[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 102 (Friday, May 25, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 24269-24271]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-11208]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 180320301-8301-01]
RIN 0648-XG121


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species 
Fisheries; Annual Specifications

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

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes to implement annual management measures and 
catch limits for the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine 
(hereafter, Pacific sardine), for the fishing year from July 1, 2018, 
through June 30, 2019. The proposed action would prohibit directed 
commercial fishing for Pacific sardine off the coasts of Washington, 
Oregon, and California, except in the live bait, tribal, or minor 
directed fisheries, or as incidental catch in other fisheries. The 
incidental harvest of Pacific sardine would initially be limited to 40-
percent by weight of all fish per trip when caught with other CPS or up 
to 2 metric tons (mt) when caught with non-CPS. The proposed annual 
catch limit (ACL) for the 2018-2019 Pacific sardine fishing year is 
7,000 mt. This proposed rule is intended to conserve and manage the 
Pacific sardine stock off the U.S. West Coast.

DATES: Comments must be received by June 11, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2018-0044, by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2018-0044, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Barry A. Thom, Regional 
Administrator, West Coast Region, NMFS, 501 W Ocean Blvd., Ste. 4200, 
Long Beach, CA 90802-4250; Attn: Joshua Lindsay.
     Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any 
other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment 
period, may not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are a part 
of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on 
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address, etc.), confidential business 
information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily 
by the sender will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous 
comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain 
anonymous).
    Copies of the report ``Assessment of Pacific Sardine Resource in 
2018 for U.S.A. Management in 2017-2018'' are available http://www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/G5a_Stock_Assessment_Rpt_Full_ElectricOnly_Apr2017BB.pdf, and may be 
obtained from the West Coast Region (see ADDRESSES).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Lindsay, West Coast Region, 
NMFS, (562) 980-4034, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the Pacific sardine fishery in 
the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific coast 
(California, Oregon, and Washington) in accordance with the Coastal 
Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The FMP and its 
implementing regulations require NMFS to set annual catch levels for 
the Pacific sardine fishery based on the annual specification framework 
and control rules in the FMP. These control rules include the harvest 
guideline (HG) control rule, which, in conjunction with the overfishing 
limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) rules in the FMP, are 
used to manage harvest levels for Pacific sardine, in accordance with 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act), 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
    During public meetings each year, the Southwest Fishery Science 
Center (SWFSC) presents the estimated biomass for Pacific sardine to 
the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) CPS Management Team 
(Team), the Council's CPS Advisory Subpanel (Subpanel) and the 
Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee

[[Page 24270]]

