[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 66 (Thursday, April 6, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 20456-20457]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07121]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 230327-0085]
RIN 0648-BM14


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Pelagic Species Fisheries; 
Amendment 20 to the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This proposed rule would implement two minor changes to 
Federal regulations, prompted by the proposed Amendment 20 to the 
Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Amendment 
20 would remove management category terminology from use in the FMP, 
but not to revise the manner in which the CPS stocks are managed. The 
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) recommended Amendment 20 
for clarity and consistency with other Council FMPs. Specifically, this 
proposed rule would remove the definition for ``Actively Managed 
Species'' and a reference to ``monitored stocks'' from Federal 
regulations. Because this action does not change the manner in which 
CPS stocks are managed, this action is administrative in nature.

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule must be received by May 8, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2023-0036, by the following method:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2023-0036 in the Search box. 
Click the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
    Instructions: Comments must be submitted by the above method to 
ensure that the comments are received, documented, and considered by 
NMFS. 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. 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.) submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly 
accessible. Do not submit confidential business information, or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information. NMFS will accept 
anonymous comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to 
remain anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Taylor Debevec at (562) 980-4066 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The CPS FMP implemented the use of Management Categories with 
Amendment 8. Originally, the management categories included ``Active'' 
(or Actively) and ``Monitored.'' With Amendment 12 and the 
incorporation of krill into the CPS FMP, ``Prohibited Harvest'' was 
added as a management category. The primary function of the ``Active'' 
and ``Monitored'' management categories was to effectively and 
efficiently direct available agency and Council resources, in 
recognition that not all stocks require as intensive management as 
others, e.g., frequency of assessments and changes to harvest levels. 
Stocks that supported intensive fisheries typically fell in the 
``Active'' management category, meaning they were assessed on a regular 
schedule with associated regular updates to harvest specifications. In 
contrast, stocks that were less intensively fished were ``Monitored'' 
and utilized long-term conservative harvest strategies deemed 
sufficient for their conservation and management. The category 
designations did not relieve stocks from the requirements of Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) or National 
Standard 1 guidelines. Nor did they characterize the type of stock 
assessment or scientific information available to inform assessments, 
or strictly prescribe the frequency of assessment or harvest policy 
specification. Additionally, the FMP allowed for stocks to be moved 
from the ``Monitored'' category to the ``Active'' category if deemed 
necessary for their conservation and management.
    In November 2018, the Council initiated an effort to address a 
perceived lack of clarity regarding the meaning and use of these terms 
in the FMP and to promote consistency with other Council FMPs. The 
Council directed its CPS Management Team to explore ways to remove the 
naming distinction of management categories, while maintaining existing 
stock management. The Council considered the issue at its June 2019 and 
November 2021 meetings, with final action taking place at its April 
2022 meeting. The proposed Amendment 20 would remove management 
category terms from the FMP and incorporate additional modifications in 
place of those terms to ensure flow and readability of the FMP. 
``Prohibited Harvest Species'' would remain defined (krill), but 
references to it being a management category would be removed.
    To align with the proposed Amendment, NMFS is proposing this rule 
to remove the management category terms from Federal regulations, and 
make some small additional modifications in place of where those terms 
were removed to ensure flow and readability of the regulations. This 
proposed rule would remove the two places in Federal CPS regulations 
that reference these management category terms by: removing ``Actively 
Managed Species'' from definitions in 50 CFR 660.502, and removing a 
reference to ``monitored stocks'' from 50 CFR 660.511(k). These 
regulatory changes are administrative in nature and do not change 
management of CPS stocks.

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act, the Assistant Administrator, NMFS, has 
determined that this proposed rule is consistent with the CPS FMP, 
other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management 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 that this

[[Page 20457]]

proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a significant economic impact 
on a substantial number of small entities, for the following reasons.
    For Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) purposes only, NMFS has 
established a small business size standard for businesses, including 
their affiliates, whose primary industry is commercial fishing (see 50 
CFR 200.2). A business primarily engaged in commercial fishing (North 
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 11411) is 
classified as a small business if it is independently owned and 
operated, is not dominant in its field of operation (including its 
affiliates), and has combined annual receipts not in excess of $11 
million for all its affiliated operations worldwide.
    The small entities that would be affected by the proposed action 
are the vessels that harvest coastal pelagic species as part of the 
West Coast CPS finfish fleet and are all considered small businesses 
under the above size standards. Currently, there are 55 vessels 
permitted in the Federal CPS limited entry fishery. For these vessels 
that catch CPS, the average annual per vessel revenue has not exceeded 
$1.25 million in the last 5 years. The individual vessel revenue for 
these vessels is well below the threshold level of $11 million; 
therefore, all of these vessels are considered small businesses under 
the RFA. Because each affected vessel is a small business, this 
proposed rule is considered to equally affect all of these small 
entities in the same manner.
    This proposed action removes terms that categorize CPS stocks, but 
the management of CPS stocks remains unchanged. Therefore, this action 
is not expected to have significant direct or indirect socioeconomic 
impacts because the proposed action is administrative.
    Based on the disproportionality and profitability analysis above, 
the proposed action, if adopted, will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities. As a result, an 
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is not required, and none has 
been prepared.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

    Fisheries, Fishing, Indians--lands, Recreation and recreation 
areas, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Treaties.

    Dated: March 31, 2023.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, NMFS proposes to amend 50 
CFR part 660 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.


Sec.  660.502  [Amended]

0
2. In Sec.  660.502, remove the definition for ``Actively Managed 
Species''.
0
3. In Sec.  660.511, revise paragraph (k) to read as follows:


Sec.  660.511  Catch restrictions.

* * * * *
    (k) The following annual catch limit applies to fishing for 
Northern Anchovy (Central Subpopulation): 25,000 mt.

[FR Doc. 2023-07121 Filed 4-5-23; 8:45 am]
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