67140 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 248 / Friday, December 28, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

Dated: October 25, 2018. 

James W. Kurth, 

Deputy Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Exercising the Authority of the 

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27971 Filed 12–27–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 635 

[Docket No. 180117042–8884–02] 

RIN 0648–XG695 

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; inseason 

General category quota transfer. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is transferring 19.5 

metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna 

(BFT) quota from the 28.9-mt General 

category December 2019 subquota to the 

January 2019 subquota period (from 

January 1 through March 31, 2019, or 

until the available subquota for this 

period is reached, whichever comes 

first). This action is based on 

consideration of the regulatory 

determination criteria regarding 

inseason adjustments and applies to 

Atlantic tunas General category 

(commercial) permitted vessels and 

Highly Migratory Species (HMS) 

Charter/Headboat category permitted 

vessels with a commercial sale 

endorsement when fishing 

commercially for BFT. 

DATES: Effective January 1, 2019, 

through March 31, 2019. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sarah McLaughlin, 978–281–9260, or 

Larry Redd, 301–427–8503. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulations implemented under the 

authority of the Atlantic Tunas 

Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 et 

seq.) and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 

et seq.) governing the harvest of BFT by 

persons and vessels subject to U.S. 

jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR part 

635. Section 635.27 subdivides the U.S. 

BFT quota recommended by the 

International Commission for the 

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) 

and as implemented by the United 

States among the various domestic 

fishing categories, per the allocations 

established in the 2006 Consolidated 

Highly Migratory Species Fishery 

Management Plan (2006 Consolidated 

HMS FMP) (71 FR 58058, October 2, 

2006), as amended by Amendment 7 to 

the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP 

(Amendment 7) (79 FR 71510, December 

2, 2014). NMFS is required under ATCA 

and the Magnuson-Stevens Act to 

provide U.S. fishing vessels with a 

reasonable opportunity to harvest the 

ICCAT-recommended quota. 

The base quota for the General 

category is 555.7 mt. See § 635.27(a). 

Each of the General category time 

periods (January, June through August, 

September, October through November, 

and December) is allocated a 

‘‘subquota’’ or portion of the annual 

General category quota. Although it is 

called the ‘‘January’’ subquota, the 

regulations allow the General category 

fishery under this quota to continue 

until the subquota is reached or March 

31, whichever comes first. The baseline 

subquotas for each time period are as 

follows: 29.5 mt for January; 277.9 mt 

for June through August; 147.3 mt for 

September; 72.2 mt for October through 

November; and 28.9 mt for December. 

Any unused General category quota 

rolls forward within the fishing year, 

which coincides with the calendar year, 

from one time period to the next, and 

is available for use in subsequent time 

periods. 

Transfer of 19.5 mt From the December 

2019 Subquota to the January 2019 

Subquota 

Under § 635.27(a)(9), NMFS has the 

authority to transfer quota among 

fishing categories or subcategories, after 

considering regulatory determination 

criteria provided under § 635.27(a)(8). 

NMFS has considered all of the relevant 

determination criteria and their 

applicability to this inseason quota. 

These considerations include, but are 

not limited to, the following: 

Regarding the usefulness of 

information obtained from catches in 

the particular category for biological 

sampling and monitoring of the status of 

the stock (§ 635.27(a)(8)(i)), biological 

samples collected from BFT landed by 

General category fishermen and 

provided by tuna dealers provide NMFS 

with valuable parts and data for ongoing 

scientific studies of BFT age and 

growth, migration, and reproductive 

status. Additional opportunity to land 

BFT, and potentially over a greater 

portion of the January time period, 

would support the collection of a broad 

range of data for these studies and for 

stock monitoring purposes. 

NMFS also considered the catches of 

the General category quota to date 

(including in December 2018 and during 

the winter fishery in the last several 

years), and the likelihood of closure of 

that segment of the fishery if no 

adjustment is made (§ 635.27(a)(8)(ii)). 

Without a quota transfer from December 

2019 to January 2019 for the General 

category at this time, the quota available 

for the January period would be 29.5 mt 

(5.3 percent of the General category 

quota), and participants would have to 

stop BFT fishing activities once that 

amount is met, while commercial-sized 

BFT may remain available in the areas 

where General category permitted 

vessels operate. Transferring 19.5 mt of 

the 28.9-mt quota available for 

December 2019 (with 28.9 mt 

representing 5.2 percent of the General 

category quota) would result in 49 mt 

(8.8 percent of the General category 

quota) being available for the January 

subquota period. This quota transfer 

would provide additional opportunities 

to harvest the U.S. BFT quota without 

exceeding it, while preserving the 

opportunity for General category 

fishermen to participate in the winter 

BFT fishery at both the beginning and 

end of the calendar year. 

Regarding the projected ability of the 

vessels fishing under the particular 

category quota (here, the General 

category) to harvest the additional 

amount of BFT before the end of the 

fishing year (§ 635.27(a)(8)(iii)), NMFS 

considered General category landings 

over the last several years. General 

category landings in the winter BFT 

fishery tend to straddle the calendar 

year as BFT may be available in late 

November/December and into January 

of the following year or later. Landings 

are highly variable and depend on 

access to commercial-sized BFT and 

fishing conditions, among other factors. 

