  coastline.
\2\ The intersection of 42[deg]00' N latitude and the mainland
  Massachusetts coastline at Kingston, MA.
\3\ From Point 4 back to Point 1 following the coastline of
  Massachusetts.

    (v) GOM Cod Protection Closure V. GOM Cod Protection Closure V is 
the area bounded by the following coordinates connected in the order 
stated by straight lines:

                      GOM Cod Protection Closure V
                           [March 1-March 31]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPCV 1........................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]00' W
CPCV 2........................  42[deg]30' N         68[deg]30' W
CPCV 3........................  42[deg]00' N         68[deg]30' W
CPCV 4........................  42[deg]00' N         70[deg]00' W
CPCV 1........................  42[deg]30' N         70[deg]00' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (5) Exemptions. The GOM cod protection closures specified in this 
section do not apply to a fishing vessel or person on board a fishing 
vessel under any of the following conditions:
    (i) No multispecies permit has been issued and the vessel is 
fishing exclusively in state waters;
    (ii) Fishing with or using exempted gear as defined under this 
part, except for pelagic gillnet gear capable of catching NE 
multispecies, unless fishing with a single pelagic gillnet not longer 
than 300 ft (91.4 m) and not greater than 6 ft (1.83 m) deep, with a 
maximum mesh size of 3 inches (7.6 cm), provided that:
    (A) The net is attached to the boat and fished in the upper two-
thirds of the water column;
    (B) The net is marked with the owner's name and vessel 
identification number;
    (C) No regulated species are retained; and
    (D) No other gear capable of catching NE multispecies is on board;
    (iii) Fishing in the Midwater Trawl Gear Exempted Fishery as 
specified in Sec.  648.80(d);
    (iv) Fishing in the Purse Seine Gear Exempted Fishery as specified 
in Sec.  648.80(e);
    (v) Fishing under charter/party or recreational regulations 
specified in Sec.  648.89, provided that:
    (A) A vessel fishing under charter/party regulations in a GOM cod 
protection closure described under paragraph (f)(4) of this section, 
has on board a letter of authorization issued by the Regional 
Administrator that is valid from the date of enrollment through the 
duration of the closure or 3 months duration, whichever is greater;
    (B) No harvested or possessed fish species managed by the NEFMC or 
MAFMC are sold or intended for trade, barter or sale, regardless of 
where the fish are caught;
    (C) Only rod and reel or handline gear is on board; and
    (D) No NE multispecies DAS are used during the entire period for 
which the letter of authorization is valid;
    (vi) Fishing with scallop dredge gear under a scallop DAS or when 
lawfully fishing in the Scallop Dredge Fishery Exemption Area as 
described in Sec.  648.80(a)(11), provided the vessel does not retain 
any regulated NE multispecies during a trip, or on any part of a trip;
    (vii) Fishing in the Raised Footrope Trawl Exempted Whiting 
Fishery, as specified in Sec.  648.80(a)(15), or in the Small Mesh Area 
II Exemption Area, as specified in Sec.  648.80(a)(9);
    (viii) Fishing on a sector trip, as defined in this part, and in 
the GOM Cod Protection Closures IV or V, as specified in paragraphs 
(f)(4)(iv) and (v) of this section; or
    (ix) Fishing under the provisions of a Northeast multispecies 
Handgear A permit, as specified at Sec.  648.82(b)(6), and in the GOM 
Cod Protection Closures IV or V, as specified in paragraphs (f)(4)(iv) 
and (v) of this section.
    (x) Transiting the area, provided it complies with the requirements 
specified in paragraph (e) of this section.
    (e) Transiting. (1) Unless otherwise restricted or specified in 
this paragraph (e), a vessel may transit the Cashes Ledge Closed Area, 
the Western GOM Closure Area, the GOM Cod Protection Closures, and the 
GOM Cod Spawning Protection Area, as defined in paragraphs (a)(3) and 
(4), (d)(4), and (b)(3), of this section, respectively, provided that 
its gear is stowed and not available for immediate use as defined in 
Sec.  648.2.
    (2) Private recreational or charter/party vessels fishing under the 
Northeast multispecies provisions specified at Sec.  648.89 may transit 
the GOM Cod Spawning Protection Area, as defined in paragraph (b)(3) of 
this section, provided all bait and hooks are removed from fishing 
rods, and any regulated species on board have been caught outside the 
GOM Cod Spawning

[[Page 15270]]

Protection Area and has been gutted and stored.
    (f) Restricted Gear Areas--(1) Restricted Gear Area Seasons. No 
fishing vessel with mobile gear on board, or person on a fishing vessel 
with mobile gear on board, may fish or be in the specified Restricted 
Gear Areas, unless transiting, during the seasons below. No fishing 
vessel with lobster pot gear on board, or person on a fishing vessel 
with lobster pot gear on board, may fish in, and no lobster pot gear 
may be deployed or remain in the specified Restricted Gear Areas. 
Vessels with lobster pot gear on board may transit during the seasons 
listed in the table in this paragraph (f)(1).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                Mobile gear                        Lobster pot gear
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Restricted Gear Area I...............  October 1-June 15............  June 16-September 30.
Restricted Gear Area II..............  November 27-June 15..........  June 16-November 26.
Restricted Gear Area III.............  June 16-November 26..........  January 1-April 30.
Restricted Gear Area IV..............  June 16-September 30.........  n/a.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) Transiting. Vessels with mobile gear may transit this area, 
provided that all mobile gear is on board the vessel while inside the 
area, and is stowed and not available for immediate use as defined in 
Sec.  648.2.
    (3) Restricted Gear Area I. Restricted Gear Area I is defined by 
the following points connected in the order listed by straight lines 
(points followed by an asterisk are shared with an adjacent Restricted 
Gear Area):

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude                 Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AA...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              70[deg]16.10' W                         (*)
AB...................................  40[deg]02.45' N              70[deg]14.10' W                         (*)
AC...................................  40[deg]05.20' N              70[deg]10.90' W                         (*)
AD...................................  40[deg]03.75' N              70[deg]10.15' W                         (*)
AE...................................  40[deg]00.70' N              70[deg]08.70' W                         (*)
AF...................................  39[deg]59.20' N              70[deg]04.90' W                         (*)
AG...................................  39[deg]58.25' N              70[deg]03.00' W                         (*)
AH...................................  39[deg]56.90' N              69[deg]57.45' W                         (*)
AI...................................  39[deg]57.40' N              69[deg]55.90' W                         (*)
AJ...................................  39[deg]57.55' N              69[deg]54.05' W                         (*)
AK...................................  39[deg]56.70' N              69[deg]53.60' W                         (*)
AL...................................  39[deg]55.75' N              69[deg]41.40' W                         (*)
AM...................................  39[deg]56.20' N              69[deg]40.20' W                         (*)
AN...................................  39[deg]58.80' N              69[deg]38.45' W                         (*)
AO...................................  39[deg]59.15' N              69[deg]37.30' W                         (*)
AP...................................  40[deg]00.90' N              69[deg]37.30' W                         (*)
AQ...................................  40[deg]00.65' N              69[deg]36.50' W                         (*)
AR...................................  39[deg]57.85' N              69[deg]35.15' W                         (*)
AS...................................  39[deg]56.80' N              69[deg]34.10' W                         (*)
AT...................................  39[deg]56.50' N              69[deg]26.35' W                         (*)
AU...................................  39[deg]56.75' N              69[deg]24.40' W                         (*)
AV...................................  39[deg]57.80' N              69[deg]20.35' W                         (*)
AW...................................  40[deg]00.05' N              69[deg]14.60' W                         (*)
AX...................................  40[deg]02.65' N              69[deg]11.15' W                         (*)
AY...................................  40[deg]02.00' N              69[deg]08.35' W                         (*)
AZ...................................  40[deg]02.65' N              69[deg]05.60' W                         (*)
BA...................................  40[deg]04.10' N              69[deg]03.90' W                         (*)
BB...................................  40[deg]05.65' N              69[deg]03.55' W                         (*)
BC...................................  40[deg]08.45' N              69[deg]03.60' W                         (*)
BD...................................  40[deg]09.75' N              69[deg]04.15' W                         (*)
BE...................................  40[deg]10.25' N              69[deg]04.40' W                         (*)
BF...................................  40[deg]11.60' N              69[deg]05.40' W                         (*)
BG...................................  40[deg]11.00' N              69[deg]03.80' W                         (*)
BH...................................  40[deg]08.90' N              69[deg]01.75' W                         (*)
BI...................................  40[deg]05.30' N              69[deg]01.10' W                         (*)
BJ...................................  40[deg]05.20' N              69[deg]00.50' W                         (*)
BK...................................  40[deg]04.35' N              69[deg]00.50' W                         (*)
BL...................................  40[deg]03.65' N              69[deg]00.00' W                         (*)
BM...................................  40[deg]03.60' N              68[deg]57.20' W                         (*)
BN...................................  40[deg]05.70' N              68[deg]52.40' W                         (*)
BO...................................  40[deg]08.10' N              68[deg]51.00' W                         (*)
BP...................................  40[deg]08.70' N              68[deg]49.60' W                         (*)
BQ...................................  40[deg]06.90' N              68[deg]46.50' W                         (*)
BR...................................  40[deg]07.20' N              68[deg]38.40' W                         (*)
BS...................................  40[deg]07.90' N              68[deg]36.00' W                         (*)
BT...................................  40[deg]06.40' N              68[deg]35.80' W              ...............
BU...................................  40[deg]05.25' N              68[deg]39.30' W              ...............
BV...................................  40[deg]05.40' N              68[deg]44.50' W              ...............
BW...................................  40[deg]06.00' N              68[deg]46.50' W              ...............
BX...................................  40[deg]07.40' N              68[deg]49.60' W              ...............
BY...................................  40[deg]05.55' N              68[deg]49.80' W              ...............
BZ...................................  40[deg]03.90' N              68[deg]51.70' W              ...............
CA...................................  40[deg]02.25' N              68[deg]55.40' W              ...............

