[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 23, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 59678-59681]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-16111]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 240717-0198]
RIN 0648-BM79


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; 2024-2026 
Specifications for the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery 
Management Plan

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS approves and implements the 2024-2026 specifications for 
the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan, as 
recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. This final 
rule sets the 2024 Illex and longfin squid specifications, and projects 
the 2025 Illex and 2025-2026 longfin squid specifications. This rule 
also reaffirms the 2024 butterfish and Atlantic chub mackerel 
specifications and the previously published projected 2025 chub 
mackerel specifications. These specifications establish allowable 
harvest levels that will prevent overfishing, consistent with the most 
recent scientific information.

DATES: Effective August 22, 2024.

ADDRESSES: A Supplemental Information Report (SIR) was prepared for 
these specifications. Copies of the SIR and other relevant 
environmental documentation 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. 
The SIR is also accessible via the internet at https://www.mafmc.org/supporting-documents.
    Copies of the small entity compliance guide are available from 
Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, NMFS, Greater Atlantic 
Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 
01930-2298, or available on the internet at https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maria Fenton, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
(978) 281-9196.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

General Background

    The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) manages 
Atlantic mackerel, Illex squid, longfin squid, butterfish, and Atlantic 
chub mackerel under the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP). The regulations implementing the FMP at 50 CFR 
part 648, subpart B, require the Council's Mackerel, Squid, and 
Butterfish Monitoring Committee to develop specification 
recommendations for each species based upon the acceptable biological 
catch (ABC) advice of the Council's Scientific and Statistical 
Committee (SSC). The ABC is the level of catch that accounts for 
scientific uncertainty in the estimate of the stock's defined 
overfishing limit (OFL). Specifications are the combined suite of 
commercial and recreational catch levels and management measures 
necessary to prevent such catch levels from being exceeded. Mackerel, 
Squid, and Butterfish FMP regulations require the specification of 
annual catch limits (ACL) and accountability measure (AM) provisions 
for butterfish and chub mackerel. Both squid species are exempt from 
the ACL/AM requirements because they have a life cycle of less than 1 
year. In addition, the regulations require the specification of 
domestic annual harvest (DAH), the butterfish mortality cap in the 
longfin squid fishery, and initial optimum yield (IOY) for both squid 
species. As part of this process, the Council sets specifications for 
up to 3 years. These specifications are reviewed annually and may be 
revised by the Council based on updated information.
    On July 27, 2023 (88 FR 48389), NMFS published a final rule in the 
Federal Register implementing 2023 specifications for the chub 
mackerel, butterfish, longfin squid, and Illex squid fisheries. This 
included projected 2024 butterfish specifications and projected 2024-
2025 chub mackerel specifications. The Council's SSC met in March, May, 
and July 2023 to consider the 2024 longfin squid, Illex squid, chub 
mackerel, and butterfish specifications based upon the latest 
information. At those meetings, the SSC concluded that no adjustments 
to these species' ABCs were warranted. The Council finalized its 
recommendations for the 2024 Illex and longfin squid specifications and 
projected 2025 Illex and 2025-2026 longfin squid specifications during 
its April and August 2023 meetings. The Council reaffirmed the 2024 
butterfish and 2024 and projected 2025 Atlantic chub mackerel 
specifications during its June 2023 meeting. During its December 2023 
meeting, the Council also finalized recommendations for the 2024 and 
projected 2025 Atlantic mackerel specifications; however, those 
specifications were recently finalized through a separate final rule 
due to additional timing concerns (89 FR 25820, April 12, 2024).

Final 2024 and Projected 2025 Illex Squid Specifications

    The final 2024 and projected 2025 Illex squid specifications are 
identical to what was in place in 2023, in alignment with the Council's 
recommendation (table 1). NMFS and the Council will review the Illex 
squid specifications during future annual specifications processes 
following data updates each spring. The 2025 specifications projected 
here could change based on new information.