Any unused General category quota 

from the January subperiod that remains 

as of March 31 will roll forward to the 

next subperiod within the calendar year 

(i.e., the June-August time period). In 

2018, NMFS transferred 14.3 mt of 

quota from the December 2018 subquota 

to the January 2018 subquota period, 

resulting in a subquota of 39 mt for the 

January 2018 period and a subquota of 

10 mt for the December 2018 period (82 

FR 60680, December 22, 2017). NMFS 

also transferred 10 mt from the Reserve 

to the General category effective 

February 28, resulting in an adjusted 

subquota of 49 mt for the January 2018 

period (83 FR 9232, March 5, 2018), and 

closed the General category fishery for 

the January subquota period effective 

March 2, 2018. Under a one-fish General 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 248 / Friday, December 28, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 67141 

category daily retention limit (i.e., of 

large medium or giant BFT, measuring 

73 inches (185 cm) curved fork length 

(CFL) or greater) effective January 1 

through March 2, a total of 59.3 mt were 

landed. 

NMFS also considered the estimated 

amounts by which quotas for other gear 

categories of the fishery might be 

exceeded (§ 635.27(a)(8)(iv)) and the 

ability to account for all 2019 landings 

and dead discards. In the last several 

years, total U.S. BFT landings have been 

below the available U.S. quota such that 

the United States has carried forward 

the maximum amount of underharvest 

allowed by ICCAT from one year to the 

next. NMFS will need to account for 

2018 landings and dead discards within 

the adjusted U.S. quota, consistent with 

ICCAT recommendations, and 

anticipates having sufficient quota to do 

that. 

This transfer would be consistent 

with the current quotas, which were 

established and analyzed in the 2018 

BFT quota final rule (83 FR 53191, 

October 11, 2018), and with objectives 

of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 

amendments. (§ 635.27(a)(8)(v) and (vi)). 

Another principal consideration is the 

objective of providing opportunities to 

harvest the full annual U.S. BFT quota 

without exceeding it based on the goals 

of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 

amendments, including to achieve 

optimum yield on a continuing basis 

and to optimize the ability of all permit 

categories to harvest their full BFT 

quota allocations (related to 

§ 635.27(a)(8)(x)). 

NMFS also anticipates that some 

underharvest of the 2018 adjusted U.S. 

BFT quota will be carried forward to 

2019 and placed in the Reserve 

category, in accordance with the 

regulations. This, in addition to the fact 

that any unused General category quota 

will roll forward to the next subperiod 

within the calendar year, as well as 

NMFS’ plan to actively manage the 

subquotas to avoid any exceedances, 

makes it likely that General category 

quota will remain available through the 

end of 2019 for December fishery 

participants, even with the quota 

transfer. NMFS also may choose to 

transfer unused quota from the Reserve 

or other categories, inseason, based on 

consideration of the determination 

criteria, as NMFS did for late 2018. 

NMFS anticipates that General category 

participants in all areas and time 

periods will have opportunities to 

harvest the General category quota in 

2019, through active inseason 

management such as retention limit 

adjustments and/or the timing of quota 

transfers, as practicable. Thus, this 

quota transfer would allow fishermen to 

take advantage of the availability of fish 

on the fishing grounds, consider the 

expected increases in available 2019 

quota later in the year, and provide a 

reasonable opportunity to harvest the 

full U.S. BFT quota. 

Based on the considerations above, 

NMFS is transferring 19.5 mt of the 

28.9-mt General category quota 

allocated for the December 2019 period 

to the January 2019 period, resulting in 

a subquota of 49 mt for the January 2019 

period and a subquota of 9.4 mt for the 

December 2019 period. NMFS will close 

the General category fishery when the 

adjusted January period subquota of 49 

mt has been reached, or it will close 

automatically on March 31, 2019, 

whichever comes first, and it will 

remain closed until the General category 

fishery reopens on June 1, 2019. 

Monitoring and Reporting 

NMFS will continue to monitor the 

BFT fishery closely. Dealers are required 

to submit landing reports within 24 

hours of a dealer receiving BFT. Late 

reporting by dealers compromises 

NMFS’ ability to timely implement 

actions such as quota and retention 

limit adjustment, as well as closures, 

and may result in enforcement actions. 

Additionally, and separate from the 

dealer reporting requirement, General 

and HMS Charter/Headboat category 

vessel owners are required to report the 

catch of all BFT retained or discarded 

dead within 24 hours of the landing(s) 

or end of each trip, by accessing 

hmspermits.noaa.gov or by using the 

HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling 

(888) 872–8862 (Monday through Friday 

from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.). 

