[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 162 (Wednesday, August 21, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43570-43573]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18033]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Parts 300, 600, and 679
RIN 0648-BI65
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Authorize
Retention of Halibut in Pot Gear in the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands;
Amendment 118
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of fishery management plan amendment;
request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council)
submitted Amendment 118 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish
of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP) (Amendment
118) to the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) for review. If approved,
Amendment 118 would prohibit the use of pot gear in the Pribilof
Islands Habitat Conservation Zone (PIHCZ) and a regulatory amendment
would authorize the retention of halibut in pot gear under the
Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) and Western Alaska Community Development
Quota (CDQ) Programs in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI).
Amendment 118 is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act), the FMP, the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982
(Halibut Act), and other applicable laws.
DATES: Comments must be received no later than October 21, 2019.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by
NOAA-NMFS-2018-0134, by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2018-0134, click the ``Comment Now!'' icon,
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region
NMFS. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-1668.
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), 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).
Electronic copies of Amendment 118 to the FMP, the Environmental
Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review prepared for this action (the
Analysis), and the Finding of No Significant Impact prepared for this
action may be obtained from www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Warpinski, 907-586-7228 or
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Council has submitted Amendment 118 to
the FMP to the Secretary for review. If approved, Amendment 118 would
prohibit the use of pot gear in the Pribilof Islands Habitat
Conservation Zone (PIHCZ). The regulatory amendment associated with
[[Page 43571]]
Amendment 118 would authorize the use of pot gear, in addition to
currently authorized fishing gear, to fish IFQ or CDQ halibut in the
BSAI and would authorize the retention of halibut in pots in the IFQ or
CDQ sablefish fishery in the BSAI. Provided a permit holder on board
the fishing vessel also holds an IFQ or CDQ halibut permit with
sufficient unused IFQ or CDQ halibut, the permit holder would be
required to retain legal-size halibut. This action is necessary to
improve information for future conservation and management measures,
improve efficiency of the IFQ and CDQ sablefish and halibut fleets, and
reduce bycatch and fishery interactions with whales and seabirds.
Amendment 118 is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, the FMP, the Halibut Act, and other applicable
laws.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each regional fishery
management council submit any fishery management plan amendment it
prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial
approval by the Secretary. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that
NMFS, upon receiving a fishery management plan amendment, immediately
publish a document in the Federal Register announcing that the
amendment is available for public review and comment. This document
announces that proposed Amendment 118 to the FMP is available for
public review and comment.
The Council prepared, and the Secretary approved, the FMP under the
authority of section 302(h)(1) and 303(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,
16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. The FMP is implemented by Federal regulations
governing U.S. fisheries at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679. The Council is
authorized to prepare and recommend an FMP amendment for the
conservation and management of a fishery covered under the FMP. The
conservation and management needs of BSAI groundfish are directly
related to the management of the Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus
stenolepis) fishery by the International Pacific Halibut Commission
(IPHC). Under the FMP, Pacific halibut is not a target species but is
managed as a prohibited species. Many of the management measures
contained in the FMP are for the express purpose of mitigating adverse
effects from the trawl and fixed gear groundfish fisheries on the
halibut resource.
Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) is managed as a groundfish species
under the FMP, as well as under the IFQ Program for the fixed gear
Commercial Fisheries for Pacific Halibut and Sablefish in Waters in and
off Alaska (IFQ Program). The IFQ Program is a limited access privilege
program implemented by Amendment 15 to the FMP in 1995 (58 FR 59375,
November 9, 1993). The IFQ Program allocates halibut and sablefish
harvesting privileges in terms of quota share (QS) among U.S.
fishermen. The FMP specifies requirements for the initial allocation of
quota share in 1995, as well as transfer, use, ownership, and general
provisions. A QS holder's allocation is given effect annually through
issuance of an IFQ permit. The ratio of a person's QS to the total
number of QS is multiplied by the fixed gear sablefish total allowable
catch (TAC) or halibut annual commercial catch limit to arrive at the
annual IFQ. The IFQ permit specifies the amount of halibut or sablefish
that each QS holder may harvest in pounds.