[[Page 15271]]

 
CB...................................  40[deg]02.60' N              69[deg]00.00' W              ...............
CC...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              69[deg]00.75' W              ...............
CD...................................  40[deg]04.20' N              69[deg]01.75' W              ...............
CE...................................  40[deg]06.15' N              69[deg]01.95' W              ...............
CF...................................  40[deg]07.25' N              69[deg]02.00' W              ...............
CG...................................  40[deg]08.50' N              69[deg]02.25' W              ...............
CH...................................  40[deg]09.20' N              69[deg]02.95' W              ...............
CI...................................  40[deg]09.75' N              69[deg]03.30' W              ...............
CJ...................................  40[deg]09.55' N              69[deg]03.85' W              ...............
CK...................................  40[deg]08.40' N              69[deg]03.40' W              ...............
CL...................................  40[deg]07.20' N              69[deg]03.30' W              ...............
CM...................................  40[deg]06.00' N              69[deg]03.10' W              ...............
CN...................................  40[deg]05.40' N              69[deg]03.05' W              ...............
CO...................................  40[deg]04.80' N              69[deg]03.05' W              ...............
CP...................................  40[deg]03.55' N              69[deg]03.55' W              ...............
CQ...................................  40[deg]01.90' N              69[deg]03.95' W              ...............
CR...................................  40[deg]01.00' N              69[deg]04.40' W              ...............
CS...................................  39[deg]59.90' N              69[deg]06.25' W              ...............
CT...................................  40[deg]00.60' N              69[deg]10.05' W              ...............
CU...................................  39[deg]59.25' N              69[deg]11.15' W              ...............
CV...................................  39[deg]57.45' N              69[deg]16.05' W              ...............
CW...................................  39[deg]56.10' N              69[deg]20.10' W              ...............
CX...................................  39[deg]54.60' N              69[deg]25.65' W              ...............
CY...................................  39[deg]54.65' N              69[deg]26.90' W              ...............
CZ...................................  39[deg]54.80' N              69[deg]30.95' W              ...............
DA...................................  39[deg]54.35' N              69[deg]33.40' W              ...............
DB...................................  39[deg]55.00' N              69[deg]34.90' W              ...............
DC...................................  39[deg]56.55' N              69[deg]36.00' W              ...............
DD...................................  39[deg]57.95' N              69[deg]36.45' W              ...............
DE...................................  39[deg]58.75' N              69[deg]36.30' W              ...............
DF...................................  39[deg]58.80' N              69[deg]36.95' W              ...............
DG...................................  39[deg]57.95' N              69[deg]38.10' W              ...............
DH...................................  39[deg]54.50' N              69[deg]38.25' W              ...............
DI...................................  39[deg]53.60' N              69[deg]46.50' W              ...............
DJ...................................  39[deg]54.70' N              69[deg]50.00' W              ...............
DK...................................  39[deg]55.25' N              69[deg]51.40' W              ...............
DL...................................  39[deg]55.20' N              69[deg]53.10' W              ...............
DM...................................  39[deg]54.85' N              69[deg]53.90' W              ...............
DN...................................  39[deg]55.70' N              69[deg]54.90' W              ...............
DO...................................  39[deg]56.15' N              69[deg]55.35' W              ...............
DP...................................  39[deg]56.05' N              69[deg]56.25' W              ...............
DQ...................................  39[deg]55.30' N              69[deg]57.10' W              ...............
DR...................................  39[deg]54.80' N              69[deg]58.60' W              ...............
DS...................................  39[deg]56.05' N              70[deg]00.65' W              ...............
DT...................................  39[deg]55.30' N              70[deg]02.95' W              ...............
DU...................................  39[deg]56.90' N              70[deg]11.30' W              ...............
DV...................................  39[deg]58.90' N              70[deg]11.50' W              ...............
DW...................................  39[deg]59.60' N              70[deg]11.10' W              ...............
DX...................................  40[deg]01.35' N              70[deg]11.20' W              ...............
DY...................................  40[deg]02.60' N              70[deg]12.00' W              ...............
DZ...................................  40[deg]00.40' N              70[deg]12.30' W              ...............
EA...................................  39[deg]59.75' N              70[deg]13.05' W              ...............
EB...................................  39[deg]59.30' N              70[deg]14.00' W                         (*)
AA...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              70[deg]16.10' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (4) Restricted Gear Area II. Restricted Gear Area II is defined by 
the following points connected in the order listed by straight lines 
(points followed by an asterisk are shared with an adjacent Restricted 
Gear Area):

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude                 Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AA...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              70[deg]16.10' W                         (*)
AB...................................  40[deg]02.45' N              70[deg]14.10' W                         (*)
AC...................................  40[deg]05.20' N              70[deg]10.90' W                         (*)
AD...................................  40[deg]03.75' N              70[deg]10.15' W                         (*)
AE...................................  40[deg]00.70' N              70[deg]08.70' W                         (*)
AF...................................  39[deg]59.20' N              70[deg]04.90' W                         (*)
AG...................................  39[deg]58.25' N              70[deg]03.00' W                         (*)
AH...................................  39[deg]56.90' N              69[deg]57.45' W                         (*)
AI...................................  39[deg]57.40' N              69[deg]55.90' W                         (*)
AJ...................................  39[deg]57.55' N              69[deg]54.05' W                         (*)
AK...................................  39[deg]56.70' N              69[deg]53.60' W                         (*)

[[Page 15272]]

 
AL...................................  39[deg]55.75' N              69[deg]41.40' W                         (*)
AM...................................  39[deg]56.20' N              69[deg]40.20' W                         (*)
AN...................................  39[deg]58.80' N              69[deg]38.45' W                         (*)
AO...................................  39[deg]59.15' N              69[deg]37.30' W                         (*)
AP...................................  40[deg]00.90' N              69[deg]37.30' W                         (*)
AQ...................................  40[deg]00.65' N              69[deg]36.50' W                         (*)
AR...................................  39[deg]57.85' N              69[deg]35.15' W                         (*)
AS...................................  39[deg]56.80' N              69[deg]34.10' W                         (*)
AT...................................  39[deg]56.50' N              69[deg]26.35' W                         (*)
AU...................................  39[deg]56.75' N              69[deg]24.40' W                         (*)
AV...................................  39[deg]57.80' N              69[deg]20.35' W                         (*)
AW...................................  40[deg]00.05' N              69[deg]14.60' W                         (*)
AX...................................  40[deg]02.65' N              69[deg]11.15' W                         (*)
AY...................................  40[deg]02.00' N              69[deg]08.35' W                         (*)
AZ...................................  40[deg]02.65' N              69[deg]05.60' W                         (*)
BA...................................  40[deg]04.10' N              69[deg]03.90' W                         (*)
BB...................................  40[deg]05.65' N              69[deg]03.55' W                         (*)
BC...................................  40[deg]08.45' N              69[deg]03.60' W                         (*)
BD...................................  40[deg]09.75' N              69[deg]04.15' W                         (*)
BE...................................  40[deg]10.25' N              69[deg]04.40' W                         (*)
BF...................................  40[deg]11.60' N              69[deg]05.40' W                         (*)
BG...................................  40[deg]11.00' N              69[deg]03.80' W                         (*)
BH...................................  40[deg]08.90' N              69[deg]01.75' W                         (*)
BI...................................  40[deg]05.30' N              69[deg]01.10' W                         (*)
BJ...................................  40[deg]05.20' N              69[deg]00.50' W                         (*)
BK...................................  40[deg]04.35' N              69[deg]00.50' W                         (*)
BL...................................  40[deg]03.65' N              69[deg]00.00' W                         (*)
BM...................................  40[deg]03.60' N              68[deg]57.20' W                         (*)
BN...................................  40[deg]05.70' N              68[deg]52.40' W                         (*)
BO...................................  40[deg]08.10' N              68[deg]51.00' W                         (*)
BP...................................  40[deg]08.70' N              68[deg]49.60' W                         (*)
BQ...................................  40[deg]06.90' N              68[deg]46.50' W                         (*)
BR...................................  40[deg]07.20' N              68[deg]38.40' W                         (*)
BS...................................  40[deg]07.90' N              68[deg]36.00' W                         (*)
BT...................................  40[deg]06.40' N              68[deg]35.80' W              ...............
BU...................................  40[deg]05.25' N              68[deg]39.30' W              ...............
BV...................................  40[deg]05.40' N              68[deg]44.50' W              ...............
BW...................................  40[deg]06.00' N              68[deg]46.50' W              ...............
BX...................................  40[deg]07.40' N              68[deg]49.60' W              ...............
BY...................................  40[deg]05.55' N              68[deg]49.80' W              ...............
BZ...................................  40[deg]03.90' N              68[deg]51.70' W              ...............
CA...................................  40[deg]02.25' N              68[deg]55.40' W              ...............
CB...................................  40[deg]02.60' N              69[deg]00.00' W              ...............
CC...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              69[deg]00.75' W              ...............
CD...................................  40[deg]04.20' N              69[deg]01.75' W              ...............
CE...................................  40[deg]06.15' N              69[deg]01.95' W              ...............
CF...................................  40[deg]07.25' N              69[deg]02.00' W              ...............
CG...................................  40[deg]08.50' N              69[deg]02.25' W              ...............
CH...................................  40[deg]09.20' N              69[deg]02.95' W              ...............
CI...................................  40[deg]09.75' N              69[deg]03.30' W              ...............
CJ...................................  40[deg]09.55' N              69[deg]03.85' W              ...............
CK...................................  40[deg]08.40' N              69[deg]03.40' W              ...............
CL...................................  40[deg]07.20' N              69[deg]03.30' W              ...............
CM...................................  40[deg]06.00' N              69[deg]03.10' W              ...............
CN...................................  40[deg]05.40' N              69[deg]03.05' W              ...............
CO...................................  40[deg]04.80' N              69[deg]03.05' W              ...............
CP...................................  40[deg]03.55' N              69[deg]03.55' W              ...............
CQ...................................  40[deg]01.90' N              69[deg]03.95' W              ...............
CR...................................  40[deg]01.00' N              69[deg]04.40' W              ...............
CS...................................  39[deg]59.90' N              69[deg]06.25' W              ...............
CT...................................  40[deg]00.60' N              69[deg]10.05' W              ...............
CU...................................  39[deg]59.25' N              69[deg]11.15' W              ...............
CV...................................  39[deg]57.45' N              69[deg]16.05' W              ...............
CW...................................  39[deg]56.10' N              69[deg]20.10' W              ...............
CX...................................  39[deg]54.60' N              69[deg]25.65' W              ...............
CY...................................  39[deg]54.65' N              69[deg]26.90' W              ...............
CZ...................................  39[deg]54.80' N              69[deg]30.95' W              ...............
DA...................................  39[deg]54.35' N              69[deg]33.40' W              ...............
DB...................................  39[deg]55.00' N              69[deg]34.90' W              ...............
DC...................................  39[deg]56.55' N              69[deg]36.00' W              ...............
DD...................................  39[deg]57.95' N              69[deg]36.45' W              ...............
DE...................................  39[deg]58.75' N              69[deg]36.30' W              ...............
DF...................................  39[deg]58.80' N              69[deg]36.95' W              ...............
DG...................................  39[deg]57.95' N              69[deg]38.10' W              ...............

