[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 184 (Friday, September 21, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47843-47845]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-20603]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[Docket No. 150121066-5717-02]
RIN 0648-XG489


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna 
Fisheries

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; General category September fishery for 2018; 
inseason bluefin tuna quota transfer and closure.

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SUMMARY: NMFS transfers 60 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna 
(BFT) quota from the Reserve category to the September 2018 subquota 
period and closes the General category fishery for large medium and 
giant BFT until the General category reopens on October 1, 2018. The 
quota transfer is intended to provide additional fishing opportunities 
based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria 
regarding inseason adjustments and applies to Atlantic tunas General 
category (commercial) permitted vessels and Highly Migratory Species 
(HMS) Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels with a commercial 
sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT. Given that the 
adjusted quota is projected to be caught quickly, the closure is to 
prevent overharvest of the adjusted General category September 2018 BFT 
subquota.

DATES: The quota transfer is effective September 18, 2018 through 
September 30, 2018. The closure is effective 11:30 p.m., local time, 
September 23, 2018, through September 30, 2018.

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

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations implemented under the authority 
of the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.) and 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) governing the harvest of BFT by 
persons and vessels subject to U.S. jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR 
part 635. Section 635.27 subdivides the U.S. BFT quota recommended by 
the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas 
(ICCAT) and as implemented by the United States among the various 
domestic fishing categories, per the allocations established in the 
2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan 
(2006 Consolidated HMS FMP) (71 FR 58058, October 2, 2006), as amended 
by Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP (Amendment 7) (79 FR 
71510, December 2, 2014). NMFS is required under ATCA and the Magnuson-
Stevens Act to provide U.S. fishing vessels with a reasonable 
opportunity to harvest the ICCAT-recommended quota.
    NMFS is required, under regulations at Sec.  635.28(a)(1), to file 
a closure notice for publication with the Office of the Federal 
Register when a BFT quota is reached or is projected to be reached. On 
and after the effective date and time of such notification, for the 
remainder of the fishing year or for a specified period as indicated in 
the notification, retaining, possessing, or landing BFT under that 
quota category is prohibited until the opening of the subsequent quota 
period or until such date as specified in the notice.
    The current baseline General and Reserve category quotas are 466.7 
mt and 24.8 mt, respectively. See Sec.  635.27(a). Each of the General 
category time periods (January, June through August, September, October 
through November, and December) is allocated a ``subquota'' or portion 
of the annual General category quota. Although it is called the 
``January'' subquota, the regulations allow the General category 
fishery under this quota to continue until the subquota is reached or 
March 31, whichever comes first. The subquotas for each time period are 
as follows: 24.7 mt for January; 233.3 mt for June through August; 
123.7 mt for September; 60.7 mt for October through November; and 24.3 
mt for December. Any unused General category quota rolls forward within 
the fishing year, which coincides with the calendar year, from one time 
period to the next, and is available for use in subsequent time 
periods. To date for 2018, NMFS has published three actions that have 
adjusted the available 2018 Reserve category quota, leaving 78.5 mt 
currently available (83 FR 9232, March 5, 2018, 83 FR 17110, April 18, 
2018, and 83 FR 38664, August 7, 2018).
    Although NMFS has published a proposed rule (83 FR 31517, July 6, 
2018) to increase the baseline U.S. bluefin tuna quota from 1,058.79 mt 
to 1,247.86 mt and subquotas for 2018 (including an expected increase 
in the General category September time period subquota from 123.7 mt to 
147.3 mt, consistent with the annual bluefin tuna quota calculation 
process established in Sec.  635.27(a)), NMFS does not anticipate that 
the final rule (the ``quota rule'') will be effective until late 
September 2018.

