[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 219 (Tuesday, November 15, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 68434-68436]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-24490]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 221103-0231; RTID 0648-XC422]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish
Fishery; 2023 Bluefish Specifications
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 specifications for the 2023 Atlantic bluefish
fishery, as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.
This action is necessary to establish allowable harvest levels for the
stock that will prevent overfishing and promote rebuilding, using the
best scientific information available. This rule is intended to inform
the public of the proposed fishery specifications and provide an
opportunity for comment on the proposed action.
DATES: Comments must be received by November 30, 2022.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by
NOAA-NMFS-2022-0102, by the following method:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.
1. Go to https://www.regulations.gov, and enter ``NOAA-NMFS-2022-
0102'' in the Search box;
2. Click the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields; and
3. 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 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). If you are unable to submit your comment through
www.regulations.gov, contact Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Policy Analyst,
[email protected].
Copies of the Supplemental Information Report (SIR) and other
supporting documents for this action are available upon request from
Dr. Christopher M. Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council, Suite 201, 800 North State Street, Dover, DE 19901.
These documents are also accessible via the internet at https://www.mafmc.org/action-archive.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Policy
Analyst, (978) 281-9180.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) jointly manage
the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The FMP requires
the specification of annual regulatory limits for up to three years at
a time, including: an acceptable biological catch (ABC), commercial and
recreational annual catch limits (ACL), commercial and recreational
annual catch targets (ACT), a commercial quota, a recreational harvest
limit (RHL), and other management measures. This action proposes
adjusted bluefish specifications for the 2023 fishing year, based on
Council and Commission recommendations.
The bluefish fishery is operating under multi-year specifications
for
[[Page 68435]]
fishing years 2022 and 2023 (87 FR 5739; February 2, 2022), which were
based on a 2021 assessment update and Amendment 7 to the Bluefish FMP
(86 FR 66977; November 24, 2021). Upon review of a 2022 data update and
recent catch information, the Council's Scientific and Statistical
Committee (SSC) and the Council's Bluefish Monitoring Committee agreed
that no changes are necessary to the previously projected ABC,
subsequent ACLs and ACTs, or any limits in the commercial sector. Prior
to two adjustments described below, these 2023 specifications would
have resulted in a 21-percent increase to the projected commercial
quota and a 59-percent increase to the projected RHL. However, the 2022
data update indicated that the initial projection of recreational
discards (4.19 million lb, 1,901 mt) did not fully account for expected
discards, so the Monitoring Committee recommended an adjustment to the
recreational total allowable landings (TAL) to account for higher than
expected discards (6.64 million lb, 3,012 mt). There was also a 5.59
million-lb (2,536-mt) overage of the fishery ACL caused by recreational
catch in 2021. Because the bluefish fishery is overfished, the
accountability measure (AM) required by the FMP at 50 CFR 648.163(d)(1)
is a pound-for-pound payback of the overage against the soonest
possible year's recreational ACT as a single-year adjustment. The 2021
overage would be applied to the 2023 specifications in this action. No
changes were recommended to recreational management measures because
the adjusted RHL remains slightly higher than the current RHL in 2022,
and there was no compelling reason found to change existing measures.
The Council and the Commission's Bluefish Management Board (Board)
approved bluefish catch specifications for fishing year 2023 at a joint
meeting in August 2022, as recommended by the SSC and Monitoring
Committee. The Council and Board did not recommend changes to any
regulations in place for bluefish. Therefore, all other commercial and
recreational management measures would remain unchanged for the 2023
fishing year.
Proposed Specifications
This action proposes the Council's recommendations for 2023
bluefish catch specifications, which are consistent with the
recommendations of the SSC and Monitoring Committee (Table 1). Although
ACLs in both the commercial and recreational sectors would still
increase by 21 percent as projected, the proposed RHL is adjusted and
would only increase 1.6 percent from 2022, rather than 59 percent as
originally projected.
Table 1--Comparison of Current 2022, Previously Projected 2023, and Proposed Adjusted 2023 Bluefish
Specifications *
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Current 2022 Projected 2023 Proposed 2023
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Million lb Metric tons Million lb Metric tons Million lb Metric tons
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Overfishing Limit.............. 40.56 18,399 45.17 20,490 45.17 20,490
ABC............................ 25.26 11,460 30.62 13,890 30.62 13,890
Commercial ACL = Commercial ACT 3.54 1,604 4.29 1,945 4.29 1,945
Recreational ACL = Recreational 21.73 9,856 26.34 11,945 26.34 11,945
ACT...........................
Recreational AM................ 3.65 1,656 0 0 5.59 2,536
Recreational Discards.......... 4.19 1,901 4.19 1,901 6.64 3,012
Commercial TAL................. 3.54 1,604 4.29 1,945 4.29 1,945
Recreational TAL............... 13.89 6,298 22.14 10,044 14.11 6,400
Sector Transfer................ 0 0 0 0 0 0
Commercial Quota............... 3.54 1,604 4.29 1,945 4.29 1,945
RHL............................ 13.89 6,298 22.14 10,044 14.11 6,400
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* Specifications are derived from the ABC in metric tons (mt). When values are converted to millions of pounds
the numbers may slightly shift due to rounding. The conversion factor used is 1 mt = 2204.6226 lb.
