[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 45 (Friday, March 6, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13074-13075]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-04412]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 200227-0068]
RTID 0648-XX035
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Spiny
Dogfish Fishery; 2020 Spiny Dogfish Specifications
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: We are implementing specifications for the 2020 spiny dogfish
fishery, including an annual catch limit and commercial quota. This
action is necessary to ensure allowable harvest levels to prevent
overfishing while allowing harvest of optimum yield, consistent with
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. This
action is intended to establish 2020 specifications, consistent with
the Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan and previously announced
multi-year specifications.
DATES: The final specifications for the 2020 Atlantic spiny dogfish
fishery are effective May 1, 2020, through April 30, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Copies of these specifications, including the original
Environmental Assessment, Regulatory Flexibility Act Analyses, and
other supporting documents for the action, 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/dogfish.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Management
Specialist, (978) 281-9180.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Councils jointly manage the Atlantic spiny dogfish fishery
in Federal waters under the Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan
(FMP), with the Mid-Atlantic Council serving as the administrative
lead. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission manages the
fishery in state waters from Maine to North Carolina through an
interstate fishery management plan. The FMP requires the specification
of an annual catch limit (ACL), annual catch target (ACT), and the
total allowable landings (TAL) for up to a 5-year period; however, the
Councils often choose to only set specifications up to 3 years at a
time. This action implements specifications for the 2020 spiny dogfish
fishery that begins on May 1, 2020.
On May 15, 2019, we approved specifications for the 2019 fishing
year (84 FR 21723) and projected specifications for fishing years 2020
and 2021. These were based on recent fishery data from the 2018 stock
assessment update. The approved measures substantially reduced the
coastwide commercial quota in 2019 to prevent overfishing, but included
projections for increased quota in 2020 and 2021. The final 2020 spiny
dogfish specifications, which are summarized in Table 1, represent a
13-percent increase in commercial quota from fishing year 2019. All
other management measures, including the 6,000-lb (2,722-kg) Federal
trip limit, remain unchanged.
Table 1--Spiny Dogfish Specifications for Fishing Year 2020
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Metric
tons
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Acceptable Biological Catch.................................... 14,126
ACL = ACT...................................................... 14,077
TAL............................................................ 10,602
Commercial Quota............................................... 10,521
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We have reviewed available 2019 fishery information, and we do not
expect that the 2019 annual catch limit will be exceeded. Further,
there is no new biological information that would require altering the
projected 2020 specifications. Neither the Council nor the Commission
recommended any changes to the previously projected multi-year
specifications. Based on this, we are implementing the 2020
specifications as projected and outlined in the 2019-2021 spiny dogfish
specifications final rule (84 FR 21723, May 15, 2019). These final 2020
specifications will be effective from May 1, 2020, until April 30,
2021. We will finalize the 2021 fishing year specifications prior to
May 1, 2021, by publishing another rule following a similar review.
Classification
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the
NMFS
[[Page 13075]]
Assistant Administrator has determined that this final rule is
consistent with the Atlantic Spiny Dogfish FMP, the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and other applicable law.
This rule is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866 because
this action contains no implementing regulations. This rule is not an
Executive Order 13771 regulatory action because this rule is not
significant under Executive Order 12866.
This final rule does not duplicate, conflict, or overlap with any
existing Federal rules.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), we find good cause to waive prior
public notice and opportunity for public comment on the final 2020
spiny dogfish specifications, because allowing time for notice and
comment is unnecessary. The proposed rule for the 2019 specifications
and the projected 2020 and 2021 specifications (84 FR 11923, March 29,
2019) provided the public with the opportunity to comment on these 2020
specifications. While comments received on the multi-year (2019-2021)
specifications were mixed on the general issue of whether quotas should
be liberalized or made more restrictive, no substantive comments were
received on the projected 2020 specifications. Furthermore, this final
rule contains no changes from the projected 2020 specifications that
were included in both the March 29, 2019, proposed rule (84 FR 11923),
and the May 15, 2019, final rule (84 FR 21723). Additionally, the
public and industry participants expect this action, because we
previously alerted the public (in the March 29, 2019, proposed rule,
and the May 15, 2019, final rule) that we would conduct this interim-
year review of the multi-year specifications after reviewing the latest
fisheries data, with the intent of announcing the final 2020 commercial
quota prior to the May 1 start of the fishing year. Thus, the process
for issuing the proposed and final rules containing the 2019
specifications and the projected 2020 and 2021 specifications provided
a full opportunity for the public to comment on this action. As a
result, there is no need to reopen the comment period before issuing
this final rule.
A final regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA) was prepared for
this action pursuant to the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C.
604(a)), and was included in the May 15, 2019, final rule on the 2019-
2021 spiny dogfish specifications. That FRFA incorporated the initial
regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA), and a summary of analyses
completed to support the action. Because this action makes no changes
to what was originally projected in those proposed and final rules for
fishing year 2020 specifications, no changes need to be made to the
FRFA in the May 15, 2019, final rule, and no additional analyses are
necessary. Furthermore, because advance notice and the opportunity for
public comment are not required for this action under the
Administrative Procedure Act (as discussed above), or any other law,
the analytical requirements of the RFA do not apply to this rule. For
all of these reasons, no new regulatory flexibility analysis is
required, and none has been prepared.
This action does not contain a collection of information
requirement for the purposes of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 28, 2020.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-04412 Filed 3-5-20; 8:45 am]
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