[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 98 (Tuesday, May 21, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 23014-23016]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-10567]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 635
RIN 0648-BI59
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Amendment 14 to the 2006
Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact
statement (EIS); request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the availability of the scoping document on
Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species
Fishery Management Plan (2006 Consolidated HMS FMP) and its intent to
prepare an EIS under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA Given
revisions to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
Act National Standard 1 (NS1) guidelines, NMFS is exploring options
related to the implementation of those new guidelines as they relate to
annual catch limits (ACLs) for Atlantic sharks in the HMS management
unit. In the scoping document, NMFS begins the process for re-examining
how to establish these ACLs, including an examination of how to
establish the acceptable biological catch (ABC) and account for
uncertainty arising from the stock assessment and the impacts to the
management measures. NMFS expects to consider the comments received on
the scoping document for developing Amendment 14 to the 2006
Consolidated HMS FMP. NMFS will announce the date and times for the
scoping meetings in a separate Federal Register notice at a later date.
DATES: Topics included in this NOI will be discussed at the HMS
Advisory Panel, May 21-23, 2019. Additional
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scoping meetings and a conference call will be announced in a
subsequent notice in the Federal Register. Please see the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this NOI for more specifics regarding the HMS
Advisory Panel meeting. NMFS requests receipt of any comments on the
scoping document by July 31, 2019.
ADDRESSES: The presentation at the HMS Advisory Panel will be held at
the Sheraton, 8777 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910. You may
submit comments on the scoping document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2019-
0040, by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2019-0040, click the
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or
attach your comments.
Mail: Submit written comments to Peter Cooper, NMFS/SF1,
1315 East-West Highway, National Marine Fisheries Service, SSMC3,
Silver Spring, MD 20910.
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 generally will be posted for public viewing on
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address), 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).
The Scoping Document on Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan and
supporting documents are available from the HMS Management Division
website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/atlantic-highly-migratory-species, or contact Ian Miller by phone at 301-427-8503 for
hard copies.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ian Miller or Karyl Brewster-Geisz at
301-427-8503.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires that any FMP or FMP amendment be
consistent with ten National Standards. Specifically, NS1 requires that
conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while
achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery
for the United States fishing industry. In 2016, NMFS revised the NS1
guidelines to improve and streamline them, enhance their utility for
managers and the public, and to facilitate compliance with the
requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and provide management
flexibility in doing so.
The revisions address a range of issues, including providing
guidance on phasing in changes to catch limits and carrying over unused
quota from one year to the next (81 FR 71858; October 18, 2016). With
the changes in the NS1 guidelines and given that NMFS is seeking
additional management flexibility in establishment of shark reference
points, NMFS is exploring options related to the implementation of
those new provisions as it relates to shark ACLs.
Shark stock assessments conducted by the SouthEast Data,
Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process and conducted by the science
branch of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic
Tunas (ICCAT). Species are assessed individually to the extent
possible, with matching TACs. In some cases, the available data are not
sufficient for estimating a TAC for use in management (e.g., dusky
shark). Also, in some cases, TACs for individual species may be
aggregated into species complexes for management purposes (e.g.,
pelagic shark complex, large coastal shark complex, etc.).
Since Amendment 3 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic HMS FMP, NMFS
has set the acceptable biological catch (ABC), overfishing limit (OFL),
and overall ACL for these stocks equal to the TAC. NMFS has used this
ABC to calculate the shark sector ACLs and commercial quotas for the
fishery. In the NS1 guidelines, NMFS defines the ABC as a level of a
stock or stock complex's annual catch, which is based on an ABC control
rule that accounts for the scientific uncertainty in the estimate of
OFL, any other scientific uncertainty, and the Council's risk policy
(see 50 CFR 600.310(f)(1)(ii)). NMFS defines ACL as a limit on the
total annual catch of a stock or stock complex, which cannot exceed the
ABC, which serves as the basis for invoking AMs. An ACL may be divided
into sector-ACLs (see 50 CFR 600.310(f)(1)(iii)). For the prohibited
shark complex, where commercial and recreational retention and landings
are not allowed, NMFS has, consistent with NS1 guideline provisions,
set the ACL equal to zero, although a small amount of bycatch occurs
during other fishing operations.
In the scoping document, NMFS begins the process for re-examining
how to establish the ACLs for shark species that are in the HMS
management unit based on the 2016 final rule updating the NS1
guidelines (81 FR 71858, October 18, 2016), and examines how to
establish the ABC and account for uncertainty arising from the stock
assessment and the impacts to the management measures. Additionally,
this document discusses how to establish ACLs in the absence of a full
stock assessment and considers changes to quota carry-over provisions.
The HMS shark regulations govern conservation and management of sharks
in the management unit, under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens
Act. For sharks, the ``management unit'' means all fish of the species
listed in Table 1 of Appendix A to 50 CFR part 635, in the western
north Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
Sea. For some shark stocks caught in association with ICCAT fisheries,
ICCAT adopts conservation and management measures, and NMFS implements
them consistent with ATCA. NMFS welcomes comments on the appropriate
scope of the action as it relates to the species with management
measures under ICCAT.
