[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 136 (Wednesday, July 15, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 42817-42818]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15318]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[RTID 0648-XY104]


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; St. Matthew 
Blue King Crab Rebuilding Plan in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

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

ACTION: Availability of proposed amendment; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council submitted 
Amendment 50 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Bering Sea/
Aleutian Islands (BSAI) King and Tanner Crabs (Crab FMP) (Amendment 
50), to the Secretary of Commerce for review. If approved, Amendment 50 
would add a new rebuilding plan for St. Matthew blue king crab (SMBKC) 
to the Crab FMP. The objective of this amendment is to rebuild the 
SMBKC stock. In order to comply with provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), this 
action is necessary to implement a rebuilding plan prior to the start 
of the 2020/2021 fishing season. Amendment 50 is intended to promote 
the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Crab FMP, and 
other applicable laws.

DATES: Comments on Amendment 50 must be received no later than 
September 14, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA- NMFS-2020-0080, 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-2020-0080, 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, Attn: Records Office. 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 proposed Amendment 50 and the draft 
Environmental Assessment (referred to as the ``Analysis'') prepared for 
this action may be obtained from www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Megan Mackey, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each 
regional fishery management council submit any FMP amendment it 
prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial 
approval by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). The Magnuson-Stevens 
Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an FMP amendment, 
immediately publish notification in the Federal Register announcing 
that the amendment is available for public review and comment. The 
North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted 
Amendment 50 to the Secretary for review. This document announces that 
proposed Amendment 50 is available for public review and comment.
    NMFS manages the crab fisheries in the exclusive economic zone 
under the Crab FMP. The Council prepared the Crab FMP under the 
authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 
Regulations governing U.S. fisheries and implementing the FMP appear at 
50 CFR parts 600 and 680.
    Through the Crab FMP, the State of Alaska (the State) is delegated 
management authority over certain aspects of the SMBKC fishery 
consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the FMP. Specific to this 
Crab FMP amendment, the State has established a harvest strategy to set 
total allowable catch (TAC) levels and guideline harvest levels (GHLs), 
and season or area closures when the TAC or GHL is reached. The State's 
SMBKC harvest strategy is provided in the Alaska Administrative Code at 
5 AAC 34.917 and that strategy applies during rebuilding. The State 
harvest strategy is more conservative than the Crab FMP's control rule 
parameters for SMBKC because, under the State harvest strategy, 
directed fishing is prohibited at or below a larger biomass level than 
under the overfishing level (FOFL) control rule.
    The SMBKC stock was declared overfished on October 22, 2018, 
because the estimated spawning biomass was below the minimum stock size 
threshold specified in the Crab FMP. In order to comply with provisions 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, a rebuilding plan must be implemented 
prior to the start of the 2020/2021 fishing season.
    In June 2020, the Council chose a rebuilding plan for SMBKC that 
would only allow directed harvest during rebuilding if estimates of 
stock biomass are sufficient to open the fishery under the State's crab 
harvest strategy. The proposed rebuilding plan is consistent with the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1854(e)), with the National Standards 
(see Analysis Section 4.1), and with National Standard Guidelines (50 
CFR 600.310) on time for rebuilding, specifically rebuilding within a 
time (Ttarget) that is as short as possible, taking into 
account the status and biology of any overfished stocks of fish, the 
needs of fishing communities, recommendations by international 
organizations in which the United States participates, and the 
interaction of the overfished stock of fish with the marine ecosystems. 
This rebuilding plan would allow directed fishing pursuant to the 
State's harvest strategy because such fishing, though limited, may 
provide important economic opportunities for harvesters, processors, 
and Alaska communities. Maintaining this economic opportunity for a 
limited directed commercial fishery under the State harvest strategy is 
important for harvesters, processors, and communities, particularly 
during this time when the majority of commercial crab stocks are in a 
state of decline and future openings are likely to be limited and/or 
closed. Fishermen and

