[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 184 (Tuesday, September 22, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 59445-59446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20906]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[Docket No. 180117042-8884-02; RTID 0648-XA483]


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 111.6 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic 
bluefin tuna (BFT) quota from the Reserve category to the General 
category. This action is intended to account for an accrued overharvest 
of 63.3 mt from previous time period subquotas, and to provide further 
opportunities for General category fishermen to participate in the 
September General category fishery, based on consideration of the 
regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments. This 
action would affect 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 September 17, 2020 through September 30, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah McLaughlin or Nicholas 
Velseboer, 978-281-9260, 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) and 
amendments. 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 current baseline General and Reserve category quotas are 555.7 
mt and 29.5 mt, respectively. 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. 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 from one time period to the next and is available for use 
in subsequent time periods. At the time of drafting this notice, NMFS 
has taken four actions that resulted in adjustments to the General and 
Reserve category quotas, resulting in currently adjusted quotas of 113 
mt of quota for the Reserve category, 100 mt for the General category 
January through March 2020 subquota period, and 9.4 mt for the December 
2020 subquota period (85 FR 17, January 2, 2020; 85 FR 6828, February 
6, 2020; 85 FR 43148, July 16, 2020).

Transfer of 111.6 mt From the Reserve Category to the General Category

    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 transfer. 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 in the General category 
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 during the summer/fall and winter fisheries 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) and (ix)). 
Preliminary landings data as of September 15, 2020, indicate that the 
General category landed a cumulative total of 441.2 mt through August 
31, which exceeds the cumulative adjusted quota available through 
August 31, i.e., 377.9 mt. Preliminary September landings as of 
September 15, 2020, are 114.2 mt, which represents 78 percent of the 
baseline September subquota (147.3 mt). At the time of drafting of this 
inseason action, the General category subquota has not yet been 
exceeded, but without a quota transfer at this time, NMFS would likely 
close the General category fishery shortly, and participants would have 
to stop bluefin tuna fishing activities while commercial-sized bluefin 
tuna remain available in the areas where General category permitted 
vessels operate at this time of year. Transferring 111.6 mt of quota 
from the Reserve category would account for 63.3 mt of accrued 
overharvest from the prior time periods and result in an additional 
48.3 mt being available for the September 2020 subquota period after, 
thus effectively providing limited additional opportunities to harvest 
the U.S. bluefin tuna quota while avoiding exceeding it.
    Regarding the projected ability of the vessels fishing under the 
particular category quota (here, the General category) to harvest the 
additional amount of BFT quota transferred before the end of the 
fishing year (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(iii)), NMFS considered General 
category landings over the last several years and landings to date this 
year. Landings are highly variable and depend on access to commercial-
sized BFT and fishing conditions, among other factors, such as the 
restrictions that some dealers placed on their purchases of BFT from 
General category participants this year. A portion of the transferred 
quota covers the 63.3-mt overharvest in the category to date, and NMFS 
anticipates that General category participants will be able to harvest 
the remaining 48.3 mt of transferred BFT quota by the end of the 
subquota time period. In the unlikely event that any of this quota is 
unused by September 30, such quota will roll forward to the next 
subperiod within the calendar year (i.e., to the October through 
November period), and NMFS anticipates that it would be used before the 
end of the fishing year. NMFS also anticipates that some underharvest 
of the 2019 adjusted U.S. BFT quota will be carried forward

[[Page 59446]]

to 2020 and placed in the Reserve category, in accordance with the 
regulations. Thus, this quota transfer would allow fishermen to take 
advantage of the availability of fish on the fishing grounds, and 
provide a reasonable opportunity to harvest the full U.S. BFT quota.
    NMFS also considered the estimated amounts by which quotas for 
other gear categories of the bluefin tuna fishery might be exceeded 
(Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(iv)) and the ability to account for all 2020 
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.
    Based on the considerations above, NMFS is transferring 111.6 mt 
from the Reserve category to the General category. Of this amount, 63.3 
mt accounts for preliminary overharvest of the January through March 
and June through August time period subquotas, and 48.3 mt is added to 
the September subquota. Therefore, NMFS adjusts the General category 
September 2020 subquota to 195.6 mt after accounting for the 63.3 mt of 
overharvest through for the prior 2020 time periods, and adjusts the 
Reserve category quota to 1.4 mt, the amount of Reserve category quota 
obligated for scientific research. Again, NMFS anticipates that some 
underharvest (i.e., 127.3 mt) 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, in the next few weeks. The General 
category fishery will remain open until September 30, 2020, or until 
the adjusted General category quota is reached, whichever comes first.

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.).
    Depending on the level of fishing effort and catch rates, 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 all 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

    NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. This action is required by 50 CFR part 635, which was 
issued pursuant to section 304(c), and is exempt from review under 
Executive Order 12866.
    The Assistant Administrator for NMFS (AA) finds that pursuant to 5 
U.S.C. 553(b)(B), there is good cause to waive prior notice and an 
opportunity for public comment on this action, as notice and comment 
would be 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 September 2020 time 
period is also contrary to the public interest as such a delay would 
likely result in closure of the General category fishery when the 
baseline quota is met and the need to re-open the fishery, with 
attendant administrative costs and costs to the fishery. The delay 
would preclude the fishery from harvesting BFT that are available on 
the fishing grounds and that might otherwise become unavailable during 
a delay. This action does not raise conservation and management 
concerns. Transferring quota from the Reserve category to the General 
category does not affect the overall U.S. BFT quota, and available data 
shows the adjustment would have a minimal risk of exceeding the ICCAT-
allocated quota.
    NMFS notes that the public had an opportunity to comment on the 
underlying rulemakings that established the U.S. BFT quota and the 
inseason adjustment criteria.

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

    Dated: September 17, 2020.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-20906 Filed 9-17-20; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P