NMFS has several ongoing actions affecting HMS management that are,
or soon will be, available for public comment. While each of these
actions are separate, they are related in some ways, and the comment
periods may overlap. Depending on the outcomes, one action could have
impacts on other actions. The following summarizes these other actions
for the regulated community's information and background.
NMFS recently released its ``Draft Three-Year Review of the
Individual Bluefin Quota (IBQ) Program.'' The IBQ Program, adopted in
Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP (Amendment 7), is a catch
share program that introduced individual vessel accountability for
bluefin bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery. Formal reviews of such
catch share programs are required to evaluate whether their objectives
are met. In Amendment 7, NMFS proposed and finalized a plan to formally
evaluate the success and performance of the IBQ Program after three
years of operation and to provide the HMS Advisory Panel with a
publicly-available written document with its findings.
NMFS also recently released a document (Amendment 13 Issues and
Options Paper) for use in 2019 for
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scoping, a public process during which NMFS will consider a range of
issues and objectives, as well as possible options for bluefin tuna
management. The options being presented in the Issues and Options Paper
consider the preliminary results of the Draft Three-Year Review and
respond to recent changes in the bluefin fishery and input from the
public and HMS Advisory Panel. The options include refining the IBQ
Program; reassessing allocation of bluefin tuna quotas (including the
potential elimination or phasing out of the Purse Seine category); and
other regulatory provisions regarding bluefin directed fisheries and
bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery, to determine if existing
measures are the best means of achieving current management objectives
for bluefin tuna management. During scoping, public feedback will be
accepted via written comments or scoping meetings as described in
separate Federal Register notices.
NMFS also is currently in the process of developing a Proposed Rule
to Modify Pelagic Longline Bluefin Tuna Area-Based and Weak Hook
Management Measures. To analyze the potential environmental effects of
a range of alternatives, NMFS recently released a Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (DEIS). The DEIS evaluates whether current area-based
and gear management measures remain necessary to reduce and/or maintain
low numbers of bluefin tuna discards and interactions in the pelagic
longline fishery, given more recent management measures, including the
IBQ Program. The DEIS prefers alternatives that undertake a process to
evaluate the need for the Northeastern United States Closed Area and
the Gulf of Mexico Gear Restricted Area; removes the Cape Hatteras Gear
Restricted Area; and adjusts the Gulf of Mexico weak hook effective
period from year-round to seasonal (January-June). The comment period
for the DEIS and proposed rule are open through July 31, 2019. NMFS is
holding four public hearings across the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic
Coast. There will also be two webinars that will serve as public
hearings for interested members of the public from all geographic
locations. After consideration of public comments, NMFS expects to
finalize the rule in the late fall of 2019. The proposed rule related
to this DEIS is expected to be released shortly.
Finally, NMFS also released an Issues and Options Paper considering
approaches to collect data and perform research in areas that are
currently closed to certain gears or fishing activities for Atlantic
HMS. Such research will help evaluate and support spatial fisheries
management for Atlantic HMS. ``Spatial management'' refers to a suite
of fisheries conservation and management measures that are based on
geographic area. When some spatial management tools, such as closed
areas, are deployed, the collection of fishery-dependent data is
reduced or eliminated. This loss of data can compromise effective
fisheries management. The Issues and Options Paper considers approaches
to collect data and perform research in areas that may otherwise
restrict commercial or recreational fishing, making the collection of
fisheries-dependent data challenging or not possible. During scoping,
public feedback will be accepted via written comments or at scoping
meetings as described in separate Federal Register notices.
Request for Comments
NMFS anticipates changes to management of the shark species that
are in the HMS management unit. Based on the guidelines for NS1. This
notice requests additional information and comments from the public
related to the establishment of TACs and ACLs. The HMS shark
regulations govern conservation and management of sharks in the
management unit, under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. For
sharks, the ``management unit'' means all fish of the species listed in
Table 1 of Appendix A to 50 CFR part 635, in the western north Atlantic
Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. For some
shark stocks caught in association with ICCAT fisheries, ICCAT adopts
conservation and management measures, and NMFS implements them
consistent with ATCA. NMFS welcomes comments on the appropriate scope
of the action as it relates to the species with management measures
under ICCAT. The document includes a summary of the anticipated purpose
and need for the FMP amendment, and the potential environmental,
social, and economic impacts of some potential conservation and
management options. The scoping document is available online at the HMS
website: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/topic/atlantic-highly-migratory-species. The scoping meetings and a conference call will be
announced in a subsequent notice in the Federal Register. The comments
received on the scoping document will be considered to assist in the
development of the upcoming amendment to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic
HMS FMP. NMFS anticipates that a proposed rule and draft environment
impact statement (DEIS) will be available in late 2019 and the Final
Amendment 14 and its related documents will be available in 2020.
Dated: May 16, 2019.
Kelly L. Denit,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-10567 Filed 5-20-19; 8:45 am]
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