[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 81 (Thursday, April 29, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 22622-22623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-08815]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[RTID 0648-XA603]


Fisheries off West Coast States; West Coast Salmon Fisheries; 
Amendment 20 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan

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

ACTION: Notification of agency decision.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the approval of Amendment 20 to the Pacific 
Fishery Management Council's (Council) Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP). Amendment 20 modifies the preseason schedule for 
implementing annual management measures and moves the southern boundary 
of the Klamath Management Zone (KMZ) 5 nautical miles (nmi) (9.3 km) 
north of its current location. In addition, Amendment 20 updates out-
of-date language in the FMP.

DATES: The amendment was approved on April 22, 2021.

ADDRESSES: The amended FMP is available on the Council's website 
(www.pcouncil.org). The final National Environmental Policy Act 
environmental assessment (EA) is available on the NMFS website at 
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/laws-and-policies/west-coast-salmon-harvest-nepa-documents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peggy Mundy at 206-526-4323.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ocean salmon fisheries in the exclusive 
economic zone (3-200 nmi) (5.6-370.4 km) off Washington, Oregon, and 
California are managed under the FMP. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (MSA) requires that each regional 
fishery management council submit any FMP or plan amendment it prepares 
to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval by 
the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). The MSA also requires that NMFS, 
upon receiving an FMP or amendment, immediately publish a notification 
that the FMP or amendment is available for public review and comment.
    The Notice of Availability (NOA) for Amendment 20 was published in 
the Federal Register on February 9, 2021 (86 FR 8750), with a 60-day 
comment period that ended on April 12, 2021. In the NOA, NMFS also 
announced a draft EA analyzing the environmental impacts of the actions 
implemented under Amendment 20 was available for public review and 
comment. NMFS received three comments during the public comment period 
on the NOA. The comments all expressed concern about potential fishery 
impacts on salmon stocks of concern from the KMZ boundary change. 
However, upon review, and informed by the analysis of the Council's 
Salmon Technical Team, NMFS concluded that any change in ocean salmon 
fishery impacts on salmon stocks of concern would be small and NMFS is 
not disapproving any part of Amendment 20 in response to these 
comments. NMFS summarized and responded to these comments under 
Comments and Responses, below.
    NMFS determined that Amendment 20 is consistent with the MSA and 
other applicable laws, and the Secretary of Commerce approved Amendment 
20 on April 22, 2021. The February 9, 2021, NOA contains additional 
information on this action. No changes to Federal regulations are 
necessary to implement the Amendment.
    Amendment 20 was developed by the Council to address two primary 
issues: The preseason schedule for setting annual management measures, 
and the southern boundary of the KMZ in California. Under Amendment 20, 
the Council also recommended updating outdated language, typographical 
errors, and references. The Council adopted Amendment 20 at its 
September 2020 meeting.

Preseason Schedule

    Amendment 20 changes the preseason schedule for NMFS to publish the 
annual management measures in the Federal Register. Under the previous 
schedule, NMFS published the annual management measures in the first 
week of May, which corresponds with the traditional May 1 start date 
for many ocean salmon fisheries. However, it has become increasingly 
challenging for the Council and NMFS to complete the necessary 
environmental and economic analyses and regulatory documentation 
following the April Council meeting in time for the Secretary of 
Commerce to approve and implement the Council's annual recommendation 
by May 1. Amendment 20 changes the schedule such that NMFS will publish 
the annual management measures in the second or third week of May, with 
an anticipated effective date of May 16. The annual management measures 
will include expected salmon fisheries for March through early May of 
the following year (e.g., regulations for the 2021 fishing year will 
including management measures for fisheries in March through May of 
2022), pending modification through inseason action as needed in 
response to updated stock abundance forecasts. This has been the 
practice for March and April salmon fisheries since at least 1994.

KMZ Southern Boundary

    The Council uses management boundaries and zones to manage the 
ocean salmon fishery consistent with the objectives in the FMP. The KMZ 
is a long-standing management zone that has extended from Humbug 
Mountain, OR, to Horse Mountain, CA, since at least 1990. Amendment 20 
moves the southern boundary of the KMZ to align the salmon management 
boundary with an existing management boundary in the groundfish 
fishery, and to allow for increased efficiency in salmon fishery 
operations.

FMP Language Updates

    Amendment 20 updates the text of the FMP to reflect changes to 
management reference points that were previously implemented through a 
rulemaking (80 FR 19564, April 13, 2015) for Southern Oregon coastal 
Chinook salmon, Grays Harbor fall-run Chinook salmon, and Willapa Bay 
natural coho salmon stocks. The reference points included in that 
action have been used in salmon fishery management since the final rule 
implementing them was promulgated.
    Other updates to the FMP included in Amendment 20 include: Updates 
to reflect the 2013 merger of NMFS'

[[Page 22623]]

Northwest and Southwest Regions, updates to the status and terminology 
of Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed salmon evolutionarily 
significant units (ESU), dates for updated management agreements and 
treaties, and updated references.

