2640 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 101228634–0481–01] 

RIN 0648–BA26 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 2011 

Atlantic Bluefish Specifications; 

Regulatory Amendment 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed specifications; 

regulatory amendment; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes specifications 

for the 2011 Atlantic bluefish fishery, 

including total allowable landings 

(TAL), a commercial quota and 

recreational harvest limit (RHL), and a 

recreational possession limit. The intent 

of this action is to establish the 

allowable 2011 harvest levels and other 

management measures to achieve the 

target fishing mortality rate (F), 

consistent with the Atlantic Bluefish 

Fishery Management Plan (FMP). NMFS 

also proposes to amend the bluefish 

regulations that specify the process for 

setting the annual TAL and target F to 

more clearly reflect the intent of the 

FMP. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before January 31, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by 0648–BA26, 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: Regional 

Administrator. 

• Mail and Hand Delivery: Patricia A. 

Kurkul, Regional Administrator, NMFS, 

Northeast Regional Office, 55 Great 

Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. 

Mark the outside of the envelope: 

‘‘Comments on 2011 Bluefish 

Specifications.’’ 

Instructions: No comments will be 

posted for public viewing until after the 

comment period has closed. 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. 

Copies of the specifications 

document, including the Environmental 

Assessment and Initial Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (EA/IRFA) and 

other supporting documents for the 

specifications, are available from Dr. 

Christopher M. Moore, Executive 

Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, Suite 201, 800 N. 

State Street, Dover, DE 19901. The 

specifications document is also 

accessible via the Internet at: http:// 

www.nero.noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Tobey Curtis, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9273, or Sarah Heil, Fishery 

Management Specialist, (978) 281–9257. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Atlantic bluefish fishery is 

managed cooperatively by the MidAtlantic Fishery Management Council 

(Council) and the Atlantic States Marine 

Fisheries Commission (Commission). 

The management unit for bluefish 

specified in the FMP is U.S. waters of 

the western Atlantic Ocean. Regulations 

implementing the FMP appear at 50 

CFR part 648, subparts A and J. The 

regulations requiring annual 

specifications are found at § 648.16. 

The FMP requires the Council to 

recommend, on an annual basis, a total 

allowable catch (TAC) and a TAL that 

will control fishing mortality. An 

estimate of annual discards is deducted 

from the TAC to calculate the TAL that 

can be made during the year by the 

commercial and recreational fishing 

sectors combined. The FMP requires 

that 17 percent of the TAL be allocated 

to the commercial fishery, as a quota 

(further allocated to the states from 

Maine to Florida in specified shares), 

with the remaining 83 percent of the 

TAL allocated as an RHL. The Council 

may also recommend a research setaside (RSA) quota, which is deducted 

from the bluefish TAL (after any 

applicable transfer) in an amount 

proportional to the percentage of the 

overall TAL as allocated to the 

commercial and recreational sectors. 

Pursuant to § 648.162, the annual 

review process for bluefish requires that 

the Council’s Bluefish Monitoring 

Committee (Monitoring Committee) and 

Scientific and Statistical Committee 

(SSC) review and make 

recommendations based on the best 

available data, including, but not 

limited to, commercial and recreational 

catch/landing statistics, current 

estimates of fishing mortality, stock 

abundance, discards for the recreational 

fishery, and juvenile recruitment. Based 

on the recommendations of the 

Monitoring Committee and SSC, the 

Council makes a recommendation to the 

NMFS Northeast Regional 

Administrator. Because this FMP is a 

joint plan, the Commission also meets 

during the annual specification process 

to adopt complementary measures. 

The Council’s recommendations must 

include supporting documentation 

concerning the environmental, 

economic, and social impacts of the 

recommendations. NMFS is responsible 

for reviewing these recommendations to 

assure they achieve the FMP objectives, 

and may modify them if they do not. 

NMFS then publishes proposed 

specifications in the Federal Register, 

and after considering public comment, 

NMFS will publish final specifications 

in the Federal Register. 