(SSC). The Team, Subpanel and SSC review the biomass and the status of 
the fishery, and make applicable catch limit and additional management 
measure recommendations. Following Council review and public comment, 
the Council adopts a biomass estimate and makes its catch limit and any 
in-season accountability measure recommendations to NMFS. Annual 
specifications published in the Federal Register establish these catch 
limits and management measures for each Pacific sardine fishing year. 
This rule proposes the Council's recommended catch limits for the 2018-
2019 fishing year, as well as management measures to ensure that 
harvest does not exceed those limits, and adoption of an OFL and ABC 
that is established after taking into consideration uncertainty 
surrounding the current estimate of biomass for Pacific sardine.
    According to the FMP, the quota for the principal commercial 
fishery is determined using the FMP-specified HG formula. The HG 
formula in the CPS FMP is HG = [(Biomass-CUTOFF) * FRACTION * 
DISTRIBUTION] with the parameters described as follows:
    1. Biomass. The estimated stock biomass of Pacific sardine age one 
and above. For the 2018-2019 management season, this is 52,065 mt.
    2. CUTOFF. This is the biomass level below which no HG is set. The 
FMP established this level at 150,000 mt.
    3. DISTRIBUTION. The average portion of the Pacific sardine biomass 
estimated in the EEZ off the Pacific coast is 87 percent.
    4. FRACTION. The temperature-varying harvest fraction is the 
percentage of the biomass above 150,000 mt that may be harvested.
    As described above, the Pacific sardine HG control rule, the 
primary mechanism for setting the annual directed commercial fishery 
quota, includes a CUTOFF parameter, which has been set as a biomass 
level of 150,000 mt. This amount is subtracted from the annual biomass 
estimate before calculating the applicable HG for the fishing year. 
Since this year's biomass estimate is below that value, the formula 
results in an HG of zero, and no Pacific sardine are available for the 
primary commercial directed fishery during the 2018-2019 fishing 
season.
    At the April 2018 Council meeting, the Council's SSC approved, and 
the Council adopted, the SWFSC's ``Assessment of the Pacific Sardine 
Resource in 2018 for U.S. Management in 2018-2019'', available here: 
http://www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/G5a_Stock_Assessment_Rpt_Full_ElectricOnly_Apr2017BB.pdf. The resulting 
Pacific sardine biomass estimate of 52,065 mt was adopted as the best 
available science for setting harvest specifications. Based on 
recommendations from its SSC and other advisory bodies, the Council 
recommended, and NMFS is proposing, an OFL of 11,324 mt, an ABC of 
9,436 mt, and a prohibition on Pacific sardine catch, unless it is 
harvested as part of the live bait, tribal, or minor directed 
fisheries, or as incidental catch in other fisheries. As an additional 
management measure, the Council also recommended, and NMFS is 
proposing, an ACL of 7,000 mt.
    Because Pacific sardine is known to school with other CPS stocks, 
the Council recommended, and NMFS is proposing, incidental catch limits 
to allow for the continued prosecution of these other important CPS 
fisheries. Furthermore, the Council recommended, and NMFS is proposing, 
the following automatic inseason actions to reduce the potential for 
both targeting and discard of Pacific sardine in these fisheries:
     An incidental per landing by weight allowance of 40 
percent Pacific sardine in non-treaty CPS fisheries until a total of 
2,500 mt of Pacific sardine has been landed; and
     A reduction of the incidental per landing allowance to 20 
percent for the remainder of the 2018-2019 fishing year once 2,500 mt 
Pacific sardine has been landed.

Additionally, the Council recommended, and NMFS is proposing, a 2-mt 
incidental per landing allowance in non-CPS fisheries.
    The NMFS West Coast Regional Administrator would publish a notice 
in the Federal Register to announce when catch reaches the incidental 
limits as well as any changes to allowable incidental catch 
percentages. Additionally, to ensure that the regulated community is 
informed of any closure, NMFS would make announcements through other 
means available, including fax, email, and mail to fishermen, 
processors, and state fishery management agencies.
    In each of the previous six fishing years, the Quinault Indian 
Nation requested, and NMFS approved, a set-aside for the exclusive 
right to harvest Pacific sardine in the Quinault Usual and Accustomed 
Fishing Area off the coast of Washington State, pursuant to the 1856 
Treaty of Olympia (Treaty with the Quinault). For the 2018-2019 fishing 
year, the Quinault Indian Nation has requested, and NMFS is proposing, 
a tribal set-aside of 800 mt. This is the same amount that was 
requested and approved for the 2017-2018 season.
    At the April 2018 meeting, the Council also voted in support of two 
exempted fishing permit (EFP) proposals requesting an exemption from 
the prohibition to directly harvest Pacific sardine. This action 
accounts for the potential of NMFS approval of up to 610 mt of the ACL 
to be harvested for EFP activities.
    Detailed information on the fishery and the stock assessment are 
found in the report ``Assessment of the Pacific Sardine Resource in 
2018 for U.S. Management in 2018-2019'' (see ADDRESSES).

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the 
NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is 
consistent with the CPS FMP, other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act, and other applicable law, subject to further consideration after 
public comment.
    This proposed rule is exempt from the procedures of E.O. 12866 
because this action contains no implementing regulations.
    Pursuant to Executive Order 13175, this proposed rule was developed 
after meaningful consultation and collaboration with the tribal 
representative on the Council who has agreed with the provisions that 
apply to tribal vessels.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, 
for the following reasons:
    For Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) purposes only, NMFS has 
established a small business size standard for businesses, including 
their affiliates, whose primary industry is commercial fishing (see 50 
CFR 200.2). A business primarily engaged in commercial fishing (NAICS 
code 11411) is classified as a small business if it is independently 
owned and operated, is not dominant in its field of operation 
(including its affiliates), and has combined annual receipts not in 
excess of $11 million for all its affiliated operations worldwide.
    The purpose of this proposed rule is to conserve the Pacific 
sardine stock by preventing overfishing, so that directed fishing may 
occur in future years. This will be accomplished by implementing the 
2018-2019 annual specifications for Pacific sardine in the U.S. EEZ off 
the Pacific coast. The small entities that would be affected by the 
proposed action are the vessels that would be expected to harvest 
Pacific sardine as

