[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 220 (Thursday, November 16, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 78715-78717]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25222]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 231106-0262; RTID 0648-XD357]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish 
Fishery; 2024 and Projected 2025 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 Atlantic bluefish specifications for the 2024 
fishing year and projects specifications for fishing year 2025, as 
recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. This action 
is necessary to establish allowable harvest levels for the stock to 
prevent overfishing and promote rebuilding, using the best scientific 
information available. This rule also informs the public of the 
proposed fishery specifications and provides an opportunity for comment 
on the proposed action.

DATES: Comments must be received by December 1, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2023-0126, 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-2023-
0126'' 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 
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). If you are unable to submit your comment through https://www.regulations.gov, contact Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
[email protected].
    The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council prepared a draft 
environmental assessment (EA) for this action that describes the 
proposed measures and other considered alternatives. The EA also 
provides an economic analysis, as well as an analysis of the 
biological, economic, and social impacts of the proposed measures and 
other considered alternatives. Copies of the specifications document, 
including the EA, are available on 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/supporting-documents.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, (978) 281-9180.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States 
Marine Fisheries Commission jointly manage the Atlantic Bluefish 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The FMP requires the specification of 
annual regulatory limits for up to 3 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 bluefish specifications 
for the 2024 fishing year, and projects specifications for 2025, based 
on Council and Commission recommendations.
    Recent research track and management track assessments for bluefish 
(December 2022 and June 2023, respectively) determined that the stock 
is no longer overfished and overfishing is not occurring. However, the 
spawning stock biomass has not yet reached its target, so the fishery 
remains under its rebuilding plan. These proposed specifications would 
decrease the 2024 acceptable biological catch by 43 percent from 2023, 
based on recommendations from the Council's Scientific and Statistical 
Committee (SSC), results from these assessments, and the rebuilding 
plan for the stock.
    The Council's Bluefish Monitoring Committee recommended that no 
uncertainty buffers be applied to either the commercial or recreational 
sector in 2024 or 2025, but did recommend that commercial discards be 
accounted for in the specifications process beginning in fishing year 
2024. In prior years, commercial discards have been considered 
negligible, but with updated assessment information, it is recommended 
that discards from both sectors be included. Although the stock is no 
longer overfished and therefore transferring quota between recreational 
and commercial sectors is no longer prohibited by governing 
regulations, no sector quota transfer is recommended because the 
fishery is still under a rebuilding plan. The resulting 2024 
specifications would decrease the commercial quota by 43 percent, and 
the RHL by 15 percent from 2023. At their joint meeting in August 2023, 
the Council and the Commission's Bluefish Board reviewed and approved 
these specifications as recommended by the SSC and Monitoring 
Committee. No changes were recommended to recreational management 
measures (i.e., bag limits), as the average recreational harvest since 
2021 (11.54 million pounds (lb); 5,234 metric tons (mt)) remains below 
the proposed RHL for 2024 (11.96 million lb; 5,425 mt). Status quo 
recreational measures are also intended to promote continued stability 
and consistency in the fishery while minimizing the risk of an overage 
in the recreational sector.
    Although catch limits are decreasing, neither sector of the fishery 
is expected to be substantially impacted by this action. Harvest in 
both sectors has been decreasing in recent years; coastwide commercial 
landings have not exceeded 2.2 million lb (998 mt) in the last 3

[[Page 78716]]

years, and recreational harvest averaged 11.54 million lb (5,234 mt), 
both lower than the proposed future limits.

Proposed Specifications

    This action proposes the Council's recommendations for 2024 and 
projected 2025 bluefish catch specifications, which are consistent with 
the SSC and Monitoring Committee recommendations (Table 1). These 
proposed specifications would decrease catch limits in 2024 based on 
best available information from the recent assessments and the 
rebuilding plan, but increases to limits are projected in 2025. A 
comparison of the current 2023, proposed 2024, and projected 2025 
specifications is summarized below in Table 1. As previously mentioned, 
the Council did not recommend any changes to recreational management 
measures in these specifications, as the expected recreational landings 
under the existing measures are likely to achieve the proposed RHL 
without exceeding it. Therefore, all other Federal management measures, 
including commercial management measures, recreational season (open all 
year) and recreational fish size (none), would also remain unchanged 
under this action.

                                Table 1--Comparison of 2023, Proposed 2024, and Projected 2025 Bluefish Specifications *
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                                                                  2023 (Current)                  2024 (Proposed)                2025 (Projected)
                                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Million lb      Metric tons     Million lb      Metric tons     Million lb      Metric tons
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Overfishing Limit.......................................           45.17          20,490           25.87          11,734           27.49          12,467
ABC = Fishery ACL.......................................           30.62          13,890           17.48           7,929           21.83           9,903
Commercial ACL = Commercial ACT.........................            4.29           1,945            2.45           1,110            3.06           1,386
Recreational ACL = Recreational ACT.....................           26.34          11,945           15.03           6,819           18.78           8,517
Commercial Discards.....................................               0               0            0.02              11            0.02              11
Recreational Accountability Measures....................            5.59           2,536               0               0               0               0
Recreational Discards...................................            6.64           3,012            3.08           1,396            3.08           1,396
Commercial Total Allowable Landings (TAL)...............            4.29           1,945            2.42           1,099            3.03           1,375
Recreational TAL........................................           14.11           6,400           11.96           5,423           15.70           7,121
Sector Transfer.........................................               0               0               0               0               0               0
Commercial Quota........................................            4.29           1,945            2.42           1,099            3.03           1,375
RHL.....................................................           14.11           6,400           11.96           5,423           15.70           7,121
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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 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. Table 2 
provides the proposed commercial state allocations based on the 
Council-recommended coastwide commercial quotas for 2024 and 2025, and 
the phased-in changes to the percent share allocations to the states 
specified in Amendment 7. No states exceeded their allocated quota in 
2022, or are projected to do so in 2023; therefore, no accountability 
measures for the commercial fishery are required for the 2024 fishing 
year based on the data available at this time.

