[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 49 (Monday, March 14, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 13592-13593]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5868]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

RIN 0648-BA35


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Highly Migratory Species 
Fisheries; Amendment 2

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management 
plan; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) has submitted Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan for 
U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP) for 
Secretarial review. Amendment 2 would modify the current suite of 
management unit species, establish a new category of ecosystem 
component species, modify the process for revising numerical estimates 
of maximum sustainable yield and optimal yield, and specify status 
determination criteria so that overfishing and overfished 
determinations can be made for all management unit species.

DATES: Comments on Amendment 2 must be received on or before May 13, 
2011.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the NOA identified by ``RIN 0648-
BA35'', by any of the following methods:
    <bullet> Federal e-Rulemaking portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    <bullet> Mail: Rodney R. McInnis, Regional Administrator, Southwest 
Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 
90802.
    <bullet> Fax: (562) 980-4047.
    Instructions: All comments received are part of the public record 
and generally will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without 
change. All personal identifying information (for example, name and 
address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly 
accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information. NMFS will accept 
anonymous comments (if submitting comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking 
portal, enter ``N/A'' in the relevant required fields if you wish to 
remain anonymous). Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted 
in Microsoft Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats 
only. Copies of the draft EA and RIR prepared for this proposed rule 
are available at http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/ or may be obtained from 
Rodney R. McInnis (see ADDRESSES).
    Copies of Amendment 2, which includes an Environmental Assessment/
Regulatory Impact Review, are available from Donald O. McIssac, 
Executive Director, Pacific Fishery Management Council, 7700 NE 
Ambassador Place, Suite 200, Portland, Oregon 97220-1384.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Craig Heberer, Sustainable Fisheries 
Division, NMFS, at 760-431-9440, ext. 303 or Kit Dahl, Pacific Fishery 
Management Council, at 503-820-2422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (MSA), 18 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., requires each 
regional fishery management council to submit any amendment to an FMP 
to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The 
MSA also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an amendment to an FMP, 
immediately publish notification in the Federal Register that the 
amendment is available for public review and comment. NMFS will 
consider the public comments received during the public comment period 
in determining whether to approve, disapprove, or partially approve 
Amendment 2.
    Amendment 2 would revise the HMS FMP to ensure it is consistent 
with advisory guidelines published at 50 CFR 600.310. The guidelines 
describe fishery management approaches to meet the objectives of 
National Standard 1 (NS1) of the MSA, Section 301. The Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (MSRA) 
amended the MSA to include new requirements for annual catch limits 
(ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) and other provisions regarding 
preventing and ending overfishing and rebuilding fisheries. NMFS 
revised NS1 Guidelines in response to these changes in the MSA. The NS1 
Guidelines were published in the Federal Register on January 16, 2009. 
The Guidelines are intended to meet the objectives of NS1 by providing 
guidance on:
    1. Specifying maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and optimal yield 
(OY);
    2. Specifying status determination criteria (SDC) so that 
overfishing and overfished determinations can be made for stocks and 
stock complexes that are part of a fishery;
    3. Preventing overfishing and achieving OY, incorporation of 
scientific and management uncertainty in control rules, and adaptive 
management using ACLs and measures to ensure accountability (AM); and
    4. Rebuilding stocks and stock complexes.
    The revisions to the NS1 guidelines also dictate that fisheries 
undergoing overfishing have ACLs and AMs in place to end overfishing by 
2010, and all fisheries to have ACLs and AMs in place to prevent or end 
overfishing by 2011, and beyond. However, a stock or stock complex may 
not require an ACL and AMs if it qualifies for an MSRA-defined 
exception. The most important of these with respect to highly migratory 
species is the so-called ``international exception'' described at Sec.  
660.310(h)(2)(ii) for stocks managed under an international agreement 
to which the United States is a party. The NS1 Guidelines also have 
other provisions related to classifying stocks in the FMP.

[[Page 13593]]

    In November 2009 the Council reviewed the Highly Migratory Species 
Management Team's (Management Team) recommendations on the range of 
issues related to amending the HMS FMP and provided further guidance on 
developing alternatives based on the following topics:
    (1) Classification of stocks in the HMS FMP as management unit 
species or ecosystem component species;
    (2) Potential application of the MSRA international exception for 
ACL requirements to management unit species in the HMS FMP;
    (3) Determining the primary fishery management plan for managed 
species covered by both the HMS FMP and the Western Pacific Fishery 
Management Council's Pelagics Fishery Ecosystem Plan; and
    (4) Establishing biological reference points and accountability 
measures.
    At their April 2010 meeting, the Council adopted a set of 
alternatives for public review that were made available in the form of 
a preliminary draft environmental assessment. At the June 2010 meeting 
the Council took final action to adopt the preferred alternative, 
addressing the four issue areas listed above in the following manner: 
Bigeye thresher, Alopias superciliosus, and pelagic thresher, A. 
pelagicus, would be reclassified as ecosystem component species 
resulting in a total of 11 management unit species versus the current 
13 management unit species under status quo. Based on these 
considerations there would be eight ecosystem component species 
included in the HMS FMP, including the two thresher shark species that 
are currently management unit species.
    The international exception to setting ACLs described at Sec.  
660.310(h)(2)(ii) would be applied to all management unit species 
because they are subject to management by the Inter-American Tropical 
Tuna Commission, of which the U.S. is a member. The HMS FMP would be 
amended to discuss the process by which NMFS would make a determination 
of the primary FMP in consultation with the Western Pacific Fishery 
Management Council. The determination will be based on the stock, or 
portion of the stock (if stock structure is poorly understood and catch 
data is limited), for which reference points will be identified. The 
existing numerical estimates of MSY (or proxies), OY, and SDC, 
including the overfishing limit, would be retained. Upon the receipt of 
any new information based on the best available science, the Council 
may periodically adjust the numerical estimates of MSY, OY, and SDC. 
The adjustment would follow an established protocol whereby the HMSMT 
proposes MSY and OY estimates based on the best available science, 
which are included in the draft HMS Stock Assessment and Fishery 
Evaluation (SAFE) document submitted to the Council in June. The 
Council's Science and Statistical Committee would review the estimates 
and make a recommendation on their suitability for management. The 
Council would then decide whether to adopt updated numerical estimates 
of MSY and OY, which would be submitted as recommendations for NMFS to 
review as part of the management cycle process. This provides the 
opportunity for Secretarial review of revised MSY and OY estimates. In 
this process the Council would take final action in November and then 
NMFS would engage in rulemaking to implement the specifications and any 
management measures proposed by the Council.
    The Council has submitted a proposed rule to implement Amendment 2 
for Secretarial review. NMFS expects to publish and request public 
comment on the proposed rule in the near future.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: March 9, 2011.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries.
[FR Doc. 2011-5868 Filed 3-11-11; 8:45 am]
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