[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 76 (Thursday, April 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27715-27716]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-08263]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XD138]


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Essential Fish Habitat 5-Year 
Review

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

ACTION: Notice of availability; notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the availability of the Final Atlantic Highly 
Migratory Species (HMS) Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) 5-Year Review 
(Final HMS EFH 5-Year Review) and intent to initiate Amendment 17 to 
the 2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to modify HMS 
EFH descriptions and designations. The purpose of the Final HMS EFH 5-
Year Review is to gather relevant new information and determine whether 
modifications to existing EFH descriptions and designations are 
warranted, in compliance with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and 
implementing regulations. NMFS has determined that modifications to EFH 
descriptions and designations are warranted.

DATES: The Final HMS EFH 5-Year Review will be available on April 18, 
2024. Data contributions for inclusion in Draft Amendment 17 to the 
2006 Consolidated HMS FMP must be received by July 17, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of information related to the Final HMS 
EFH 5-Year Review, including the Final HMS EFH 5-Year Review, may be 
obtained on the HMS Management Division website at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/essential-fish-habitat-5-year-review-0.
    Please submit data contributions via email to 
[email protected] with the subject ``Atlantic HMS Amendment 17 
Data.'' See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for additional 
details on data contributions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Cudney, 
[email protected], at 727-824-5399, or Ann Williamson, 
[email protected], at 301-427-8503.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Atlantic HMS fisheries (tunas, billfish, 
swordfish, and sharks) are managed under 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 
its amendments pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et 
seq.) and consistent with the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA; 16 
U.S.C. 971 et seq.). HMS implementing regulations are at 50 CFR part 
635.
    The Magnuson-Stevens Act includes provisions concerning the 
identification and conservation of EFH (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.). EFH is 
defined in 50 CFR 600.10 as ``those waters and substrate necessary to 
fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity.'' NMFS 
must identify and describe EFH, minimize to the extent practicable the 
adverse effects of fishing on EFH, and identify other actions to 
encourage the conservation and enhancement of EFH (Sec.  600.815(a)). 
EFH maps are presented online in the NMFS EFH Mapper (https://www.habitat.noaa.gov/apps/efhmapper/). The most recently available EFH 
shapefiles may be downloaded from the EFH Data Inventory (https://www.habitat.noaa.gov/protection/efh/newInv/index.html). Federal 
agencies that authorize, fund, or undertake actions that may adversely 
affect EFH must consult with NMFS, and NMFS must provide conservation 
recommendations to Federal and state agencies regarding any such 
actions (Sec.  600.815(a)(9)).
    Under the current 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP as amended, NMFS uses a 
two-phase process to review and consider updates to HMS EFH. Phase 1 
includes the development of a draft 5-year review, the public comment 
process, and the publication of a final 5-year review. Phase 1 is 
initiated approximately 5 years after publication

[[Page 27716]]