Transfer of 60 mt From the Reserve Category to the General Category

    Under Sec.  635.27(a)(9), NMFS has the authority to transfer quota 
among fishing categories or subcategories, after considering regulatory 
determination criteria provided under Sec.  635.27(a)(8). NMFS has 
considered all of the relevant determination criteria and their 
applicability to this inseason quota transfer. These considerations 
include, but are not limited to, the following:
    Regarding the usefulness of information obtained from catches in 
the particular category for biological sampling and monitoring of the 
status of the stock (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(i)), biological samples 
collected from BFT landed by General category fishermen and provided by 
bluefin tuna dealers continue to provide valuable data for ongoing 
scientific studies of bluefin tuna age and growth, migration, and 
reproductive status. Additional opportunity to land bluefin tuna in the 
General category would support the continued collection of a broad 
range of data for these studies and for stock monitoring purposes.
    NMFS also considered the catches of the General category quota to 
date and the likelihood of closure of that segment of the fishery if no 
adjustment is made (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(ii) and (ix)). As of September 
17, 2018, the General category landed 145.6 mt. This represents 118 
percent of the baseline September subquota (123.7 mt) and 79 percent of 
the September quota under the ICCAT quota rule, if finalized as 
proposed (147.3 mt). At the time of drafting of this inseason action, 
the General category subquota has not yet been exceeded, and 
commercial-sized bluefin tuna remain available in the areas where 
General category permitted vessels operate at this time of year. Given 
the lag between initiation of an inseason action and its 
implementation, however, this notice also closes the fishery, as NMFS 
anticipates the transferred quota will be caught quickly. Transferring 
60 mt of quota from the Reserve category would result in 183.7 mt being 
available for the September 2018 subquota period (207.3 mt if the ICCAT 
quota rule is finalized as proposed), thus effectively providing 
limited additional opportunities to harvest the U.S. bluefin tuna quota 
while avoiding exceeding it.
    Regarding the projected ability of the vessels fishing under the 
particular category quota (here, the General category) to harvest the 
additional amount of BFT before the end of the fishing year (Sec.  
635.27(a)(8)(iii)), NMFS anticipates that all of the 60 mt of quota 
will be used by September 23, based on current figures and the amount 
of quota being transferred, but this is also subject to weather 
conditions and bluefin tuna availability. In the unlikely event that 
any of this quota is unused by September 30, such quota will roll 
forward to the next subperiod within the calendar year (i.e., the 
October through November period), and NMFS anticipates that it would be 
used before the end of the fishing year.
    NMFS also considered the estimated amounts by which quotas for 
other gear categories of the fishery might be exceeded (Sec.  
635.27(a)(8)(iv)) and the ability to account for all 2018 landings and 
dead discards. In the last several years, total U.S. BFT landings have 
been below the available U.S. quota such that the United States has 
carried forward the maximum amount of underharvest allowed by ICCAT 
from one year to the next. NMFS will need to account for 2018 landings 
and dead discards within the adjusted U.S. quota, consistent with ICCAT 
recommendations, and anticipates having sufficient quota to do that, 
even with the 60 mt transfer to the General category for the September 
fishery. Given the upcoming expected increases in available 2018 quota, 
from the ICCAT quota rule increase, the resulting recalculation of 2018 
available Purse Seine category quota and transfer to the Reserve 
category, and carryover of 2017 underharvest, NMFS anticipates that the 
transfer in this action to the General category will have no 
deleterious effects on NMFS' flexibility related to other categories 
for the remainder of the year.
    This transfer would be consistent with the current quotas, which 
were established and analyzed in the 2015 BFT quota final rule (80 FR 
52198, August 28, 2015), and with objectives of the 2006 Consolidated 
HMS FMP and amendments. (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(v) and (vi)). Another 
principal consideration is the objective of providing opportunities to

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harvest the full annual U.S. BFT quota without exceeding it based on 
the goals of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and Amendment 7, including 
to achieve optimum yield on a continuing basis and to optimize the 
ability of all permit categories to harvest their full BFT quota 
allocations (related to Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(x)). Specific to the General 
category, this includes providing opportunity equitably across all time 
periods.
    Based on the considerations above, NMFS is transferring 60 mt of 
the available 78.5 mt of Reserve category quota to the General category 
for the September 2018 fishery, resulting in a subquota of 183.7 mt for 
the September 2018 fishery and 18.5 mt in the Reserve category.

