[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 60 (Wednesday, March 27, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 21214-21215]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06534]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 622

[Docket No. 140819686-5999-02; RTID 0648-XD760]


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
2024 Commercial Accountability Measure and Catch Limit Reduction for 
Gag in the South Atlantic

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

ACTION: Temporary rule; commercial accountability measure.

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SUMMARY: NMFS implements an accountability measure (AM) for the 
commercial harvest of gag in South Atlantic Federal waters. NMFS has 
determined that commercial landings of gag exceeded the commercial 
annual catch limit (ACL) in 2023, and other triggers for the commercial 
AMs are met. Therefore, NMFS reduces the commercial ACL of gag in the 
2024 fishing year by the amount of gag landings that exceeded the 2023 
commercial ACL to protect the gag resource from overfishing and 
continue to allow the recovery of this overfished stock.

DATES: This temporary rule is effective on April 26, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Helies, NMFS Southeast Regional 
Office, telephone: 727-824-5305, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The snapper-grouper fishery of the South 
Atlantic includes gag and is managed under the Fishery Management Plan 
for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP). The 
FMP was prepared by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and 
NMFS, and is implemented by NMFS under the authority of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) 
by regulations at 50 CFR part 622. All weights in this temporary rule 
are in gutted weight.
    On October 23, 2023, NMFS implemented the final rule for Amendment 
53 to the FMP (88 FR 65135, September 21, 2023). Among other measures, 
Amendment 53 established a rebuilding plan for the gag stock, which is 
overfished and is included in the most recent Status of U.S. Fisheries 
Report to Congress (2022). The final rule specified the 2024 commercial 
ACL for gag at 128,096 pounds (lb) or 58,103 kilograms (kg) [50 CFR 
622.190(a)(7)(ii)].
    Regulations in Sec.  622.193(c)(1) state the AMs applicable to the 
commercial harvest of gag. The post-season AMs for the commercial 
sector state that NMFS will reduce the commercial ACL in the following 
fishing year by the amount of the commercial ACL overage in the 
previous year if the following criteria are also met: 1. the combined 
commercial and recreational ACL specified in Sec.  622.193(c)(3) is 
exceeded during the same fishing year, and 2. the gag stock is 
overfished based on the most recent Status of U.S. Fisheries Report to 
Congress [50 CFR 622.193(c)(1)(ii)].
    Also on the effective date of final rule for Amendment 53, NMFS 
closed the commercial harvest of gag for the remainder of the year 
because NMFS projected that commercial landings of gag had exceeded the 
new 2023 commercial ACL of 85,326 lb (38,703 kg) (88 FR 68497, October 
4, 2023). Current estimates of commercial landings of gag during 2023 
are 150,500 lb (68,266 kg). These preliminary landings exceed the 
recently implemented commercial ACL for gag by 65,174 lb (29,562 kg). 
Preliminary landings of gag by the recreational sector in 2023 are 
472,321 lb (214,241 kg) and the new 2023 recreational ACL was 90,306 lb 
(40,962 kg). Therefore, NMFS estimates that 2023 landings of gag 
exceeded the combined commercial and recreational ACL of 175,632 lb 
(79,665 kg).
    Because the criteria for gag post-season AMs are met, NMFS must 
reduce the commercial ACL in 2024 by the amount that commercial 
landings exceeded the commercial ACL during 2023. Therefore, NMFS 
reduces the commercial ACL for gag in 2024 to 62,922 lb (28,541 kg).

[[Page 21215]]

Classification

    NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 622.193(c)(1)(ii), which 
was issued pursuant to section 304(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and 
is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.
    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), there is good cause to waive prior 
notice and an opportunity for public comment on this action, as notice 
and comment are unnecessary and contrary to the public interest. Such 
procedures are unnecessary because the rule that established the 
commercial ACLs and AMs for gag have already been subject to notice and 
comment, and all that remains is to notify the public of the reduced 
commercial ACL for 2024. Such procedures are contrary to the public 
interest because of the need to protect the gag resource and to provide 
advance notice to commercial fishermen of the change to the commercial 
ACL for gag.

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

    Dated: March 22, 2024.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-06534 Filed 3-26-24; 8:45 am]
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