[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 26, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 66234-66236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-27878]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 181010932-8999-01]
RIN 0648-XG562
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish
Fishery; 2019 Bluefish Specifications
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes specifications for the 2019 Atlantic bluefish
fishery, as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
This action is necessary to comply with the implementing regulations of
the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan that require NMFS to publish
specifications for the fishery after providing the opportunity for
public comment. The proposed specifications are intended to establish
allowable harvest levels for the stock that will prevent overfishing
while allowing optimum yield, consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Bluefish Fishery
Management Plan. This action also informs the public of the proposed
fishery specifications, and provides an opportunity for comment.
DATES: Comments must be received by January 10, 2019.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by
NOAA-NMFS-2018-0127, by either of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.
1. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2018-0127,
2. Click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields,
and
3. Enter or attach your comments.
--OR--
Mail: Submit written comments to Michael Pentony, Regional
Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope:
``Comments on the Proposed Rule for Bluefish Specifications.''
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 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 Supplemental Information Report (SIR) prepared for
this action and other supporting documents for the proposed
specifications are available upon request from Dr. Christopher M.
Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council,
Suite 201, 800 N State Street, Dover, DE 19901. These documents are
also accessible via the internet at http://www.mafmc.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Management
Specialist, (978) 281-9180.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission jointly manage the Atlantic Bluefish
Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The FMP requires the specification of
the acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limit (ACL), annual
catch targets (ACT), commercial quotas, recreational harvest limit, and
other management measures, for up to three years at a time. This action
proposes specifications for the bluefish fishery for the 2019 fishing
year.
In 2015, the 60th Northeast Stock Assessment Workshop concluded
that the Atlantic bluefish stock is not overfished, and overfishing is
not occurring. The most recent data update (2018) showed slight
declines in biomass after 2016, but no change in stock status from the
2015 benchmark assessment. Based on this best available scientific
information, the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC)
recommended that specifications for the 2019 bluefish fishery remain
unchanged from the 2018 specifications provided in the August 4, 2016,
final rule (81 FR 26267), as corrected in the September 27, 2016, final
rule (81 FR 66197). The SSC found no compelling reason to change the
overfishing limit, ABC, or subsequent catch limits and targets. The
Council's Bluefish Monitoring Committee (MC) also made status quo
recommendations following their 2018 meeting, consistent with the SSC.
The Bluefish FMP has a prescriptive process for deriving
specifications from the ABC. The FMP sets the ACL equal to the ABC, and
there is historically no reduction due to management uncertainty
because of persistent under-harvest of available catch limits. The ACL
is then divided between the commercial and recreational sectors by
allocating 17 percent to the commercial ACT and 83 percent to the
recreational ACT. Discards are then subtracted from each sector to
calculate each sector's TAL. Commercial discards are assumed to be
negligible and recreational discards are projected using a terminal
[[Page 66235]]
year estimate derived from Marine Recreational Information Program
(MRIP) data. If the recreational fishery is not projected to land its
harvest limit, then quota may be transferred from the recreational to
the commercial sector increasing the resulting commercial quota up to
10.5 million pounds (4,763 mt). The Council may also specify a research
set-aside (RSA) quota of up to 3 percent of the TAL; however, no RSA
quota has been allocated since 2015. The final commercial quota is then
allocated to the coastal states from Maine to Florida based on percent
shares specified in the FMP.
The Council and the Commission's Bluefish Management Board met
jointly in August 2018 to consider the SSC and MC's recommendations and
receive public comments. The Council and Board also voted to recommend
largely status quo specifications for the 2019 bluefish fishery.
Additionally, the Council recommended that the 2017 estimate of
recreational catch be used as the basis for recreational landings
projections and discards. They also recommended that the sector quota
transfer from the recreational fishery to the commercial fishery be 4.0
million pounds (1,814 mt), rather than the maximum allowable transfer
of 6.1 million pounds (2,767 mt). The Council stated that the resulting
final quotas more accurately represent the current sector-based
allocations and the overall goals of the Bluefish FMP. This will result
in slightly different final commercial quotas and recreational harvest
limits than 2018, so proposed specifications are not entirely status
quo. The Council and Board did not recommend changes to any other
regulations in place for bluefish; therefore, all other fishery
management measures in place would remain unchanged for the 2019
fishing year.
The bluefish stock will undergo an operational assessment in early
2019. The assessment is designed to incorporate updated MRIP
information. It is expected the Council and Commission will use the
assessment results to set specifications for the 2020-2022 fishing
years.