Comments and Responses

    During the public comment period for the NOA for Amendment 20, NMFS 
received three unique comments from three members of the public. NMFS's 
responses to these comments are presented below.
    Comment 1: One commenter expressed concern that the schedule change 
could result in increased fishing before inseason actions could be 
implemented and enforced and that this, in combination with the KMZ 
boundary move, would cause damage to the salmon population. The 
commenter recommended moving the date of the April Council meeting as a 
solution.
    Response: The Council's preseason process for salmon management 
includes a critical analysis of updated stock abundance forecasts and 
potential impacts from ocean salmon fisheries. The Council and NMFS 
have managed pre-May ocean salmon fisheries in response to updated 
forecast and fishery information for many years, often utilizing 
inseason management in conjunction with the March and-or April Council 
meetings to limit salmon fishery impacts. Salmon fishery impacts from 
pre-May fisheries are managed collectively with salmon fisheries from 
the rest of the year to meet stock-specific objectives in the FMP on an 
annual basis, based on stock abundance forecasts for the year. Moving 
the date of the annual rule to mid-May will not affect how fishery 
impacts are accounted for.
    Moving the April Council meeting to an earlier date would not allow 
the Council to fully consider impacts on U.S. salmon stocks from 
northern salmon fisheries in Alaska and British Columbia. Under the 
Pacific Salmon Treaty (January 2020), the Pacific Salmon Commission has 
until April 1 to provide fishery impact model results and total 
allowable catch (TAC) information for Alaska and British Columbia 
salmon fisheries to the U.S. Commissioner, who reports that information 
to the Council at the April meeting. This information is among the 
suite of data used to develop the Council's annual management measures, 
which must meet the conservation and management criteria in the FMP and 
the provisions of the Pacific Salmon Treaty, in addition to any 
criteria for limiting impacts on species listed as threatened or 
endangered under the ESA.
    Comment 2: One commenter submitted three identical comments. These 
comments referred to the draft EA that was prepared for Amendment 20. 
The commenter expressed support for boundary change Alternative 1.3 to 
reduce uncertainty of fishery impacts on salmon stocks listed under the 
ESA. The commenter was overall complimentary of the analysis in the 
draft EA, but felt social, cultural, and environmental justice analysis 
was lacking.
    Response: NMFS appreciates the commenter's review of the draft EA. 
The Council recommended Alternative 1.2 to NMFS for approval by the 
Secretary of Commerce.
    The EA for this action acknowledged the uncertainty associated with 
the boundary change, but concluded that the actions implemented under 
Amendment 20 will not significantly impact the quality of the human 
environment. Fisheries in the area affected by the boundary change have 
historically been closed to commercial fishing and, with the boundary 
change, could experience some level of commercial fishing consistent 
with management in the Fort Bragg management area. Fisheries in this 
area are managed using season, gear, species, and size limits to ensure 
catch of the target stocks is consistent with annual catch limits 
(ACLs), conservation objectives, and that impacts to salmon ESUs listed 
under the ESA as threatened or endangered are consistent with 
biological opinions. The Council's Salmon Technical Team (STT) 
concluded that the boundary change could lead to small effort shifts, 
but that these did not warrant any changes to model inputs for 
predicting the effects of the fisheries on target stocks. The STT also 
noted that the boundary change could result in some additional 
uncertainty about the incidental effects of the fisheries on coho and 
ESA-listed California Coastal Chinook salmon ESU, but concluded that 
any effects would likely be small.
    The results of the STT's analysis show small changes in total 
salmon catch due to the limited geographic area involved in the 
boundary change, as well as the constraints on ocean salmon fisheries 
based on ACLs, conservation objectives, and measures analyzed and 
described in existing biological opinions. Thus, the proposed boundary 
change is expected to result in very small, if any, impacts to salmon 
abundance, and immeasurable, if any, impacts on prey availability for 
endangered Southern Resident Killer whales.
    NMFS determined that there were no environmental justice impacts 
from the proposed action. We have added an environmental justice 
statement in the final EA.
    Comment 3: One commenter expressed concern about fishery management 
and monitoring in the Eel River. The commenter stated that there was 
not enough research done on the environmental impacts from the boundary 
move and opined that the documents did not sufficiently address any 
potential environmental issues that will be caused by the movement of 
the boundary and/or subsequent overfishing, should it take place.
    Response: NMFS appreciates the commenter's interest in the Eel 
River and its salmon. The Council and NMFS manage fisheries in the 
ocean, while in-river fisheries are managed by the states, in this 
case, the state of California. Amendment 20 does not affect fisheries 
in the Eel River.
    With respect to the concern about the fishery impacts from the KMZ 
boundary change, please see NMFS' response to comment 2, above. 
Additionally, the MSA and the FMP have specific provisions to identify 
overfishing and address it should it occur. Amendment 20 does not 
change these provisions.

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

    Dated: April 22, 2021.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-08815 Filed 4-28-21; 8:45 am]
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