[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 2, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11597-11599]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04306]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 220223-0055]
RIN 0648-BK73


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off West Coast States; 
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Pink Shrimp and Midwater Trawl 
Exemptions to Vessel Monitoring System Requirements for the West Coast 
Groundfish Fishery

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This rule revises monitoring provisions that specify 
exemptions for non-groundfish trawl vessels participating in the 
Pacific coast pink shrimp fishery and for groundfish midwater trawl 
vessels. In a final rule on vessel movement, monitoring, and 
declaration management for the Pacific coast groundfish fishery 
published on June 11, 2020, vessels in the pink shrimp trawl fishery 
were incorrectly included with other open access non-groundfish trawl 
vessels that became subject to a higher position transmission rate on 
their NMFS type-approved vessel monitoring system (VMS) units. This 
final rule corrects the error and returns the required transmission 
rate for vessels in the pink shrimp trawl fishery to once every 60 
minutes, as recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council). This action also corrects a citation error in the VMS 
regulations with regards to exemptions for midwater trawl vessels, as 
well as a typographical error in the trawl fishery prohibitions.

DATES: Effective April 1, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the analytic document supporting this action, are 
available via the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov, docket NOAA-NMFS-2021-0085, or by contacting the 
Pacific Fishery Management Council, 7700 NE Ambassador Place, Suite 
101, Portland, OR 97220-1384.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Dunlap, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
206-526-6019, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On June 11, 2020, NMFS published a final rule on vessel movement, 
monitoring, and declaration management that revised reporting and 
monitoring provisions for vessels participating in the Pacific coast 
groundfish fishery (85 FR 35594). The rule increased the vessel 
position frequency to improve NMFS's ability to enforce fishing 
activity around restricted areas. The rule required an increase in the 
position transmission rate from once every 60 minutes to once every 15 
minutes for groundfish vessels using NMFS type-approved VMS units. This 
increase in frequency produces more course, location, and speed data to 
improve NMFS's ability to identify whether vessels are continuously 
transiting in restricted areas or not. The Council discussed and 
recommended an exemption to the increased transmission rate for vessels 
fishing in the pink shrimp trawl fishery because this fishery is not 
subject to restrictions against trawling in Rockfish Conservation Areas 
(RCAs) and because the Council and NMFS Office of Law Enforcement did 
not have concerns with enforcing pink shrimp trawling restrictions in 
Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) Conservation Areas. However, the exemption 
for pink shrimp trawl vessels was inadvertently not included in the 
original proposed or final rule. This final rule adds the exemption to 
the increased ping rate for pink shrimp trawl vessels, corrects a 
citation error in the midwater trawl exemption at 50 CFR 
660.14(d)(3)(ii)(B), and corrects a typographical error in the 
prohibitions section of the trawl fishery regulations at 50 CFR 
660.112(b)(1)(x).
    Between September 2014 and April 2016, the Council developed and 
considered management measures to address a range of vessel and gear 
movement issues and aggregated these issues under a single vessel 
movement monitoring agenda item. Additional details about the Council's 
considerations are included in the Council's analytical document (see 
ADDRESSES). The Council's public

[[Page 11598]]

scoping document includes several references to making an exemption for 
the increase in ping rate for pink shrimp trawl vessels, specifically 
in Section 1.5.6.
    During the development of the management measures for the Vessel 
Movement and Monitoring Rule finalized in 2020, the Council noted that 
the pink shrimp fishery was required to maintain a VMS unit at a ping 
rate of one per hour. This ping rate is sufficient to allow enforcement 
of the closed EFH Conservation Areas that vessels in this fishery are 
subject to. The Council considered that there are no restrictions for 
the pink shrimp trawl fishery from fishing in RCAs and that a vessel is 
required to declare the type of gear being used for each trip, which 
verifies its authorization to fish in the RCA. Therefore, the Council 
decided that additional monitoring for vessels participating in the 
pink shrimp trawl fishery is not necessary.

Summary of the Regulatory Changes

    This section discusses the regulatory revisions that will carry out 
the Council's recommendation. The regulatory changes in this final rule 
are identical to the regulatory changes specified in the proposed rule 
published on October 26, 2021 (86 FR 59109).
    This final rule:
     Restores the position transmission rate requirement of 
once every 60 minutes for vessels participating in the pink shrimp 
trawl fishery;
     Corrects a citation in the ping rate exemption for 
midwater trawl fishing vessels at 50 CFR 660.14(d)(3)(ii)(B); and
     Corrects a typographical error in the prohibitions section 
of the trawl fishery regulations at 50 CFR 660.112(b)(1)(x).
    These revisions relieve vessels participating in the pink shrimp 
fishery from the added burden of more frequent position transmissions, 
consistent with the Council's recommendation and clarify a cross-
citation from the previous rulemaking on this issue.