Proposed Specifications
A summary of the Council's recommended specifications is shown
below in Table 1.
Table 1--Summary of Current 2018 and Proposed 2019 Bluefish Specifications
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Current 2018 specifications Proposed 2019 specifications
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million lb metric tons million lb metric tons
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Overfishing Limit............................... 27.97 12,688 27.97 12,688
ABC = ACL....................................... 21.81 9,895 21.81 9,895
Commercial ACT.................................. 3.71 1,682 3.71 1,682
Recreational ACT................................ 18.11 8,213 18.11 8,213
Commercial TAL.................................. 3.71 1,682 3.71 1,682
Recreational TAL................................ 15.11 6,857 15.62 7,083
Sector Transfer................................. 3.54 1,604 4.00 1,814
Commercial Quota................................ 7.24 3,286 7.71 3,497
Recreational Harvest Limit...................... 11.58 5,253 11.62 5,271
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These recommendations are largely status quo compared to the
current 2018 specifications, with only minor adjustments to the final
commercial quota and recreational harvest limit to account for most
recent recreational catch and an adjusted sector transfer. The Council
and Board did not recommend any changes to the recreational fishing
measures for bluefish, so the possession limit of up to 15 fish per
person would remain in place for 2019.
Once the final commercial quota is determined, state commercial
quota from Maine through Florida are allocated based on specified
percentages defined in the FMP. The proposed commercial state
allocations for 2019 based on the Council-recommended commercial quota
is shown below in Table 2. No states exceeded their state allocated
quota in 2018; therefore, no accountability measures need to be
implemented for the 2019 fishing year.
Table 2--Proposed 2019 Bluefish State Commercial Quota Allocations
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Proposed quota Proposed quota
State Percent share (lb) (mt)
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Maine........................................................... 0.67 51,538 23.38
New Hampshire................................................... 0.41 31,956 14.49
Massachusetts................................................... 6.72 517,828 234.88
Rhode Island.................................................... 6.81 524,874 238.08
Connecticut..................................................... 1.27 97,626 44.28
New York........................................................ 10.39 800,645 363.17
New Jersey...................................................... 14.82 1,142,264 518.12
Delaware........................................................ 1.88 144,801 65.68
Maryland........................................................ 3.00 231,426 104.97
Virginia........................................................ 11.88 915,857 415.43
North Carolina.................................................. 32.06 2,471,746 1121.17
South Carolina.................................................. 0.04 2,714 1.23
Georgia......................................................... 0.01 732 0.33
Florida......................................................... 10.06 775,558 351.79
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Total....................................................... 100.00 7,709,565 3,497.00
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[[Page 66236]]
The current 2018 specifications are in effect until December 31,
2018. After this date, the bluefish fishery will function without a
quota in 2019 until these proposed specifications are finalized.
Therefore, it is important to implement final specifications as quickly
as possible into the fishing year in January 2019 to minimize time
without functional quotas. To accomplish this, NMFS is requesting
public comments by January 10, 2019. Please see the DATES section for
submission instructions.
Classification
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the NMFS
Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is
consistent with the Bluefish 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 review under Executive Order
12866.
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.
The Council conducted an evaluation of the potential socioeconomic
impacts of the proposed measures in conjunction with a SIR. Because no
regulatory changes are proposed that would affect the bluefish fishery,
they are not considered in the evaluation. The proposed measures would
maintain the existing 2018 bluefish catch specifications and management
measures with only minor adjustments to the final recreational TAL and
resulting specifications.
According to the commercial ownership database, 703 affiliate firms
landed bluefish commercially (with a Federal commercial and/or charter/
party permit) during the 2015-2017 period. Of the 703 affiliate firms
categorized as commercial fishing operations, 698 are categorized as
small business and 5 categorized as large business. Because the
Council-recommended specifications are largely status quo, the proposed
action would have no impact on the way the fishery operates or affect
small entities. These measures are expected to provide similar fishing
opportunities in 2019 when compared to 2018 (proxy for base year 2017).
As such, revenue changes are not expected in 2019 due to these
specifications.
Analyses indicate that the proposed action is not expected to
substantially change fishing effort or the risk of overfishing, prices/
revenues, or fishery behavior. The proposed specifications are intended
to maintain stability in the fishery for all regulated entities, while
maintaining the healthy stock condition.
There are no new reporting or recordkeeping requirements contained
in this action.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: December 18, 2018.
Donna S. Wieting,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-27878 Filed 12-21-18; 8:45 am]
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