[[Page 42818]]

communities must be able to diversify their portfolios and be flexible 
enough to take advantage of fishing opportunities as they come each 
season to remain viable.
    Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the time period specified for 
rebuilding a fishery generally should not exceed 10 years unless the 
biology of the stock or environmental conditions dictate otherwise, as 
is the case for SMBKC. Because ecological conditions represent the 
primary constraint on rebuilding the SMBKC fishery, the projected time 
for rebuilding, taking into account the biology of the species and 
current environmental conditions, is 25.5 years.
    The directed fishery has been closed since 2016 under the State 
harvest strategy, and has only been open 6 out of the past 20 years. In 
addition to the State's conservative SMBKC harvest policy, multiple 
measures for habitat protection and bycatch reduction are in place for 
the stock. The St. Matthew Island Habitat Conservation Area (SMIHCA) 
was created in 2008 and expanded through Amendment 94 to the BSAI 
Groundfish FMP to protect blue king crab habitat. Vessels fishing with 
non-pelagic trawl gear are prohibited from fishing in the SMIHCA. Other 
fishery closure areas include a 20 nautical miles (nm) closure around 
the southern tip of Hall Island to trawling, hook-and-line, and pot 
fisheries for pollock, Pacific cod, and Atka mackerel to protect 
Steller sea lions, but it also serves to limit potential fishing effort 
in areas occupied by SMBKC. In addition, State jurisdictional waters (0 
to 3 nm from shore) surrounding St. Matthew, Hall, and Pinnacle Islands 
are closed to the taking of king and Tanner crab and to commercial 
groundfish fishing.
    Fishing mortality is not considered to be the primary constraining 
factor for SMBKC. The groundfish fisheries incur low levels of bycatch 
of SMBKC, but in analytical projections, average bycatch rates had no 
constraining effect on rebuilding. Instead, rebuilding will depend on 
successful recruitment of crab under ecosystem conditions that have 
recently been very unfavorable. Warm bottom temperatures, low pre-
recruit biomass, and northward movement of predator species, primarily 
Pacific cod, have constrained stock growth (see Analysis Section 
3.3.6). For this reason, the rebuilding plan aims to maintain existing 
low levels of fishing mortality with the hope that future ecosystem 
conditions will support SMBKC stock growth.
    Amendment 50 would add Section 6.2.5 to the Crab FMP to include the 
proposed rebuilding plan for SMBKC. Under the proposed rebuilding plan, 
ecosystem indicators developed for the stock would be monitored in the 
coming years. The NMFS eastern Bering Sea bottom-trawl survey provides 
data for the annual assessment of the status of crab stocks in the 
BSAI, including SMBKC, and this survey and assessment would continue 
throughout rebuilding. The Council's BSAI Crab Plan Team would report 
stock status and progress towards the rebuilt level in the Stock 
Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report for the king and Tanner 
crab fisheries of the BSAI. Additionally, the State and NMFS monitor 
directed fishery catch and bycatch of blue king crabs in other 
fisheries. When the fishery is open, the State requires full observer 
coverage (100 percent) for both catcher vessels and catcher processors 
participating in the crab fishery. Observers monitor harvest at sea and 
landings by catcher vessels shoreside processors. The State reports the 
total harvest from the commercial crab fishery and that report will be 
included annually in the SAFE. The contribution of the rebuilding plan 
to stock recovery would be additive to measures already in place that 
limit the effects of fishing activity on SMBKC.
    NMFS is soliciting public comments on proposed Amendment 50 through 
the end of the comment period (see DATES). All relevant written 
comments received by the end of the applicable comment period will be 
considered by NMFS in the approval/partial approval/disapproval 
decision for Amendment 50 and addressed in the response to comments in 
the final decision. Comments received after the end of the applicable 
comment period will not be considered in the approval/disapproval 
decision on Amendment 50. To be considered, comments must be received, 
not just postmarked or otherwise transmitted, by the last day of the 
comment period (see DATES).

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

    Dated: July 10, 2020.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-15318 Filed 7-14-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P