[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 18, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46226-46227]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-17674]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XA720]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast 
Multispecies Fishery; Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking for Atlantic 
Cod

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

ACTION: Announcement of receipt of petition for rulemaking; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the receipt of a petition for rulemaking from 
the Conservation Law Foundation. This petition requests NMFS prepare a 
Secretarial Amendment and take specific emergency action to end 
overfishing and rebuild Atlantic cod.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 4, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2021-0039, 
by either of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2021-0039 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 publically accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous 
comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain 
anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Christopher, Supervisory Fishery 
Policy Analyst, telephone 978-281-9288, email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has 
petitioned NMFS to implement emergency regulations and a Secretarial 
Amendment for the Northeast multispecies fishery, and other relevant 
fisheries that use gear capable of catching more than a minimal amount 
of Atlantic cod. CLF's petition asserts that NMFS has repeatedly 
approved New England Fishery Management Council actions that have 
failed to prevent and end overfishing and rebuild Atlantic cod stocks. 
CLF is petitioning NMFS to implement conservation and management 
measures it deems necessary to end overfishing and rebuild the Gulf of 
Maine and Georges Bank cod stocks.
    CLF cites numerous reasons for NMFS to take Secretarial action. CLF 
asserts that NMFS has consistently approved management measures that 
failed to address low recruitment, neglected to account for model 
errors and uncertainty when setting catch advice, approved uncertainty 
buffers that do not account for this uncertainty, and approved the use 
of an inadequate acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rule. In 
addition, CLF states that NMFS has failed to conduct adequate 
rebuilding progress reviews for both the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank 
cod stocks as required under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), or as required by the 
supplemental rebuilding program review process implemented in Framework 
Adjustment 51 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan 
(FMP). This review process requires the Council to review a rebuilding 
plan if: The total catch limit for a stock has not been exceeded during 
the rebuilding program; new scientific information indicates that the 
stock is not rebuilding according to the program trajectory; and if the 
fishing mortality associated with rebuilding (Frebuild) drops below 75 
percent of the fishing mortality associated with maximum sustainable 
yield (FMSY)). According to CLF, the Gulf of Maine cod stock has met 
all three of these criteria, but the Council has not initiated its 
required rebuilding program review. Further, CLF asserts that NMFS has 
failed to recognize or account for the findings of a National Research 
Council (NRC) Rebuilding Committee, which identified several reasons 
why stocks may not rebuild as expected under their respective 
rebuilding plans. Finally, CLF states that in NMFS's denial of a 2015 
petition for rulemaking on Gulf of Maine cod, NMFS committed to prevent 
overfishing, rebuild the stock, and adjust management measures as 
needed in response to the findings of a 2015 assessment. CLF asserts 
that these commitments were not upheld, and that NMFS did not properly 
balance biological and socioeconomic impacts in its rationale to deny 
the 2015 petition.
    CLF's petition also alleges that inadequate at-sea monitoring 
coverage in the sector fishery has failed to provide sufficiently 
accurate and precise data to prevent and end overfishing or rebuild the 
cod stocks. CLF asserts that inadequate monitoring coverage targets, 
coupled with low quotas, have created incentives for the fishing 
industry to illegally discard and misreport cod catch. Additionally, 
CLF relies on recent analyses in the development of Amendment 23 to the 
Northeast Multispecies FMP indicating

[[Page 46227]]

that there is an observer effect in the Northeast multispecies fishery. 
This observer effect could mean observed trips are not representative 
of unobserved trips. CLF also states that, without accurate and precise 
catch data, managers cannot appropriately apply the accountability 
measures that are designed to prevent overfishing.
    Last, CLF states that measures to protect essential fish habitat, 
help rebuild cod stock age structure, account for sub-populations, and 
account for climate change impacts, are critical to cod recovery. CLF 
asserts that the rebuilding plans that have been implemented for cod do 
not identify and protect critical cod spawning areas or adequately 
conserve habitat for juvenile cod. CLF also states that past management 
actions have failed to address truncated cod stock age structures, 
which may contribute to reduced recruitment and decreased resilience to 
stressors. CLF asserts that managing cod as two stocks (Gulf of Maine 
and Georges Bank) fails to account for sub-populations, and that recent 
research by the Atlantic Cod Stock Working Group suggests that at least 
three sub-populations exist. Differences in the characteristics of 
these sub-populations, such as differences in spawning seasonality, are 
important for stock recovery. Finally, CLF states that stock 
assessments and management measures for Atlantic cod must account for 
impacts to the stock due to climate change, especially since 
temperature and other environmental conditions have been shown to 
impact cod biology.
    The CLF petition requests NMFS implement all of the following 
conservation and management measures.
    1. 100-percent at-sea monitoring on all commercial groundfish 
trips.
    2. Measures to prohibit directed commercial and recreational 
fishing for Atlantic cod that:
    a. Implement large area closures once a stock's incidental limit is 
caught;
    b. Reduce the incidental catch rate annually, consistent with the 
current ABC control rule until overfishing is ended;
    c. Prioritize the allocation of incidental catch to groundfish 
vessels, consistent with the current methodology; and
    d. Ensure that any incidental catch history during the closure of 
the directed fishery will not count towards future potential sector 
contributions.
    3. Area closures to protect all identified Atlantic cod spawning 
locations and favorable habitat for juvenile and adult cod.
    4. A requirement to use modified groundfish gear, such as haddock 
separator trawl or other selective fishing technology, throughout the 
U.S. range of Atlantic cod to reduce incidental cod catch.
    5. Additional measures in the recreational fisheries to reduce the 
mortality of incidental catch of Atlantic cod.
    In a letter dated June 10, 2020, NMFS requested the New England 
Fishery Management Council consider the petition. Because Council 
development of fishery management measures is the core of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, NMFS wanted to ensure that the Council considered the 
petition and had the opportunity to take appropriate action through the 
Council process if it deemed that such action was necessary. After 
considering the petition at its June Council meeting, the Council sent 
a letter to NMFS on November 27, 2020, describing its consideration and 
conclusions. The Council concluded that the petition does not have 
merit based on its rejection of CLF's assertions underlying its claim 
that the Council has failed to take measures necessary to protect cod 
and declined to consider a majority of CLF's recommended measures. The 
Council stated that it already approved increasing monitoring 
requirements in Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP. Also, 
it is important to note that the Council plans to consider how new cod 
stock structure information may affect development of conservation and 
management measures and is advocating for the development of a new 
data-limited modeling approach for the Eastern George Bank cod. See 
ADDRESSES for the Council's letter and grounds for its decision.
    The Magnuson-Stevens Act authorizes regional fishery management 
councils to develop fishery management measures, and specifically 
provides the New England Fishery Management Council with the authority 
to manage the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank cod stocks. For the 
reasons described above and in the Council's letter to NMFS, the 
Council declined to take additional action on Atlantic cod after 
reviewing the contents of the petition. However, CLF has provided 
sufficient information and support in its request for Secretarial 
action to warrant publication of a notice seeking public comment.
    In addition to the petition and information provided by CLF and the 
Council, NMFS will consider comments received when determining whether 
to proceed with the development of conservation and management measures 
suggested by the petition. Upon determining whether to initiate the 
rulemaking suggested by the petition, the Assistant Administrator for 
Fisheries, NOAA, will publish a notice of the agency's decision or 
action in the Federal Register.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: August 12, 2021.
Kelly Denit,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-17674 Filed 8-17-21; 8:45 am]
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