[[Page 15273]]

 
DH...................................  39[deg]54.50' N              69[deg]38.25' W              ...............
DI...................................  39[deg]53.60' N              69[deg]46.50' W              ...............
DJ...................................  39[deg]54.70' N              69[deg]50.00' W              ...............
DK...................................  39[deg]55.25' N              69[deg]51.40' W              ...............
DL...................................  39[deg]55.20' N              69[deg]53.10' W              ...............
DM...................................  39[deg]54.85' N              69[deg]53.90' W              ...............
DN...................................  39[deg]55.70' N              69[deg]54.90' W              ...............
DO...................................  39[deg]56.15' N              69[deg]55.35' W              ...............
DP...................................  39[deg]56.05' N              69[deg]56.25' W              ...............
DQ...................................  39[deg]55.30' N              69[deg]57.10' W              ...............
DR...................................  39[deg]54.80' N              69[deg]58.60' W              ...............
DS...................................  39[deg]56.05' N              70[deg]00.65' W              ...............
DT...................................  39[deg]55.30' N              70[deg]02.95' W              ...............
DU...................................  39[deg]56.90' N              70[deg]11.30' W              ...............
DV...................................  39[deg]58.90' N              70[deg]11.50' W              ...............
DW...................................  39[deg]59.60' N              70[deg]11.10' W              ...............
DX...................................  40[deg]01.35' N              70[deg]11.20' W              ...............
DY...................................  40[deg]02.60' N              70[deg]12.00' W              ...............
DZ...................................  40[deg]00.40' N              70[deg]12.30' W              ...............
EA...................................  39[deg]59.75' N              70[deg]13.05' W              ...............
EB...................................  39[deg]59.30' N              70[deg]14.00' W                         (*)
AA...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              70[deg]16.10' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (5) Restricted Gear Area III. Restricted Gear Area III is defined 
by the following points connected in the order listed by straight lines 
(points followed by an asterisk are shared with an adjacent Restricted 
Gear Area):

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude                 Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AA...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              70[deg]16.10' W                         (*)
GL...................................  40[deg]00.70' N              70[deg]18.60' W                         (*)
GK...................................  39[deg]59.80' N              70[deg]21.75' W                         (*)
GJ...................................  39[deg]59.75' N              70[deg]25.50' W                         (*)
GI...................................  40[deg]03.85' N              70[deg]28.75' W                         (*)
GH...................................  40[deg]00.55' N              70[deg]32.10' W                         (*)
GG...................................  39[deg]59.15' N              70[deg]34.45' W                         (*)
GF...................................  39[deg]58.90' N              70[deg]38.65' W                         (*)
GE...................................  40[deg]00.10' N              70[deg]45.10' W                         (*)
GD...................................  40[deg]00.50' N              70[deg]57.60' W                         (*)
GC...................................  40[deg]02.00' N              71[deg]01.30' W                         (*)
GB...................................  39[deg]59.30' N              71[deg]18.40' W                         (*)
GA...................................  40[deg]00.70' N              71[deg]19.80' W                         (*)
FZ...................................  39[deg]57.50' N              71[deg]20.60' W                         (*)
FY...................................  39[deg]53.10' N              71[deg]36.10' W                         (*)
FX...................................  39[deg]52.60' N              71[deg]40.35' W                         (*)
FW...................................  39[deg]53.10' N              71[deg]42.70' W                         (*)
FV...................................  39[deg]46.95' N              71[deg]49.00' W                         (*)
FU...................................  39[deg]41.15' N              71[deg]57.10' W                         (*)
FT...................................  39[deg]35.45' N              72[deg]02.00' W                         (*)
FS...................................  39[deg]32.65' N              72[deg]06.10' W                         (*)
FR...................................  39[deg]29.75' N              72[deg]09.80' W                         (*)
GM...................................  39[deg]33.65' N              72[deg]15.00' W              ...............
GN...................................  39[deg]47.20' N              72[deg]01.60' W              ...............
GO...................................  39[deg]53.75' N              71[deg]52.25' W              ...............
GP...................................  39[deg]55.85' N              71[deg]45.00' W              ...............
GQ...................................  39[deg]55.60' N              71[deg]41.20' W              ...............
GR...................................  39[deg]57.90' N              71[deg]28.70' W              ...............
GS...................................  40[deg]10.70' N              71[deg]10.25' W              ...............
GT...................................  40[deg]12.75' N              70[deg]55.05' W              ...............
GU...................................  40[deg]11.05' N              70[deg]45.80' W              ...............
GV...................................  40[deg]06.50' N              70[deg]40.05' W              ...............
GW...................................  40[deg]05.60' N              70[deg]17.70' W              ...............
AA...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              70[deg]16.10' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (6) Restricted Gear Area IV. Restricted Gear Area IV is defined by 
the following points connected in the order listed by straight lines 
(points followed by an asterisk are shared with an adjacent Restricted 
Gear Area):

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude                 Note
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AA...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              70[deg]16.10' W                         (*)

[[Page 15274]]

 
GX...................................  40[deg]07.80' N              70[deg]09.20' W              ...............
GY...................................  40[deg]07.60' N              70[deg]04.50' W              ...............
GZ...................................  40[deg]02.10' N              69[deg]45.00' W              ...............
HA...................................  40[deg]01.30' N              69[deg]45.00' W              ...............
HB...................................  40[deg]00.50' N              69[deg]38.80' W              ...............
HC...................................  40[deg]01.70' N              69[deg]37.40' W              ...............
HD...................................  40[deg]01.70' N              69[deg]35.40' W              ...............
HE...................................  40[deg]00.40' N              69[deg]35.20' W              ...............
HF...................................  39[deg]57.30' N              69[deg]25.10' W              ...............
HG...................................  40[deg]05.50' N              69[deg]09.00' W              ...............
HH...................................  40[deg]14.30' N              69[deg]05.80' W              ...............
HI...................................  40[deg]14.00' N              69[deg]04.70' W              ...............
HJ...................................  40[deg]11.60' N              68[deg]53.00' W              ...............
HK...................................  40[deg]13.60' N              68[deg]40.60' W              ...............
BS...................................  40[deg]07.90' N              68[deg]36.00' W                         (*)
BR...................................  40[deg]07.20' N              68[deg]38.40' W                         (*)
BQ...................................  40[deg]06.90' N              68[deg]46.50' W                         (*)
BP...................................  40[deg]08.70' N              68[deg]49.60' W                         (*)
BO...................................  40[deg]08.10' N              68[deg]51.00' W                         (*)
BN...................................  40[deg]05.70' N              68[deg]52.40' W                         (*)
BM...................................  40[deg]03.60' N              68[deg]57.20' W                         (*)
BL...................................  40[deg]03.65' N              69[deg]00.00' W                         (*)
BK...................................  40[deg]04.35' N              69[deg]00.50' W                         (*)
BJ...................................  40[deg]05.20' N              69[deg]00.50' W                         (*)
BI...................................  40[deg]05.30' N              69[deg]01.10' W                         (*)
BH...................................  40[deg]08.90' N              69[deg]01.75' W                         (*)
BG...................................  40[deg]11.00' N              69[deg]03.80' W                         (*)
BF...................................  40[deg]11.60' N              69[deg]05.40' W                         (*)
BE...................................  40[deg]10.25' N              69[deg]04.40' W                         (*)
BD...................................  40[deg]09.75' N              69[deg]04.15' W                         (*)
BC...................................  40[deg]08.45' N              69[deg]03.60' W                         (*)
BB...................................  40[deg]05.65' N              69[deg]03.55' W                         (*)
BA...................................  40[deg]04.10' N              69[deg]03.90' W                         (*)
AZ...................................  40[deg]02.65' N              69[deg]05.60' W                         (*)
AY...................................  40[deg]02.00' N              69[deg]08.35' W                         (*)
AX...................................  40[deg]02.65' N              69[deg]11.15' W                         (*)
AW...................................  40[deg]00.05' N              69[deg]14.60' W                         (*)
AV...................................  39[deg]57.80' N              69[deg]20.35' W                         (*)
AU...................................  39[deg]56.75' N              69[deg]24.40' W                         (*)
AT...................................  39[deg]56.50' N              69[deg]26.35' W                         (*)
AS...................................  39[deg]56.80' N              69[deg]34.10' W                         (*)
AR...................................  39[deg]57.85' N              69[deg]35.15' W                         (*)
AQ...................................  40[deg]00.65' N              69[deg]36.50' W                         (*)
AP...................................  40[deg]00.90' N              69[deg]37.30' W                         (*)
AO...................................  39[deg]59.15' N              69[deg]37.30' W                         (*)
AN...................................  39[deg]58.80' N              69[deg]38.45' W                         (*)
AM...................................  39[deg]56.20' N              69[deg]40.20' W                         (*)
AL...................................  39[deg]55.75' N              69[deg]41.40' W                         (*)
AK...................................  39[deg]56.70' N              69[deg]53.60' W                         (*)
AJ...................................  39[deg]57.55' N              69[deg]54.05' W                         (*)
AI...................................  39[deg]57.40' N              69[deg]55.90' W                         (*)
AH...................................  39[deg]56.90' N              69[deg]57.45' W                         (*)
AG...................................  39[deg]58.25' N              70[deg]03.00' W                         (*)
AF...................................  39[deg]59.20' N              70[deg]04.90' W                         (*)
AE...................................  40[deg]00.70' N              70[deg]08.70' W                         (*)
AD...................................  40[deg]03.75' N              70[deg]10.15' W                         (*)
AC...................................  40[deg]05.20' N              70[deg]10.90' W                         (*)
AB...................................  40[deg]02.45' N              70[deg]14.10' W                         (*)
AA...................................  40[deg]02.75' N              70[deg]16.10' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


0
12. Amend Sec.  648.87 by revising paragraphs (c)(2)(i) introductory 
text and (c)(2)(ii)(B) to read as follows:


Sec.  648.87  Sector allocation.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (2) * * *
    (i) Regulations that may not be exempted for sector participants. 
The Regional Administrator may not exempt participants in a sector from 
the following Federal fishing regulations: Specific times and areas 
within the NE multispecies year-round closure areas; permitting 
restrictions (e.g., vessel upgrades, etc.); gear restrictions designed 
to minimize habitat impacts (e.g., roller gear restrictions, etc.); 
reporting requirements; and AMs specified in Sec.  648.90(a)(5)(i)(D). 
For the purposes of this paragraph (c)(2)(i), the DAS reporting 
requirements specified in Sec.  648.82, the SAP-specific reporting 
requirements specified in Sec.  648.85, VMS requirements for Handgear A 
category permitted vessels as specified in Sec.  648.10, and the 
reporting requirements associated with a dockside monitoring program 
are not considered reporting requirements, and the Regional

[[Page 15275]]

Administrator may exempt sector participants from these requirements as 
part of the approval of yearly operations plans. For the purpose of 
this paragraph (c)(2)(i), the Regional Administrator may not grant 
sector participants exemptions from the NE multispecies year-round 
closures areas defined as Habitat Management Areas as defined in Sec.  
648.370; Closed Area I North and Closed Area II, as defined in Sec.  
648.81(c)(3) and (4), respectively, during the period February 16 
through April 30; and the Western GOM Closure Area, as defined at Sec.  
648.81(a)(4), where it overlaps with GOM Cod Protection Closures I 
through III, as defined in Sec.  648.81(d)(4). This list may be 
modified through a framework adjustment, as specified in Sec.  648.90.
* * * * *
    (ii) * * *
    (B) The GOM Cod Protection Closures IV and V specified in Sec.  
648.81(d)(4)(iv) and (v).
* * * * *

0
13. In Sec.  648.89, revise paragraph (e)(1) and remove and reserve 
paragraph (e)(2) to read as follows:


Sec.  648.89  Recreational and charter/party vessel restrictions.

