[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 117 (Tuesday, June 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39829-39831]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13064]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XD084]


Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act 
Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for 
Exempted Fishing Permits

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

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary 
determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application contains all 
of the required information and warrants further consideration. The 
Exempted Fishing Permit would allow commercial fishing vessels to fish 
outside fishery regulations in support of research conducted by the 
applicant. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act and the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative 
Management Act require publication of this notification to provide 
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for 
proposed Exempted Fishing Permits.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 5, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by the following method:
     Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject line 
``NEFSC On-Demand Gear EFP.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Deighan, Fishery Management 
Specialist, [email protected], (978) 281-9184.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center 
submitted a complete application for an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) 
to conduct commercial fishing activities that the regulations would 
otherwise restrict to expand trials of on-demand fishing gear that uses 
one or no surface buoys and to test the ability of gear marking systems 
to consistently locate gear. This EFP would exempt the participating 
vessels from the gear marking requirements at 50 CFR 697.21(b)(2) to 
allow the use of trawls of more than three traps with no more than one 
surface marking and Sec.  648.84(b) to allow the use of gillnet gear 
with no more than one surface marking. Exempted fishing activities 
would take place between August 21, 2023, and August 20, 2024.
    The project is a continuation and expansion of the Center's efforts 
to trial on-demand fishing systems (also known as ropeless or buoyless) 
aimed at reducing entanglement risk to protected species, mainly the 
North Atlantic right whale, in trap/pot and gillnet fisheries. The 
Center's existing EFP will expire on August 21, 2023, and authorizes 
gear trials on up to 100 trap/pot vessels. As of March 2023, the Center 
had collected data from 707 hauls of on-demand gear in Federal waters 
under its current EFP. Of these, 267 hauls took place in Lobster 
Management Area (LMA) 3, 164 in LMA 2, and 276 in LMA 1. The Center 
reported two instances of gear loss or gear conflict. One incident 
involved a

[[Page 39830]]

gear conflict with a mobile fishing vessel, the second incident was 
related to a malfunction of the on-demand gear itself. The Center has 
increased outreach to encourage use of the Trap Tracker app by non-
participant vessels. As of March 2023, approximately 42 fixed-gear and 
5 mobile-gear vessels are using Trap Tracker.
    This project would expand trials to allow up to 200 trap/pot 
vessels to replace up to 10 of their existing trawls (up to 2,000 
trawls total) with modified trawls, including in Atlantic Large Whale 
Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) Restricted Areas. It would also add the 
opportunity to trial on-demand gear in gillnet fisheries, with up to 5 
of the 200 vessels fishing up to 8 (40 total) modified gillnet strings. 
Modified gear would replace one or both traditional end lines with 
acoustic on-demand systems and other alternatives to static buoy lines 
(including, but not limited to, spooled systems, buoy and stowed rope 
systems, lift bag systems, and grappling).
    The ultimate goal of this project is to enable the continuation of 
some of the region's most valuable and historically significant 
fisheries while also meeting the requirements set forth by the ALWTRP 
and section 118(f) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, specifically 
reducing the level of serious injury and mortality of North Atlantic 
right, humpback, and fin whales in commercial fisheries. To achieve 
this, the project includes objectives to test the efficacy of fully on-
demand trawls and the adequacy of gear marking systems that use data 
hubs and visualization platforms to share on-demand gear locations. The 
project is intended to address challenges and data needs associated 
with on-demand gear, including:
     Increasing availability of and standardizing participant 
training;
     Reducing operational interruptions (line snarls, gear 
breakage, acoustic response issues, etc.);
     Evaluating multiple prototypes under the range of fishing 
conditions;
     Evaluating retrieval times with through-hull transducers;
     Evaluating float modifications;
     Evaluating modifications to facilitate faster retrieval in 
low visibility conditions;
     Evaluating new prototypes;
     Improving stackability on deck;
     Improving gear detection by other fishermen and relevant 
stakeholders (e.g., wind surveyors);
     Improving access to location data (e.g., overlaying on 
digital charts);
     Improving the ability to upload data (e.g., outside of 
cell data range);
     Increasing data to support regulatory analyses (e.g., 
costs in time and landings; costs/savings associated with gear 
conflicts); and,
     Increasing performance of on-demand gear through feedback 
to manufacturers.
    To ensure that on-demand fishing and gear marking technologies are 
adequately tested across the breadth of regional commercial fishing 
conditions, the Center requests the flexibility to test on-demand gear 
across the geographic range of the Federal American lobster and Jonah 
crab fishery (LMAs 1-5 and the Nearshore Outer Cape LMA), including 
testing fully on-demand gear (no persistent vertical lines) in ALTWRP 
Restricted Areas. It also requests the opportunity to trial on-demand 
gillnet gear on federally permitted monkfish, groundfish, spiny 
dogfish, and skate vessels from Maine to Virginia. To cover a greater 
area and target areas where data is needed, the Center has requested 
the flexibility to have greater than 200 participants during the one-
year period (with only 200 fishing at one time) and would provide 
requested modifications to the active participants, general locations, 
and technologies to be tested one month in advance. Priority would be 
given to participants who are seasonally excluded from fishing in 
certain areas and/or participants in offshore fisheries that have 
limited entanglement mitigation options available. The Center is also 
specifically targeting increased wintertime data collection.
    This permit would only exempt vessels from the specified Federal 
regulations in Federal waters. It would not exempt the vessels from any 
requirements imposed by any state, the Endangered Species Act, the 
Marine Mammal Protection Act, or any other applicable laws. The 
applicant would be responsible for obtaining all required state 
authorizations. Other than gear markings, all trap trawls and gillnet 
strings would be consistent with the regulations of the management area 
where the vessel is fishing and would be fished in accordance with the 
participating vessels' standard operations (number and length of trips, 
soak times, trap limits, etc.).
    The use of on-demand trap/pot gear in the ALWTRP Restricted Areas 
is limited to gear without any persistent vertical lines. The Center 
would allow incremental expansion of on-demand trials in the Restricted 
Areas, depending on its capacity to provide gear and manage the 
activity. In recognition of industry's interest in grappling as a low-
cost alternative to acoustic on-demand systems, this project would also 
allow up to 25 vessels to retrieve fewer than 10 buoyless trawls via 
grappling, including in ALWTRP Restricted Areas. This would enable the 
Center to collect data on the viability of grappling at a commercial 
scale. This would be consistent with what is authorized under the 
existing EFP, although no grappling trials have occurred to-date.
    In the first phase of participation, staff from the Center and the 
gear manufacturers would provide training to ensure the system is 
working as intended and all participants have sufficient experience 
with the gear prior to borrowing from the gear cache library. In the 
second phase, participating vessels would rig an on-demand system to 
one end of a standard trawl or string and fish it as a hybrid (with one 
traditional surface marking) for at least 10 hauls per system. In phase 
three, participants would fish the gear as part of normal fishing 
operations, including fishing fully on-demand gear and in the ALTWRP 
Restricted Areas. In some cases, a scientific observer may be on board, 
and/or GoPro Systems (or equivalent) may record gear retrievals. The 
Center would provide standardized data collection sheets to all 
participants, but individually-identifiable data will only be made 
public with the express permission of the vessel owner.
    The Center also plans to include targeted geolocation studies in 
areas with limited trawling and/or dredging to test new location-
marking systems on the seafloor and automated location-marking when 
gear is set and retrieved. This EFP would support efforts to improve 
gear-marking and gear-conflict avoidance technologies, including 
testing the amount of effort to mark sub-surface gear location in the 
Trap Tracker app (vs. surface location where the gear is deployed) and 
other sub-surface gear marking technologies. This EFP would also test 
the use of the EarthRanger platform that displays gear locations from 
various gear-marking technologies. The Center would demonstrate and 
continue to encourage the adoption of these technologies with non-
participant vessels.
    The Center proposes the following best practices and risk reduction 
measures:
     All vessels would report all right whale sightings to NMFS 
via [email protected] or NOAA (866-755-6622) or the U.S. Coast 
Guard (Channel 16) and record sightings on data sheets;
     All vessels would retrieve on-demand vertical lines as 
quickly as possible to minimize time in the water column;