Proposed Specifications 

Updated Model Estimates 

According to Amendment 1 to the 

FMP (Amendment 1), overfishing for 

bluefish occurs when F exceeds the 

fishing mortality rate that allows 

maximum sustainable yield (FMSY), or 

the maximum F threshold to be 

achieved. The stock is considered 

overfished if the biomass (B) falls below 

the minimum biomass threshold, which 

is defined as 1⁄2 BMSY. Amendment 1 

also established that the long-term target 

F is 90 percent of FMSY (FMSY = 0.19, 

therefore Ftarget = 90 percent of FMSY, or 

0.17), and the long-term target B is 

BMSY = 324 million lb (146,964 mt). 

An age-structured assessment 

program (ASAP) model for bluefish was 

approved by the 41st Stock Assessment 

Review Committee (SARC 41) in 2005 to 

estimate F and annual biomass. In June 

2010, the ASAP model was updated in 

order to estimate the current status of 

the bluefish stock (i.e., 2009 biomass 

and F estimates) and enable the 

Monitoring Committee and SSC to 

recommend 2011 specifications using 

landings information and survey indices 

through the 2009 fishing year. The 

results of the assessment update were as 

follows: (1) An estimated stock biomass 

for 2009, B2009 = 343.901 million lb 

(155,991 mt); and (2) an estimated 

fishing mortality rate for 2009, 

F2009 = 0.10. Based on the updated 2009 

estimate of bluefish stock biomass, the 

bluefish stock is not considered 

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2011 / Proposed Rules 2641 

overfished: B2009 is greater than the 

minimum biomass threshold, 1⁄2 BMSY = 

162 million lb (73,526 mt), and is above 

BMSY. Biomass has been above the target 

since 2007, and the stock was declared 

rebuilt in October 2009, satisfying the 

rebuilding program requirement to 

achieve rebuilding by 2010 that was 

established in Amendment 1. Estimates 

of F have declined from 0.41 in 1991 to 

0.10 in 2009. The updated model results 

also conclude that the Atlantic bluefish 

stock is not experiencing overfishing; 

i.e., the most recent F (F2009 = 0.10) is 

less than the maximum F overfishing 

threshold specified by SARC 41 (FMSY = 

0.19). 

2011 TAL 

The Council’s SSC met in July 2010 

to review updated stock status and other 

fishery independent and dependent data 

to recommend an acceptable biological 

catch (ABC) for the 2011 bluefish 

fishing year. Based on the updated 

bluefish assessment, the SSC 

recommended an ABC of 31.744 million 

lb (14,399 mt), which corresponds to an 

F of 0.15. Following the SSC meeting, 

the Monitoring Committee met to 

review the SSC’s ABC determination 

and recommend bluefish management 

measures for 2011. The MC 

recommended an Ftarget of 0.15 and a 

corresponding TAC of 31.744 million lb 

(14,399 mt). After subtracting an 

estimate of discards of 4.451 million lb 

(2,019 mt) (the average annual discard 

level from 2007–2009) from the TAC, 

the Monitoring Committee 

recommended a 2011 TAL of 27.293 

million lb (12,380 mt). At its August 

2010 meeting, the Council concurred 

with the recommendation of the 

Monitoring Committee for a TAC of 

31.744 million lb (14,299 mt) and a TAL 

of 27.293 million lb (12,380 mt). The 

proposed TAL is a 7-percent decrease 

from the 2010 TAL of 29.264 million lb 

(13,274 mt) due to a slight decrease in 

the 2009 estimate of bluefish stock 

biomass. The discussion below 

describes the recommended allocation 

of TAL between the commercial and 

recreational sectors, and the 

proportional adjustments to account for 

the recommended bluefish RSA quota. 

