Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 50 / Tuesday, March 15, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 13887 

Number Date Event Sponsor Location 

Coast Guard Sector Baltimore—COTP Zone 

65 ................ April 2, 2011 .............. Safety at Sea Seminar .. U.S. Naval Academy ..... All waters of the Severn River from shoreline to 

shoreline, bounded to the northwest by a line 

drawn from the south shoreline at latitude 

39°00′38.9′′ N., longitude 076°31′05.2′′ W. 

thence to the north shoreline at latitude 

39°00′54.7′′ N., longitude 076°30′44.8′′ W., this 

line is approximately 1300 yards northwest of 

the U.S. 50 fixed highway bridge. The regulated area is bounded to the southeast by a 

line drawn from the Naval Academy Light at 

latitude 38°58′39.5′′ N., longitude 076°28′49′′ 

W. thence southeast to a point 700 yards east 

of Chinks Point, MD, at latitude 38°58′1.9′′ N., 

longitude 076°28′1.7′′ W. thence northeast to 

Greenbury Point at latitude 38°58′29′′ N., longitude 076°27′16′′ W. 

66 ................ May 24 and 25, 2011 Blue Angels Air Show .... U.S. Naval Academy ..... All waters of the Severn River from shoreline to 

shoreline, bounded to the northwest by a line 

drawn from the south shoreline at latitude 

39°00′38.9′′ N., longitude 076°31′05.2′′ W. 

thence to the north shoreline at latitude 

39°00′54.7′′ N., longitude 076°30′44.8′′ W., this 

line is approximately 1300 yards northwest of 

the U.S. 50 fixed highway bridge. The regulated area is bounded to the southeast by a 

line drawn from the Naval Academy Light at 

latitude 38°58′39.5′′ N., longitude 076°28′49′′ 

W. thence southeast to a point 700 yards east 

of Chinks Point, MD, at latitude 38°58′1.9′′ N., 

longitude 076°28′1.7′′ W. thence northeast to 

Greenbury Point at latitude 38°58′29′′ N., longitude 076°27′16′′ W. 

67 ................ June 25, 2011 ........... Maryland Swim for Life .. District of Columbia 

Aquatics Club.

The waters of the Chester River from shoreline to 

shoreline, bounded on the south by a line 

drawn at latitude 39°10′16′′ N., near the Chester River Channel Buoy 35 (LLN–26795) and 

bounded on the north at latitude 39°12′30′′ N. 

by the Maryland S.R. 213 Highway Bridge. 

68 ................ June 25 and 26, 2011 Thunder on the Narrows Kent Narrows Racing 

Association.

All waters of Prospect Bay enclosed by the following points: Latitude 38°57′52.0′′ N., longitude 076°14′48.0′′ W., to latitude 38°58′02.0′′ 

N., longitude 076°15′05.0′′ W., to latitude 

38°57′38.0′′ N., longitude 076°15′29.0′′ W., to 

latitude 38°57′28.0′′ N., longitude 076°15′23.0′′ 

W., to latitude 38°57′52.0′′ N., longitude 

076°14′48.0′′ W. 

Dated: February 19, 2011. 

Mark P. O’Malley, 

Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the 

Port Baltimore. 

[FR Doc. 2011–5894 Filed 3–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 110218149–1182–01] 

RIN 0648–BA86 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and 

Butterfish (MSB) Fishery; Revision of 

2011 Butterfish Specifications 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS issues this temporary 

rule pursuant to its authority to issue 

emergency measures under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act). This 

emergency action increases the 

butterfish allowable biological catch 

(ABC) for the 2011 fishing year from 

1,500 mt to 1,811 mt, and applies the 

increase to the butterfish mortality cap 

in the Loligo squid fishery, based on the 

most recent and best available scientific 

information. 

DATES: Effective March 15, 2011, 

through September 12, 2011. Comments 

must be received by April 14, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: The supplemental EA is 

available by request from: Patricia 

Kurkul, Regional Administrator, 


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13888 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 50 / Tuesday, March 15, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 

National Marine Fisheries Service, 

Northeast Region, 55 Great Republic 

Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930–2276, or 

via the Internet at http:// 

www.nero.noaa.gov. 