* * * * *
    (e) Charter/party vessel restrictions on fishing in GOM closed 
areas--(1) GOM closed areas. (i) A vessel fishing under charter/party 
regulations may not fish in the GOM closed areas specified in Sec.  
648.81(a)(3) and (4) and (d)(4) during the time periods specified in 
those paragraphs, unless the vessel has on board a valid letter of 
authorization issued by the Regional Administrator pursuant to Sec.  
648.81(d)(5)(v) and paragraph (e)(3) of this section. The conditions 
and restrictions of the letter of authorization must be complied with 
for a minimum of 3 months if the vessel fishes or intends to fish in 
the GOM cod protection closures; or for the rest of the fishing year, 
beginning with the start of the participation period of the letter of 
authorization, if the vessel fishes or intends to fish in the year-
round GOM closure areas.
    (ii) A vessel fishing under charter/party regulations may not fish 
in the GOM Cod Spawning Protection Area specified at Sec.  648.81(b)(3) 
during the time period specified in that paragraph, unless the vessel 
complies with the requirements specified at Sec.  648.81(b)(2)(iii).
* * * * *

0
14. In Sec.  648.202, revise paragraph (b)(1) to read as follows:


Sec.  648.202   Season and area restrictions.

* * * * *
    (b) Fishing in Northeast Multispecies Closed Areas. (1) No vessel 
issued an Atlantic herring permit and fishing with midwater trawl gear, 
may fish for, possess or land fish in or from the Closed Areas, 
including Cashes Ledge Closure Area, Western GOM Closure Area, Closed 
Area I North (February 1-April 15), and Closed Area II, as defined in 
Sec.  648.81(a)(3), (4), and (5) and (c)(3) and (4), respectively, 
unless it has declared first its intent to fish in the Closed Areas as 
required by Sec.  648.11(m)(1), and is carrying onboard a NMFS-
certified observer.
* * * * *

0
15. Revise Sec.  648.203(a) to read as follows:


Sec.  648.203  Gear restrictions.

    (a) Midwater trawl gear may only be used by a vessel issued a valid 
herring permit in the GOM/GB Exemption Area as defined in Sec.  
648.80(a)(17), provided it complies with the midwater trawl gear 
exemption requirements specified under the NE multispecies regulations 
at Sec.  648.80(d), including issuance of a Letter of Authorization.
* * * * *

0
16. Add subpart Q to part 648 to read as follows:
Subpart Q--Habitat-Related Management Measures
Sec.
648.370 Habitat Management Areas.
648.371 Dedicated Habitat Research Areas.
648.372 Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area.

Subpart Q--Habitat-Related Management Measures


Sec.  648.370  Habitat Management Areas.

    Unless otherwise specified, no fishing vessel or person on a 
fishing vessel may fish with bottom-tending mobile gear in the areas 
defined in this section. Copies of charts depicting these areas are 
available from the Regional Administrator upon request.
    (a) Eastern Maine Habitat Management Area. The Eastern Maine HMA is 
bounded on the northwest by the outer limit of Maine state waters, and 
bounded on all other sides by straight lines connecting the following 
points in the order stated:

                            Eastern Maine HMA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EMH1 \1\......................  44[deg]07.65' N      68[deg]10.64' W
EMH2..........................  44[deg]02.50' N      68[deg]06.10' W
EMH3..........................  43[deg]51.00' N      68[deg]33.90' W
EMH4 \1\......................  43[deg]56.62' N      68[deg]38.12' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Points 1 and 4 are intended to fall along the outer limit of Maine
  state waters.

    (b) Jeffreys Bank Habitat Management Area. The Jeffreys Bank HMA is 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated:

                            Jeffreys Bank HMA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JBH1..........................  43[deg]31' N         68[deg]37' W
JBH2..........................  43[deg]20' N         68[deg]37' W
JBH3..........................  43[deg]20' N         68[deg]55' W
JBH4..........................  43[deg]31' N         68[deg]55' W
JBH1..........................  43[deg]31' N         68[deg]37' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (c) Cashes Ledge Habitat Management Area. The Cashes Ledge HMA is 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated:

                            Cashes Ledge HMA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLH1..........................  43[deg]01.0' N       69[deg]00.0' W
CLH2..........................  43[deg]01.0' N       68[deg]52.0' W
CLH3..........................  42[deg]45.0' N       68[deg]52.0' W
CLH4..........................  42[deg]45.0' N       69[deg]00.0' W
CLH1..........................  43[deg]01.0' N       69[deg]00.0' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (d) Fippennies Ledge Habitat Management Area. The Fippennies Ledge 
HMA is defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the 
order stated:

                          Fippennies Ledge HMA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FLH1..........................  42[deg]50.0' N       69[deg]17.0' W
FLH2..........................  42[deg]44.0' N       69[deg]14.0' W
FLH3..........................  42[deg]44.0' N       69[deg]18.0' W
FLH4..........................  42[deg]50.0' N       69[deg]21.0' W
FLH1..........................  42[deg]50.0' N       69[deg]17.0' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (e) Ammen Rock Habitat Management Area. (1) The Ammen Rock HMA is 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated:

                             Ammen Rock HMA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARH1..........................  42[deg]55.5' N       68[deg]57.0' W
ARH2..........................  42[deg]52.5' N       68[deg]55.0' W
ARH3..........................  42[deg]52.5' N       68[deg]57.0' W
ARH4..........................  42[deg]55.5' N       68[deg]59.0' W
ARH1..........................  42[deg]55.5' N       68[deg]57.0' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) No fishing vessel, including private and for-hire recreational 
fishing vessels, may fish in the Ammen Rock

[[Page 15276]]

HMA, except for vessels fishing exclusively with lobster traps, as 
defined in Sec.  697.2.
    (f) Western Gulf of Maine Habitat Management Area. (1) Coordinates. 
The Western GOM HMA is defined by the straight lines connecting the 
following points in the order stated:

                        Western Gulf of Maine HMA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WGMH1.........................  43[deg]15' N         70[deg]15' W
WGMH2.........................  42[deg]15' N         70[deg]15' W
WGMH3.........................  42[deg]15' N         70[deg]00' W
WGMH4.........................  43[deg]15' N         70[deg]15' W
WGMH1.........................  43[deg]15' N         70[deg]15' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) Western Gulf of Maine Shrimp Exemption Area. Vessels fishing 
with shrimp trawls under the Small Mesh Northern Shrimp Fishery 
Exemption specified at Sec.  648.80(a)(5) may fish within the Western 
Gulf of Maine HMA Shrimp Exemption Area which is defined by the 
straight lines connecting the following points in the order stated:

               Western Gulf of Maine Shrimp Exemption Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEA1..........................  43[deg]15' N         70[deg] W
SEA2..........................  43[deg]13' N         70[deg] W
SEA3..........................  43[deg]13' N         70[deg]05' W
SEA4..........................  43[deg]09' N         70[deg]05' W
SEA5..........................  43[deg]09' N         70[deg]08' W
SEA6..........................  42[deg]55' N         70[deg]08' W
SEA7..........................  42[deg]55' N         70[deg]15' W
SEA8..........................  43[deg]15' N         70[deg]15' W
SEA1..........................  43[deg]15' N         70[deg] W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (g) Closed Area II Habitat Closure Area. The Closed Area II Habitat 
Closure Area is defined by the straight lines, except where otherwise 
noted, connecting the following points in the order stated:

                                       Closed Area II Habitat Closure Area
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                           N latitude                  W longitude               Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CIIH1................................  42[deg]10' N                 67[deg]20' W                 ...............
CIIH2................................  42[deg]10' N                 67[deg]9.38' W                      (\1 2\)
CIIH3................................  42[deg]00' N                 67[deg]0.63' W                      (\2 3\)
CIIH4................................  42[deg]00' N                 67[deg]10' W                 ...............
CIIH5................................  41[deg]50' N                 67[deg]10' W                 ...............
CIIH6................................  41[deg]50' N                 67[deg]20' W                 ...............
CIIH1................................  42[deg]10' N                 67[deg]20' W                 ...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Point CIIH2 represents the intersection of 42[deg]10' N lat. and the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary.
\2\ From Point CIIH2 to Point CIIH3 along the U.S.-Canada Maritime Boundary.
\3\ Point CIIH3 represents the intersection of 42[deg]00' N lat. and the U.S.-Canada maritime Boundary.

    (h) Great South Channel Habitat Management Area. (1) Coordinates. 
The Great South Channel HMA is defined by the straight lines connecting 
the following points in the order stated:

                         Great South Channel HMA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GSCH1.........................  41[deg]30.3' N       69[deg]31.0' W
GSCH2.........................  41[deg]0.00' N       69[deg]18.5' W
GSCH3.........................  40[deg]51.7' N       69[deg]18.5' W
GSCH4.........................  40[deg]51.6' N       69[deg]48.9' W
GSCH5.........................  41[deg]30.2' N       69[deg]49.3' W
GSCH1.........................  41[deg]30.3' N       69[deg]31.0' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) Hydraulic Clam Dredge Exemption. (i) Except for the portion of 
the Great South Channel HMA defined in paragraph (h)(2)(iii) of this 
section, surfclam and ocean quahog permitted vessels may fish with 
hydraulic clam dredges in the Great South Channel HMA.
    (ii) The Hydraulic clam dredge exemption is effective until April 
9, 2019, after which, no vessels fishing with hydraulic clam dredges 
may fish within the Great South Channel HMA.
    (iii) The hydraulic clam dredge exemption does not apply in the 
area defined as the straight lines connecting the following points in 
the order stated:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GSC1..........................  41[deg]30.3' N       69[deg]31.0' W
MBTG2.........................  41[deg]21.0' N       69[deg]27.2' W
MBTG3.........................  41[deg]21.0' N       69[deg]43.0' W
MBTG4.........................  41[deg]30.0' N       69[deg]43.0' W
GSC1..........................  41[deg]30.3' N       69[deg]31.0' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (i) Transiting. Unless otherwise restricted, a vessel may transit 
the habitat management areas described in this section provided that 
its gear is stowed and not available for immediate use as defined in 
Sec.  648.2.
    (j) Other habitat protection measures. The Inshore Gulf of Maine/
Georges Bank Restricted Roller Gear Area described in Sec.  
648.80(a)(3)(vii) is considered a habitat protection measure and the 
restrictions outlined in that section apply to all bottom trawl gear.
    (k) Review of habitat management measures. The New England Fishery 
Management Council will develop a strategic process to evaluate the 
boundaries, scope, characteristics, and timing of habitat and spawning 
protection areas to facilitate review of these areas at 10-year 
intervals.