[[Page 59679]]



                        Table 1--Final 2024 and Projected 2025 Illex Squid Specifications
                                                      [mt]
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                                                                                                       2025
                                 Specification                                        2024         (projected)
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OFL...........................................................................          Unknown          Unknown
ABC...........................................................................           40,000           40,000
Commercial Discard Set-Aside..................................................    1,369 (3.42%)    1,369 (3.42%)
Initial optimum yield (IOY)...................................................           38,631           38,631
Domestic annual harvest (DAH)/domestic annual processing (DAP)................           38,631           38,631
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Final 2024 and Projected 2025-2026 Longfin Squid Specifications

    The final 2024 and projected 2025-2026 longfin squid specifications 
are nearly identical to what was in place in 2023, in alignment with 
the Council's recommendation. The only change is a slight increase in 
the longfin squid discard rate (from 2 percent to 2.16 percent). The 
background for this change is discussed in the proposed rule to 
implement these specifications (89 FR 28713, April 19, 2024), and 
therefore is not repeated here. The longfin squid IOY, DAH, and DAP are 
calculated by deducting a discard set-aside, calculated using the 
discard rate, from the ABC. The 0.16-percent increase in the discard 
rate results in a 0.17-percent decrease in the commercial quota (table 
2). NMFS and the Council will review the longfin squid specifications 
during future annual specifications processes following data updates 
each spring. The 2025-2026 specifications projected here could change 
based on new information.

                    Table 2--Final 2024 and Projected 2025-2026 Longfin Squid Specifications
                                                      [mt]
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                                                                                                    2025-2026
                                 Specification                                        2024         (projected)
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OFL...........................................................................          Unknown          Unknown
ABC...........................................................................           23,400           23,400
Commercial Discard Set-Aside..................................................    506.3 (2.16%)    506.3 (2.16%)
IOY...........................................................................         22,893.7         22,893.7
DAH/DAP.......................................................................         22,893.7         22,893.7
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    The percentage of the longfin squid quota allocated to each 
trimester during 2024-2026 remains unchanged from what was in place in 
2023 (table 3).

                          Table 3--2024-2026 Longfin Squid Quota Trimester Allocations
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                                   Trimester                                        Percent        Metric tons
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I (Jan-Apr)...................................................................               43          9,844.3
II (May-Aug)..................................................................               17          3,891.9
III (Sep-Dec).................................................................               40          9,157.5
                                                                               ---------------------------------
    Total.....................................................................              100         22,893.7
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Reaffirmation of 2024 Butterfish Specifications

    As part of the final rule implementing 2023-2025 specifications for 
the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP (88 FR 48389, July 27, 2023), 
NMFS projected 2024 butterfish specifications that would decrease the 
ABC and available quota by 12.7 percent relative to 2023. Even with 
this reduction, the projected 2024 butterfish quota was still above 
recent catch levels. This final rule reaffirms the previously projected 
2024 butterfish specifications, in alignment with the Council's 
recommendation, as no new information suggests a need to change.

           Table 4--Reaffirmed 2024 Butterfish Specifications
                                  [mt]
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                      Specification                            2024
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OFL.....................................................          16,096
ABC/ACL.................................................          15,764
Annual Catch Target (ACT)...............................          14,976
Assumed Discards........................................           1,248
Total Discard Set-Aside (All Sources)...................           5,132
Butterfish Cap in Longfin Fishery.......................           3,884
DAH.....................................................           9,844
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[[Page 59680]]

    The percentage of the butterfish mortality cap allocated to the 
longfin squid fishery during each trimester in 2024 remains unchanged 
from what was in place during 2023 (table 5).