Proposed Commercial Quota and 

Recreational Harvest Limit 

Based strictly on the percentages 

specified in the FMP (17 percent 

commercial, 83 percent recreational), 

the commercial quota for 2011 would be 

4.640 million lb (2,105 mt) and the RHL 

would be 22.653 million lb (10,275 mt) 

in 2011. However, the FMP stipulates 

that, in any year in which 17 percent of 

the TAL is less than 10.500 million lb 

(4,763 mt), and the recreational fishery 

is not projected to land its harvest limit 

for the upcoming year, the commercial 

quota may be increased up to 10.500 

million lb (4,763 mt), provided that the 

combined projected recreational 

landings and commercial quota would 

not exceed the TAL. The RHL would 

then be adjusted downward so that the 

TAL would be unchanged. 

The Council postponed projections of 

estimated recreational harvest for 2011 

until Marine Recreational Fisheries 

Statistics Survey (MRFSS) harvest data 

through Wave 5 of 2010 became 

available (six ‘‘Waves’’ of data are 

released each year by MRFSS). In the 

meantime, the 3-year average of annual 

recreational harvest from 2007 through 

2009 (17.882 million lb (8,111 mt)) was 

applied as the estimated recreational 

harvest for 2011. As such, it was 

expected that a transfer of up to 4.772 

million lb (2,164 mt) from the 

recreational sector to the commercial 

sector could be approved. This option 

represents the preferred alternative 

recommended by the Council in its 

specifications document. 

Northeast Regional Office staff 

recently updated the recreational 

harvest projection using 2010 MRFSS 

data through Wave 5. Using the best 

available data, the 2011 recreational 

harvest was estimated to be 16.992 

million lb (7,707 mt), or approximately 

62 percent of the TAL. Consistent with 

the Council’s recommendation, this 

would allow for a transfer of 4.772 

million lb (2,164 mt) from the 

recreational sector to the commercial 

sector. This would result in an adjusted 

commercial quota of 9.411 million lb 

(4,269 mt) and an RHL of 17.882 million 

lb (8,111 mt). 

RSA 

Two research projects that would 

utilize bluefish RSA quota have been 

preliminarily approved and forwarded 

to NOAA’s Grants Management 

Division. A 105,000-lb (48-mt) RSA 

quota is preliminarily approved for use 

by these projects during 2011. 

Proportional adjustments of this amount 

to the commercial and recreational 

allocations would result in a final 

commercial quota of 9.375 million lb 

(4,253 mt) and a final RHL of 17.813 

million lb (8,080 mt). NMFS staff will 

update the commercial and recreational 

allocations based on the final 2011 RSA 

awards as part of the final rule for the 

2011 specifications. 

Proposed Recreational Possession Limit 

The Council recommends, and NMFS 

proposes, to maintain the current 

recreational possession limit of up to 15 

fish per person to achieve the RHL. 

Proposed State Commercial Allocations 

The proposed state commercial 

allocations for the recommended 2011 

commercial quota are shown in Table 1, 

based on the percentages specified in 

the FMP. These quotas do not reflect 

any adjustments for quota overages that 

may have occurred in some states in 

2010. Any potential deductions for 

states that exceeded their quota in 2010 

will be accounted for in the final rule. 

TABLE 1—PROPOSED BLUEFISH COMMERCIAL STATE-BY-STATE ALLOCATIONS FOR 2011 

[Including RSA deductions] 

State Percent share 2011 Council-proposed 

commercial quota (lb) 

2011 Council-proposed 

commercial quota (kg) 

ME ............................................................................................................ 0.6685 62,673 28,428 

NH ............................................................................................................ 0.4145 38,860 17,627 

MA ............................................................................................................ 6.7167 629,704 285,629 

RI ............................................................................................................. 6.8081 638,273 289,516 

CT ............................................................................................................ 1.2663 118,718 53,850 

NY ............................................................................................................ 10.3851 973,624 441,629 

NJ ............................................................................................................. 14.8162 1,389,049 630,062 

DE ............................................................................................................ 1.8782 176,085 79,871 

MD ........................................................................................................... 3.0018 281,425 127,652 

VA ............................................................................................................ 11.8795 1,113,727 505,178 

NC ............................................................................................................ 32.0608 3,005,765 1,363,392 

SC ............................................................................................................ 0.0352 3,300 1,497 

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2642 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

1Some of these vessels were also identified in the 

Northeast dealer data; therefore, double counting is 

possible. 

