[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 138 (Friday, July 17, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43528-43531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14949]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 200706-0179]
RIN 0648-BI15


Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Electronic 
Vessel Trip Reporting

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This action proposes approval of, and regulations to 
implement, an action to require commercially permitted vessels in both 
New England and mid-Atlantic regions to submit vessel trip reports 
electronically within 48 hours of the end of a trip. In addition, this 
action would require for-hire vessels with permits for species

[[Page 43529]]

managed by the New England Fishery Management Council to submit vessel 
trip reports electronically. Document retention requirements would also 
be removed with this action. This action is intended to increase data 
quality and timeliness of vessel trip reports.

DATES: Comments must be received by August 17, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2020-0070, 
by the following method:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal.
    1. Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-
2020-0070;
    2. Click the ``Comment Now!'' icon and complete the required 
fields; and
    3. Enter or attach your comments.
    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 us. 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, etc.), confidential business 
information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily 
by the sender will be publicly accessible. We will accept anonymous 
comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain 
anonymous). If you are unable to submit your comment through 
www.regulations.gov, contact Moira Kelly, Senior Fishery Program 
Specialist, phone: 978-281-9218; email: [email protected].
    Copies of the Joint Omnibus Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting 
Framework Adjustment prepared by the Mid-Atlantic and New England 
Fishery Management Council in support of this action are available from 
Dr. Christopher Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 
Management Council, 800 North Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901. The 
supporting documents are also accessible via the internet at: https://www.mafmc.org/actions/commercial-evtr-framework, https://www.nefmc.org/library/omnibus-commercial-evtr-framework, or http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Moira Kelly, Senior Fishery Program 
Specialist, phone: 978-281-9218; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  In April 2019, NOAA's NMFS implemented a 
requirement for vessels issued a for-hire permit for a Mid-Atlantic 
Fishery Management Council-managed fishery to submit vessel trip 
reports electronically (eVTR) within 48 hours of the end of the trip 
when carrying passengers for hire. Shortly after, the Mid-Atlantic 
Council initiated an action to require the same of its commercial 
vessels. Given the substantial overlap in vessel permits across the two 
Councils, the New England Fishery Management Council agreed to make the 
action a joint omnibus action for all Fishery Management Plans of both 
Councils. At their respective December 2019 and January 2020 meetings, 
the Mid-Atlantic and New England Councils voted to submit the action to 
NMFS for approval.
    Currently, commercial vessels are required to submit vessel trip 
reports either on paper or electronically following each trip. Several 
fishery management plans require weekly submission (Atlantic herring; 
Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish; Northeast Multispecies; and 
Surfclam and Ocean Quahog); others require monthly submission (Atlantic 
Bluefish; Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab; Atlantic Sea Scallop; Summer 
Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass; Monkfish; Northeast Skate Complex; 
Spiny Dogfish; and Tilefish). With this action, all vessel trip reports 
would be required to be submitted electronically within 48 hours of the 
end of a fishing trip.
    The Councils considered a variety of reporting timelines, including 
status quo (monthly or weekly), 24 hours, 72 hours, or weekly 
reporting. Ultimately, both Councils determined that 48 hours was 
preferred, as this was consistent with the existing for-hire eVTR 
requirements. In addition to the method and submission timeframe 
changes, the Councils recommend removing document retention 
requirements that are no longer necessary with electronic reporting.

New England Council For-Hire

    Upon implementation of the Councils' proposed action, all federally 
permitted vessels in the Greater Atlantic Region would be required to 
submit vessel trip reports electronically, with two exceptions: (1) 
Federally permitted lobster vessels; and (2) vessels holding only a New 
England Council-managed for-hire permit. In conjunction with a 
reporting action by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, we 
are addressing the lobster reporting requirements separately from this 
action. There are currently fewer than 15 vessels that are only issued 
a New England for-hire permit. Of those, 10 were active in 2019, and 6 
of those submitted vessel trip reports electronically.
    At the outset of this action (June 2019), the New England Council 
moved to include its own for-hire vessels in the framework. However, 
after consulting with the Mid-Atlantic Council, the New England Council 
agreed to move forward with just the commercial reporting changes. At 
its April 2020 meeting, after completing the relevant analyses and 
determining how few vessels would remain without an eVTR requirement, 
the New England Council requested that NMFS use the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act authority at section 305(d) to 
extend the eVTR requirement to New England Council for-hire vessels 
through the same rulemaking to implement the commercial eVTR framework.
    Including for-hire vessels with permits for New England Council-
managed species in the action would streamline this rulemaking and 
regulatory text, improve our outreach efforts, and reduce the 
administrative burden of maintaining two reporting systems. Further, as 
noted above, the majority of vessels that would be impacted are already 
using electronic reporting voluntarily.

