[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 82 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 17893-17894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-07399]
[[Page 17893]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 250416-0069; RTID 0648-XE865]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Sea Scallop
Fishery; Final 2025 Closure of the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop
Management Area to the Limited Access General Category Fishery
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Temporary rule; closure.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the closure of the Northern Gulf of Maine
Scallop Management Area for the remainder of the 2025 fishing year.
Regulations require this action once the Northern Gulf of Maine Set-
Aside has been reached. Subject to specific enumerated exceptions,
possession, retention, or landing of scallops is prohibited in the
Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area once the Regional
Administrator publishes a notice in the Federal Register that the
Northern Gulf of Maine Set-Aside has been reached. This action is
intended to prevent the overharvest of the 2025 Northern Gulf of Maine
Set-Aside.
DATES: Effective 0001 hours local time, April 28, 2025 through March
31, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Trudeau, Fishery Resource
Management Specialist, (978) 281-9252.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations governing fishing activity
in the Northern Gulf of Maine (NGOM) Scallop Management Area are
located in 50 CFR 648.54 and 648.62. These regulations authorize
vessels issued a valid Federal scallop permit to fish in the NGOM
Scallop Management Area under specific conditions, including the NGOM
Set-Aside for the 2025 fishing year, and a State Waters Exemption
Program for the State of Maine and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Section 648.62(b)(2) requires the NGOM Scallop Management Area to be
closed to scallop vessels issued Federal Limited Access General
Category (LAGC) scallop permits, except as provided below, once the
NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Administrator provides notice that 100
percent of the NGOM Set-Aside has been reached. Any vessel that holds a
Federal NGOM (LAGC B) or Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) (LAGC A) permit
may continue to fish in the Maine or Massachusetts state waters portion
of the NGOM Scallop Management Area under the State Waters Exemption
Program found in Sec. 648.54 provided it has a valid Maine or
Massachusetts state scallop permit and fishes only in that state's
respective waters.
Based on trip declarations by federally permitted LAGC scallop
vessels fishing in the NGOM Scallop Management Area and an analysis of
fishing effort, NMFS projects that the 2025 NGOM Set-Aside will be
harvested as of April 28, 2025. Thus, in accordance with Sec.
648.62(b)(2), the NGOM Scallop Management Area is closed to all
federally permitted LAGC scallop vessels as of April 28, 2025. As of
this date, no vessel issued a Federal LAGC scallop permit may fish for,
possess, or land scallops in or from the NGOM Scallop Management Area
after the effective date and time of this action, unless the vessel is
fishing exclusively in state waters and is participating in an approved
state waters exemption program as specified in Sec. 648.54. Any
federally permitted LAGC scallop vessel that has declared into the NGOM
Scallop Management Area, complied with all trip notification and
observer requirements, and crossed the vessel monitoring system
demarcation line on the way to the area before the effective date and
time of this action, may complete its trip and land scallops. This
closure is in effect until the end of the 2025 scallop fishing year,
through March 31, 2026.
Classification
This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from
review under Executive Order 12866.
The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries finds good cause pursuant
to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for
public comment because it would be contrary to the public interest and
impracticable. NMFS also finds, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), good
cause to waive the 30-day delayed effectiveness period. Exigent
circumstances necessitate this closure action and any delay would harm
the public interest. Applicable regulations at Sec. 648.60(b)(2)
require this closure to ensure that federally permitted scallop vessels
do not harvest more than the allocated NGOM Set-Aside. However, NMFS
can only make projections for the NGOM closure date as trips into the
area occur on a real-time basis and as activity trends appear. As a
result, accurate projections are only available shortly before the set-
aside is harvested. The NGOM Scallop Management Area opened for the
2025 fishing year on April 1, 2025, under default measures implemented
under Framework Adjustment 38 (89 FR 20341, March 22, 2024). Between
April 1, 2025, and the first NGOM closure on April 11, 2025 (90 FR
15938), an estimated 405,163 lb (183,779 kg) of scallops were
harvested, exceeding the default Set-Aside amount for the 2025 fishing
year (315,449 lb; 143,085 kg). Upon implementation of Framework
Adjustment 39 (90 FR 16644, April 21, 2025), the NGOM Set-Aside amount
was adjusted to 675,563 lb (306,430 kg). After the NGOM Scallop
Management Area reopened on April 21, 2025, under Framework Adjustment
39, scallops were harvested at an average rate of 35,000 lb (15,876 kg)
per day resulting in an additional estimated harvest of 70,000 lb
(3,175 kg) as of April 22, 2025; 26 percent of the remaining NGOM Set-
Aside. The rapid harvest rate that has occurred does not allow for
projections far enough in advance that would allow for notice of a
proposed rule, a comment period, or a delay in rule effectiveness.
Earlier rule publication was not possible. Allowing federally permitted
LAGC scallop vessels to continue taking trips in the NGOM Scallop
Management Area during the period necessary to publish and receive
comments on a proposed rule, or delay rule effectiveness, would result
in vessels harvesting more than the 2025 NGOM Set-Aside for the NGOM
Scallop Management Area. This would result in excessive fishing effort
in the area thereby undermining conservation and management objectives
of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan and requiring more
restrictive future management measures to make up for the excessive
harvest. Applicable regulations at Sec. 648.62(b)(3) require that
overages of the NGOM set-aside are subject to pound-for-pound payback
in a subsequent fishing year. In addition, reductions in NGOM scallop
biomass associated with excessive harvest would result in lower NGOM
total allowable landings in future years. As such, delaying this
closure action to afford the public with a comment period or a delay in
effectiveness would harm the public. The public had prior notice and
full opportunity to comment on this closure process during notice and
comment rulemaking for Framework 39. Stakeholders are also aware that
NMFS closes the NGOM Scallop Management Area when the NGOM Set-Aside is
fully harvested. This process occurs annually dating back to the
adoption of Amendment 11 to the Scallop FMP in 2007. As stated above,
any scallop
[[Page 17894]]
vessel that has declared into the NGOM Scallop Management Area,
complied with all trip notification and observer requirements, and
crossed the vessel monitoring system demarcation line on the way to the
area before the effective date of this closure, may complete its trip
and land scallops. Therefore, those affected by this regulation are
given the reasonable opportunity to complete a trip in progress, and
those who have not begun any such trip do not need additional days to
comply with the effective date of this closure because the rule
prohibits them from taking action they have not yet taken.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: April 24, 2025.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-07399 Filed 4-25-25; 4:15 pm]
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