Closure of the September 2018 General Category Fishery

    Based on the best available bluefin tuna General category landings 
information (i.e., 145.6 mt landed as of September 17, 2018) as well as 
average catch rates and anticipated fishing conditions, NMFS projects 
that the General category September subquota of 183.7 mt, as adjusted 
in this action, will be reached by September 23, 2018, and that the 
fishery should be closed to avoid exceedance of the adjusted quota. 
Through this action, we are closing the General category bluefin tuna 
fishery effective 11:30 p.m., September 23, 2018, through September 30, 
2018. The fishery will reopen on October 1, 2018, with a baseline quota 
of 60.7 mt (72.2 mt under the ICCAT quota rule, if finalized as 
proposed) available for the October through November time period. 
Therefore, retaining, possessing, or landing large medium or giant BFT 
by persons aboard vessels permitted in the Atlantic tunas General and 
HMS Charter/Headboat categories must cease at 11:30 p.m. local time on 
September 23, 2018. The General category will reopen automatically on 
October 1, 2018, for the October through November 2018 subquota period. 
This action applies to those vessels permitted in the General category, 
as well as to those HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a 
commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT fishing 
commercially for BFT. For information regarding the HMS Charter/
Headboat commercial sale endorsement, see 82 FR 57543, December 6, 
2017. The intent of this closure is to prevent overharvest of the 
available General category September BFT subquota.
    Fishermen may catch and release (or tag and release) BFT of all 
sizes, subject to the requirements of the catch-and-release and tag-
and-release programs at Sec.  635.26. All BFT that are released must be 
handled in a manner that will maximize their survival, and without 
removing the fish from the water, consistent with requirements at Sec.  
635.21(a)(1). For additional information on safe handling, see the 
``Careful Catch and Release'' brochure available at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/.

Monitoring and Reporting

    NMFS will continue to monitor the BFT fishery closely. Dealers are 
required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of a dealer 
receiving BFT. Late reporting by dealers compromises NMFS' ability to 
timely implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustment, 
as well as closures, and may result in enforcement actions. 
Additionally, and separate from the dealer reporting requirement, 
General and HMS Charter/Headboat category vessel owners are required to 
report the catch of all BFT retained or discarded dead within 24 hours 
of the landing(s) or end of each trip, by accessing 
hmspermits.noaa.gov, using the HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling 
(888) 872-8862 (Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.).
    Depending on the level of fishing effort and catch rates of BFT, 
NMFS may determine that additional action (e.g., quota adjustment, 
daily retention limit adjustment, or closure) is necessary to ensure 
available subquotas are not exceeded or to enhance scientific data 
collection from, and fishing opportunities in, all geographic areas. If 
needed, subsequent adjustments will be published in the Federal 
Register. In addition, fishermen may call the Atlantic Tunas 
Information Line at (978) 281-9260, or access hmspermits.noaa.gov, for 
updates on quota monitoring and inseason adjustments.

Classification

    The Assistant Administrator for NMFS (AA) finds that it is 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest to provide prior 
notice of, and an opportunity for public comment on, this action for 
the following reasons:
    The regulations implementing the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 
amendments provide for inseason quota transfers and fishery closures to 
respond to the unpredictable nature of BFT availability on the fishing 
grounds, the migratory nature of this species, and the regional 
variations in the BFT fishery. These fisheries are currently underway 
and the currently available quota for the subcategory is projected to 
be reached shortly. Affording prior notice and opportunity for public 
comment to implement the quota transfer is impracticable and contrary 
to the public interest as such a delay would likely result in 
exceedance of the General category September fishery subquota or 
earlier closure of the fishery while fish are available on the fishing 
grounds. Subquota exceedance may result in the need to reduce quota for 
the General category later in the year and thus could affect later 
fishing opportunities. Therefore, the AA finds good cause under 5 
U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for public 
comment. For all of the above reasons, there also is good cause under 5 
U.S.C. 553(d) to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness.
    This action is being taken under Sec. Sec.  635.27(a)(9) and 
635.28(a)(1), and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.

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

    Dated: September 18, 2018.
Margo B. Schulze-Haugen,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-20603 Filed 9-18-18; 4:15 pm]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P