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the 
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Assistant Administrator has 
made a preliminary determination that this proposed rule is consistent 
with the Joint Omnibus Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting Framework 
Adjustment, other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 
applicable law. In addition, under the authority granted in section 
305(d), NMFS is proposing to extend the requirements of this action to 
vessels issued for-hire permits for New England Council fisheries.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order (E.O.) 12866. This proposed rule is 
expected to be an E.O. 13771 deregulatory action.
    This proposed rule does not contain policies with Federalism or 
takings implications as those terms are defined in E.O. 13132 and E.O. 
12630, respectively.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce has 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The factual determination for this determination is as follows.

[[Page 43530]]

    This is an administrative action that would change the method of 
submission and reporting frequency of vessel trip reports. Currently, 
commercial vessels are required to submit vessel trip reports either on 
paper or electronically following each trip. Several fishery management 
plans require weekly submission (Atlantic herring; Atlantic Mackerel, 
Squid, Butterfish; Northeast Multispecies; and, Surfclam and Ocean 
Quahog); others require monthly submission (Atlantic Bluefish; Atlantic 
Deep-Sea Red Crab; Atlantic Sea Scallop; Summer Flounder, Scup, Black 
Sea Bass; Monkfish; Northeast Skate Complex; Spiny Dogfish; and, 
Tilefish). With this action, vessel trip reports would be required to 
be submitted electronically, within 48 hours of the end of a fishing 
trip.
    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) requires Federal agencies to 
consider disproportionality and profitability to determine the 
significance of regulatory impacts. For RFA purposes only, NMFS 
established a small business size standard for businesses, including 
their affiliates, whose primary industry is commercial fishing (see 50 
CFR 200.2). A business primarily engaged in commercial fishing (NAICS 
code 11411) is classified as a small business if it is independently 
owned and operated, is not dominant in its field of operation 
(including its affiliates), and has combined annual receipts less than 
not in excess of $11 million for all its affiliated operations 
worldwide. The determination of whether the entity is large or small is 
based on the average annual revenue for the most recent 3 years for 
which data are available (from 2016 through 2018).
    The measures proposed in this action apply to the vessels that hold 
commercial Federal permits for species managed by the New England or 
Mid-Atlantic Council. There were 3,832 affiliates that reported revenue 
from commercial landings in 2016, 2017, and/or 2018. Based on combined 
receipts in 2018, 3,820 of these commercial entities were classified as 
small businesses and 12 were classified as large businesses. When 
considering affiliates that reported revenues from commercial fishing 
activities, the 3-year average (2016-2018) annual combined gross 
receipts from all commercial fishing activity was $1.1 billion for all 
combined affiliates classified as small businesses and $229,738,842 for 
all combined affiliates classified as large businesses. The Small 
Business Administration threshold for a small business is $8 million 
for for-hire entities and $11 million for commercial fishing entities. 
There are an additional 15 for-hire vessels not considered in the 
Councils' original analysis. The majority of these 15 vessels are 
issued only a Northeast multispecies for-hire permit (one vessel also 
holds a lobster permit). Seven of the 15 vessels submitted vessel trip 
reports in 2019, ranging from 6 to nearly 70 trips, with an average of 
22 trips. Charters (private trips for up to 6 people) typically cost 
around $1,000 for groundfish trips, while a party boat can carry around 
70 people and typically charge approximately $70 per customer. As a 
result, gross revenue from these vessels' trips likely averaged between 
$20,000 and $100,000 in 2019, ranging from $6,000 to upwards of 
$330,000, well below the $8 million small business threshold for for-
hire fishing entities.
    Complying with the proposed eVTR submission requirements can be 
accomplished for no cost using several of the available eVTR 
applications with a smartphone, personal computer, or tablet and 
internet connection/cellular data. The ubiquitous nature of 
smartphones, computers, and internet availability in private homes and 
businesses, as well as free access to Wi-Fi in most public libraries 
and other locations, provides a free to minimal cost means for permit 
holders to access eVTRs. Therefore, there is little to no direct 
negative economic impact to permit holders. Although this low-cost 
option is available, captains may voluntarily choose a different 
reporting mechanism, additional services, or upgraded hardware options 
that would increase their costs to varying degrees.
    Because the eVTR submission requirements can be accomplished at 
low/no cost, no adverse impacts are expected from the proposed 
measures, and in the long-term, electronic reporting is expected to 
reduce reporting burden as we will be able to consolidate requirements 
into the eVTR platforms.
    Therefore, this action is not expected to have a significant 
economic effect on a substantial number of small entities. Under the 
proposed action, small entities would not be placed at a competitive 
disadvantage relative to large entities, and the regulations would not 
reduce the profits for any small entities relative to taking no action. 
As a result, an initial regulatory flexibility analysis is not required 
and none has been prepared.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648

    Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping, and reporting requirements.