Sec.  648.371  Dedicated Habitat Research Areas.

    (a) Dedicated Habitat Research Area (DHRA) topics. The areas 
defined in this section are intended to facilitate coordinated research 
on gear impacts, habitat recovery, natural disturbance, and 
productivity.
    (b) Stellwagen Dedicated Habitat Research Area. (1) The Stellwagen 
DHRA is defined by the straight lines connecting the following points 
in the order stated:

                             Stellwagen DHRA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                   N latitude          W longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SDHRA1........................  42[deg]15.0' N       70[deg]00.0' W
SDHRA2........................  42[deg]15.0' N       70[deg]15.0' W
SDHRA3........................  42[deg]45.2' N       70[deg]15.0' W
SDHRA4........................  42[deg]46.0' N       70[deg]13.0' W
SDHRA5........................  42[deg]46.0' N       70[deg]00.0' W
SDHRA1........................  42[deg]15.0' N       70[deg]00.0' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) Vessels fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear, sink gillnet 
gear, or demersal longline gear are prohibited from fishing in the 
Stellwagen DHRA, unless otherwise exempted.
    (c) Georges Bank Dedicated Habitat Research Area. (1) The Georges 
Bank DHRA is defined by straight lines connecting the following points 
in the order stated:

                            Georges Bank DHRA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Point                    Latitude            Longitude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GBDHRA1.......................  40[deg]54.95' N      68[deg]53.37' W
GBDHRA2.......................  40[deg]58' N         68[deg]30' W
GBDHRA3.......................  40[deg]45' N         68[deg]30' W

[[Page 15277]]

 
GBDHRA4.......................  40[deg]45' N         68[deg]45' W
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) Vessels fishing with bottom-tending mobile gear are prohibited 
from fishing in the Georges Bank DHRA, unless otherwise exempted.
    (d) Transiting. Unless otherwise restricted or specified in this 
paragraph (d), a vessel may transit the Dedicated Habitat Research 
Areas of this section provided that its gear is stowed and not 
available for immediate use as defined in Sec.  648.2.
    (e) Dedicated Habitat Research Areas review. (1) The Regional 
Administrator shall initiate a review of the DHRAs defined in this 
section three years after implementation.
    (2) After initiation of the review and consultation with the New 
England Fishery Management Council, the Regional Administrator may 
remove a DHRA. The following criteria will be used to determine if DHRA 
should be maintained:
    (i) Documentation of active and ongoing research in the DHRA area, 
in the form of data records, cruise reports or inventory samples with 
analytical objectives focused on the DHRA topics, described in 
paragraph (a) of this section; and
    (ii) Documentation of pending or approved proposals or funding 
requests (including ship time requests), with objectives specific to 
the DHRA topics, described in paragraph (a) of this section.
    (3) The Regional Administrator will make any such determination in 
accordance with the APA through notification in the Federal Register.


Sec.  648.372  Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area.

    (a) Restrictions. No vessel may fish with bottom-tending gear 
within the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-Sea Coral Protection Area described 
in this section, unless transiting pursuant to paragraph (d) of this 
section, fishing lobster trap gear in accordance with Sec.  697.21 of 
this chapter, or fishing red crab trap gear in accordance with Sec.  
648.264. Bottom-tending gear includes but is not limited to bottom-
tending otter trawls, bottom-tending beam trawls, hydraulic dredges, 
non-hydraulic dredges, bottom-tending seines, bottom longlines, pots 
and traps, and sink or anchored gillnets. The Frank R. Lautenberg Deep-
Sea Coral Protection Area consists of the Broad and Discrete Deep-Sea 
Coral Zones defined in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section.
    (b) Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone. The Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone is 
bounded on the east by the outer limit of the U.S. Exclusive Economic 
Zone, and bounded on all other sides by straight lines connecting the 
following points in the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this 
area are available from the Regional Administrator upon request). An 
asterisk (*) in the Discrete Zone column means the point is shared with 
a Discrete Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (c) of this 
section.

                                                   Broad Zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude            Discrete zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  36[deg]33.02' N              71[deg]29.33' W              ...............
2....................................  36[deg]33.02' N              72[deg]00' W                 ...............
3....................................  36[deg]33.02' N              73[deg]00' W                 ...............
4....................................  36[deg]33.02' N              74[deg]00' W                 ...............
5....................................  36[deg]33.02' N              74[deg]42.14' W              ...............
6....................................  36[deg]34.44' N              74[deg]42.23' W              ...............
7....................................  36[deg]35.53' N              74[deg]41.59' W              ...............
8....................................  36[deg]37.69' N              74[deg]41.51' W              ...............
9....................................  36[deg]42.09' N              74[deg]39.07' W              ...............
10...................................  36[deg]45.18' N              74[deg]38' W                 ...............
11...................................  36[deg]45.69' N              74[deg]38.55' W              ...............
12...................................  36[deg]49.17' N              74[deg]38.31' W              ...............
13...................................  36[deg]49.56' N              74[deg]37.77' W              ...............
14...................................  36[deg]51.21' N              74[deg]37.81' W              ...............
15...................................  36[deg]51.78' N              74[deg]37.43' W              ...............
16...................................  36[deg]58.51' N              74[deg]36.51' W                         (*)
17...................................  36[deg]58.62' N              74[deg]36.97' W                         (*)
18...................................  37[deg]4.43' N               74[deg]41.03' W                         (*)
19...................................  37[deg]5.83' N               74[deg]45.57' W                         (*)
20...................................  37[deg]6.97' N               74[deg]40.8' W                          (*)
21...................................  37[deg]4.52' N               74[deg]37.77' W                         (*)
22...................................  37[deg]4.02' N               74[deg]33.83' W                         (*)
23...................................  37[deg]4.52' N               74[deg]33.51' W                         (*)
24...................................  37[deg]4.4' N                74[deg]33.11' W                         (*)
25...................................  37[deg]7.38' N               74[deg]31.95' W              ...............
26...................................  37[deg]8.32' N               74[deg]32.4' W               ...............
27...................................  37[deg]8.51' N               74[deg]31.38' W              ...............
28...................................  37[deg]9.44' N               74[deg]31.5' W               ...............
29...................................  37[deg]16.83' N              74[deg]28.58' W              ...............
30...................................  37[deg]17.81' N              74[deg]27.67' W              ...............
31...................................  37[deg]18.72' N              74[deg]28.22' W              ...............
32...................................  37[deg]22.74' N              74[deg]26.24' W                         (*)
33...................................  37[deg]22.87' N              74[deg]26.16' W                         (*)
34...................................  37[deg]24.44' N              74[deg]28.57' W                         (*)
35...................................  37[deg]24.67' N              74[deg]29.71' W                         (*)
36...................................  37[deg]25.93' N              74[deg]30.13' W                         (*)
37...................................  37[deg]27.25' N              74[deg]30.2' W                          (*)
38...................................  37[deg]28.6' N               74[deg]30.6' W                          (*)
39...................................  37[deg]29.43' N              74[deg]30.29' W                         (*)
40...................................  37[deg]29.53' N              74[deg]29.95' W                         (*)
41...................................  37[deg]27.68' N              74[deg]28.82' W                         (*)

[[Page 15278]]