You may submit comments, identified 

by RIN 0648–BA86, by any one of the 

following methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking portal http:// 

www.regulations.gov; 

• Fax: (978) 281–9135, Attn: Aja 

Peters-Mason; 

• Mail to NMFS, Northeast Regional 

Office, 55 Great Republic Dr, Gloucester, 

MA 01930. Mark the outside of the 

envelope ‘‘Comments on Emergency 

Rule to Revise the Butterfish 

Specifications.’’ 

Instructions: All comments received 

are a part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All Personal Identifying Information (for 

example, name, address, etc.) 

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 (enter N/A in the required 

fields, if you wish to remain 

anonymous). You may submit 

attachments to electronic comments in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or 

Adobe PDF file formats only. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aja 

Peters-Mason, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9195, fax (978) 281–9135. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

This temporary rule implements 

emergency measures, authorized by 

section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, to increase the butterfish ABC for 

the 2011 fishing year (FY) from 1,500 mt 

to 1,811 mt, and applies the increase to 

the butterfish mortality cap in the Loligo 

squid fishery immediately. This action 

revises the butterfish ABC in the Final 

2011 Specifications for the MSB Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP) (76 FR 8306; 

February 14, 2011). 

Butterfish catches have been 

constrained to low levels since the ABC 

was reduced to 4,545 mt in 2005, and 

then to 1,500 mt in 2008. ABC 

reductions were in response to the 

results of the 38th Stock Assessment 

Workshop (SAW 38) in 2004, which 

determined the butterfish stock was 

overfished. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council (Council) 

developed Amendment 10 to the FMP 

in response to SAW 38; Amendment 10 

enacted a rebuilding program for 

butterfish, as well as measures to reduce 

butterfish bycatch in the Loligo squid 

fishery. The most notable bycatch 

reduction measure in Amendment 10 is 

the butterfish mortality cap on the 

Loligo squid fishery, which went into 

effect on January 1, 2011. The cap is 75 

percent of the butterfish ABC, and 

closes the directed Loligo squid fishery 

once it is attained. 

The most recent butterfish 

assessment, SAW 49 (January 2010), 

determined that the status of the 

butterfish stock is unknown. Though the 

assessment was inconclusive, it did 

verify that long-term declines in the 

butterfish stock persisted even in the 

absence of fishing pressure, which 

suggests that fishing mortality may not 

be a major factor impacting the stock. 

The estimates of butterfish fishing 

mortality and total biomass resulting 

from SAW 49 were highly uncertain, 

and the final assessment report stated 

that it would be inappropriate to 

compare the previous status 

determination criteria from SAW 38 

with the current assessment estimates of 

spawning stock biomass and fishing 

mortality, because measures of 

population abundance in the current 

assessment were scaled much higher 

than those in the previous assessment. 

In May 2010, the Council’s Scientific 

and Statistical Committee (SSC) 

reviewed the SAW 49 results and other 

available information, including the 

Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s 

(NEFSC) Autumn 2009 trawl survey 

indices for butterfish and, due to 

uncertainty in the assessment, 

recommended setting the butterfish 

ABC at the status quo level of 1,500 mt 

for FY 2011. 

The Council used the SSC’s 

recommended butterfish ABC as the 

basis for 2011 specifications, and 

submitted their recommendations and 

supporting analysis to NMFS in July 

2010. NMFS went on to recommend the 

1,500-mt butterfish ABC in the proposed 

rule for 2011 MSB Specifications in 

November 2010. During public 

comment on the proposed 

specifications, industry members 

expressed concern that the low 

butterfish ABC would cause the directed 

Loligo squid fishery to be closed before 

the fleet was able to access much of the 

Loligo squid quota. Commenters also 

pointed to recent information from the 

NEFSC Autumn 2009 and 2010 trawl 

survey that showed butterfish catches 

almost twice the average for the last 

decade (6.41 kg/tow for 2009; 5.59 kg/ 

tow for 2010; average 3.4 kg/tow from 

1999–2008). However, based on the 

SSC’s recommended ABC, which was 

adopted by the Council, NMFS 

implemented the 1,500-mt ABC for 

butterfish in the final MSB 

specifications in February 2011. 