The coastwide commercial quota is allocated to coastal states from
Maine to Florida based on percent shares specified in the FMP. These
proposed state allocations for 2023 (Table 2) are unchanged from what
was previously projected, as this action makes no changes to the
commercial sector or the final coastwide commercial quota. In addition,
no states exceeded their allocated quota in 2021, or are projected to
do so in 2022; therefore, no AMs for the commercial fishery are
required for the 2023 fishing year based on the data available at this
time.
Table 2--Proposed 2023 Bluefish State Commercial Quota Allocations
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State Percent share Quota (lb) Quota (kg)
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Maine........................................................... 0.51 21,807 9,892
New Hampshire................................................... 0.36 15,331 6,954
Massachusetts................................................... 7.69 329,578 149,494
Rhode Island.................................................... 7.61 326,165 147,946
Connecticut..................................................... 1.22 52,094 23,629
New York........................................................ 13.06 560,031 254,026
New Jersey...................................................... 14.54 623,295 282,722
Delaware........................................................ 1.48 63,572 28,836
Maryland........................................................ 2.69 115,409 52,349
Virginia........................................................ 10.16 435,625 197,596
North Carolina.................................................. 32.05 1,374,077 623,271
South Carolina.................................................. 0.05 2,344 1,063
Georgia......................................................... 0.04 1,544 700
[[Page 68436]]
Florida......................................................... 8.55 366,585 166,280
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Total....................................................... 100.01 4,287,109 1,944,600
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No changes were recommended to recreational management measures as
a part of these specifications. Therefore, all management measures,
including the recreational daily bag limit of three fish per person for
private anglers and five fish per person for for-hire (charter/party)
vessels, would remain unchanged for 2023.
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 proposed rule is
consistent with the Atlantic Bluefish FMP, other provisions of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law, subject to further
consideration after public comment.
This action is exempt from review under E.O. 12866 because it
contains no implementing regulations.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The factual basis for this determination is as follows.
The Councils conducted an evaluation of the potential socioeconomic
impacts of the proposed measures in conjunction with a SIR. There are
no proposed regulatory changes in this bluefish action, so none are
considered in the evaluation. The proposed action would implement the
previously projected 2023 bluefish specifications, with an adjusted RHL
to account for a recreational overage in 2021 and updated recreational
discard data. Compared to the 2022 specifications, the coastwide
commercial quota would increase 21 percent to 4.29 million lb (1,945
mt), and the RHL would increase 1.6 percent to 14.11 million lb (6,400
mt).
This proposed action would affect entities that hold federal for-
hire (party/charter) recreational fishing permits for bluefish. Vessels
may hold multiple fishing permits and some entities own multiple
vessels and/or permits. According to the Northeast Fisheries Science
Center commercial ownership database, 384 for-hire affiliate firms
generated revenues from recreational fishing for various species during
the 2019-2021 period (the most recent and complete data available). All
of those business affiliates are categorized as small businesses, but
it is not possible to derive the proportion of overall revenues for
these for-hire firms resulting from fishing activities for an
individual species such as bluefish. Nevertheless, given the popularity
of bluefish as a recreational species in the Mid-Atlantic and New
England, it is likely that revenues generated from bluefish may be
somewhat important for many of these firms at certain times of the
year. Although this action wouldn't affect the commercial sector beyond
what was considered in the prior specifications action (providing an
increase in fishing opportunity), 526 commercial fishing affiliate
firms landed bluefish during this data period, with 521 of those
commercial entities categorized as small businesses, and 5 categorized
as large businesses. Analyses indicate that bluefish revenues
contributed approximately 0.46 percent of the total gross receipts for
these small entities.
The proposed specifications are expected to provide similar fishing
opportunities in the recreational sector when compared to the previous
year, as the RHL is increasing by less than two percent, and because
the management measures (bag limit, season, etc.) would remain
unchanged. As noted in the prior specifications action, entities issued
a commercial bluefish permit may experience a slight positive impact
related to potentially higher landings throughout the course of the
entire year. However, because state allocations are changing in
accordance with Amendment 7, there may be different amounts of quota
available regionally compared to past years. Often fishing behavior and
short-term landings are based on market conditions, which are not
expected to substantially change as a result of these specifications.
As such, this proposed action is not expected to have an impact on the
way the fishery operates or the revenue of small entities.
Overall, analyses indicate that the proposed specifications will
not substantially change fishing effort, the risk of overfishing,
prices/revenues, or fishery behavior. Therefore, the Council concluded,
and NMFS agrees, that this action would not have a significant adverse
impact on a substantial number of small businesses. As a result, an
initial regulatory flexibility analysis is not required and none has
been prepared.
This action would not establish any new reporting or record-keeping
requirements.
This proposed rule contains no new information collection
requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: November 3, 2022.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-24490 Filed 11-14-22; 8:45 am]
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