 
42...................................  37[deg]27.06' N              74[deg]28.76' W                         (*)
43...................................  37[deg]26.39' N              74[deg]27.76' W                         (*)
44...................................  37[deg]26.3' N               74[deg]26.87' W                         (*)
45...................................  37[deg]25.69' N              74[deg]25.63' W                         (*)
46...................................  37[deg]25.83' N              74[deg]24.22' W                         (*)
47...................................  37[deg]25.68' N              74[deg]24.03' W                         (*)
48...................................  37[deg]28.04' N              74[deg]23.17' W              ...............
49...................................  37[deg]27.72' N              74[deg]22.34' W              ...............
50...................................  37[deg]30.13' N              74[deg]17.77' W              ...............
51...................................  37[deg]33.83' N              74[deg]17.47' W              ...............
52...................................  37[deg]35.48' N              74[deg]14.84' W              ...............
53...................................  37[deg]36.99' N              74[deg]14.01' W              ...............
54...................................  37[deg]37.23' N              74[deg]13.02' W              ...............
55...................................  37[deg]42.85' N              74[deg]9.97' W               ...............
56...................................  37[deg]43.5' N               74[deg]8.79' W               ...............
57...................................  37[deg]45.22' N              74[deg]9.2' W                ...............
58...................................  37[deg]45.15' N              74[deg]7.24' W                          (*)
59...................................  37[deg]45.88' N              74[deg]7.44' W                          (*)
60...................................  37[deg]46.7' N               74[deg]5.98' W                          (*)
61...................................  37[deg]49.62' N              74[deg]6.03' W                          (*)
62...................................  37[deg]51.25' N              74[deg]5.48' W                          (*)
63...................................  37[deg]51.99' N              74[deg]4.51' W                          (*)
64...................................  37[deg]51.37' N              74[deg]3.3' W                           (*)
65...................................  37[deg]50.63' N              74[deg]2.69' W                          (*)
66...................................  37[deg]49.62' N              74[deg]2.28' W                          (*)
67...................................  37[deg]50.28' N              74[deg]0.67' W                          (*)
68...................................  37[deg]53.68' N              73[deg]57.41' W                         (*)
69...................................  37[deg]55.07' N              73[deg]57.27' W                         (*)
70...................................  38[deg]3.29' N               73[deg]49.1' W                          (*)
71...................................  38[deg]6.19' N               73[deg]51.59' W                         (*)
72...................................  38[deg]7.67' N               73[deg]52.19' W                         (*)
73...................................  38[deg]9.04' N               73[deg]52.39' W                         (*)
74...................................  38[deg]10.1' N               73[deg]52.32' W                         (*)
75...................................  38[deg]11.98' N              73[deg]52.65' W                         (*)
76...................................  38[deg]13.74' N              73[deg]50.73' W                         (*)
77...................................  38[deg]13.15' N              73[deg]49.77' W                         (*)
78...................................  38[deg]10.92' N              73[deg]50.37' W                         (*)
79...................................  38[deg]10.2' N               73[deg]49.63' W                         (*)
80...................................  38[deg]9.26' N               73[deg]49.68' W                         (*)
81...................................  38[deg]8.38' N               73[deg]49.51' W                         (*)
82...................................  38[deg]7.59' N               73[deg]47.91' W                         (*)
83...................................  38[deg]6.96' N               73[deg]47.25' W                         (*)
84...................................  38[deg]6.51' N               73[deg]46.99' W                         (*)
85...................................  38[deg]5.69' N               73[deg]45.56' W                         (*)
86...................................  38[deg]6.35' N               73[deg]44.8' W                          (*)
87...................................  38[deg]7.5' N                73[deg]45.2' W                          (*)
88...................................  38[deg]9.24' N               73[deg]42.61' W                         (*)
89...................................  38[deg]9.41' N               73[deg]41.63' W              ...............
90...................................  38[deg]15.13' N              73[deg]37.58' W              ...............
91...................................  38[deg]15.25' N              73[deg]36.2' W                          (*)
92...................................  38[deg]16.19' N              73[deg]36.91' W                         (*)
93...................................  38[deg]16.89' N              73[deg]36.66' W                         (*)
94...................................  38[deg]16.91' N              73[deg]36.35' W                         (*)
95...................................  38[deg]17.63' N              73[deg]35.35' W                         (*)
96...................................  38[deg]18.55' N              73[deg]34.44' W                         (*)
97...................................  38[deg]18.38' N              73[deg]33.4' W                          (*)
98...................................  38[deg]19.04' N              73[deg]33.02' W                         (*)
99...................................  38[deg]25.08' N              73[deg]34.99' W                         (*)
100..................................  38[deg]26.32' N              73[deg]33.44' W                         (*)
101..................................  38[deg]29.72' N              73[deg]30.65' W                         (*)
102..................................  38[deg]28.65' N              73[deg]29.37' W                         (*)
103..................................  38[deg]25.53' N              73[deg]30.94' W                         (*)
104..................................  38[deg]25.26' N              73[deg]29.97' W                         (*)
105..................................  38[deg]23.75' N              73[deg]30.16' W                         (*)
106..................................  38[deg]23.47' N              73[deg]29.7' W                          (*)
107..................................  38[deg]22.76' N              73[deg]29.34' W                         (*)
108..................................  38[deg]22.5' N               73[deg]27.63' W                         (*)
109..................................  38[deg]21.59' N              73[deg]26.87' W                         (*)
110..................................  38[deg]23.07' N              73[deg]24.11' W              ...............
111..................................  38[deg]25.83' N              73[deg]22.39' W              ...............
112..................................  38[deg]25.97' N              73[deg]21.43' W              ...............
113..................................  38[deg]34.14' N              73[deg]11.14' W                         (*)

[[Page 15279]]

 
114..................................  38[deg]35.1' N               73[deg]10.43' W                         (*)
115..................................  38[deg]35.94' N              73[deg]11.25' W                         (*)
116..................................  38[deg]37.57' N              73[deg]10.49' W                         (*)
117..................................  38[deg]37.21' N              73[deg]9.41' W                          (*)
118..................................  38[deg]36.72' N              73[deg]8.85' W                          (*)
119..................................  38[deg]43' N                 73[deg]1.24' W                          (*)
120..................................  38[deg]43.66' N              73[deg]0.36' W                          (*)
121..................................  38[deg]45' N                 73[deg]0.27' W                          (*)
122..................................  38[deg]46.68' N              73[deg]1.07' W                          (*)
123..................................  38[deg]47.54' N              73[deg]2.24' W                          (*)
124..................................  38[deg]47.84' N              73[deg]2.24' W                          (*)
125..................................  38[deg]49.03' N              73[deg]1.53' W                          (*)
126..................................  38[deg]48.45' N              73[deg]1' W                             (*)
127..................................  38[deg]49.15' N              72[deg]58.98' W                         (*)
128..................................  38[deg]48.03' N              72[deg]56.7' W                          (*)
129..................................  38[deg]49.84' N              72[deg]55.54' W                         (*)
130..................................  38[deg]52.4' N               72[deg]52.5' W                          (*)
131..................................  38[deg]53.87' N              72[deg]53.36' W                         (*)
132..................................  38[deg]54.17' N              72[deg]52.58' W                         (*)
133..................................  38[deg]54.7' N               72[deg]50.26' W                         (*)
134..................................  38[deg]57.2' N               72[deg]47.74' W                         (*)
135..................................  38[deg]58.64' N              72[deg]48.35' W                         (*)
136..................................  38[deg]59.3' N               72[deg]47.86' W                         (*)
137..................................  38[deg]59.22' N              72[deg]46.69' W                         (*)
138..................................  39[deg]0.13' N               72[deg]45.47' W                         (*)
139..................................  39[deg]1.69' N               72[deg]45.74' W                         (*)
140..................................  39[deg]1.49' N               72[deg]43.67' W                         (*)
141..................................  39[deg]3.9' N                72[deg]40.83' W                         (*)
142..................................  39[deg]7.35' N               72[deg]41.26' W                         (*)
143..................................  39[deg]7.16' N               72[deg]37.21' W                         (*)
144..................................  39[deg]6.52' N               72[deg]35.78' W                         (*)
145..................................  39[deg]11.73' N              72[deg]25.4' W                          (*)
146..................................  39[deg]11.76' N              72[deg]22.33' W              ...............
147..................................  39[deg]19.08' N              72[deg]9.56' W                          (*)
148..................................  39[deg]25.17' N              72[deg]13.03' W                         (*)
149..................................  39[deg]28.8' N               72[deg]17.39' W                         (*)
150..................................  39[deg]30.16' N              72[deg]20.41' W                         (*)
151..................................  39[deg]31.38' N              72[deg]23.86' W                         (*)
152..................................  39[deg]32.55' N              72[deg]25.07' W                         (*)
153..................................  39[deg]34.57' N              72[deg]25.18' W                         (*)
154..................................  39[deg]34.53' N              72[deg]24.23' W                         (*)
155..................................  39[deg]33.17' N              72[deg]24.1' W                          (*)
156..................................  39[deg]32.07' N              72[deg]22.77' W                         (*)
157..................................  39[deg]32.17' N              72[deg]22.08' W                         (*)
158..................................  39[deg]30.3' N               72[deg]15.71' W                         (*)
159..................................  39[deg]29.49' N              72[deg]14.3' W                          (*)
160..................................  39[deg]29.44' N              72[deg]13.24' W                         (*)
161..................................  39[deg]27.63' N              72[deg]5.87' W                          (*)
162..................................  39[deg]28.26' N              72[deg]2.2' W                           (*)
163..................................  39[deg]29.88' N              72[deg]3.51' W                          (*)
164..................................  39[deg]30.57' N              72[deg]3.47' W                          (*)
165..................................  39[deg]31.28' N              72[deg]2.63' W                          (*)
166..................................  39[deg]31.46' N              72[deg]1.41' W                          (*)
167..................................  39[deg]37.15' N              71[deg]55.85' W                         (*)
168..................................  39[deg]39.77' N              71[deg]53.7' W                          (*)
169..................................  39[deg]41.5' N               71[deg]51.89' W              ...............
170..................................  39[deg]43.84' N              71[deg]44.85' W                         (*)
171..................................  39[deg]48.01' N              71[deg]45.19' W                         (*)
172..................................  39[deg]49.97' N              71[deg]39.29' W                         (*)
173..................................  39[deg]55.08' N              71[deg]18.62' W                         (*)
174..................................  39[deg]55.99' N              71[deg]16.07' W                         (*)
175..................................  39[deg]57.04' N              70[deg]50.01' W              ...............
176..................................  39[deg]55.07' N              70[deg]32.42' W              ...............
177..................................  39[deg]50.24' N              70[deg]27.78' W              ...............
178..................................  39[deg]42.18' N              70[deg]20.09' W              ...............
179..................................  39[deg]34.11' N              70[deg]12.42' W              ...............
180..................................  39[deg]26.04' N              70[deg]4.78' W               ...............
181..................................  39[deg]17.96' N              69[deg]57.18' W              ...............
182..................................  39[deg]9.87' N               69[deg]49.6' W               ...............
183..................................  39[deg]1.77' N               69[deg]42.05' W              ...............
184..................................  38[deg]53.66' N              69[deg]34.53' W              ...............
185..................................  38[deg]45.54' N              69[deg]27.03' W              ...............

[[Page 15280]]

 
186..................................  38[deg]37.42' N              69[deg]19.57' W              ...............
187..................................  38[deg]29.29' N              69[deg]12.13' W              ...............
188..................................  38[deg]21.15' N              69[deg]4.73' W               ...............
189..................................  38[deg]13' N                 68[deg]57.35' W              ...............
190..................................  38[deg]4.84' N               68[deg]49.99' W              ...............
191..................................  38[deg]2.21' N               68[deg]47.62' W              ...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (c) Discrete Deep-Sea Coral Zones--(1) Block Canyon. Block Canyon 
discrete deep-sea coral zone is defined by straight lines connecting 
the following points in the order stated (copies of a chart depicting 
this area are available from the Regional Administrator upon request). 
An asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone column means the point is shared with 
the Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this 
section.

                                                  Block Canyon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  39[deg]55.08' N              71[deg]18.62' W                         (*)
2....................................  39[deg]55.99' N              71[deg]16.07' W                         (*)
3....................................  39[deg]49.51' N              71[deg]12.12' W              ...............
4....................................  39[deg]38.09' N              71[deg]9.5' W                ...............
5....................................  39[deg]37.4' N               71[deg]11.87' W              ...............
6....................................  39[deg]47.26' N              71[deg]17.38' W              ...............
7....................................  39[deg]52.6' N               71[deg]17.51' W              ...............
1....................................  39[deg]55.08' N              71[deg]18.62' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) Ryan and McMaster Canyons. Ryan and McMaster Canyons discrete 
deep-sea coral zone is defined by straight lines connecting the 
following points in the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this 
area are available from the Regional Administrator upon request). An 
asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone column means the point is shared with 
the Broad Deep-sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this 
section.

