[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 53 (Thursday, March 20, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13149-13150]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04801]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XE736]
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic
Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary
determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application
contains all of the required information and warrants further
consideration. The EFP would allow federally permitted fishing vessels
to fish outside fishery regulations in support of exempted fishing
activities proposed by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries
(MA DMF). Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for
proposed EFPs.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 4, 2025.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by the following method:
Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject line
``MA DMF herring genomics EFP''.
All comments received are a part of the public record and may be
posted for public viewing without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address), confidential business information,
or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender
will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter
``anonymous'' as the signature if you wish to remain anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Trudeau, Fishery Resource
Management Specialist, [email protected], 978-281-9252.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The applicant submitted a complete
application for an EFP to conduct commercial fishing activities that
the regulations would otherwise restrict. This EFP would exempt the
participating vessels from the following Federal regulations:
Table 1--Requested Exemptions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CFR citation Regulation Need for exemption
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50 CFR 648.201(d)(1).......... No harvest in To allow harvest in
Area 1A during Area 1A during April
January-May. and May.
Sec. 648.202(a)(1).......... Restriction on To allow use of
midwater midwater trawl in
trawling from Area 1A during June-
June 1 to September.
September 30 in
Area 1A.
Sec. 648.80(a)(3)(vi)....... Restrictions on To allow use of small
fishing in Gulf mesh bottom trawl in
of Maine (GOM) GOM and GB Regulated
and Georges Bank Mesh Areas.
(GB) Exemption
Areas.
Sec. 648.81(d)(1)........... Seasonal gear To allow use of small
restrictions in mesh bottom trawl
GOM Cod during April-
Protection November in GOM Cod
Closures. Protection Closure
Areas, excluding
year-round
groundfish closed
areas.
[[Page 13150]]
Sec. 648.11, but not to Monitoring Sampling trips will
include 648.11(m)(2). coverage. be non-
representative of
the herring fishery
and could negatively
affect NEFOP data
quality. As stated
in 648.11(m)(2), the
participating
vessels are still
required to submit
pre-trip
notifications.
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Project Narrative
The MA DMF is requesting an EFP in support of a study developing a
genomic tool to evaluate the genomic population structure of Atlantic
herring. The current system of herring management sets area-specific
annual catch limits (ACL) based on estimates of spawning component
abundance and seasonal mixing rates. These estimates have not been
updated since implementation of the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management
Plan in 2000. This study is intended to improve scientific
understanding of the contributions of genetically distinct sub-
populations to herring stocks in U.S. waters and, therefore, may allow
fisheries managers to update area-specific ACLs to reflect their
spawning components.
Sampling for this study would begin upon approval and end by
December 31, 2025. This EFP would authorize 3 fishing vessels to retain
a total of 3,000 adult herring (approximately 970 pounds (lb); 440
kilograms (kg)) during the spring and fall spawning seasons from 5
spawning grounds: Eastern Gulf of Maine; Western Gulf of Maine;
Jeffreys Ledge; the Great South Channel; and Georges Bank. The vessel
sampling the Eastern Gulf of Maine and Western Gulf of Maine areas
would primarily use midwater trawl gear with the option of switching to
purse seine. The two vessels fishing Jeffreys Ledge, the Great South
Channel, and Georges Bank would use small-mesh bottom trawl gear. These
vessels are expected to spend approximately 20 days on the water to
conduct sampling in 5 areas twice in both the fall and spring seasons.
Spring sampling would take place in April and May, and fall sampling
would occur from August to November. During each trip, the project team
plans to conduct short, 5-60-minute tows to catch and retain 150 adult
herring from each area sampled. If more than 150 herring are captured,
the crew would continue to retain herring until they have no more space
in their insulated cooler. The cooler would hold a maximum of
approximately 300 herring, and any further captures would then be
discarded.
After sampling, the research team would use low-coverage, whole-
genome sequencing to identify a panel of small genetic differences that
can reliably differentiate between herring sub-populations. Through
peer-reviewed publication on their genomic tool and their findings
regarding Atlantic herring genomic population structure, the research
team may enable fishery managers to update area-specific ACLs to
support the sustainable harvest of each spawning component.
Genomic tools require relatively small sample sizes. The project
team proposes to harvest a total of 970 lb (440 kg) of Atlantic herring
over no more than 20 sampling trips, which is 15 percent of the 6,600-
lb (2,993-kg) possession limit associated with an Open Access Category
D Permit. Because the project requires sampling spawning herring,
vessels would sample during the areas' fall spawning closures. Although
MA DMF plans to conduct tows between 30 and 60 minutes, vessel
operators would plan to capture sufficient samples with the least
amount of fishing effort possible, including tows as short as 5
minutes. Technologies such as net-mounted echosounders, for example,
would be used to identify herring entering the net and, therefore,
signal operators to end the tow early. Because of the low amount of
fishing effort that this sampling would require, discards of
incidentally captured species are expected to be relatively low, around
10,000 lb (4,536 kg) total over 20 trips. Based on observer data from
the same areas and gears, the highest volume of bycatch is expected to
be of silver hake, with expected discards of around 7,000 lb (3,176
kg).
The applicants state that the exemption allowing vessels to fish in
GOM Cod Protection Closure Areas is necessary for sampling herring in
the Jeffreys Ledge spawning area. Based on existing observer data and
the project team's knowledge of herring spawning locations, they are
expecting to cause nearly-zero Atlantic cod bycatch mortality during
their sampling. Based on observer data collected from vessels fishing
in the same statistical areas using the same gear, the research team
expects this sampling to catch a total of 4.4 lb (2.0 kg) cod. In
addition, the research team expects to catch herring in deeper water
and softer substrate than where cod are abundant and/or spawning.
Finally, the research team has previously measured a 93-percent
survival rate for cod captured using short tows with bottom trawl gear
(Zemeckis et al., 2019). Therefore, although a very small amount of cod
catch is possible, the research application suggests that cod would be
returned to the water as soon as possible and would be very likely to
survive.
If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and
extensions to the EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and
extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed
essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and have
minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the initially
approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope
of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: March 17, 2025.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-04801 Filed 3-19-25; 8:45 am]
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