The IPHC and NMFS manage fishing for halibut through regulations at
50 CFR part 300, subpart E, established under authority of the Halibut
Act, 16 U.S.C. 773-773k. The Halibut Act authorizes the Council to
develop halibut fishery regulations, including limited access
regulations, that are in addition to, and not in conflict with,
approved IPHC regulations (16 U.S.C. 773c(c)). The Council has
exercised this authority in the development and advancement of the IFQ
Program.
The CDQ Program was implemented in 1992, and in 1996, the Magnuson-
Stevens Act was amended to include provisions specific to the CDQ
Program. The purposes of the CDQ Program are (1) to provide eligible
western Alaska villages with the opportunity to participate and invest
in fisheries in the BSAI management area; (2) to support economic
development in western Alaska; (3) to alleviate poverty and provide
economic and social benefits for residents of western Alaska; and (4)
to achieve sustainable and diversified local economies in western
Alaska (16 U.S.C. 1855(i)(1)(A)).
If approved, Amendment 118 to the FMP would prohibit the use of pot
gear in the PIHCZ. The regulatory amendment would authorize the use of
pot gear to target BSAI IFQ or CDQ halibut and would authorize
retention of halibut in longline and pot-and-line pot gear used in the
new BSAI IFQ or CDQ halibut and existing IFQ or CDQ sablefish
fisheries. Currently, hook-and-line gear is the only authorized gear
type in the IFQ and CDQ halibut fishery. Amendment 118 would authorize
IFQ and CDQ fishermen to elect to use pot gear in the IFQ or CDQ
halibut or IFQ or CDQ sablefish fisheries in the BSAI. In addition, if
a permit holder on board the fishing vessel holds an IFQ or CDQ halibut
permit with sufficient unused IFQ or CDQ halibut, the permit holder
would be required to retain legal-size halibut.
In recommending Amendment 118 and the proposed rule to implement
the Amendment, the Council determined, and NMFS agrees, that
prohibiting the use of pot gear in the PIHCZ and authorizing halibut
retention in pot gear in the BSAI is appropriate to improve efficiency
in the fleet because fishermen would have more flexibility to use their
quota opportunistically and minimize variable costs. In addition, the
length of the IFQ season makes it much less likely that hook-and-line
gear and longline pot gear conflicts would occur or that fishing
grounds would be preempted for extended periods. The Council and NMFS
therefore expect that gear conflicts and grounds preemption would occur
in the same manner as previously analyzed by the Council and NMFS.
Although hook-and-line and longline pot gear may catch slightly
different sizes of halibut, the best available information indicates
that the use of pot gear would not have a significant impact on the
halibut resource (see Section 3.4 and 4.7.4 of the Analysis).
Due to concern over additional pot fishing activity in the PIHCZ
and in the Pribilof Islands Blue King Crab (PIBKC) stock boundary area,
the proposed regulatory amendment to implement Amendment 118 would
require all vessels deploying pot gear for retaining IFQ or CDQ halibut
or sablefish in pot gear to use logbooks and VMS to ensure consistency
in monitoring fishery behavior.
Pribilof Islands Blue King Crab (PIBKC) (Lithodes aequispinus) are
overfished and experienced overfishing most recently in 2016.
Rebuilding the PIBKC stock has been a Council priority since 2002, when
NMFS notified the Council that the PIBKC stock was overfished. NMFS
initiated a rebuilding plan in 2002, and when that rebuilding plan did
not rebuild PIBKC, a new rebuilding plan was instituted in 2011. As
part of the rebuilding plan, in October 2011 the Council recommended
closing the PIHCZ year-round to directed fishing for Pacific cod with
pot gear. In 2014, Amendment 103 to the FMP was published, prohibiting
Pacific cod pot gear in the PIHCZ to promote bycatch reduction of PIBKC
(79 FR 71344, December 2, 2014). No pot fishing for Pacific cod has
occurred within the PIHCZ since 2015. Section 3.6 of the Analysis
contains additional detail on the status of PIBKC and the rebuilding
plans.
Bycatch of PIBKC in pot gear is a concern in the BSAI, particularly
in
[[Page 43572]]
areas where PIBKC are concentrated. The greatest concentration of PIBKC
is within the PIHCZ, which encloses the Pribilof Islands. The PIHCZ,
defined in Sec. 679.22(a)(6) and shown in Figure 10 to 50 CFR part
679, is closed to all directed fishing for groundfish using trawl gear,
and to directed fishing for Pacific cod using pot gear. This existing
pot gear closure does not include fishing for halibut and sablefish pot
gear. If approved, Amendment 118 would close the PIHCZ to all
groundfish and halibut fishing with pot gear. Section 3.6 of the
Analysis provides more information about PIBKC and the PIHCZ.
