[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 9, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 8717-8719]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-02513]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[Docket No. 180117042-8884-02; RTID 0648-XA795]


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna 
Fisheries

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; Purse Seine category annual quota adjustment; 
quota transfer.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Purse Seine 
and Reserve category quotas for 2021, as it has done annually since 
2015. NMFS also is transferring 26 metric tons (mt) of BFT quota from 
the Reserve category to the General category January 2021 subquota 
period (from January 1 through March 31, 2021, or until the available 
subquota for this period is reached, whichever comes first). The 
transfer to the General category is based on consideration of the 
regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments and 
applies to 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 February 8, 2021, through December 31, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah McLaughlin, 
[email protected], 978-281-9260, Nicholas Velseboer, 
[email protected], 978-675-2168, or Larry Redd, Jr., 
[email protected], 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 Atlantic HMS 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.

Annual Adjustment of the BFT Purse Seine and Reserve Category Quotas

    The current baseline Purse Seine, General, and Reserve category 
quotas are codified as 219.5 mt, 555.7 mt, and 29.5 mt, respectively. 
See Sec.  635.27(a). Pursuant to Sec.  635.27(a)(4), NMFS has 
determined the amount of quota available to the Atlantic Tunas Purse 
Seine category participants in 2021, based on their BFT catch (landings 
and dead discards) in 2020. In accordance with the regulations, NMFS 
makes available to each Purse Seine category

[[Page 8718]]

participant either 100 percent, 75 percent, 50 percent, or 25 percent 
of the individual baseline quota allocations based on the previous 
year's catch, as described in Sec.  635.27(a)(4)(ii), and reallocates 
the remainder to the Reserve category. NMFS has calculated the amounts 
of quota available to the Purse Seine category participants for 2021 
based on their individual catch levels in 2020 and the codified process 
adopted in Amendment 7. NMFS did not open the Purse Seine fishery in 
2020 because there were no purse seine vessels permitted to fish for 
BFT and thus no catch in 2020. As a result, each Purse Seine category 
participant will receive 25 percent of the individual baseline quota 
amount, which is the required distribution even with no fishing 
activity under the current regulations. The individual baseline amount 
is 43.9 mt (219.5 mt divided by five Purse Seine category 
participants), 25 percent of which is 11 mt. Consistent with Sec.  
635.27(a)(4)(v)(C), NMFS notifies Atlantic Tunas Purse Seine category 
participants of the amount of quota available for their use this year 
through the Individual Bluefin Quota electronic system established 
under Sec.  635.15 and in writing.
    By summing the individual available allocations, NMFS has 
determined that 55 mt are available to the Purse Seine category for 
2021. Thus, the amount of Purse Seine category quota to be reallocated 
to the Reserve category is 164.5 mt (219.5 mt-55 mt). This reallocation 
results in an adjusted 2021 Reserve category quota of 194 mt (29.5 mt + 
164.5 mt), before any further transfers to other categories.