[[Page 24271]]

part of the West Coast CPS small purse seine fleet if the fishery were 
open. In 2014, the last year that a directed fishery for Pacific 
sardine was allowed, there were approximately 81 vessels permitted to 
operate in the directed sardine fishery component of the CPS fishery 
off the U.S. West Coast; 58 vessels in the Federal CPS limited entry 
fishery off California (south of 39[deg] N lat.); and a combined 23 
vessels in Oregon and Washington's state Pacific sardine fisheries. The 
average annual per vessel revenue in 2014 for those vessels was well 
below the threshold level of $11 million; therefore, all of these 
vessels are considered small businesses under the RFA. Because each 
affected vessel is a small business, this proposed rule is considered 
to equally affect all of these small entities in the same manner. 
Therefore, this rule would not create disproportionate costs between 
small and large vessels/businesses.
    The CPS FMP and its implementing regulations require NMFS to 
annually set an OFL, ABC, ACL, and HG or annual catch target (ACT) for 
the Pacific sardine fishery based on the specified harvest control 
rules in the FMP applied to the current stock biomass estimate for that 
year. The derived annual HG is the level typically used to manage the 
principal commercial sardine fishery and is the harvest level NMFS 
typically uses for profitability analysis each year. As stated above, 
the CPS FMP dictates that when the estimated biomass drops below a 
certain level (150,000 mt) there is no HG. Therefore, for the purposes 
of profitability analysis, this action is essentially proposing an HG 
of zero for the 2018-2019 Pacific sardine fishing season (July 1, 2018, 
through June 30, 2019). The estimated biomass used for management 
during the preceding fishing year (2017-2018) was also below 150,000 
mt. Therefore, NMFS did not implement a HG for the 2017-2018 fishing 
year, thereby prohibiting the primary commercial directed Pacific 
sardine fishery. Since there is again no directed fishing for the 2018-
2019 fishing year, this proposed rule will not change the potential 
profitability as compared to the previous fishing year.
    The revenue derived from harvesting Pacific sardine is typically 
only one of the sources of fishing revenue for the commercial vessels 
that participate in this fishery. As a result, the economic impact to 
the fleet from the proposed action cannot be viewed in isolation. From 
year to year, depending on market conditions and availability of fish, 
most CPS/sardine vessels supplement their income by harvesting other 
species. Many vessels in California also harvest anchovy, mackerel, and 
in particular, squid, making Pacific sardine only one component of a 
multi-species CPS fishery. Additionally, some sardine vessels that 
operate off of Oregon and Washington also fish for salmon in Alaska or 
squid in California during times of the year when sardine are not 
available. The purpose of the incidental catch limits proposed in this 
action are to ensure the vessels impacted by a prohibition on directly 
harvesting sardine can still access these other profitable fisheries 
while still minimizing Pacific sardine harvest. These proposed 
incidental allowances are similar to those implemented last year and 
should not restrict access to those other fisheries.
    CPS vessels typically rely on multiple species for profitability 
because abundance of Pacific sardine, like the other CPS stocks, is 
highly associated with ocean conditions and seasonality. Variability in 
ocean conditions and season results in variability in the timing and 
location of CPS harvest throughout the year. Because each species 
responds to ocean conditions in its own way, not all CPS stocks are 
likely to be abundant at the same time. Therefore, as abundance levels 
and markets fluctuate, the CPS fishery as a whole has relied on a group 
of species for its annual revenues.
    Therefore the proposed action, if adopted, will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
As a result, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is not 
required, and none has been prepared.
    This action does not contain a collection-of-information 
requirement for purposes of the Paper Reduction Act.

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

    Dated: May 21, 2018.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-11208 Filed 5-24-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P