                                            Ryan and McMaster Canyons
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  39[deg]43.84' N              71[deg]44.85' W                         (*)
2....................................  39[deg]48.01' N              71[deg]45.19' W                         (*)
3....................................  39[deg]49.97' N              71[deg]39.29' W                         (*)
4....................................  39[deg]48.29' N              71[deg]37.18' W              ...............
5....................................  39[deg]42.96' N              71[deg]35.01' W              ...............
6....................................  39[deg]33.43' N              71[deg]27.91' W              ...............
7....................................  39[deg]31.75' N              71[deg]30.77' W              ...............
8....................................  39[deg]34.46' N              71[deg]35.68' W              ...............
9....................................  39[deg]40.12' N              71[deg]42.36' W              ...............
1....................................  39[deg]43.84' N              71[deg]44.85' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (3) Emery and Uchupi Canyons. Emery and Uchupi Canyons discrete 
deep-sea coral zone is defined by straight lines connecting the 
following points in the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this 
area are available from the Regional Administrator upon request). An 
asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone column means the point is shared with 
the Broad Deep-sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this 
section.

                                            Emery and Uchupi Canyons
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  39[deg]37.15' N              71[deg]55.85' W                         (*)
2....................................  39[deg]39.77' N              71[deg]53.7' W                          (*)
3....................................  39[deg]39.55' N              71[deg]47.68' W              ...............
4....................................  39[deg]30.78' N              71[deg]36.24' W              ...............
5....................................  39[deg]27.26' N              71[deg]39.13' W              ...............
6....................................  39[deg]28.99' N              71[deg]45.47' W              ...............
7....................................  39[deg]33.91' N              71[deg]52.61' W              ...............
1....................................  39[deg]37.15' N              71[deg]55.85' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 15281]]

    (4) Jones and Babylon Canyons. Jones and Babylon Canyons discrete 
deep-sea coral zone is defined by straight lines connecting the 
following points in the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this 
area are available from the Regional Administrator upon request). An 
asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone column means the point is shared with 
the Broad Deep-sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this 
section.

                                            Jones and Babylon Canyons
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  39[deg]28.26' N              72[deg]2.2' W                           (*)
2....................................  39[deg]29.88' N              72[deg]3.51' W                          (*)
3....................................  39[deg]30.57' N              72[deg]3.47' W                          (*)
4....................................  39[deg]31.28' N              72[deg]2.63' W                          (*)
5....................................  39[deg]31.46' N              72[deg]1.41' W                          (*)
6....................................  39[deg]30.37' N              71[deg]57.72' W              ...............
7....................................  39[deg]30.63' N              71[deg]55.13' W              ...............
8....................................  39[deg]23.81' N              71[deg]48.15' W              ...............
9....................................  39[deg]23' N                 71[deg]52.48' W              ...............
1....................................  39[deg]28.26' N              72[deg]2.2' W                           (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (5) Hudson Canyon. Hudson Canyon discrete deep-sea coral zone is 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated (copies of a chart depicting this area are available from the 
Regional Administrator upon request). An asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone 
column means the point is shared with the Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as 
defined in paragraph (b) of this section.

                                                  Hudson Canyon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  39[deg]19.08' N              72[deg]9.56' W                          (*)
2....................................  39[deg]25.17' N              72[deg]13.03' W                         (*)
3....................................  39[deg]28.8' N               72[deg]17.39' W                         (*)
4....................................  39[deg]30.16' N              72[deg]20.41' W                         (*)
5....................................  39[deg]31.38' N              72[deg]23.86' W                         (*)
6....................................  39[deg]32.55' N              72[deg]25.07' W                         (*)
7....................................  39[deg]34.57' N              72[deg]25.18' W                         (*)
8....................................  39[deg]34.53' N              72[deg]24.23' W                         (*)
9....................................  39[deg]33.17' N              72[deg]24.1' W                          (*)
10...................................  39[deg]32.07' N              72[deg]22.77' W                         (*)
11...................................  39[deg]32.17' N              72[deg]22.08' W                         (*)
12...................................  39[deg]30.3' N               72[deg]15.71' W                         (*)
13...................................  39[deg]29.49' N              72[deg]14.3' W                          (*)
14...................................  39[deg]29.44' N              72[deg]13.24' W                         (*)
15...................................  39[deg]27.63' N              72[deg]5.87' W                          (*)
16...................................  39[deg]13.93' N              71[deg]48.44' W              ...............
17...................................  39[deg]10.39' N              71[deg]52.98' W              ...............
18...................................  39[deg]14.27' N              72[deg]3.09' W               ...............
1....................................  39[deg]19.08' N              72[deg]9.56' W                          (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (6) Mey-Lindenkohl Slope. Mey-Lindenkohl Slope discrete deep-sea 
coral zone is defined by straight lines connecting the following points 
in the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this area are 
available from the Regional Administrator upon request). An asterisk 
(*) in the Broad Zone column means the point is shared with the Broad 
Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this section.

                                              Mey-Lindenkohl Slope
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  38[deg]43' N                 73[deg]1.24' W                          (*)
2....................................  38[deg]43.66' N              73[deg]0.36' W                          (*)
3....................................  38[deg]45' N                 73[deg]0.27' W                          (*)
4....................................  38[deg]46.68' N              73[deg]1.07' W                          (*)
5....................................  38[deg]47.54' N              73[deg]2.24' W                          (*)
6....................................  38[deg]47.84' N              73[deg]2.24' W                          (*)
7....................................  38[deg]49.03' N              73[deg]1.53' W                          (*)
8....................................  38[deg]48.45' N              73[deg]1' W                             (*)
9....................................  38[deg]49.15' N              72[deg]58.98' W                         (*)
10...................................  38[deg]48.03' N              72[deg]56.7' W                          (*)
11...................................  38[deg]49.84' N              72[deg]55.54' W                         (*)
12...................................  38[deg]52.4' N               72[deg]52.5' W                          (*)
13...................................  38[deg]53.87' N              72[deg]53.36' W                         (*)

[[Page 15282]]

 
14...................................  38[deg]54.17' N              72[deg]52.58' W                         (*)
15...................................  38[deg]54.7' N               72[deg]50.26' W                         (*)
16...................................  38[deg]57.2' N               72[deg]47.74' W                         (*)
17...................................  38[deg]58.64' N              72[deg]48.35' W                         (*)
18...................................  38[deg]59.3' N               72[deg]47.86' W                         (*)
19...................................  38[deg]59.22' N              72[deg]46.69' W                         (*)
20...................................  39[deg]0.13' N               72[deg]45.47' W                         (*)
21...................................  39[deg]1.69' N               72[deg]45.74' W                         (*)
22...................................  39[deg]1.49' N               72[deg]43.67' W                         (*)
23...................................  39[deg]3.9' N                72[deg]40.83' W                         (*)
24...................................  39[deg]7.35' N               72[deg]41.26' W                         (*)
25...................................  39[deg]7.16' N               72[deg]37.21' W                         (*)
26...................................  39[deg]6.52' N               72[deg]35.78' W                         (*)
27...................................  39[deg]11.73' N              72[deg]25.4' W                          (*)
28...................................  38[deg]58.85' N              72[deg]11.78' W              ...............
29...................................  38[deg]32.39' N              72[deg]47.69' W              ...............
30...................................  38[deg]34.88' N              72[deg]53.78' W              ...............
1....................................  38[deg]43' N                 73[deg]1.24' W                          (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (7) Spencer Canyon. Spencer Canyon discrete deep-sea coral zone is 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated (copies of a chart depicting this area are available from the 
Regional Administrator upon request). An asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone 
column means the point is shared with the Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as 
defined in paragraph (b) of this section.

                                                 Spencer Canyon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  38[deg]34.14' N              73[deg]11.14' W                         (*)
2....................................  38[deg]35.1' N               73[deg]10.43' W                         (*)
3....................................  38[deg]35.94' N              73[deg]11.25' W                         (*)
4....................................  38[deg]37.57' N              73[deg]10.49' W                         (*)
5....................................  38[deg]37.21' N              73[deg]9.41' W                          (*)
6....................................  38[deg]36.72' N              73[deg]8.85' W                          (*)
7....................................  38[deg]36.59' N              73[deg]8.25' W               ...............
8....................................  38[deg]28.94' N              72[deg]58.96' W              ...............
9....................................  38[deg]26.45' N              73[deg]3.24' W               ...............
1....................................  38[deg]34.14' N              73[deg]11.14' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (8) Wilmington Canyon. Wilmington Canyon discrete deep-sea coral 
zone is defined by straight lines connecting the following points in 
the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this area are available 
from the Regional Administrator upon request). An asterisk (*) in the 
Broad Zone column means the point is shared with the Broad Deep-sea 
Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this section.

                                                Wilmington Canyon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  38[deg]19.04' N              73[deg]33.02' W                         (*)
2....................................  38[deg]25.08' N              73[deg]34.99' W                         (*)
3....................................  38[deg]26.32' N              73[deg]33.44' W                         (*)
4....................................  38[deg]29.72' N              73[deg]30.65' W                         (*)
5....................................  38[deg]28.65' N              73[deg]29.37' W                         (*)
6....................................  38[deg]25.53' N              73[deg]30.94' W                         (*)
7....................................  38[deg]25.26' N              73[deg]29.97' W                         (*)
8....................................  38[deg]23.75' N              73[deg]30.16' W                         (*)
9....................................  38[deg]23.47' N              73[deg]29.7' W                          (*)
10...................................  38[deg]22.76' N              73[deg]29.34' W                         (*)
11...................................  38[deg]22.5' N               73[deg]27.63' W                         (*)
12...................................  38[deg]21.59' N              73[deg]26.87' W                         (*)
13...................................  38[deg]18.52' N              73[deg]22.95' W              ...............
14...................................  38[deg]14.41' N              73[deg]16.64' W              ...............
15...................................  38[deg]13.23' N              73[deg]17.32' W              ...............
16...................................  38[deg]15.79' N              73[deg]26.38' W              ...............
1....................................  38[deg]19.04' N              73[deg]33.02' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 15283]]

    (9) North Heyes and South Wilmington Canyons. North Heyes and South 
Wilmington Canyons discrete deep-sea coral zone is defined by straight 
lines connecting the following points in the order stated (copies of a 
chart depicting this area are available from the Regional Administrator 
upon request). An asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone column means the point 
is shared with the Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph 
(b) of this section.