Because the NEFSC Autumn 2010 

trawl survey information was not 

available during the SSC’s initial 

deliberations in May 2010, the SSC met 

on February 7, 2011, to consider 

whether the new information warranted 

an adjustment to their previous 

recommended butterfish ABC for 2011. 

The SSC reviewed inshore butterfish 

survey data from the Northeast Area 

Monitoring and Assessment Program 

(NEAMAP), as well as landings 

information for butterfish through 2010. 

The SSC also reviewed the past 

justification for the establishment of the 

1,500-mt ABC. 

The SSC noted the high uncertainty 

about the scale of the current stock 

biomass, which made it difficult to 

assess the risk of the lower range of ABC 

values for 2011 that were previously 

considered in its May 2010 

deliberations. It stated that, while 

establishing an ABC based on average 

landings over a given time period is 

justifiable in some situations where 

stock size is uncertain, it would be 

inappropriate to continue to use this 

method in the case of butterfish, given 

the long-term declining trend in stock 

abundance. However, the SSC went on 

to recommend that the Council adjust 

the 2011 butterfish ABC to 1,811 mt, 

based on a revised method that 

considers realized landings and discards 

from 2002–2008, a time period during 

which butterfish catch history was 

dominated principally by discards. This 

is in contrast to the method that was 

initially used to set the ABC at 1,500 mt 

in 2008, which relied on an estimated 

level of discards associated with average 

landings over a slightly different 

timeframe. The SSC also noted that 

butterfish catches in NEFSC Autumn 

trawl surveys from 2002–2008 appeared 

relatively stable. 

Based on the SSC’s recommendation, 

the Council requested at its February 

2011 meeting that NMFS take an 

emergency action to adjust the 

butterfish ABC to 1,811 mt and apply 

the increase to the mortality cap for the 

Loligo squid fishery. The duration of 

this action is limited by the MagnusonStevens Act to 180 days; however, 

NMFS will re-evaluate the status of the 

fishery at the end of 180 days and may 

extend this action in order to make the 

catch limits effective for the duration of 

the FY (through December 31, 2011), 

consistent with the authority in the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act to extend 

emergency actions for up to an 

additional 186 days. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 50 / Tuesday, March 15, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 13889 

NMFS policy guidelines for the use of 

emergency rules (62 FR 44421; August 

21, 1997) specify the following three 

criteria that define what an emergency 

situation is, and justification for final 

rulemaking: (1) The emergency results 

from recent, unforeseen events or 

recently discovered circumstances; 

(2) the emergency presents serious 

conservation or management problems 

in the fishery; and (3) the emergency 

can be addressed through emergency 

regulations for which the immediate 

benefits outweigh the value of advance 

notice, public comment, and 

deliberative consideration of the 

impacts on participants to the same 

extent as would be expected under the 

normal rulemaking process. NMFS 

policy guidelines further provide that 

emergency action is justified for certain 

situations where emergency action 

would prevent significant direct 

economic loss, or to preserve a 

significant economic opportunity that 

otherwise might be foregone. 

The new information from the 

Autumn 2010 survey and the more 

recent NEAMAP survey results are 

recently discovered circumstance and 

represent the best available science. To 

not take into account the new scientific 

advice in a timely manner has the 

potential to present serious management 

problems in the Loligo fishery. The 

Loligo squid fishery is particularly 

active during the first Trimester of the 

fishing year (January–April). Swift 

implementation of the modified ABC, 

consistent with the new SSC 

recommendation, is critical to the Loligo 

fleet due to the timing of fleet activity, 

and the history of interactions between 

Loligo squid and butterfish. It is 

intended to provide the Loligo squid 

fleet additional access to Loligo squid 

quota during the FY. It would also 

enable the Loligo squid fleet to optimize 

Loligo squid harvest with reduced 

concern that that fishery could be closed 

due to the butterfish mortality cap. 

