[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 1 (Thursday, January 2, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 17-19]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-28271]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[Docket No. 180117042-8884-02: RTID 0648-XT031]


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna 
Fisheries

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; quota transfer.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is transferring 19.5 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin 
tuna (BFT) quota from the 28.9-mt General category December 2020 
subquota to the January 2020 subquota period (from January 1 through 
March 31, 2020, or until the available subquota for this period is 
reached, whichever comes first). This action is 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.

DATES: Effective January 1, 2020, through March 31, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah McLaughlin, 978-281-9260, 
Nicholas Velseboer, 978-675-2168, or Larry Redd, 301-427-8503.

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.
    The base quota for the General category is 555.7 mt. 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 
baseline subquotas for each time period are as follows: 29.5 mt for 
January; 277.9 mt for June through August; 147.3 mt for September; 72.2 
mt for October through November; and 28.9 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.

Transfer of 19.5 mt From the December 2020 Subquota to the January 2020 
Subquota

    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. 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 
tuna dealers provides NMFS with valuable parts and data for ongoing 
scientific studies of BFT age and growth, migration, and reproductive 
status. Additional opportunity to land BFT, and potentially over a 
greater portion of the January time period, 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 (including in December 2019 and during the winter fishery in the 
last several years), and the likelihood of closure of that segment of 
the fishery if no adjustment is made (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(ii)). Without 
a quota transfer from December 2020 to January 2020 for the General 
category at this time, the quota available for the January period would 
be 29.5 mt (5.3 percent of the General category quota), and 
participants would have to stop BFT fishing activities once that amount 
is met, while commercial-sized BFT may remain available in the areas 
where General category permitted vessels operate. Transferring 19.5 mt 
of the 28.9-mt quota available for December 2020 (with 28.9 mt 
representing 5.2 percent of the General category quota) would result in 
49 mt (8.8 percent of the General category quota) being available for 
the January 2020 subquota period. This quota transfer would provide 
additional opportunities to harvest the U.S. BFT quota without 
exceeding it, while preserving the opportunity for General category 
fishermen to participate in the winter BFT fishery at both the 
beginning and end of the calendar year.
    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 considered General category landings over the 
last several years. General category landings in the winter BFT fishery 
tend to straddle the calendar year as BFT may be available in late 
November/December and into January of the following year or later. 
Landings are highly variable and depend on access to commercial-sized 
BFT and fishing conditions, among other factors. Any unused General 
category quota from the January subperiod that remains as of March 31 
will roll forward to the next subperiod within the calendar year (i.e., 
the June-August time period). In late 2018, NMFS transferred 19.5 mt of 
quota from the December 2019 subquota to the January 2019 subquota 
period, resulting in a subquota of 49 mt for the January 2019 period 
and a subquota of 9.4 mt for the December 2019 period (83 FR 67140, 
December 28, 2018). NMFS also made two transfers in 2019 of 26 mt and 
25 mt from the Reserve to the General category effective February 8 and 
February 25, respectively, resulting in an adjusted subquota of 100 mt 
for the January 2019 period (84 FR 3724, February 13, 2019; 84 FR 6701, 
February 28, 2019), and closed the General category fishery for the 
January subquota period effective February 28 (84 FR 7302, March 4, 
2019). Under a one-fish General category daily retention limit (i.e., 
of large medium or giant BFT, measuring 73 inches (185 cm) curved fork 
length or greater) effective January 1 through February 28, a total of 
108.9 mt were landed.
    NMFS also considered the estimated amounts by which quotas for 
other gear