             Table 5--2024 Allocation of the Butterfish Mortality Cap Among Longfin Squid Trimesters
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                                   Trimester                                        Percent        Metric tons
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I (Jan-Apr)...................................................................               43            1,670
II (May-Aug)..................................................................               17              660
III (Sep-Dec).................................................................               40            1,554
                                                                               ---------------------------------
    Total.....................................................................              100            3,844
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Reaffirmation of 2024 and Projected 2025 Atlantic Chub Mackerel 
Specifications

    Amendment 21 to the FMP implemented chub mackerel specifications 
for the 2020-2022 fishing years (85 FR 47103, August 4, 2020). The 
Council reevaluated these specifications during its June 2022 meeting 
and decided to make no adjustments for the 2023-2025 fishing years. The 
Council reevaluated these specifications again during its June 2023 
meeting and decided to make no adjustments for the 2024 fishing year. 
This final rule reaffirms the previously projected 2024 specifications, 
and projects the 2025 chub mackerel specifications, in alignment with 
the Council's recommendation (table 6). No new information suggests a 
need to change the specifications for 2024. The 2025 specifications 
projected here could change based on new information.

                    Table 6--Reaffirmed 2024 and Projected 2025 Chub Mackerel Specifications
                                                      [mt]
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                                                                                                       2025
                                 Specification                                        2024         (projected)
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ABC...........................................................................            2,300            2,300
ACL...........................................................................            2,262            2,262
ACT...........................................................................            2,171            2,171
                                                                               ---------------------------------
    Total Allowable Landings..................................................            2,041            2,041
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Proposed Rule Comments

    We published a proposed rule for the 2024-2026 specifications on 
April 19, 2024 (89 FR 28713), and the public comment period ended on 
May 20, 2024. We did not receive any public comments on the proposed 
rule.

Changes From the Proposed Rule

    There are no changes being made to the proposed specifications. 
However, this final rule contains several corrections and an additional 
table that did not appear in the proposed rule.
    The 2024 Illex squid specifications shown in table 3 in the 
proposed rule are correct. However, the proposed rule text incorrectly 
stated that the discard rate used to calculate the Illex squid discard 
set-aside in 2024 is lower than rate that was used in 2023, resulting 
in a lower 2024 commercial discard set-aside and a higher commercial 
quota. The recommended 2024 specifications (including the discard rate, 
the discard set-aside, and the commercial quota) are identical to what 
was in place in 2023. This final rule clarifies that there are no 
changes in the 2024 Illex squid specifications relative to 2023.
    The 2024-2026 longfin squid quota trimester allocations shown as 
percentages (column 2) in table 2 in the proposed rule are correct. 
However, the allocations shown as metric tons (column 3) in table 2 are 
incorrect. Those tonnages were calculated based on the 2023 commercial 
quota (22,932 mt) instead of the 2024 commercial quota (22,893.7 mt). 
Table 3 in this final rule corrects these calculations.
    The proposed rule did not contain a table showing the 2024 
allocation of the butterfish mortality cap among longfin squid 
trimesters. Table 5 was added to this final rule to provide that 
information along with the rest of the specifications.

Classification

    NMFS is issuing this rule pursuant to section 305(d) of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act. Consistent with Magnuson-Stevens Act section 
305(d), this action is necessary to carry out the Mackerel, Squid, and 
Butterfish FMP in accordance with the FMP's implementing regulations. 
The NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this final rule is 
consistent with the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP, other 
provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law.
    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order (E.O.) 12866.
    This final rule does not contain policies with federalism or 
``takings'' implication, as those terms are defined in E.O. 13132 and 
E.O. 12630, respectively.
    This final rule does not contain any changes to collection-of-
information requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. The 
existing collection of information requirements would continue to apply 
under OMB Control Number: 0648-0229, Greater Atlantic Region Dealer 
Purchase Reports.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration (SBA) during the proposed rule stage that this action 
would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 
small entities. The factual basis for the certification was published 
in the proposed rule and is not repeated here. No comments were 
received regarding this certification. As a result, a final regulatory 
flexibility analysis was not required and none was prepared.

[[Page 59681]]

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648

    Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: July 17, 2024.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-16111 Filed 7-22-24; 8:45 am]
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