                                  Table 2--Proposed 2024 and Projected 2025 Bluefish State Commercial Quota Allocations
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                                                                          2024 (Proposed)                                2025 (Projected)
                          State                          -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Percent share    Quota (lb)      Quota (kg)     Percent share    Quota (lb)      Quota (kg)
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Maine...................................................            0.43          10,398           4,716            0.35          10,582           4,800
New Hampshire...........................................            0.33           7,983           3,621            0.30           9,123           4,138
Massachusetts...........................................            8.17         198,205          89,904            8.66         262,663         119,142
Rhode Island............................................            8.01         194,201          88,088            8.41         255,061         115,694
Connecticut.............................................            1.19          28,847          13,085            1.16          35,309          16,016
New York................................................           14.40         349,264         158,424           15.74         477,518         216,598
New Jersey..............................................           14.40         349,216         158,402           14.26         432,630         196,238
Delaware................................................            1.29          31,167          14,137            1.09          32,990          14,964
Maryland................................................            2.54          61,527          27,908            2.38          72,265          32,779
Virginia................................................            9.30         225,585         102,324            8.44         256,125         116,176
North Carolina..........................................           32.05         777,159         352,513           32.04         972,012         440,897
South Carolina..........................................            0.06           1,562             709            0.07           2,250           1,021
Georgia.................................................            0.05           1,195             542            0.06           1,897             860
Florida.................................................            7.80         189,071          85,761            7.04         213,625          96,899
                                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...............................................             100       2,425,085       1,100,000             100       3,033,561       1,376,000
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    The catch limits for 2025 were projected based on the new 
assessment data and the fourth year of the rebuilding plan model. The 
Council will review the projected 2025 specifications in light of any 
new information to determine if changes need to be made prior to their 
implementation. We will publish a notice prior to the 2025 fishing year 
to confirm these limits as projected or announce any necessary changes.

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery 
Conservation

[[Page 78717]]

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.
    NMFS finds that a 15-day comment period for this action provides a 
reasonable opportunity for public participation in this action pursuant 
to Administrative Procedure Act section 553(c) (5 U.S.C 553(c)), while 
also ensuring that the final specifications are in place for the start 
of the bluefish fishing year on January 1, 2024. Stakeholder and 
industry groups have been involved with the development of this action 
and have participated in public meetings throughout the past year. A 
prolonged comment period and subsequent potential delay in 
implementation past the start of the 2024 fishing year would be 
contrary to the public interest, as it could create confusion both in 
the bluefish industry around current quotas and with state agencies as 
they prepare their annual management measures.
    This action is exempt from review under Executive Order 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 specifications in conjunction with an EA. There 
are no proposed regulatory changes in this bluefish action, so none are 
considered in the evaluation. The proposed action would decrease the 
2024 ABC by 43 percent, the commercial quota by 43 percent, and the 
recreational harvest limit by 15 percent from 2023, consistent with the 
Mid-Atlantic Council SSC's recommendations, the results of the 2023 
management track assessment, and the rebuilding plan for the stock. 
This action proposes no changes to recreational management measures 
beyond annual catch limits, such as bag limits.
    This action would affect entities that participate in commercial 
bluefish fishing (those that hold commercial bluefish permits), and 
those with 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, 479 
commercial fishing affiliate firms landed bluefish during the 2020-2022 
period (the most recent and complete data available), with 473 of those 
commercial entities categorized as small businesses and 6 categorized 
as large businesses. Analyses indicate that bluefish revenues 
contributed less than two percent of the annual total gross receipts on 
average for those small businesses that landed bluefish in those years. 
For the recreational for-hire fishery, 412 for-hire affiliate firms 
generated revenues from recreational fishing for various species during 
2020-2022. 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.
    Overall, proposed specifications for 2024 and projected 
specifications for 2025 are expected to provide similar fishing 
opportunities when compared to the 2023 fishing year. Although catch 
limits are decreasing in both the commercial and recreational sectors 
under these specifications, this change is not expected to 
substantially change overall fishing activity, result in catch overages 
or revenue losses to industry, or substantially impact the bluefish 
fishery as a whole. Harvest in both sectors has been decreasing in 
recent years; coastwide commercial landings have not exceeded 2.2 
million lb (998 mt) in the last 3 years, and recreational harvest has 
averaged 11.54 million lb (5,234 mt), both lower than the proposed 2024 
limits of 2.4 million lb (1,099 mt) and 11.96 million lb (5,425 mt), 
respectively. Additionally, this action is expected to provide similar 
fishing opportunities in the recreational sector compared to the 
previous year, as there are no proposed changes to the management 
measures such as recreational bag limits, which are most limiting to 
fishery behavior. Finally, state quota allocations are still changing, 
as 2024 is the third year of the phased-in quota re-allocation 
implemented by Amendment 7 to the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan. 
Therefore, regionally, there may be different amounts of commercial 
quota available. 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 a substantial 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 economic 
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 9, 2023.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-25222 Filed 11-15-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P