[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 146 (Tuesday, August 1, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 50097-50098]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16230]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 230726-0176]
RIN 0648-BM45


Control Date for Pacific Cod by Catcher Vessels Greater Than or 
Equal to 60 Feet Length Overall and Catcher/Processors Using Pot Gear 
in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area

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

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; control date; request 
for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: At the request of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council), this document announces a control date of August 1, 2023, 
that may be used to determine future participation in the Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Pacific cod fishery by license limitation 
program (LLP) license holders, vessel owners and vessel operators of 
catcher/processors (C/Ps), and vessel owners and vessel operators of 
catcher vessels (C/Vs) greater than or equal to 60 ft (18.3 meters (m)) 
length overall (LOA), who participate in Federal groundfish fisheries 
with pot gear in the BSAI. This document is necessary to inform 
interested parties that the Council is considering a future action that 
may affect or limit the number of participants in this fishery and that 
participants should locate and preserve all fishing related documents. 
This control date corresponds to the date of publication of this 
advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR). This document provides 
notice to the public that any person participating in the applicable 
sector after the control date may not receive continued access to this 
fishery under a future management action. This document is intended to 
discourage speculative entry or fishing activity in this fishery while 
the Council considers whether and how access to the fishery may be 
further limited under a future management action.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before October 2, 2023. 
August 1, 2023, shall be known as the control date for LLP license 
holders, vessel owners, and vessel operators of C/Ps and C/Vs greater 
than or equal to 60 ft (18.3 m) LOA who participate in Federal 
groundfish fisheries with pot gear in the BSAI, and may be used as a 
reference date for participation in a future management action that is 
consistent with the Council's objectives and applicable Federal laws.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2023-0088, by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2023-0088 in the Search box. 
Click on the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter 
or attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Gretchen Harrington, 
Assistant Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, 
Alaska Region NMFS. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-
1668.
     Fax: (907) 586-7465; Attn: Gretchen Harrington.
    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 publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous 
comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain 
anonymous).
    Please consult the Council's website at https://www.npfmc.org/ for 
information on public participation in the Council's decision-making 
process.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alicia M. Miller: 907-586-7228 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the groundfish fisheries in the 
U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the BSAI under the Fishery 
Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Management Area (FMP). The Council prepared, and NMFS approved, the FMP 
under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 
Regulations governing U.S. fisheries and implementing the FMP appear at 
50 CFR parts 600 and 679.
    This ANPR establishes August 1, 2023 as the control date for use in 
determining historical participation in the BSAI Pacific cod pot gear 
catcher/processors (C/P) and catcher vessels (C/Vs) greater than or 
equal to 60 ft (18.3 m) length overall (LOA) fishery. Interested 
persons should locate and preserve all records that substantiate and 
verify their participation in this fishery.
    On June 11, 2023, the Council announced its intent to evaluate 
participation and effort in the BSAI Pacific cod pot gear C/Ps and C/Vs 
greater than or equal to 60 ft (18.3 m) LOA fishery and consider 
further limits on access to this fishery. This document is intended to 
promote awareness of possible rulemaking and provide notice to the 
public that any person participating in the BSAI Pacific cod pot C/P 
and C/V greater than or equal to 60 ft (18.3 m) LOA fishery after the 
control date may not have continued access to this fishery under a 
future management action. This document is also intended to discourage 
speculative entry into this fishery while the Council considers whether 
and how access to the fishery may be further limited under a future 
management action. The Council requested that the date of their 
decision

[[Page 50098]]

