[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 183 (Friday, September 22, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 65356-65358]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20511]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 665
[Docket No. 230918-0221]
RIN 0648-BM34
Pacific Island Fisheries; 5-Year Extension of Moratorium on
Harvest of Gold Corals
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 extend the current region-wide
moratorium on the harvest of gold corals in the U.S. Pacific Islands
through June 30, 2028. NMFS intends this proposed rule to prevent
overfishing and to stimulate research on gold corals.
DATES: NMFS must receive comments by October 23, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by
NOAA-NMFS-2023-0071, by either 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-2023-0071 in the Search box.
Click on the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter
or attach your comments.
Mail: Send written comments to Sarah Malloy, Acting
Regional Administrator, NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO),
1845 Wasp Blvd., Bldg. 176, Honolulu, HI 96818.
Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period,
will not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are a part of the
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on
https://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).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pua Borges, NMFS PIRO Sustainable
Fisheries, 808-725-5184.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Jewelry designers use small amounts of
precious corals to adorn their products. The precious corals fishery in
the U.S. Pacific Islands include black, pink, bamboo, and gold corals.
They are slow-growing and have low rates of natural mortality and
recruitment. Unexploited populations are relatively stable, and a wide
range of age classes is generally present in those populations. Due to
the great longevity of individuals and the associated slow population
turnover rates, a long period of reduced fishing effort is required to
restore a stock's ability to produce at the maximum sustainable yield
if a stock has been over-exploited. Fishermen harvest precious corals
by various methods, including by hand-harvesting and by submersible.
Gold corals are suspension feeders and live in deep water (100-
1,500 meters (m)) on hard substrates where bottom currents are strong,
such as seamounts, ledges, pinnacles, walls, and cliffs. Prior fishing
effort harvested gold corals by submersible or tangle net dredges.
There are several beds of gold corals (Gerardia spp., Callogorgia
gilberti, Narella spp., and Calyptrophora spp.) in the U.S. Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ; generally 3-200 nautical miles (6-370 kilometers)
from shore) around Hawaii. Gold coral distribution and abundance are
unknown in the region beyond Hawaii, but they likely occur in the EEZ
around American
[[Page 65357]]
Samoa, the Mariana Archipelago (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands (CNMI) and Guam), and the Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA;
Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Wake Atoll, Johnston
Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, and Palmyra Atoll).
NMFS and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council)
manage precious coral fisheries in the U.S. Pacific Islands under
fishery ecosystem plans (FEPs) for American Samoa, Hawaii, the Mariana
Archipelago, and the PRIA. The FEPs and associated Federal regulations
at 50 CFR part 665 require permits and data reporting, and allow
harvesting of precious corals only with selective gear (e.g.,
submersibles, remotely-operated vehicles, or by hand). There are also
bed-specific quotas, refuges from fishing, and size limits. The fishery
for gold corals, like most deepwater precious corals other than black
corals in Hawaii, has remained dormant since 2001.
The Council considered past and current research on gold corals
growth rates and recruitment. Past research on gold corals indicated
that the linear growth rate of gold corals is approximately 6.6
centimeters/year, suggesting a relatively young age for large coral
colonies of up to 70 years. However, updated research using radiocarbon
dating revealed that gold corals in Hawaii may live much longer than
previously believed, from 450-2,740 years. Because of these
uncertainties, the Council and NMFS established a 5-year moratorium on
harvesting gold corals in 2008 (73 FR 47098, August 13, 2008).
Subsequently, additional research offered new but potentially
conflicting information about gold coral growth. A study in 2009
estimated that linear growth of gold coral could be 2.2 cm/year but was
unable to measure discernable growth during repeated measurements of
live colonies with submersibles. This research also identified
previously unknown habitat requirements for gold coral, specifically
that gold corals may depend on bamboo corals to provide required
substrate for gold coral larvae. In light of these additional
uncertainties, the Council and NMFS extended the moratorium for another
5 years in 2013 (78 FR 32181, May 29, 2013) and in 2018 (83 FR 27716,
June 14, 2018). These moratoria have prevented the potential for
overharvesting gold corals if a fishery had re-emerged, and they have
allowed for research on gold coral biology. The current moratorium
expired on June 30, 2023.
Uncertainties in scientific data have not been satisfactorily
resolved, and NMFS has not incorporated new information into estimates
of sustainable harvest rates. Research in 2019 provided information on
the slow development of Pacific deep-water precious coral communities,
highlighting the limited recovery potential of gold coral if
overharvested and the need to better understand the life history of the
species and deep-sea coral ecology. The Council continues to be
concerned about uncertainties related to the growth rates and habitat
requirements for gold coral, and recognizes that fishery managers need
more research to inform appropriate measures for this fishery. This
proposed rule, if adopted, would extend the moratorium through June 30,
2028. The proposed action would prevent the potential for overfishing
and allow time for further research on gold corals that could inform
sustainable management models and for the Council to consider a long-
term management strategy that will ensure the sustainability of the
fishery.