To help minimize the risk of overfishing PIBKC, regulations at
Sec. 679.25 provide NMFS with inseason management authority to make
precise closures to BSAI fisheries that use bottom contact gear if a
stock, in this case PIBKC, approaches its acceptable biological catch
limit and is approaching the overfishing level (OFL) in the stock
boundary area.
The IFQ and CDQ Programs already include requirements for
participants to report specific information to NMFS and other
management agencies for management, monitoring, and enforcement
purposes. In general, vessels that fish IFQ and CDQ halibut and
sablefish must adhere to many of the same requirements, although there
are some differences. There is overlap in vessels that fish for IFQ
halibut and sablefish and vessels that fish CDQ halibut and sablefish,
particularly among the larger vessels. A vessel can retain both CDQ and
IFQ species on the same trip.
The purpose of authorizing pot gear to target and retain halibut in
the BSAI is to maximize the ability of permit holders to harvest their
IFQ or CDQ by increasing catch per unit and reducing fishing costs.
Some fishermen would like to use pot gear because it is less prone to
whale depredation and seabird interactions than hook-and-line gear.
Whales can remove fish from hook-and-line gear and damage the gear.
This reduces catch rates, increases costs for IFQ and CDQ fishermen,
and impacts fishing efficiency. Use of pot gear would minimize whale
depredation and seabird interactions with fishing gear and would
minimize adverse impacts on the IFQ fleet.
Killer whale (Orcinus orca) depredation is most common in the BSAI.
Section 3.5 of the Analysis provides the most recent information on
killer whale depredation in the sablefish and halibut IFQ fishery, and
Figure 11 in the Analysis shows a map of observed depredation on
sablefish longline surveys. While depredation events are difficult to
observe because depredation occurs near the ocean floor in deep water
or during active gear retrieval, fishery participants have testified to
the Council that depredation continues to be a major cost to the IFQ
sablefish and halibut fishery, and appears to be occurring more
frequently in the BSAI.
Participants in the BSAI IFQ fisheries indicated to the Council and
NMFS that authorizing the use of pot gear for IFQ halibut fishing would
reduce the adverse impacts of depredation for those vessel operators
who choose to switch from hook-and-line to pot gear. The Council and
NMFS agree that interactions with whales throughout the BSAI could
affect the ability of IFQ permit holders to harvest sablefish and
halibut by reducing catch per unit of effort and decreasing fishing
costs.
If some portion of the IFQ or CDQ halibut fleet switches from hook-
and-line gear to pot gear, interactions between killer whales and the
halibut fishery would be expected to decrease, and unaccounted halibut
mortality due to depredation would be expected to decline. Because the
amount of depredation is not known with certainty, the potential
effects of reduced depredation from this proposed rule cannot be
quantified.
Section 1.2 of the Analysis provides additional information on the
Council's development and recommendation of Amendment 118 and the
proposed rule.
The Council and NMFS considered all the National Standards in
section 301 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1851), but five
national standards figured prominently in their consideration of
Amendment 118: National Standard 2, National Standard 5, National
Standard 8, National Standard 9, and National Standard 10. Section 5 of
the Analysis provides more background on the National Standards.
National Standard 2. Amendment 118 would lessen a source of
scientific uncertainty in the assessment of sablefish stock abundance
and marginally improve the information available for future
conservation and management measures, consistent with National Standard
2. To the extent fishery participants choose to use pot gear, this gear
is likely to reduce the amount of unaccounted mortality that occurs
when whales depredate on sablefish, halibut, and other fish hooked on
hook-and-line gear.
National Standard 5. Amendment 118 considers efficiency consistent
with National Standard 5 by providing the fleet with an additional
tool, pot gear, to directly address reduced catch per unit of fishing
effort and increased fishing costs due to whale depredation off of
hook-and-line gear.