TABLE 1—PROPOSED BLUEFISH COMMERCIAL STATE-BY-STATE ALLOCATIONS FOR 2011—Continued 

[Including RSA deductions] 

State Percent share 2011 Council-proposed 

commercial quota (lb) 

2011 Council-proposed 

commercial quota (kg) 

GA ............................................................................................................ 0.0095 891 404 

FL ............................................................................................................. 10.0597 943,117 427,791 

Total .................................................................................................. 100.0001 9,375,204 4,252,521 

Proposed Regulatory Amendment 

Amendment 1, implemented in 2000, 

established a rebuilding schedule to 

rebuild the bluefish stock biomass to its 

biomass target using a graduated step 

reduction in fishing mortality over a 9- 

year period. Amendment 1 specified a 

target F of 90 percent of FMSY, to become 

effective after the rebuilding period. The 

regulations at § 648.160(a) state that the 

Council must set the TAL to ‘‘achieve 

the target fishing mortality rate (F) 

specified in the Fishery Management 

Plan for Atlantic Bluefish for the 

upcoming fishing year or the estimated 

F for the fishing year preceding the 

Council submission of the 

recommended specifications, whichever 

F is lower.’’ These regulations reflect the 

annual specification process during the 

rebuilding period; however, the 

regulations do not reflect the intent of 

the FMP for specification of the TAL 

after the rebuilding period. The 

‘‘whichever F is lower’’ provision was 

only intended to apply to annual 

specifications during the rebuilding 

period. Therefore, this rule proposes to 

eliminate the ‘‘whichever F is lower’’ 

provision to more clearly reflect the 

intent of the FMP. 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act), the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

that this proposed rule is consistent 

with the Atlantic Bluefish FMP, other 

provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, and other applicable law, subject to 

further consideration after public 

comment. 

This action has been determined to be 

not significant for purposes of Executive 

Order 12866. 

An IRFA was prepared, as required by 

section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act (RFA), which describes the 

economic impact this proposed rule, if 

adopted, would have on small entities. 

A description of the action, why it is 

being considered, and the legal basis for 

this action are contained at the 

beginning of this preamble and in the 

SUMMARY. A summary of the analysis 

follows. A copy of this analysis is 

available from the Council (see 

ADDRESSES). 

Small businesses operating in 

commercial and recreational (i.e., party 

and charter vessel operations) fisheries 

have been defined by the Small 

Business Administration as firms with 

gross revenues of up to $4.0 and $6.5 

million, respectively. The categories of 

small entities likely to be affected by 

this action include commercial and 

charter/party vessel owners holding an 

active Federal permit for Atlantic 

bluefish, as well as owners of vessels 

that fish for Atlantic bluefish in state 

waters. All federally permitted vessels 

fall into the definition of small 

businesses; thus, there would be no 

disproportionate impacts between large 

and small entities as a result of the 

proposed rule. 

An active participant in the 

commercial sector was defined as any 

vessel that reported having landed one 

or more lb (0.45 kg) in the Atlantic 

bluefish fishery in 2009 (the last year for 

which there are complete data). The 

active participants in the commercial 

sector were defined using two sets of 

data. The Northeast dealer reports were 

used to identify 688 vessels that landed 

bluefish in states from Maine through 

North Carolina in 2009. However, the 

Northeast dealer database does not 

provide information about fishery 

participation in South Carolina, Georgia, 

or Florida. South Atlantic Trip Ticket 

reports were used to identify 908 

vessels 1 that landed bluefish in North 

Carolina and 685 vessels that landed 

bluefish on Florida’s east coast. Bluefish 

landings in South Carolina and Georgia 

were near zero in 2009, representing a 

negligible proportion of the total 

bluefish landings along the Atlantic 

Coast. Therefore, this analysis assumed 

that no vessel activity for these two 

states took place in 2009. In recent 

years, approximately 2,063 party/charter 

vessels may have been active in the 

bluefish fishery and/or have caught 

bluefish. 

