[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 68 (Wednesday, April 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19743-19744]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-07391]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XX049]


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic 
Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits

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

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary 
determination that an exempted fishing permit application submitted by 
The Nature Conservancy contains all of the required information and 
warrants further consideration. This exempted fishing permit would 
allow participants to use electronic monitoring systems in lieu of at-
sea monitors in support of a study to develop electronic monitoring for 
catch monitoring in the Northeast multispecies fishery. Regulations 
under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
require publication of this notification to provide interested parties 
the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed exempted 
fishing permits.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 23, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by either of the following 
methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject line 
``PARTIAL EM EFP RENEWAL.''
     Mail: Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, NMFS, 
Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, 
Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope ``PARTIAL EM EFP 
RENEWAL.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Claire Fitz-Gerald, Fishery Policy 
Analyst: 978-281-9255; [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Northeast multispecies (groundfish) sectors 
must implement and fund an at-sea monitoring (ASM) program, and the 
Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) regulations allow 
sectors to use electronic monitoring (EM) to satisfy this monitoring 
requirement, provided that NMFS deems the technology sufficient for 
catch monitoring. NMFS recently notified the Council of its intent to 
allow sectors to submit EM plans instead of, or in addition to, ASM 
plans as part of the fishing year 2021 and 2022 sector operations plans 
approval process. For the 2020 fishing year, lessons learned through 
this exempted fishing permit (EFP) would allow NMFS to continue 
developing standards and requirements for the groundfish EM program. 
Project partners include The Nature Conservancy, the Cape Cod 
Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, the Maine Coast Fishermen's 
Association, and fishermen.
    The Nature Conservancy first obtained an EFP authorizing 
participant vessels to use EM in lieu of human observers to meet their 
ASM requirements in fishing year 2016. Project partners applied to 
renew this EFP in fishing years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The EFP was 
reissued for all 3 years.

 Table 1--Participation in Previous Issues of the Partial Audit-Model EM
                                   EFP
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                                                                  ASM
                                                  Number of    coverage
                  Fishing year                   participant     level
                                                   vessels     (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016...........................................           14          14
2017...........................................            5          16
2018...........................................            5          15
2019...........................................            5          31
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On February 27, 2020, The Nature Conservancy, along with project 
partners, submitted a request to renew this EFP for the 2020 fishing 
year, as part of an ongoing effort to develop EM in the groundfish 
fishery. The proposed participant list includes five vessels, all of 
which participated in this EFP in fishing year 2019. Together, they are 
expected to take an a total of 235 trips in fishing year 2020. Vessels 
would be assigned observer coverage at the fishing year 2020 ASM 
coverage level of 40 percent, which is a combination of Northeast 
Fishery Observer Program (NEFOP) and ASM coverage. At 40-percent 
observer coverage, this would equate to roughly 94 EFP trips.
    On groundfish trips selected for observer coverage, vessels 
participating in this EFP would use EM in lieu of human ASMs, and in 
addition to NEFOP observers. Vessels would adhere to a vessel-specific 
Vessel Monitoring Plan (VMP) detailing at-sea catch handling protocols. 
An EM service provider would review 100 percent of the video footage. 
The provider would also produce an EM summary report identifying, 
counting, and generating weight estimates for all groundfish discards, 
which it would submit to the NMFS Greater Atlantic Fisheries Regional 
Office. These data would be used for catch accounting purposes on trips 
selected for ASM coverage. EM data would not be used for catch 
accounting in place of observer data on NEFOP trips. Following the EM 
service provider's review, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center would 
conduct a secondary review of the EM summary reports for a subset of 
EFP trips.
    Under this EFP, participating vessels would be exempt from minimum 
fish size requirements (Sec.  648.83(a)) for Northeast multispecies, 
for sampling purposes only; and ocean pout, windowpane flounder, and 
Atlantic wolfish possession prohibitions (Sec.  648.86(l)), for 
sampling purposes only. Vessels would also be exempt from their 
sector's third-party monitoring program requirements (Sec.  
648.87(b)(1)(v)(B)); all other standard sector reporting and monitoring

[[Page 19744]]

requirements would still apply. All catch of allocated groundfish 
stocks would be deducted from the appropriate sector's allocation. 
Legal-sized regulated groundfish would be retained and landed as 
required by the Northeast Multispecies FMP. Undersized groundfish would 
be handled according to the VMP guidelines in view of cameras and 
returned to the sea as quickly as possible. All other species would be 
handled per normal commercial fishing operations. No legal-size 
regulated groundfish would be discarded, unless otherwise permitted 
through regulatory exemptions granted to the participating vessel's 
sector.
    If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications to the 
EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and extensions may be 
granted without further notice if they are deemed essential to 
facilitate completion of the proposed research and have minimal impacts 
that do not change the scope or impact of the initially approved EFP 
request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope of the 
exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.

(Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.)

    Dated: April 3, 2020.
H[eacute]l[egrave]ne M.N. Scalliet,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-07391 Filed 4-7-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P