[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 71 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15793-15794]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-07583]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XG150


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic 
Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits

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

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary 
determination that an exempted fishing permit application submitted by 
the Gulf of Maine Research Institute contains all of the required 
information and warrants further consideration. The exempted fishing 
permit would allow the use of electronic monitoring to support testing 
a maximized retention model in the groundfish fishery.
    Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act require publication of this notification to provide 
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for 
proposed Exempted Fishing Permits.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 27, 2018.

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

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Groundfish sectors are required to implement 
and fund an at-sea monitoring (ASM) program. A sector is allowed to use 
electronic monitoring (EM) to satisfy this monitoring requirement, 
provided that NMFS deems the technology sufficient for catch 
monitoring. NMFS has yet to approve EM as an alternative to ASM, but is 
working with industry and other stakeholders to develop EM for catch 
monitoring in the groundfish fishery. For the groundfish fishery, the 
program designs currently being considered are the ``audit model'' and 
the ``maximized retention model.'' The audit model would use EM to 
verify discards reported by a captain on a vessel trip report. Under 
the maximized retention electronic monitoring (MREM) model, vessels 
would be required to retain most fish species (e.g., allocated 
groundfish stocks), and EM would be used to ensure compliance with 
discarding regulations.
    GMRI submitted an exempted fishing permit (EFP) application to test 
a maximized retention electronic monitoring (MREM) model and an 
accompanying dockside monitoring (DSM) program to monitor high-volume 
bottom-trawl vessels in the groundfish fleet. Vessels would be 
outfitted with EM systems (cameras and gear sensors), and the cameras 
would be on for 100 percent of groundfish trips. The EFP would require 
participating vessels to retain and land all catch of allocated 
groundfish, including undersized fish that they would normally be 
required to discard. All other species would be handled per normal 
commercial fishing operations. An EM service provider would review 100 
percent of the video footage to verify that the vessels did not discard 
allocated groundfish. NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center staff 
would conduct a secondary review of 100 percent of the video footage 
for all trips.
    All catch would be assessed shoreside via an accompanying DSM 
program. The DSM program would have three primary objectives: (1) 
Biological sampling; (2) verification of dealer-reported landings, and; 
(3) fish hold inspections. Vessels would be authorized to sell catch, 
including undersized fish, to a limited number of dealers. The vessel 
and dealer would work with the Center to ensure that a Federal employee 
or contract staff is present to observe 100 percent of offloads for 
this project. The sampler would verify dealer landings and collect 
biosamples, including length-frequency data on a subset of fish in each 
market category. The Northeast Region Office of

[[Page 15794]]

Law Enforcement would randomly inspect fish holds on approximately 10 
percent of EFP trips.
    Because vessels would be fully monitored, GMRI also requested 
exemptions to incentivize participation in the project and increase 
fishing opportunities for healthy stocks. The EFP would allow vessels 
to use the codend configuration used in the Canadian haddock fishery 
(5.1-inch (13.0-cm) square mesh codend) and/or the codend configuration 
tested in the REDNET project (4.5-inch (11.4-cm) diamond mesh codend). 
This exemption is intended to improve size selectivity and increase 
catch of target species, while avoiding groundfish species of concern.
    The applicant also requested access to portions of Closed Area II. 
Vessels would be allowed to fish in the non-essential fish habitat 
portions of Closed Areas I and II from May 1 through February 15. 
Vessels would not be allowed to fish in the area from February 16 
through April 30 as fishing activity during this time may negatively 
affect Georges Bank cod and haddock spawning. The applicant states 
that, due to the distribution and movement of groundfish stocks, this 
exemption would improve vessels' ability to selectively target healthy 
groundfish stocks.
    The EFP application also requested an exemption from sector third-
party ASM requirements. We do not intend to grant this requested 
exemption. Participating vessels would still be required to discard 
non-allocated groundfish stocks (e.g. ocean pout, wolffish, windowpane 
flounder) and adhere to possession limits for certain groundfish stocks 
(e.g. halibut) and non-groundfish species ((e.g. monkfish, dogfish, 
skate). NMFS applies assumed discard rates to all trips to estimate 
catch for non-allocated groundfish and non-groundfish species. These 
discard rates are calculated from the data that at-sea monitors 
collect. Therefore, continued ASM coverage for participating vessels is 
necessary to collect catch and discard information on a subset of EFP 
trips to derive assumed discard rate values. These vessels would carry 
ASM coverage at the standard level required for sectors, which is 15 
percent for the 2018 fishing year. Northeast Fishery Observer Program 
observers would not be deployed on these vessels because their fishing 
activity is not consistent with the Standardized Bycatch Reporting 
Methodology sampling design.
    This EFP would cover fishing trips that occur in the 2018 and 2019 
fishing years. NMFS would authorize a maximum of eight bottom-trawl 
vessels to participate. All catch of groundfish stocks allocated to 
sectors would be deducted from the appropriate sector's allocation for 
each groundfish stock. Because this is a maximized retention program, 
vessels would not be permitted to discard legal unmarketable fish for 
allocated groundfish stocks, regardless of whether the vessel holds a 
sector exemption to do so through its operations plan.
    If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and 
extensions to the EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and 
extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed 
essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and have 
minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the initially 
approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope 
of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.

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

    Dated: April 9, 2018.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-07583 Filed 4-11-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P