be established as the control date. However, because this ANPR cannot 
act as a retroactive notice to the public and can act only as a 
prospective notice, the date of this ANPR's publication in the Federal 
Register is the control date. This ANPR is being published relatively 
close to the Council's decision date and consequently provides most of 
the temporal disincentives to further entry into the fishery as the 
Council's decision date.
    This ANPR and related future rulemaking would apply to LLP license 
holders, vessel owners, and vessel operators of C/Ps and C/Vs greater 
than or equal to 60 ft (18.3 m) LOA who participate in Federal 
groundfish fisheries with pot gear in the BSAI. The BSAI is defined at 
Sec.  679.2 and shown in Figure 1 to 50 CFR part 679.
    The Council and NMFS annually establish overfishing limits and 
annual total allowable catch limits for groundfish species to 
sustainably manage the groundfish fisheries in the BSAI. To achieve 
these objectives, NMFS requires vessel operators participating in BSAI 
Pacific cod fishery to comply with various regulatory restrictions, 
such as fishery closures and limits on participation and effort.
    The Council and NMFS have long sought to control fishing effort in 
the North Pacific Ocean, including the BSAI management area, to ensure 
that fisheries are conservatively managed and do not exceed established 
biological thresholds. One of the measures used by the Council and NMFS 
is the LLP, which limits access to the federally managed groundfish, 
crab, and scallop fisheries in the BSAI and the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). 
For groundfish, the LLP requires that persons hold and assign a license 
to each vessel that is used to fish in federally managed fisheries, 
with some limited exemptions. The preamble to the final rule 
implementing the groundfish LLP provides a more detailed explanation of 
the rationale for specific provisions in the LLP (October 1, 1998; 63 
FR 52642).
    A vessel participating in groundfish fisheries in Federal waters in 
the BSAI or the GOA is required to have an LLP license with the 
applicable area, gear, and operation type endorsements, and a 
sufficient maximum LOA. In 2023, there were a total of seven LLP 
licenses with a Bering Sea (BS) Pacific cod pot C/P endorsement. Of 
those seven LLP licenses, five LLP licenses also had an Aleutian 
Islands (AI) Pacific cod pot C/P endorsement. In 2023 there were a 
total of fifty LLP licenses with a BS Pacific cod pot C/V endorsement 
with a minimum LOA of equal to or greater than 60 ft. Of those fifty 
LLP licenses, two also had an AI Pacific cod pot C/V endorsement with a 
maximum LOA of equal to or greater than 60 ft.
    As it had in previous meetings over time, in June 2023, the Council 
received public testimony from participants in the BSAI Pacific cod pot 
C/V sector. These participants requested Council action to address 
factors that are negatively impacting fishery participants. These 
factors include: decreasing Pacific cod catch limits; an increase in 
the number of participating LLP licenses in the C/V sector; the 
potential for additional new participants in both the C/V sector and 
the CP sector; a race among existing participants (often in unsafe 
conditions) to harvest the available Pacific cod catch limits, 
resulting in an inability to control bycatch of crab; and increasingly 
shortened seasons in recent years.
    After considering this public testimony at the June meeting, the 
Council stated its intent to evaluate methods--including allocation of 
available Pacific cod, bycatch management, and cooperatives--for 
further limiting participation by CPs and C/Vs greater than or equal to 
60 ft LOA using pot gear in a future management action. To prevent 
speculative entry into these fishery sectors during this deliberative 
period, the Council announced a control date. The control date may be 
used as a cutoff or reference date for a future management action to 
further limit access to the BSAI Pacific cod pot gear C/P and C/V 
sectors. The Council is not obligated to use this control date in any 
future management action. Furthermore, this control date does not 
obligate the Council to take any action and does not prevent the 
Council from selecting another control date. Accordingly, this document 
is intended to promote awareness that the Council may develop a future 
management action to achieve its objectives for the BSAI Pacific cod 
pot C/Ps and C/Vs greater than or equal to 60 ft (18.3 m) LOA; to 
provide awareness to the public that new eligibility criteria for any 
current or future access to the Pacific cod pot gear fishery may be 
affected or restricted; and to discourage speculative participation and 
behavior in the fishery while the Council considers whether to initiate 
a management action to further limit access to this fishery. Any 
measures the Council considers may require changes to the FMP. Such 
measures may be adopted in a future amendment to the FMP, which would 
require a rulemaking action that includes opportunity for further 
public participation and comment.
    NMFS encourages public participation in the Council's consideration 
of a management action to further limit access to BSAI Pacific cod 
fishery. Please consult the Council's website (See ADDRESSES) for 
information on public participation in the Council's consideration of a 
management action. The Council will schedule review of information 
collected and analyses prepared for a future Council meeting or 
meetings.
    This notification and control date do not impose any legal 
obligations, requirements, or expectations.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-16230 Filed 7-31-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P