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categories of the fishery might be exceeded (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(iv)) 
and the ability to account for all 2019 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 2020 landings and dead discards 
within the adjusted U.S. quota, consistent with ICCAT recommendations, 
and anticipates having sufficient quota to do that.
    NMFS also considered the effects of the adjustment on the BFT stock 
and the effects of the transfer on accomplishing the objectives of the 
FMP (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(v) and (vi)). This transfer would be consistent 
with the current quotas, which were established and analyzed in the 
2018 BFT quota final rule (83 FR 51391, October 11, 2018), and with 
objectives of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and amendments, and is not 
expected to negatively impact stock health or to affect the stock in 
ways not already analyzed in those documents. Another principal 
consideration is the objective of providing opportunities to harvest 
the full annual U.S. BFT quota without exceeding it based on the goals 
of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and amendments, 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.
    NMFS also anticipates that some underharvest of the 2019 adjusted 
U.S. BFT quota will be carried forward to 2020 and placed in the 
Reserve category, in accordance with the regulations. This, in addition 
to the fact that any unused General category quota will roll forward to 
the next subperiod within the calendar year, as well as NMFS' plan to 
actively manage the subquotas to avoid any exceedances, makes it likely 
that General category quota will remain available through the end of 
2020 for December fishery participants, even with the quota transfer. 
NMFS also may choose to transfer unused quota from the Reserve or other 
categories, inseason, based on consideration of the determination 
criteria, as NMFS did for late 2019. NMFS anticipates that General 
category participants in all areas and time periods will have 
opportunities to harvest the General category quota in 2020, through 
active inseason management actions such as retention limit adjustments 
and/or the timing of quota transfers, as practicable.
    Based on the considerations above, NMFS is transferring 19.5 mt of 
the 28.9-mt General category quota allocated for the December 2020 
period to the January 2020 period, resulting in a subquota of 49 mt for 
the January 2020 period and a subquota of 9.4 mt for the December 2020 
period. NMFS will close the General category fishery when the adjusted 
January period subquota of 49 mt has been reached, or it will close 
automatically on March 31, 2020, whichever comes first, and it will 
remain closed until the General category fishery reopens on June 1, 
2020.

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 
or by using the HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling (888) 872-8862 
(Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.).
    Under Sec.  635.23(a)(4), NMFS may increase or decrease the daily 
retention limit of large medium and giant bluefin tuna over a range of 
zero to a maximum of five per vessel based on consideration of the 
relevant criteria provided under Sec.  635.27(a)(8). However, at this 
time, NMFS is maintaining the default daily retention limit of one 
large medium or giant BFT per vessel per day/trip (Sec.  635.23(a)(2)) 
for the January 2020 General category fishery. Regardless of the 
duration of a fishing trip, no more than a single day's retention limit 
may be possessed, retained, or landed. For example (and specific to the 
limit that will apply beginning January 1, 2020), whether a vessel 
fishing under the General category limit takes a two-day trip or makes 
two trips in one day, the daily limit of one fish may not be exceeded 
upon landing. This General category retention limit is effective in all 
areas, except for the Gulf of Mexico, where NMFS prohibits targeting 
fishing for BFT, and 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.
    Depending on the level of fishing effort and catch rates of BFT 
including catches of the General category quota during the winter 
fishery, NMFS may determine that additional action (e.g., quota 
adjustment, daily retention limit adjustment, or closure) is necessary 
to enhance scientific data collection from, and fishing opportunities 
in, all geographic areas, and to ensure available subquotas are not 
exceeded. 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 retention limit adjustments 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. Affording prior notice and opportunity for public 
comment to implement the quota transfer for the January 2020 subquota 
period at this time is impracticable and contrary to the public 
interest as NMFS could not have proposed this action earlier, as it 
needed to consider and respond to updated data and information from the 
2019 General category fishery, including the recently-available 
December 2019 data, in deciding to transfer a portion of the December 
2020 subquota to the January 2020 subquota. If NMFS was to offer a 
public comment period now, after having appropriately considered that 
data, it could preclude fishermen from harvesting BFT that are legally 
available consistent with all of the regulatory criteria, and/or could 
result in selection of a retention limit inappropriately high for the 
amount of quota available for the period. 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 these 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.  635.27(a)(9) (Inseason 
adjustments),

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and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.

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

    Dated: December 26, 2019.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-28271 Filed 12-31-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P