There are no new reporting or 

recordkeeping requirements contained 

in any of the alternatives considered for 

this action. In addition, NMFS is not 

aware of any relevant Federal rules that 

may duplicate, overlap, or conflict with 

this proposed rule. 

The IRFA in the Draft EA analyzed 

three alternatives (including a no 

action/status quo alternative) for the 

2011 Atlantic bluefish fishery. All quota 

alternatives considered in this analysis 

are based on various commercial harvest 

levels for bluefish (a low, medium, and 

high level of harvest). For analysis of 

impacts of each alternative, the 

maximum potential RSA quota of 3 

percent of the TAL (818,797 lb (371 mt)) 

was used. For analysis of impacts of 

Alternatives 1 and 3, the recommended 

transfer of 4.772 million lb (2,164 mt) 

from the recreational sector to the 

commercial sector was used. Under 

Alternative 2, no transfer of bluefish 

would be made from the recreational 

sector to the commercial sector, and the 

allocation of the TAL would be based 

strictly on the percentages specified in 

the FMP (17 percent commercial, 83 

percent recreational). 

Alternatives 1 and 2 would 

implement a TAL of 27.293 million lb 

(12,380 mt). Alternative 3 would 

implement status quo management 

measures for 2011, which would result 

in a TAL identical to the 2010 TAL, or 

29.264 million lb (13,274 mt). The 

proposed 2011 Atlantic bluefish 

specification alternatives are shown in 

Table 2, along with the resulting 

commercial quota and RHL after any 

applicable transfer described earlier in 

the preamble and after deduction of the 

RSA quota. Alternative 1 (Council’s 

preferred) would allocate 9.129 million 

lb (4,141 mt) to the commercial sector 

and 17.345 million lb (7,868 mt) to the 

recreational sector. Alternative 2 would 

result in the most restrictive commercial 

quota and would allocate 4.501 million 

lb (2,041 mt) to the commercial sector 

and 21.974 million lb (9,967 mt) to the 

recreational sector. Alternative 3 (status 

quo) would allocate 10.051 million lb 

(4,559 mt) to the commercial sector and 

18.335 million lb (8,317 mt) to the 

recreational sector. The commercial 

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quota and RHL under Alternative 3 

would be slightly different than those in 

2010 due to differences in the RSA 

quota. 

Table 2. Proposed 2011 Atlantic 

Bluefish Specification Alternatives for 

TAL, Commercial Quota, and RHL 

(million lb). 

TABLE 2—PROPOSED 2011 ATLANTIC BLUEFISH SPECIFICATION ALTERNATIVES FOR TAL, COMMERCIAL QUOTA, AND RHL 

[million lb] 

TAL Commercial quota RHL 

Alternative 1 ............................................................................................. 27.293 (12,380 mt) 9.129 (4,141 mt) 17.345 (7,868 mt) 

Alternative 2 ............................................................................................. 27.293 (12,380 mt) 4.501 (2,041 mt) 21.974 (9,967 mt) 

Alternative 3 ............................................................................................. 29.264 (13,274 mt) 10.051 (4,559 mt) 18.335 (8,317 mt) 

Commercial Fishery Impacts 

To assess the impact of the 

alternatives on commercial fisheries, the 

Council conducted a threshold analysis 

and analysis of potential changes in exvessel gross revenue that would result 

from each alternative, using Northeast 

dealer reports and South Atlantic Trip 

Ticket reports. 