    Dated: July 7, 2020.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, 50 CFR part 648 is proposed 
to be amended as follows:

PART 648--FISHERIES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

0
1. The authority citation for part 648 continues to read as follows:

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

0
2. Amend Sec.  648.7 by:
0
a. Revising paragraphs (b)(1), (c), (d), and (f)(2); and
0
b. Removing and reserving paragraph (e)(2).
    The revisions read as follows:


Sec.  648.7   Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (1) Fishing Vessel Trip Reports. The owner or operator of any 
vessel issued a valid permit or eligible to renew a limited access 
permit under this part must maintain on board the vessel, and submit, 
an accurate fishing log report for each fishing trip, regardless of 
species fished for or taken, by electronic means. This report must be 
entered into and submitted through a software application approved by 
NMFS. The reporting requirements specified in this paragraph (b)(1)(i) 
for an owner or operator of a vessel fishing for, possessing, or 
landing Atlantic chub mackerel are effective through December 31, 2020.
    (i) With the exception of those vessel owners or operators fishing 
under a surfclam or ocean quahog permit, at least the following 
information as applicable and any other information required by the 
Regional Administrator must be provided: Vessel name; USCG 
documentation number (or state registration number, if undocumented); 
permit number; date/time sailed; date/time landed; trip type; number of 
crew; number of anglers (if a charter or party boat); gear fished; 
quantity and size of gear; mesh/ring size; chart area fished; average 
depth; latitude/longitude; total hauls per area fished; average tow 
time duration; hail weight, in pounds (or count of individual fish, if 
a party or charter vessel), by species, of all species, or parts of 
species, such as monkfish livers, landed or discarded; and, in the case 
of skate discards, ``small'' (i.e., less than 23 inches (58.42 cm), 
total length) or ``large'' (i.e., 23 inches (58.42 cm) or greater, 
total length) skates; dealer

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permit number; dealer name; date sold, port and state landed; and 
vessel operator's name, signature, and operator's permit number (if 
applicable).
    (ii) The owner or operator of any vessel conducting any surfclam 
and ocean quahog fishing operations must provide at least the following 
information and any other information required by the Regional 
Administrator: Name and permit number of the vessel, total amount in 
bushels of each species taken, date(s) caught, time at sea, duration of 
fishing time, locality fished, crew size, crew share by percentage, 
landing port, date sold, price per bushel, buyer, tag numbers from 
cages used, quantity of surfclams and ocean quahogs discarded, and 
allocation permit number.
* * * * *
    (c) When to fill out a vessel trip report. Vessel trip reports 
required by paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section must be filled out with 
all required information, except for information not yet ascertainable, 
prior to entering port. Information that may be considered 
unascertainable prior to entering port includes dealer name, dealer 
permit number, and date sold. Vessel trip reports must be completed as 
soon as the information becomes available. Vessel trip reports required 
by paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section must be filled out before 
landing any surfclams or ocean quahogs.
    (d) Inspection. Upon the request of an authorized officer or an 
employee of NMFS designated by the Regional Administrator to make such 
inspections, all persons required to submit reports under this part 
must make immediately available for inspection reports, and all records 
upon which those reports are or will be based, that are required to be 
submitted or kept under this part.
* * * * *
    (f) * * *
    (2) Fishing vessel trip reports. For any vessel issued a valid 
permit or eligible to renew a limited access permit under this part, 
fishing vessel trip reports, required by paragraph (b)(1) of this 
section, must be submitted within 48 hours at the conclusion of a trip.
    (i) For the purposes of this paragraph (f)(2), the date when fish 
are offloaded from a commercial vessel will establish the conclusion of 
a commercial trip.
    (ii) For the purposes of this paragraph (f)(2), the date a charter/
party vessel enters port will establish the conclusion of a for-hire 
trip.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2020-14949 Filed 7-16-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P