of the last HMS EFH review and update of HMS EFH (i.e., Amendment 10 to 
the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP (Amendment 10) (82 FR 42329, September 7, 
2017)). This final 5-year review document constitutes the last part of 
Phase 1. If no new information is found to warrant updating all or 
certain components of HMS EFH, then we may choose to retain the 
previously designated HMS EFH. However, if updates are warranted, we 
would initiate Phase 2 of this process, which may include an action to 
implement the recommended updates. The type of follow-up action depends 
on the outcomes of the 5-year review (i.e., whether it is a simple 
update, or if it requires an FMP amendment or rulemaking).
    EFH 5-year reviews evaluate published scientific literature, 
unpublished scientific reports, information solicited from interested 
parties, and previously unavailable or inaccessible data. NMFS 
announced the initiation of this review and solicited information for 
this review from the public in a Federal Register notice on April 5, 
2022 (87 FR 19667). The initial public review/submission period ended 
on June 6, 2023. NMFS released the Draft HMS 5-Year Review and 
solicited public comments on the draft in a Federal Register notice on 
May 4, 2023 (88 FR 28531). The public comment period for the Draft HMS 
EFH 5-Year Review ended on July 3, 2023.
    The final document, developed as part of Phase 1, considers fishing 
effects, non-fishing effects, environmental changes, and management 
changes for all HMS, which include tunas (bluefin, bigeye, albacore, 
yellowfin, and skipjack), sharks, swordfish, and billfishes (blue 
marlin, white marlin, sailfish, roundscale spearfish, and longbill 
spearfish). It analyzes new information and data not previously 
included in recent updates to Atlantic HMS EFH, or has become available 
since publication of our previous EFH action (Amendment 10).
    NMFS analyzed the information gathered through the EFH review 
process in this final 5-year review and determined that revision of EFH 
is warranted. As such, NMFS will initiate Phase 2, which will include 
the development of Amendment 17 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP. In 
reviewing literature since 2017, new data and scientific information 
emerged for certain HMS that warrant revision to those species' EFH 
geographic boundaries. For other HMS, new data and scientific 
information were either unavailable or it was determined that the new 
data and scientific information did not warrant revisions to their EFH 
geographic boundaries. However, in Amendment 17, NMFS will also review 
and, if necessary, update EFH boundaries based on data added to 
existing EFH datasets (e.g., observer, survey, and tag/recapture 
databases) since publication of the previous 5-year review in 2015 and/
or Final Amendment 10 in 2017.
    The 5-year review process (including public comment) has indicated 
that updates to the methodology used to designate EFH geographic 
boundaries are appropriate. The current EFH methodology was first 
applied in Amendment 1 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP in 2009, and 
HMS EFH geographic boundaries have not been updated using this 
methodology since Amendment 10. Minor technical changes to the kernel 
density estimation methodologies will be implemented to reduce bias 
that results from how multiple, discrete datasets are combined into one 
composite data structure. This 5-year review also identified a method 
to compare oceanographic data to point data, in order to derive a 
series of habitat metrics for each species and environmental variable. 
This information can be used to increase the specificity of EFH text 
descriptions for species, if appropriate.
    The Final HMS EFH 5-Year Review analyzed whether updates to 
analyses concerning fishing and non-fishing activities, including 
impacts of climate change, were warranted. New scientific information 
concerning adverse effects of fishing on EFH was not identified. NMFS 
therefore recommends that no substantive changes be made to the 
evaluation of those effects included in the 2017 EFH review and update. 
However, the 2017 EFH review and update included a spatial analysis of 
observer data to evaluate bottom longline interactions with coral. This 
analysis should be updated in Phase 2 to incorporate any new 
information that might be available from the observer program.
    As part of this 5-year review process, NMFS analyzed the scientific 
literature to identify new activities that could adversely affect EFH 
and to determine whether updates to previously analyzed activities that 
adversely affect EFH were warranted. NMFS did not identify scientific 
information suggesting the need to include new activities (i.e., those 
not previously analyzed) that adversely affect EFH in the HMS FMP. 
However, there was new scientific information on many of the previously 
analyzed activities which could be incorporated into the FMP. 
Additionally, potential new actions to encourage conservation and 
enhancement of EFH adversely affected by marine sand and minerals 
mining, aquaculture, and renewable energy production were identified.
    As part of this 5-year review process, NMFS analyzed the scientific 
literature to identify information relevant to Habitat Areas of 
Particular Concern (HAPC). NMFS did not identify scientific information 
or data suggesting that existing HAPCs should be changed or removed. 
However, it is likely that NMFS will reevaluate EFH boundaries for the 
species in Phase 2 based on the availability of seven more years of 
published literature, data and other information since publication of 
the previous 5-year review in 2015 and/or Final Amendment 10 in 2017. 
Existing boundaries of HAPCs may also need to be evaluated and changed 
to ensure they fall within any adjustments of HMS EFH. Based on the 
results of this 5-year review, NMFS recommends further consideration of 
a new HAPC for white sharks in the New York Bight.
    As Phase 2 of this process, Amendment 17 to the 2006 Consolidated 
HMS FMP, will consider all 10 EFH components, including individual 
species EFH descriptions, EFH conservation and enhancement 
recommendations for fishing and non-fishing effects on EFH, and 
identification of HAPCs, as well as scientific feedback and public 
comment. NMFS is seeking data contributions for Phase 2 of the EFH 
review process, the development of Draft Amendment 17 to the 2006 
Consolidated HMS FMP. Data contributions will be considered for 
inclusion in analyses used to update HMS EFH boundaries, and should 
include the following information: species name, date and time, 
geographic location information, tag information (if any), length, 
weight, sex, and life stage information.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: April 12, 2024.
Everett Wayne Baxter,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-08263 Filed 4-17-24; 8:45 am]
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