[[Page 39831]]

     All vessels would adhere to current approach regulations--
a 500-yard (457.2-meter or 1,500-foot) buffer zone created by a 
surfacing right whale--and must depart immediately at a safe and slow 
speed, in accordance with current regulations. Hauling any lobster gear 
would immediately cease (by removal) to accommodate the regulation and 
be reinitiated only after it is reasonable to assume the whale has left 
the area;
     All vessels would provide mandatory, weekly gear loss 
reports;
     All vessels would operate within a 10-knot speed limit 
when transiting Restricted Areas or when whales are observed;
     For fully on-demand gear without traditional surface 
markings, participants would use the Trap Tracker or an equivalent 
technology for retrieval and set positioning details, which would be 
available to Federal, state, and corresponding enforcement personnel, 
as well as other fishermen;
     For fully on-demand gear without traditional surface 
markings, on-demand vertical lines would be marked with unique yellow/
black/orange marks above the regional markings, in addition to ALWTRP 
regulations (per agreement with the NMFS Atlantic Large Whale Take 
Reduction Team Coordinator);
     When fishing in ALWTRP Restricted Areas, vessels would 
check real-time right whale sightings information (such as Right Whale 
Sightings Advisories and Whale Alert before setting any gear and avoid 
areas of high right whale abundance, and all vessels would be 
recommended to follow this process when setting gear outside the ALWTRP 
Restricted Areas;
     In the Restricted Areas, vessels would fly a unique flag 
for enforcement recognition;
     The Center would provide monthly updates on any gear 
conflicts to the Sustainable Fisheries Division at the Greater Atlantic 
Regional Fisheries Office; and,
     Sustainable Fisheries Division staff would be invited to 
recurring gear coordination calls with time dedicated to EFP 
discussion.
    If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and 
extensions to the EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and 
extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed 
essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and have 
minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the initially 
approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope 
of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.
    All comments received are a part of the public record and will 
generally be posted for public viewing at https://www.noaa.gov/organization/information-technology/foia-reading-room without change. 
All personal identifying information (e.g., name, address), 
confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive information 
submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly accessible. NMFS 
will accept anonymous comments (enter ``anonymous'' as the signature if 
you wish to remain anonymous).
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: June 14, 2023.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-13064 Filed 6-16-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P