Therefore, this emergency action will 

reduce the likelihood of disruption to 

the Loligo squid fishery that would be 

caused by the existing butterfish cap. 

Addressing this through Council action, 

rather than through Secretarial 

emergency authority, would take most 

of the year, and would likely result in 

implementing measures well after the 

existing butterfish cap could have 

closed the Loligo squid fishery. The 

benefit of increasing the butterfish ABC 

and applying the increase to the 

butterfish mortality cap through this 

emergency action will be immediate to 

the Loligo fleet, and therefore outweighs 

the value of going through the normal 

rulemaking process. 

This emergency action increases the 

butterfish ABC previously implemented 

for the FY 2011 from 1,500 mt to 1,811 

mt. Other specifications for butterfish, 

specifically, initial optimum yield 

(IOY), domestic annual harvest (DAH), 

domestic annual processing (DAP), joint 

venture processing (JVP), total allowable 

level of foreign fishing (TALFF), and 

research set-aside (RSA) are unchanged 

from those set in the final 2011 

specifications. Specifications for 

Atlantic mackerel, Loligo squid, and 

Illex squid also remain unchanged. 

Amendment 10 specified that the 

butterfish mortality cap is to be set 

equal to 75 percent of the butterfish 

ABC, with the remaining 25 percent of 

the butterfish ABC allocated to account 

for butterfish catch in other fisheries, 

but noted that this apportionment may 

be revised as necessary to accommodate 

the Loligo squid fishery. The additional 

311-mt ABC allotment implemented 

through this action is entirely allocated 

to the mortality cap. Under the current 

2011 specifications, the butterfish 

mortality cap is 1,125 mt (75 percent of 

1,500 mt); this emergency action 

increases the butterfish mortality cap to 

1,436 mt. 

Classification 

NMFS has determined that this rule is 

necessary to respond to an emergency 

situation and is consistent with the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act and other 

applicable law. 

The Assistant Administrator for 

Fisheries, NOAA, finds good cause 

under section 553(b)(B) of the 

Administrative Procedure Act that it is 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest to provide for prior notice and 

opportunity for the public to comment. 

As more fully explained above, the 

reasons justifying promulgation of this 

rule on an emergency basis make 

solicitation of public comment contrary 

to the public interest. This action 

provides the benefit of allowing the 

Loligo fleet to optimize its harvest, with 

less concern that the fishery could be 

closed due to the butterfish mortality 

cap. This action did not allow for prior 

public comment because the scientific 

review process and determination could 

not have been completed any earlier, 

due to the inherent time constraints 

associated with the process and the fact 

that the information on which this 

action is based became available very 

recently. 

If this rulemaking were delayed to 

allow for notice and comment, the 

current butterfish mortality cap could be 

reached, which would have the effect of 

shutting down the directed Loligo 

fishery for the remainder of Trimester 1 

(January–April). The time necessary to 

provide for prior notice, opportunity for 

public comment, and delayed 

effectiveness for this action could have 

resulted in closing the Loligo fishery 

due to the low limit of the current 

butterfish mortality cap. In the interest 

of receiving public input on this action, 

the revised assessment upon which this 

action was based is made available to 

the public, and this action requests 

public comments on that document and 

the provisions in this rule. 

For the reason above, the Assistant 

Administrator for Fisheries finds good 

cause under section 553(d) of the 

Administrative Procedure Act to waive 

the 30-day delay in effectiveness. 

This emergency rule has been 

determined to be not significant for 

purposes of E.O. 12866. 

This rule is exempt from the 

procedures of the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act to prepare a regulatory flexibility 

analysis because the rule is issued 

without opportunity for prior public 

comment. 

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

Dated: March 10, 2011. 

Samuel D. Rauch III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–5995 Filed 3–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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