Under Alternative 1, the 

recommended commercial quota for 

2011 is approximately 40 percent higher 

than 2009 commercial landings. When 

this commercial quota is distributed to 

the states from Maine to Florida (based 

on the percentages specified in the 

FMP), each state’s 2011 quota is higher 

than its 2009 landings, except for New 

York and New Jersey. New York and 

New Jersey both fully harvested their 

initial bluefish quota and received 

commercial quota transfers from other 

states in 2009. Therefore, New York and 

New Jersey’s 2009 landings were greater 

than their initially allocated 2009 

commercial quota. Results of the 

threshold analysis from dealer data 

estimated that, coast wide, there would 

be no revenue change for 449 vessels, 

while 219 vessels could incur slight 

revenue losses of less than 5 percent. 

Approximately 20 vessels could incur 

revenue losses of more than 5 percent. 

A larger number of these vessels have 

home ports in New York than in any 

other state. Of the 20 vessels that may 

experience revenue losses of more than 

5 percent, 15 percent had gross sales of 

$1,000 or less, and 80 percent had gross 

sales of $10,000 or less. This likely 

indicates that the dependence on 

income from fishing for some of these 

vessels is very small. If commercial 

quota is transferred from a state or states 

that do not land their entire bluefish 

quota for 2011, as was done in 2010 and 

frequently in previous years, the 

number of affected entities described 

above could decrease, thus decreasing 

the adverse economic impact on vessels 

landing in the state(s) receiving quota 

transfers. 

Alternative 2 would result in a 

commercial quota 31 percent below the 

2009 commercial landings. Although 

the overall commercial quota would be 

lower than 2009 commercial landings, 

when distributed to the states, each 

state’s 2011 quota is higher than its 2009 

landings, except for Massachusetts, 

Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 

New Jersey, Maryland, and North 

Carolina. For these states, 2011 

commercial landings would be 

constrained by the 2011 commercial 

quota under Alternative 2. The 

threshold analysis projected that 566 

vessels could incur revenue losses of 

less than 5 percent and 61 vessels could 

incur revenue losses of 5 percent or 

more. Of the vessels likely to be 

impacted with revenue reductions of 5 

percent or more, 36 percent had gross 

sales of $1,000 or less and 61 percent 

had gross sales of $10,000 or less, which 

may indicate that the dependence on 

fishing for some of these vessels is 

small. A larger number of impacted 

vessels have home ports in New York, 

New Jersey, and North Carolina, which 

may indicate a higher dependence on 

bluefish for these states. 

Under Alternative 3, the 2011 

commercial quota is approximately 54 

percent higher than the 2009 

commercial landings. Most states show 

a similar directional change in fishing 

opportunities under this alternative; 

however, New York’s 2011 commercial 

quota would be lower than its 2009 

commercial landings. Analysis of 

Alternative 3 concluded that, coast 

wide, 565 vessels would likely have no 

change in revenue relative to 2009, but 

8 vessels were projected to incur 

revenue losses of more than 5 percent. 

Of the vessels projected to incur 

revenue losses of more than 5 percent, 

88 percent had gross sales of $10,000 or 

less, likely indicating that the 

dependence on fishing for some of these 

vessels is small. No revenue reduction 

would be expected for vessels that land 

bluefish in North Carolina or Florida 

under Alternative 3. If commercial 

quota is transferred from a state or states 

that do not land their entire bluefish 

quota for 2011, as was done in 2010 and 

frequently in previous years, the 

number of affected entities described 

above could decrease, thus decreasing 

the adverse economic impact on vessels 

landing in the state(s) receiving quota 

transfers. 