                                    North Heyes and South Wilmington Canyons
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  38[deg]15.25' N              73[deg]36.2' W                          (*)
2....................................  38[deg]16.19' N              73[deg]36.91' W                         (*)
3....................................  38[deg]16.89' N              73[deg]36.66' W                         (*)
4....................................  38[deg]16.91' N              73[deg]36.35' W                         (*)
5....................................  38[deg]17.63' N              73[deg]35.35' W                         (*)
6....................................  38[deg]18.55' N              73[deg]34.44' W                         (*)
7....................................  38[deg]18.38' N              73[deg]33.4' W                          (*)
8....................................  38[deg]19.04' N              73[deg]33.02' W                         (*)
9....................................  38[deg]15.79' N              73[deg]26.38' W              ...............
10...................................  38[deg]14.98' N              73[deg]24.73' W              ...............
11...................................  38[deg]12.32' N              73[deg]21.22' W              ...............
12...................................  38[deg]11.06' N              73[deg]22.21' W              ...............
13...................................  38[deg]11.13' N              73[deg]28.72' W              ...............
1....................................  38[deg]15.25' N              73[deg]36.2' W                          (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (10) South Vries Canyon. South Vries Canyon discrete deep-sea coral 
zone is defined by straight lines connecting the following points in 
the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this area are available 
from the Regional Administrator upon request). An asterisk (*) in the 
Broad Zone column means the point is shared with the Broad Deep-Sea 
Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this section.

                                               South Vries Canyon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  38[deg]6.35' N               73[deg]44.8' W                          (*)
2....................................  38[deg]7.5' N                73[deg]45.2' W                          (*)
3....................................  38[deg]9.24' N               73[deg]42.61' W                         (*)
4....................................  38[deg]3.22' N               73[deg]29.22' W              ...............
5....................................  38[deg]2.38' N               73[deg]29.78' W              ...............
6....................................  38[deg]2.54' N               73[deg]36.73' W              ...............
1....................................  38[deg]6.35' N               73[deg]44.8' W                          (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (11) Baltimore Canyon. Baltimore Canyon discrete deep-sea coral 
zone is defined by straight lines connecting the following points in 
the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this area are available 
from the Regional Administrator upon request). An asterisk (*) in the 
Broad Zone column means the point is shared with the Broad Deep-Sea 
Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this section.

                                                Baltimore Canyon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  38[deg]3.29' N               73[deg]49.1' W                          (*)
2....................................  38[deg]6.19' N               73[deg]51.59' W                         (*)
3....................................  38[deg]7.67' N               73[deg]52.19' W                         (*)
4....................................  38[deg]9.04' N               73[deg]52.39' W                         (*)
5....................................  38[deg]10.1' N               73[deg]52.32' W                         (*)
6....................................  38[deg]11.98' N              73[deg]52.65' W                         (*)
7....................................  38[deg]13.74' N              73[deg]50.73' W                         (*)
8....................................  38[deg]13.15' N              73[deg]49.77' W                         (*)
9....................................  38[deg]10.92' N              73[deg]50.37' W                         (*)
10...................................  38[deg]10.2' N               73[deg]49.63' W                         (*)
11...................................  38[deg]9.26' N               73[deg]49.68' W                         (*)
12...................................  38[deg]8.38' N               73[deg]49.51' W                         (*)
13...................................  38[deg]7.59' N               73[deg]47.91' W                         (*)
14...................................  38[deg]6.96' N               73[deg]47.25' W                         (*)
15...................................  38[deg]6.51' N               73[deg]46.99' W                         (*)
16...................................  38[deg]5.69' N               73[deg]45.56' W                         (*)
17...................................  38[deg]6.35' N               73[deg]44.8' W                          (*)
18...................................  38[deg]2.54' N               73[deg]36.73' W              ...............
19...................................  37[deg]59.19' N              73[deg]40.67' W              ...............
1....................................  38[deg]3.29' N               73[deg]49.1' W                          (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 15284]]

    (12) Warr and Phoenix Canyon Complex. Warr and Phoenix Canyon 
Complex discrete deep-sea coral zone is defined by straight lines 
connecting the following points in the order stated (copies of a chart 
depicting this area are available from the Regional Administrator upon 
request). An asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone column means the point is 
shared with the Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) 
of this section.

                                         Warr and Phoenix Canyon Complex
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  37[deg]53.68' N              73[deg]57.41' W                         (*)
2....................................  37[deg]55.07' N              73[deg]57.27' W                         (*)
3....................................  38[deg]3.29' N               73[deg]49.1' W                          (*)
4....................................  37[deg]59.19' N              73[deg]40.67' W              ...............
5....................................  37[deg]52.5' N               73[deg]35.28' W              ...............
6....................................  37[deg]50.92' N              73[deg]36.59' W              ...............
7....................................  37[deg]49.84' N              73[deg]47.11' W              ...............
1....................................  37[deg]53.68' N              73[deg]57.41' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (13) Accomac and Leonard Canyons. Accomac and Leonard Canyons 
discrete deep-sea coral zone is defined by straight lines connecting 
the following points in the order stated (copies of a chart depicting 
this area are available from the Regional Administrator upon request). 
An asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone column means the point is shared with 
the Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this 
section.

                                           Accomac and Leonard Canyons
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  37[deg]45.15' N              74[deg]7.24' W                          (*)
2....................................  37[deg]45.88' N              74[deg]7.44' W                          (*)
3....................................  37[deg]46.7' N               74[deg]5.98' W                          (*)
4....................................  37[deg]49.62' N              74[deg]6.03' W                          (*)
5....................................  37[deg]51.25' N              74[deg]5.48' W                          (*)
6....................................  37[deg]51.99' N              74[deg]4.51' W                          (*)
7....................................  37[deg]51.37' N              74[deg]3.3' W                           (*)
8....................................  37[deg]50.63' N              74[deg]2.69' W                          (*)
9....................................  37[deg]49.62' N              74[deg]2.28' W                          (*)
10...................................  37[deg]50.28' N              74[deg]0.67' W                          (*)
11...................................  37[deg]50.2' N               74[deg]0.17' W               ...............
12...................................  37[deg]50.52' N              73[deg]58.59' W              ...............
13...................................  37[deg]50.99' N              73[deg]57.17' W              ...............
14...................................  37[deg]50.4' N               73[deg]52.35' W              ...............
15...................................  37[deg]42.76' N              73[deg]44.86' W              ...............
16...................................  37[deg]39.96' N              73[deg]48.32' W              ...............
17...................................  37[deg]40.04' N              73[deg]58.25' W              ...............
18...................................  37[deg]44.14' N              74[deg]6.96' W               ...............
1....................................  37[deg]45.15' N              74[deg]7.24' W                          (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (14) Washington Canyon. Washington Canyon discrete deep-sea coral 
zone is defined by straight lines connecting the following points in 
the order stated (copies of a chart depicting this area are available 
from the Regional Administrator upon request). An asterisk (*) in the 
Broad Zone column means the point is shared with the Broad Deep-Sea 
Coral Zone, as defined in paragraph (b) of this section.

                                                Washington Canyon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  37[deg]22.74' N              74[deg]26.24' W                         (*)
2....................................  37[deg]22.87' N              74[deg]26.16' W                         (*)
3....................................  37[deg]24.44' N              74[deg]28.57' W                         (*)
4....................................  37[deg]24.67' N              74[deg]29.71' W                         (*)
5....................................  37[deg]25.93' N              74[deg]30.13' W                         (*)
6....................................  37[deg]27.25' N              74[deg]30.2' W                          (*)
7....................................  37[deg]28.6' N               74[deg]30.6' W                          (*)
8....................................  37[deg]29.43' N              74[deg]30.29' W                         (*)
9....................................  37[deg]29.53' N              74[deg]29.95' W                         (*)
10...................................  37[deg]27.68' N              74[deg]28.82' W                         (*)
11...................................  37[deg]27.06' N              74[deg]28.76' W                         (*)
12...................................  37[deg]26.39' N              74[deg]27.76' W                         (*)
13...................................  37[deg]26.3' N               74[deg]26.87' W                         (*)
14...................................  37[deg]25.69' N              74[deg]25.63' W                         (*)
15...................................  37[deg]25.83' N              74[deg]24.22' W                         (*)

[[Page 15285]]

 
16...................................  37[deg]25.68' N              74[deg]24.03' W                         (*)
17...................................  37[deg]25.08' N              74[deg]23.29' W              ...............
18...................................  37[deg]16.81' N              73[deg]52.13' W              ...............
19...................................  37[deg]11.27' N              73[deg]54.05' W              ...............
20...................................  37[deg]15.73' N              74[deg]12.2' W               ...............
1....................................  37[deg]22.74' N              74[deg]26.24' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (15) Norfolk Canyon. Norfolk Canyon discrete deep-sea coral zone is 
defined by straight lines connecting the following points in the order 
stated (copies of a chart depicting this area are available from the 
Regional Administrator upon request). An asterisk (*) in the Broad Zone 
column means the point is shared with the Broad Deep-Sea Coral Zone, as 
defined in paragraph (b) of this section.

                                                 Norfolk Canyon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Point                            Latitude                    Longitude              Broad zone
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1....................................  36[deg]58.51' N              74[deg]36.51' W                         (*)
2....................................  36[deg]58.62' N              74[deg]36.97' W                         (*)
3....................................  37[deg]4.43' N               74[deg]41.03' W                         (*)
4....................................  37[deg]5.83' N               74[deg]45.57' W                         (*)
5....................................  37[deg]6.97' N               74[deg]40.8' W                          (*)
6....................................  37[deg]4.52' N               74[deg]37.77' W                         (*)
7....................................  37[deg]4.02' N               74[deg]33.83' W                         (*)
8....................................  37[deg]4.52' N               74[deg]33.51' W                         (*)
9....................................  37[deg]4.40' N               74[deg]33.11' W                         (*)
10...................................  37[deg]4.16' N               74[deg]32.37' W              ...............
11...................................  37[deg]4.40' N               74[deg]30.58' W              ...............
12...................................  37[deg]3.65' N               74[deg]3.66' W               ...............
13...................................  36[deg]57.75' N              74[deg]3.61' W               ...............
14...................................  36[deg]59.77' N              74[deg]30' W                 ...............
15...................................  36[deg]58.23' N              74[deg]32.95' W              ...............
16...................................  36[deg]57.99' N              74[deg]34.18' W              ...............
1....................................  36[deg]58.51' N              74[deg]36.51' W                         (*)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (d) Transiting. Vessels may transit the Broad and Discrete Deep-Sea 
Coral Zones defined in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, provided 
bottom-tending trawl nets are out of the water and stowed on the reel 
and any other fishing gear that is prohibited in these areas is 
onboard, out of the water, and not deployed. Fishing gear is not 
required to meet the definition of ``not available for immediate use'' 
in Sec.  648.2, when a vessel transits the Broad and Discrete Deep-Sea 
Coral Zones.

[FR Doc. 2018-06760 Filed 4-6-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P