[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 6, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 17764-17766]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-07030]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 210331-0074]
RIN 0648-BK32


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Recreational 
Management Measures for the Summer Flounder Fishery; Fishing Year 2021

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes management measures for the 2021 summer flounder 
recreational fishery. The implementing regulations for this fishery 
require NMFS to publish recreational measures for the fishing year and 
to provide an opportunity for public comment. The intent of this action 
is to constrain recreational catch to the summer flounder recreational 
harvest limit and thereby prevent overfishing on the summer flounder 
stock.

DATES: Comments must be received by April 21, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2021-0034, by the following method:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2021-0034 in the Search box. 
Click on the ``Comment '' icon, complete the required fields, and 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 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, etc.), 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).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Keiley, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
(978) 281-9116.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Summer flounder is cooperatively managed by the Mid-Atlantic 
Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 
Commission. The Council and the Commission's Summer Flounder Management 
Board meet jointly each year to recommend recreational management 
measures for summer flounder. NMFS must implement coastwide measures or 
approve conservation equivalent measures per 50 CFR 648.102(d) as soon 
as possible following the Council and Commission's recommendation. This 
action proposes maintaining conservation equivalency for 2021, as 
jointly recommended by the Council and Board.

Recreational Management Measures Process

    The Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management 
Plan (FMP) establishes a Monitoring Committee for summer flounder 
consisting of representatives from the Commission, the Council, state 
marine fishery agencies from Massachusetts to North Carolina, and NMFS. 
The FMP's implementing regulations require the Monitoring Committee to 
review scientific and other relevant information annually. The 
objective of this review is to recommend management measures to the 
Council that will constrain landings within the recreational harvest 
limit (RHL) for the upcoming fishing year. The FMP limits the choices 
for the types of measures to minimum and/or maximum fish size, per 
angler possession limit, and fishing season.
    The Council and the Board then consider the Monitoring Committee's 
recommendations and any public comment in making their recommendations. 
The Council forwards its recommendations to NMFS for review. The 
Commission similarly adopts recommendations for the states. NMFS is 
required to review the Council's recommendations to ensure that they 
are consistent with the target specified for summer flounder in the FMP 
and with all applicable laws and Executive Orders before ultimately 
implementing measures for Federal waters. Commission measures are final 
at the time they are adopted.

Summer Flounder Conservation Equivalency Process

    Conservation equivalency, as established by Framework Adjustment 2 
(66 FR 36208; July 11, 2001), allows each state to establish its own 
recreational management measures (possession limits, size limits, and

[[Page 17765]]

fishing seasons) to achieve its state management target partitioned by 
the Commission from the coastwide RHL, as long as the combined effect 
of all of the states' management measures achieves the same level of 
conservation as would Federal coastwide measures. Framework Adjustment 
6 (71 FR 42315; July 26, 2006) allowed states to form regions for 
conservation equivalency in order to minimize differences in 
regulations for anglers fishing in adjacent waters.
    The Council and Board annually recommend that either state- or 
region-specific recreational measures be developed (conservation 
equivalency) or that coastwide management measures be implemented to 
ensure that the RHL will not be exceeded. Even when the Council and 
Board recommend conservation equivalency, the Council must specify a 
set of non-preferred coastwide measures that would apply if 
conservation equivalency is not approved for use in Federal waters.
    When conservation equivalency is recommended, and following 
confirmation by the Commission that the proposed state or regional 
measures developed through its technical and policy review processes 
achieve conservation equivalency, NMFS may waive, for the duration of 
the fishing year, the permit condition found at 50 CFR 648.4(b), which 
requires Federal permit holders to comply with the more restrictive 
management measures when state and Federal measures differ. In such a 
situation, federally permitted summer flounder charter/party permit 
holders and individuals fishing for summer flounder in the exclusive 
economic zone (EEZ) are subject to the recreational fishing measures 
implemented by the state in which they land summer flounder, rather 
than the coastwide measures. Conservation equivilancy expires at the 
end of each fishing year (December 31).
    In addition, the Council and the Board must recommend precautionary 
default measures when recommending conservation equivalency. The 
Commission would require adoption of the precautionary default measures 
by any state that either does not submit a summer flounder management 
proposal to the Commission's Summer Flounder Technical Committee or 
that submits measures that are not conservationally equivalent to the 
coastwide measures.
    The development of conservation equivalency measures happens at 
both the Commission and the individual state level. The selection of 
appropriate data and analytical techniques for technical review of 
potential state conservation equivalent measures and the process by 
which the Commission evaluates and recommends proposed conservation 
equivalent measures are wholly a function of the Commission and its 
individual member states. Individuals seeking information regarding the 
process to develop specific state or regional measures or the 
Commission process for technical evaluation of proposed measures should 
contact the marine fisheries agency in the state of interest, the 
Commission, or both.
    Once the states and regions select their final 2021 summer flounder 
management measures through their respective development, analytical, 
and review processes and submit them to the Commission, the Commission 
will conduct further review and evaluation of the submitted proposals, 
ultimately notifying NMFS as to which proposals have been approved or 
disapproved. NMFS has no overarching authority in the development of 
state or Commission management measures but is an equal participant in 
the review process, along with all the member states. NMFS neither 
approves nor implements individual states' measures, but retains the 
final authority either to approve or to disapprove the use in Federal 
waters of conservation equivalency in place of the coastwide measures. 
NMFS will publish its determination on 2021 conservational equivalency 
as a final rule in the Federal Register following review of the 
Commission's determination and any public comment on this proposed 
rule.