NMFS must receive any public comments on this proposed rule by the
close of business on October 23, 2023 and will not consider late
comments.
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 FEPs for American Samoa, the PRIA, Hawaii, and the
Mariana Archipelago, other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 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.
Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) Certification of Finding of No
Significant Impact on Substantial Number of Small Entities
The RFA of 1980, as amended (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), required
Federal agencies to determine to the extent feasible, the economic
impact of their regulations on small entities and explore alternatives
for reducing any significant economic impacts on a substantial number
of such entities. 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 proposed rule would extend the current gold coral harvest
moratorium for 5 years. The current moratorium expired on June 30,
2023. The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council)
recommended extending the moratorium through June 30, 2028. Extending
the moratorium for another 5 years would ensure that no harvesting of
gold corals takes place and would allow time for additional research
that could inform future management decisions regarding sustainable
harvest of this resource.
The proposed action could potentially affect an entity possessing a
Federal Western Pacific precious corals permit, because, without the
moratorium, these entities could obtain a permit to harvest or land
gold corals in addition to black, bamboo, pink, and red corals. Only
one entity, based in the State of Hawaii, possessed a precious corals
permit from 2013 until 2019 and no entity possessed a precious coral
permit after 2019. NMFS believes that this entity would be considered a
small entity under the small business size standard that NMFS
established, for RFA purposes only, for businesses, including their
affiliates, whose primary industry is commercial fishing, because the
permit holder is engaged in the commercial fishing industry(NAICS
11411), is independently owned or operated, is not dominant in their
field of operation, and has annual gross receipts not in excess of $11
million (50 CFR 200.2).
It is unlikely that the permit holder would begin to harvest gold
corals in the absence of a moratorium. The Pacific Islands gold coral
fishery had already been dormant when the moratorium initially went
into effect in 2008. The moratorium had been extended every five years
thereafter, so the gold coral fishery has remained closed.
Historically, gold coral harvesting had occurred infrequently. In the
late 1970s, one company used a manned submersible to selectively take
several thousand kilograms of gold coral off Eastern Oahu, Hawaii. From
1999-2001, a second company used a submersible to take a small amount
of gold coral, along with other deepwater precious corals, from
exploratory areas off Hawaii. The final year of gold coral harvest was
in 2001. Furthermore, this fishery is still characterized by high
equipment and operating costs, continued safety concerns and other
logistical constraints, and gold coral market prices are not high
enough to offset those risks and expenses. Because of these challenges,
interest in this fishery will likely remain low even
[[Page 65358]]
without the moratorium. Therefore, extending the moratorium on gold
coral harvests will not likely cause immediate economic impact to any
potential Western Pacific precious corals permit holder.
The proposed rule does not duplicate, overlap, or conflict with
other Federal rules and is not expected to have significant impact on
small entities (as discussed above), organizations or government
jurisdictions. There does not appear to be disproportionate economic
impacts from the proposed rule based on home port, gear type, or
relative vessel size.
For the reasons described above, this proposed rule would not have
a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities. Therefore, an initial regulatory flexibility analysis is not
required, and none has been prepared.
This proposed rule contains no information collection requirements
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 665
Administrative practice and procedure, American Samoa, Deep sea
coral, Fisheries, Fishing, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands,
Pacific Remote Island Areas, Precious coral.
Dated: September 18, 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 665 as follows:
PART 665--FISHERIES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC
0
1. The authority citation for 50 CFR part 665 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
0
2. Revise Sec. 665.169 to read as follows:
Sec. 665.169 Gold coral harvest moratorium.
Fishing for, taking, or retaining any gold coral in any precious
coral permit area is prohibited through June 30, 2028.
0
3. Revise Note 2 to Sec. 665.269 to read as follows:
Sec. 665.269 Annual Catch Limits (ACL).
* * * * *
(c) * * *
Note 2 to Sec. 665.269: A moratorium on gold coral harvesting
is in effect through June 30, 2028.
0
4. Revise Sec. 665.270 to read as follows:
Sec. 665.270 Gold coral harvest moratorium.
Fishing for, taking, or retaining any gold coral in any precious
coral permit area is prohibited through June 30, 2028.
0
5. Revise Sec. 665.469 to read as follows:
Sec. 665.469 Gold coral harvest moratorium.
Fishing for, taking, or retaining any gold coral in any precious
coral permit area is prohibited through June 30, 2028.
0
6. Revise Sec. 665.669 to read as follows:
Sec. 665.669 Gold coral harvest moratorium.
Fishing for, taking, or retaining any gold coral in any precious
coral permit area is prohibited through June 30, 2028.
[FR Doc. 2023-20511 Filed 9-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P