National Standard 8. Amendment 118 recognizes the importance of the
sablefish and halibut fishery to BSAI communities and their residents,
consistent with National Standard 8. Amendment 118 would provide
fishery participants an option to use pot gear and would allow vessels
fishing for sablefish with pot gear to retain their halibut, which
would potentially improve fishing outcomes for vessels fishing for IFQ
or CDQ halibut or sablefish. Amendment 118 would not alter the
management measures that are designed to maintain the IFQ Program's
diverse fleet; those measures include area-specific quota, different
quota allocations for vessel size categories, quota share use caps, and
vessel IFQ caps. Amendment 118 would sustain community participation by
reducing uncertainty in stock abundance estimation that results in
improving long term management of the resource.
National Standard 9. Amendment 118 would minimize bycatch, to the
extent practicable, consistent with National Standard 9. Amendment 118
would authorize the use of pot gear, a gear type that is evidenced to
reduce overall bycatch across all species and physically protect
bycatch species from whale depredation, thereby reducing one source of
bycatch mortality. In addition, under Amendment 118, the PIHCZ would be
closed to all pot fishing to protect the PIBKC stock from overfishing.
National Standard 10. Amendment 118 would promote the safety of
life at sea, to the extent practicable, consistent with National
Standard 10. All vessels over 79 feet would still be required to
maintain and abide by their stability instructions for their vessel and
gear. Vessels are not being required to carry any extra gear, and
operators have the option to participate in the opportunity created by
this action.
Amendment 118 would require that all IFQ halibut caught in pot gear
used by a vessel to fish IFQ or CDQ halibut or IFQ or CDQ sablefish in
the BSAI be retained when a permit holder on board the vessel also
holds an IFQ or CDQ halibut permit with sufficient IFQ or CDQ to cover
the halibut harvest. Regulations that implement the IFQ Program in
conjunction with FMP-managed species are consistent with the Halibut
Act and the Magnuson Stevens Act, respectively. Amendment 118 also
notes that requirements for retaining, handling, and reporting halibut
harvest are established in regulation and unchanged by this action.
[[Page 43573]]
The FMP recognizes that discarding incidental catches of fish is
wasteful and should be minimized. The FMP also recognizes that halibut
are not managed as a target species, but as a prohibited species, under
the FMP. Therefore, to remove the incentive to covertly target halibut,
the FMP prohibits retention of halibut caught in target groundfish
fisheries, except for when authorized. In the evaluation of retention
of IFQ or CDQ halibut in a pot gear fishery for IFQ or CDQ halibut or
IFQ or CDQ sablefish in the BSAI, the Council balanced the tenets of
minimizing halibut discard with the IFQ Program, and the Council
recommended retention of halibut in pot gear used to fish IFQ or CDQ
halibut or IFQ or CDQ sablefish. Retention of halibut caught with pot
gear used to fish IFQ or CDQ halibut or IFQ or CDQ sablefish is
consistent with general provisions of the FMP.
The Council's recommendation to require retention of halibut in pot
gear was conditioned on the IPHC adopting complementary regulations
that would allow NMFS to promulgate regulations implementing the
requirements specified by the Council. The IPHC approved the annual
Pacific Halibut Fishery Regulations in January 2019. The 2019 annual
regulations recommended by the IPHC and approved by the U.S. include
approval of harvest of halibut in pot gear as legal gear for the
commercial halibut fishery in Alaska when NMFS regulations permit the
use of this gear to retain halibut (84 FR 9243, March 14, 2019).
Amendment 118 to the FMP would amend Table ES-2 and section
3.5.2.1.1 in the FMP to prohibit all pot gear in the Pribilof Islands
Habitat Conservation Zone. NMFS is soliciting public comments on
proposed Amendment 118 through the end of the comment period (see
DATES). NMFS intends to publish in the Federal Register and seek public
comment on a proposed rule that would implement Amendment 118,
following NMFS's evaluation of the proposed rule under the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. All comments received by the end of the comment period on
Amendment 118, whether specifically directed to the FMP amendment or
the proposed rule, will be considered in the approval/disapproval
decision on Amendment 118. Comments received after that date may not be
considered in the approval/disapproval decision on Amendment 118. To be
certain of consideration, comments must be received, not just
postmarked or otherwise transmitted, by the last day of the comment
period.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: August 16, 2019.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-18033 Filed 8-20-19; 8:45 a.m.]
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