2021 Summer Flounder Recreational Management Measures

    In a typical year, preliminary catch and effort data through Wave 5 
(September-October) are used to evaluate the performance of 
recreational management measures and propose any changes for the 
following year to achieve the RHL. However, due to the COVID-19 
pandemic, no recreational catch estimates are available for 2020. 
Nevertheless, regional effort data are available for consideration 
because the Fishing Effort Survey had no interruption in distribution, 
and response rates are similar or higher than usual. Preliminary data 
suggest that effort in 2020 was similar to 2019 effort. In fishing year 
2019, recreational summer flounder landings exceeded the RHL by only 1 
percent. The 2021 RHL (8.32 million lb, 3,774 mt) is 8 percent higher 
than the 2019 and 2020 RHLs.
    Based on the Council's and the Board's recommendations, and as part 
of the conservation equivalency process, NMFS also proposes a suite of 
non-preferred coastwide measures identified by the Council and Board, 
which would be in effect should NMFS not approve conservation 
equivalency. These measures are expected to constrain the overall 
recreational landings to the 2021 recreational harvest limit, should 
conservation equivalency be disapproved based on the Commission's 
recommendation letter. For 2021, non-preferred coastwide measures 
approved by the Council and Board are a 19-inch (48.3-cm) minimum fish 
size, a 4-fish per person possession limit, and an open season of May 
15-September 15. These measures are identical to the non-preferred 2020 
coastwide measures. The coastwide measures become the default 
management measures in the subsequent fishing year, in this case 2022, 
until the joint process establishes either coastwide or conservation 
equivalency measures for the next year.
    The 2021 precautionary default measures recommended by the Council 
and Board are identical to those in place for 2020: A 20.0-inch (50.8-
cm) minimum fish size; a 2-fish per person possession limit; and an 
open season of July 1-August 31, 2021. These measures may be assigned 
by the Commission in the event that conservation equivalency is 
approved but a state or region does not submit a conservationally 
equivalent proposal.
    Similar to 2016-2020, the 2021 management program adopted by the 
Commission divides the coastline into six management regions: (1) 
Massachusetts; (2) Rhode Island; (3) Connecticut and New York; (4) New 
Jersey; (5) Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia; and (6) North Carolina. 
Each state within a region must implement identical or equivalent 
measures (size limit, bag limit, and fishing season length), and the 
combination of those measures must be sufficient to constrain landings 
to the RHL.
    All state regulations are expected to remain at the status quo from 
2020, with the exception of minor changes in New Jersey and 
Massachusetts. New Jersey is proposing an adjustment to the season to 
allow for a start date of May 28, 2021, coinciding with the Friday 
before Memorial Day, as was practiced over the last several years. 
Massachusetts is considering changing the opening date so that it is a 
Saturday, consistent with prior years. Saturday, May 15 and Saturday, 
May 22 are the two Saturday alternatives under consideration. The final 
combination of state measures will be detailed in a letter from the 
Commission to the Regional Office certifying that the combination of 
state and regional measures have met the conservation objectives under 
Addendum XXXII to the Commission's Interstate FMP and are expected to 
constrain catch to the 2021 RHL. After

[[Page 17766]]

that letter is received, NMFS will publish a final recreational 
management measures rule with a conservation equivalency determination 
for 2021.

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the 
Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is 
consistent with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass FMP, 
other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law, 
subject to further consideration after public comment.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration (SBA) that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. The Council conducted an evaluation of the potential 
socioeconomic impacts of the proposed measures. According to the 
commercial ownership database, 379 for-hire affiliate firms generated 
revenues from recreational fishing for various species during the 2017-
2019 period. All of those business affiliates are categorized as small 
businesses. The SBA defines a small for-hire recreational fishing 
business as a firm with receipts of up to $7.5 million. Estimating what 
proportion of the overall revenues of these for-hire firms came from 
fishing activities for an individual species is not possible. 
Nevertheless, given the popularity of summer flounder as a recreational 
species in the Mid-Atlantic and New England, revenues generated from 
summer flounder are likely very important for many of these firms at 
certain times of the year. The 3-year average (2017-2019) combined 
gross receipts (all for-hire fishing activity combined) for these small 
entities was $50,625,923, ranging from less than $10,000 for 111 
entities (lowest value $85) to over $1,000,000 for 9 entities (highest 
value $3.1 million).
    This proposed action would waive Federal measures in lieu of state 
measures designed to reach the 2021 harvest limit. The economic impacts 
of the proposed measures in this action will be affected in part by the 
specific set of measures implemented at the state level for summer 
flounder conservation equivalency. The impacts are likely to vary by 
state, but with two minor exceptions, measures are the same as those in 
place for 2020. The summer flounder recreational measures under 
conservation equivalency are expected to neither reduce nor increase 
recreational satisfaction or for-hire revenues when compared to 2020. 
Demand for for-hire trips is expected to remain approximately the same 
as in 2020. Thus, market demand is expected to be similar in 2021, 
although this is likely to vary by state, depending on each state's 
current measures and how they choose to modify them in 2021.
    Because the 2021 measures are expected to be mostly identical to 
2020, this rule will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. Therefore, an initial regulatory 
flexibility analysis is not required and none has been prepared.
    This proposed rule contains no information collection requirements 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648

    Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: March 31, 2021.
Samuel D. Rauch, III
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    For the reasons set out 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. In Sec.  648.107, revise paragraph (a) introductory text to read as 
follows:


Sec.  648.107  Conservation equivalent measures for the summer flounder 
fishery.

    (a) The Regional Administrator has determined that the recreational 
fishing measures proposed to be implemented by the states of Maine 
through North Carolina for 2021 are the conservation equivalent of the 
season, size limits, and possession limit prescribed in Sec. Sec.  
648.104(b), 648.105, and 648.106. This determination is based on a 
recommendation from the Summer Flounder Board of the Atlantic States 
Marine Fisheries Commission.
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[FR Doc. 2021-07030 Filed 4-5-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P