[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 72 (Wednesday, April 16, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 15940-15941]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-06443]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
[Docket No. 241022-0278]
RIN 0648-BN72
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off West Coast States;
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 2025-2026 Biennial Specifications and
Management Measures; Inseason Adjustments
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule; inseason adjustments to biennial groundfish
management measures.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This final rule announces routine inseason adjustments to
management measures in commercial and recreational groundfish
fisheries. This action is intended to allow commercial and recreational
fishing vessels to access more abundant groundfish stocks while
protecting overfished and depleted stocks.
DATES: This final rule is effective April 16, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher Biegel, 503-231-6291,
[email protected].
Electronic Access
This rule is accessible via the internet at the Office of the
Federal Register website at https://www.federalregister.gov. Background
information and documents are available at the Pacific Fishery
Management Council's website at https://www.pcouncil.org/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (PCGFMP) and
its implementing regulations at title 50 in the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR), part 660, subparts C through G, regulate fishing for
over 90 species of groundfish off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and
California. The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) develops
groundfish harvest specifications and management measures for 2-year
periods (i.e., a biennium). NMFS published the final rule to implement
harvest specifications and management measures for the 2025-2026
biennium for most species managed under the PCGFMP on December 16, 2024
(89 FR 101514). In general, the management measures set at the start of
the biennial harvest specifications cycle help the various sectors of
the fishery attain, but not exceed, the catch limits for each stock.
The Council, in coordination with Pacific Coast Treaty Indian Tribes
and the States of Washington, Oregon, and California, recommends
adjustments to the management measures during the fishing year to
achieve this goal.
At its March 4-11, 2025 meeting, the Council recommended two
inseason actions for the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. The first
involves the recreational groundfish limit in the long-leader fishery
off Oregon and the second involves the trip limit of incidental halibut
caught in the sablefish fishery.
Long-Leader Fishery
During the 2025-26 biennial process, the Council adopted a five-
fish sub-bag limit for canary rockfish in the Oregon recreational long-
leader fishery. Since the completion of the biennial process, Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff examined data through 2023
and most of 2024. Based on catch rates of canary rockfish in the long-
leader gear fishery, the sub-bag limit needs to be decreased to reduce
the chance of the Oregon recreational share of canary rockfish being
exceeded. In December 2024, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission
adopted a one-fish sub-bag limit for canary rockfish in the
recreational long-leader gear fishery off Oregon beginning January 1,
2025. The ODFW requested conforming Federal action to reduce the sub-
bag limit from five fish to one fish for canary rockfish, as effort in
the long-leader gear fishery occurs primarily in Federal waters.
The Council moved, and NMFS is implementing, a decrease in the sub-
bag limit for canary rockfish from five fish to one fish in the
recreational Oregon long-leader gear fishery as recommended by ODFW.
Incidental Halibut
At the March Council meeting, the Groundfish Advisory Subpanel
(GAP) recommended the Pacific halibut incidental landing limit for the
primary sablefish fishery north of Point Chehalis be 75 pounds of
halibut per 1,000 pounds of dressed sablefish plus two halibut. This is
a reduction from the 150 pounds of halibut per 1,000 pounds of dressed
sablefish in 2024. The reduction was recommended due to the large
increase in sablefish harvest limits of about 238 percent. The 2025
allotment of Pacific halibut for this sector is 70,000 pounds which
could be quickly harvested by just a few top primary tier vessels if a
reduction in incidental halibut is not implemented. Lowering the
halibut limit will allow more vessels to participate in the fishery and
for the fishery to continue throughout the year without exceeding the
halibut allocation. Therefore, the Council moved and NMFS is
implementing a trip limit of 75 pounds of Pacific halibut per 1,000
pounds of sablefish plus two additional Pacific halibut for the primary
fixed gear sablefish fishery north of Point Chehalis, Washington, as
recommended in the supplementary GAP Report 1, March 2025.
Classification
This final rule makes routine inseason adjustments to groundfish
fishery management measures, based on the best scientific information
available, consistent with the PCGFMP and its implementing regulations.