Transfer of 26 mt From the Reserve Category to the General Category

    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. Although it 
is called the ``January'' subquota, the regulations allow the General 
category fishery under this quota to continue until the subquota is 
reached or March 31, whichever comes first.
    Under Sec.  635.27(a)(9), NMFS has the authority to transfer quota 
among fishing categories or subcategories after considering regulatory 
determination criteria at Sec.  635.27(a)(8). For 2021 to date, NMFS 
has transferred 19.5 mt from the General category December 2021 
subquota period to the January 2021 subquota period (85 FR 83832, 
December 23, 2020), resulting in an adjusted General category January 
period subquota of 49 mt.
    NMFS has considered all of the relevant determination criteria and 
their applicability to the 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 
BFT dealers provide NMFS with valuable data for ongoing scientific 
studies of BFT age and growth, migration, and reproductive status. 
Additional opportunity to land BFT over the longest time-period 
allowable 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 winter fishery 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)). As of February 2, 
2021, the General category has landed 17.6 mt of its adjusted January 
2021 subquota of 49 mt. Commercial-size BFT are currently readily 
available to vessels fishing under the General category quota. Without 
a quota transfer at this time, General category participants would have 
to stop BFT fishing activities with very short notice, while 
commercial-sized BFT remain available in the areas General category 
permitted vessels operate. Transferring 26 mt of BFT quota from the 
Reserve category would result in a total of 75 mt being available for 
the General category for the January 2021 subquota period.
    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. NMFS anticipates 
that all 26 mt of transferred quota will be used by March 31. In the 
unlikely event that any of this quota is unused by March 31, the unused 
quota will roll forward to the next subperiod within the calendar year 
(i.e., the June through August time period), and NMFS anticipates that 
it would be used by the subquota category before the end of the fishing 
year.
    NMFS also considered the estimated amounts by which quotas for 
other gear categories of the fishery might be exceeded (Sec.  
635.27(a)(8)(iv)) and the ability to account for all 2021 landings and 
dead discards. In the last several years, total U.S. BFT landings have 
been below the total 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 2021 landings 
and dead discards within the adjusted U.S. quota, consistent with ICCAT 
recommendations, and NMFS anticipates having sufficient quota to do 
that, even with this 26-mt transfer to the General category.
    NMFS also considered the effects of the adjustment on the BFT stock 
and the effects of the transfer on accomplishing the objectives of the 
2006 Consolidated HMS FMP (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(v) and (vi)). This 
transfer would be consistent with the current U.S. quota, which was 
established and analyzed in the 2018 BFT quota final rule, and with 
objectives of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and amendments, which 
include measures to meet obligations related to ending overfishing and 
rebuilding stocks (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(v) and (vi)). Another 
consideration is the objective of providing opportunities to harvest 
the full annual U.S. BFT quota without exceeding it based on the 
objectives 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 the goal of providing opportunity equitably 
across all time periods.
    NMFS also anticipates that some underharvest of the 2020 adjusted 
U.S. BFT quota will be carried forward to 2021 and placed in the 
Reserve category, in accordance with the regulations, later this year. 
This, in addition to the fact that any unused General category quota 
will roll forward to the next subperiod within the calendar year and 
NMFS' plan to actively manage the subquotas to avoid any exceedances, 
makes it likely that General category quota will remain available 
through the end of 2021 for December fishery participants. NMFS also 
may transfer unused quota from the Reserve or other categories, 
inseason, based on consideration of the determination criteria, as it 
did in 2020 (i.e., transferred 111.6 mt from the Reserve category 
effective September 17, 2020 (85 FR 59445, September 22, 2020); 40 mt 
from the Reserve category effective October 9, 2020 (85 FR 64411,

[[Page 8719]]

October 13, 2020); 68.7 mt from the Reserve category effective October 
26, 2020 (85 FR 68798, October 30, 2020); and 19.5 mt from the Reserve 
category effective December 1, 2020 (85 FR 75918, November 27, 2020).
    NMFS anticipates that General category participants in all areas 
and time periods will have opportunities to harvest the General 
category quota in 2021, through active inseason management measures, 
such as retention limit adjustments and/or the timing of quota 
transfers (Sec.  635.27(a)(8)(viii)). Thus, this quota transfer would 
allow fishermen to take advantage of the availability of fish on the 
fishing grounds, taking into consideration the expected increases in 
available 2021 quota from carryforward later in the year, and provide a 
reasonable opportunity to harvest the full U.S. BFT quota, without 
precluding vessels in another area from having a reasonable opportunity 
to harvest a portion of the category's quota.
    Based on the considerations above, NMFS is transferring 26 mt from 
the adjusted Reserve category to the General category for the January 
2021 fishery, resulting in a subquota of 75 mt for the January 2021 
fishery and 168 mt in the Reserve category.

Monitoring and Reporting

    NMFS will continue to monitor the BFT fishery closely. Dealers are 
required to submit landings 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 of BFT, 
NMFS may determine that additional action (e.g., quota adjustment, 
daily retention limit adjustment, or closure) is necessary to ensure 
available subquotas are not exceeded or to enhance scientific data 
collection from, and fishing opportunities in, all geographic areas. If 
needed, subsequent adjustments will be published in the Federal 
Register. As needed, NMFS will close the General category fishery when 
the adjusted January 2021 period subquota has been reached. Even if the 
adjusted subquota is not reached, the General category fishery will 
close automatically on March 31, 2021, and will remain closed until it 
reopens on June 1, 2021. 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 consistent with regulations at 50 CFR part 
635, which were issued pursuant to section 304(c) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act and the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act, and is exempt from 
review under Executive Order 12866.
    The Assistant Administrator for NMFS (AA) finds that it is 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest to provide prior 
notice of and an opportunity for public comment on, the transfer from 
the Reserve category to the General category for the following reasons:
    The regulations implementing the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 
amendments provide for inseason quota transfers 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. These fisheries are currently underway and the fishery 
would be closed absent the additional quota. Affording prior notice and 
opportunity for public comment to implement the quota transfer is 
impracticable and contrary to the public interest as such a delay would 
result in exceedance of the General category January 2021 subquota or 
earlier closure of the fishery while fish are available on the fishing 
grounds. 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, measures to reallocate quota, and the inseason adjustment 
criteria. For all of the above reasons, there is good cause under 5 
U.S.C. 553(d) to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness.

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

    Dated: February 3, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-02513 Filed 2-8-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P