Comments and Responses

    NMFS received one comment letter during the comment period for the 
proposed rule. The comment letter came from Oceana, an environmental 
organization, and can be viewed along with the proposed rule and 
supporting documents for this action at www.regulations.gov. Following 
are the specific comments in the comment letter, along with the 
response to each:
    Comment 1: Oceana opposed the rule based on the statement in the 
proposed rule that pink shrimp trawlers do not have restrictions on 
where they can trawl.
    Response: NMFS clarifies that pink shrimp trawlers do have 
restrictions on where they can trawl, including EFH Conservation Areas, 
as well as state conservation areas. NMFS does not enforce state 
regulations within state waters, including trawling within a state 
conservation area, though NMFS would refer observed violations to the 
appropriate agency. NMFS does enforce the appropriate federal 
regulations, including VMS carriage and declaration requirements. 
However, as the proposed rule stated, pink shrimp trawlers do not have 
restrictions against trawling in RCAs, the largest of the groundfish 
closed areas. The Council decision documents establishing the 
Alternatives for the Vessel Movement and Monitoring Rule from November 
14-15, 2015, and the decision document for the Final Action on 
Regulations for Vessel Movement Monitoring (VMM) from April 9-14, 2016, 
include an exemption for pink shrimp trawl vessels from the increased 
VMS ping rate because the Council determined that the higher ping rates 
were not necessary for enforcing the EFH Conservation Area closures for 
pink shrimp vessels, and because vessels in this sector are not held to 
the scale of closed areas that other vessels in Federal fisheries off 
the West Coast are held to.
    Comment 2: Oceana contends that the higher ping rate is necessary 
to enforce pink shrimp trawling restrictions in EFH Conservation Areas 
and state conservation areas.
    Response: The Council recommended, and NMFS agrees, that the higher 
ping rate is not necessary to enforce pink shrimp trawl restrictions in 
EFH Conservation Areas. NMFS found no history of concern with 
enforcement of trawling by pink shrimp vessels in EFH Conservation 
Areas or state conservation areas. While NMFS may refer violations 
observed in state conservation areas to the appropriate agency, the 
Federal requirements for VMS and declarations are not used to enforce 
trawling in state conservation areas.
    Comment 3: Oceana commented that NMFS should expand its use of 
enhanced electronic monitoring systems, including gear sensors that can 
indicate when fishing activity is occurring and Global Positioning 
Satellites units that can make detailed and accurate records of vessel 
positions.
    Response: NMFS encourages all fishery stakeholders, including the 
Fishery Management Councils, to consider implementing electronic 
technology (ET) options where appropriate to meet science, management, 
and data needs. NMFS released a national Policy on Electronic 
Technologies and Fishery-dependent Data Collection in 2013 to provide 
guidance on the implementation of ET solutions and in fisheries. An 
updated policy was released in May 2019. In 2015, NMFS implemented 
regional ET implementation plans informed by a series of national-level 
planning documents. These plans were created to help move beyond pilot 
projects by identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing implementation of 
promising ET in specific fisheries around the country. We recently 
updated these plans, highlighting the lessons learned from the last 
four years and looking forward to 2024.

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the NMFS 
Assistant Administrator has determined that this final rule is 
consistent with the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan 
(FMP), other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 
applicable law. In making the final determination, NMFS considered the 
data, views, and comments received during the public comment period.
    The Office of Management and Budget has determined that this final 
rule is not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866. As this 
rule is correcting an oversight in an earlier rule and would result in 
no change to the status quo for regulated entities, there are not 
expected to be any economic or regulatory impacts on these entities.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration during the proposed rule stage that this action would 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. The factual basis for the certification was published in the 
proposed rule and is not repeated here. No comments were received 
regarding this certification. As a result, a regulatory flexibility 
analysis was not required and none was prepared.
    This final rule contains no information collection requirements 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

    Fisheries, Fishing, Indian fisheries.


[[Page 11599]]


    Dated: February 24, 2022.
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 660 is amended 
as follows:

PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES

0
1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., and 16 
U.S.C. 7001 et seq.


0
2. In Sec.  660.14, revise paragraph (d)(3)(ii)(B) and add paragraph 
(d)(3)(ii)(D) to read as follows:


Sec.  660.14  Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) requirements.

* * * * *
    (d) * * *
    (3) * * *
    (ii) * * *
    (B) Midwater trawl exemption. If a limited entry trawl vessel is 
fishing with midwater trawl gear under declarations in Sec.  
660.13(d)(4)(iv)(A), the mobile transceiver unit must transmit a signal 
at least once every hour.
* * * * *
    (D) Pink shrimp trawl exemption. If a vessel is fishing for pink 
shrimp using non-groundfish trawl gear under declarations in Sec.  
660.13(d)(4)(iv)(A), the mobile transceiver unit must transmit a signal 
at least once every hour.
* * * * *

0
3. In Sec.  660.112, revise paragraph (b)(1)(x) to read as follows:


Sec.  660.112  Trawl fishery--prohibitions.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (x) Use midwater groundfish trawl gear outside the Pacific whiting 
IFQ fishery primary season dates as specified at Sec.  660.131(b).
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2022-04306 Filed 3-1-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P