This action is taken under the authority of 50 CFR 660.60(c) and is
exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.
The aggregate data upon which these actions are based are available
for public inspection by contacting Christopher Biegel in NMFS West
Coast Region (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section above), or
view at the NMFS West Coast Groundfish website: https://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/fisheries/groundfish/index.html.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b), NMFS finds good cause to waive prior
public notice and an opportunity for public comment on this action, as
notice and comment would be impracticable and contrary to the public
interest. The adjustments to management measures in this document are
designed to keep catch within allocations established by the 2025-2026
harvest specifications. No aspect of this action is controversial, and
changes of this nature were anticipated in the final rule for the 2025-
2026 harvest specifications and management measures, which published on
December 16, 2024 (89 FR 101514).
The Council recommended, and NMFS is implementing, a decrease to
[[Page 15941]]
the recreational long-leader sub-bag limit for canary rockfish off of
the Oregon coast from five fish to one fish to be consistent with the
ODFW bag limit. Additionally, the Council recommended and NMFS is
implementing a trip limit of 75 pounds of Pacific halibut per 1,000
pounds of sablefish plus two additional Pacific halibut for the primary
fixed gear sablefish fishery north of Point Chehalis, Washington.
These inseason changes are in response to new information about the
fishery, and to conservation issues that need to be addressed for the
2025 fishing year. Delaying implementation to allow for public comment
would impact NMFS's ability to keep the fishery within catch targets
set for sustainable fishing. For these same reasons, NMFS finds reason
to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
553(d)(1) so that this final rule may become effective upon publication
in the Federal Register. These adjustments were requested by the
Council's advisory bodies, as well as members of industry during the
Council's March 2025 meeting, and recommended unanimously by the
Council. No aspect of this action is controversial, and changes of this
nature were anticipated in the biennial harvest specifications and
management measures for 2025-2026 (89 FR 101514) which were established
through a notice and comment rulemaking.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660
Fisheries, Fishing, Indian Fisheries.
Dated: April 10, 2025.
Kelly Denit,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, NMFS amends 50 CFR part
660 as follows:
PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES
0
1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., and 16
U.S.C. 7001 et seq.
0
2. In Sec. 660.231, revise paragraph (b)(3)(iv) to read as follows:
Sec. 660.231 Limited entry fixed gear sablefish primary fishery.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(3) * * *
(iv) Incidental Pacific halibut retention north of Pt. Chehalis, WA
(lat. 46[deg]53.30' N). Pacific halibut may be retained north of Pt.
Chehalis by vessels participating in the sablefish primary fishery with
the requisite Pacific halibut commercial fishery permit. Pacific
halibut incidentally caught in the primary sablefish fishery when using
bottom longline gear may be retained from April 1 through the Pacific
halibut commercial fishing closure date set by the International
Pacific Halibut Commission. Vessels permitted as described in this
section may possess and land up to 75 lb (34 kg) dressed weight of
Pacific halibut for every 1,000 lb (454 kg) dressed weight of sablefish
landed, plus two additional Pacific halibut. Pacific halibut retained
as described in this section may not be possessed or landed south of
Pt. Chehalis.
* * * * *
0
3. In Sec. 660.360, revise paragraph (c)(2)(iii)(A) to read as
follows:
Sec. 660.360 Recreational fishery--management measures.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(2) * * *
(iii) * * *
(A) Marine fish. The bag limit is 10 marine fish per day, which
includes rockfish, kelp greenling, cabezon, and other groundfish
species; except the daily bag limit in the long-leader gear fishery is
12 fish per day with a sub-bag limit of 1 fish per day for canary
rockfish. The bag limit of marine fish excludes Pacific halibut,
salmonids, tuna, perch species, sturgeon, sanddabs, flatfish, lingcod,
striped bass, hybrid bass, offshore pelagic species, and baitfish
(e.g., herring, smelt, anchovies, and sardines). The minimum size for
cabezon retained in the Oregon recreational fishery is 16 in (41 cm)
total length.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2025-06443 Filed 4-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P