Recreational Fishery Impacts 

For Alternative 1, the recommended 

RHL for the recreational sector (17.345 

million lb, 7,868 mt) is approximately 

28 percent above the recreational 

landings for 2009 and 7 percent below 

the RHL implemented for 2010 (18.631 

million lb (8,451 mt)). The proposed 

2011 RHL is approximately 3 percent 

less than the projected 2011 recreational 

landings. There is little empirical 

evidence regarding the sensitivity of 

charter/party anglers to fishing 

regulations. However, under Alternative 

1, given the recreational landings in 

recent years, it is possible that the 

proposed RHL may cause a slight 

decrease in recreational satisfaction. In 

addition, if the proposed measures 

discourage trip-taking behavior, the 

demand for party/charter boat trips may 

be slightly negatively impacted as a 

result of the proposed 2011 RHL under 

Alternative 1. Some anglers may reduce 

their effort in 2011 as a result of the 

RHL, and are likely to transfer this effort 

to alternative species, resulting in little 

change in overall fishing effort. The 

IRFA analyzed the maximum transfer 

amount from the recreational sector to 

the commercial sector, but future 

updates of recreational harvest 

projections could result in a lesser 

transfer amount. 

The 2011 RHL under Alternative 2 

would be 62 percent higher than the 

recreational landings in 2009 and 18 

percent higher than the 2010 RHL. In 

addition, the 2011 RHL is 23 percent 

higher than the projected recreational 

landings for 2011. Under Alternative 3, 

the 2011 RHL would be 35 percent 

higher than 2009 recreational landings 

and 2 percent lower than the 2010 RHL. 

The 2011 RHL would be approximately 

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2644 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

3 percent higher than the projected 2011 

recreational landings. Thus, 

Alternatives 2 and 3 are not expected to 

have any negative effects on recreational 

fishermen or the demand for party/ 

charter boat trips. In addition, neither of 

these alternatives are expected to result 

in recreational landings in excess of the 

RHL. 

RSA Quota Impacts 

For analysis of each alternative, the 

maximum RSA quota amount (3 percent 

of the TAL) was deducted from the 

initial overall TAL for 2011 to derive the 

adjusted 2011 commercial quota and 

RHL under each alternative. Thus, the 

threshold analyses for each alternative 

accounted for overall reductions in 

fishing opportunities due to RSA. 

Specification of RSA quota for 2011 is 

expected to benefit all participants in 

the fishery as a result of improved data 

and information for management or 

stock assessment purposes. 

Summary 

The Council recommended 

Alternative 1 over Alternatives 2 and 3 

because it is projected to achieve the 

target F in 2011, while providing the 

second least restrictive commercial 

quota among the alternatives analyzed. 

Alternative 2 was not recommended by 

the Council because it would yield the 

lowest commercial fishing opportunities 

among the alternatives due to an 

absence of a quota transfer under this 

alternative. Alternative 3 was not 

selected because it would result in a 

TAC above the level recommended by 

the SSC and Monitoring Committee. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648 

Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping and 

reporting requirements. 

Dated: January 11, 2011. 

Samuel D. Rauch III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 648 is proposed 

to be amended as follows: 

PART 648—FISHERIES OF THE 

NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 

1. The authority citation for part 648 

continues to read as follows: 

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

2. In § 648.160, paragraph (a) is 

revised to read as follows: 

§ 648.160 Catch quotas and other 

restrictions. 

* * * * * 

(a) Annual review. On or before 

August 15 of each year, the Bluefish 

Monitoring Committee will meet to 

determine the total allowable level of 

landings (TAL) and other restrictions 

necessary to achieve the appropriate 

target fishing mortality rate (F) specified 

in the Atlantic Bluefish FMP. In 

determining the TAL and other 

restrictions necessary to achieve the 

appropriate F, the Bluefish Monitoring 

Committee will review the following 

data, subject to availability: 

Commercial, recreational, and research 

catch data; current estimates of fishing 

mortality; stock status; recent estimates 

of recruitment; virtual population 

analysis results; levels of 

noncompliance by fishermen or 

individual states; impact of size/mesh 

regulations; discards; sea sampling data; 

impact of gear other than otter trawls 

and gill nets on the mortality of 

bluefish; and any other relevant 

information. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2011–798 Filed 1–13–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

mstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with PROPOSALS