Under § 635.23(a)(4), NMFS may 

increase or decrease the daily retention 

limit of large medium and giant bluefin 

tuna over a range of zero to a maximum 

of five per vessel based on consideration 

of the relevant criteria provided under 

§ 635.27(a)(8). However, at this time, 

NMFS is maintaining the default daily 

retention limit of one large medium or 

giant BFT per vessel per day/trip 

(§ 635.23(a)(2)) for the January 2019 

General category fishery. Regardless of 

the duration of a fishing trip, no more 

than a single day’s retention limit may 

be possessed, retained, or landed. For 

example (and specific to the limit that 

will apply beginning January 1, 2019), 

whether a vessel fishing under the 

General category limit takes a two-day 

trip or makes two trips in one day, the 

daily limit of one fish may not be 

exceeded upon landing. This General 

category retention limit is effective in all 

areas, except for the Gulf of Mexico, 

where NMFS prohibits targeting fishing 

for BFT, and applies to those vessels 

permitted in the General category, as 

well as to those HMS Charter/Headboat 

permitted vessels with a commercial 

sale endorsement when fishing 

commercially for BFT fishing 

commercially for BFT. 

Depending on the level of fishing 

effort and catch rates of BFT including 

catches of the General category quota 

during the winter fishery, NMFS may 

determine that additional action (e.g., 

quota adjustment, daily retention limit 

adjustment, or closure) is necessary to 

enhance scientific data collection from, 

and fishing opportunities in, all 

geographic areas, and to ensure 

available subquotas are not exceeded. If 

needed, subsequent adjustments will be 

published in the Federal Register. In 

addition, fishermen may call the 

Atlantic Tunas Information Line at (978) 

281–9260, or access 

hmspermits.noaa.gov, for updates on 

quota monitoring and inseason 

adjustments. 

Classification 

The Assistant Administrator for 

NMFS (AA) finds that it is impracticable 

and contrary to the public interest to 

provide prior notice of, and an 

opportunity for public comment on, this 

action for the following reasons: 

The regulations implementing the 

2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 

amendments provide for inseason 

retention limit adjustments to respond 

to the unpredictable nature of BFT 

availability on the fishing grounds, the 

migratory nature of this species, and the 

regional variations in the BFT fishery. 

Affording prior notice and opportunity 

for public comment to implement the 

quota transfer for the January 2019 

subquota period at this time is 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest as NMFS could not have 

proposed this action earlier, as it needed 

to consider and respond to updated data 

and information from the 2018 General 

category fishery, including the recentlyavailable December 2018 data, in 

deciding to transfer a portion of the 

December 2019 quota to the January 

2019 subquota. If NMFS was to offer a 

public comment period now, after 

having appropriately considered that 

data, it could preclude fishermen from 

harvesting BFT that are legally available 

consistent with all of the regulatory 

criteria, and/or could result in selection 

of a retention limit inappropriately high 

for the amount of quota available for the 

period. Therefore, the AA finds good 

cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive 

prior notice and the opportunity for 

public comment. For these reasons, 

there also is good cause under 5 U.S.C. 


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67142 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 248 / Friday, December 28, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

553(d) to waive the 30-day delay in 

effectiveness. 

This action is being taken under 

§ 635.27(a)(9) (Inseason adjustments), 

and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 1801 

et seq. 

Dated: December 21, 2018. 

Karen H. Abrams, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–28336 Filed 12–21–18; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 180202111–8353–02] 

RIN 0648–XG690 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery; 

Closure of the Mid-Atlantic Scallop 

Access Area to General Category 

Individual Fishing Quota Scallop 

Vessels 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; closure. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area is 

closed to Limited Access General 

Category Individual Fishing Quota 

scallop vessels for the remainder of the 

2018 fishing year. No vessel issued a 

Limited Access General Category 

Individual Fishing Quota permit may 

fish for, possess, or land scallops from 

the Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area. 

Regulations require this action once it is 

projected that 100 percent of trips 

allocated to the Limited Access General 

Category Individual Fishing Quota 

scallop vessels for the Mid-Atlantic 

Scallop Access Area will be taken. 

DATES: Effective 0001 hr local time, 

December 24, 2018, through March 31, 

2019. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shannah Jaburek, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 282–8456. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulations governing fishing activity in 

the Sea Scallop Access Areas can be 

found in 50 CFR 648.59 and 648.60. 

These regulations authorize vessels 

issued a valid Limited Access General 

Category (LAGC) Individual Fishing 

Quota (IFQ) scallop permit to fish in the 

Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area under 

specific conditions, including a total of 

1,142 trips that may be taken during the 

2018 fishing year. Section 

648.59(g)(3)(iii) requires the MidAtlantic Scallop Access Area to be 

closed to LAGC IFQ permitted vessels 

for the remainder of the fishing year 

once the NMFS Greater Atlantic 

Regional Administrator determines that 

the allocated number of trips for fishing 

year 2018 are projected to be taken. 

Based on trip declarations by LAGC 

IFQ scallop vessels fishing in the MidAtlantic Scallop Access Area, analysis 

of fishing effort, and other information, 

NMFS projects that 1,142 trips will be 

taken as of December 24, 2018. 

Therefore, in accordance with 

§ 648.59(g)(3)(iii), NMFS is closing the 

Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area to all 

LAGC IFQ scallop vessels as of 

December 24, 2018. No vessel issued an 

LAGC IFQ permit may fish for, possess, 

or land scallops in or from the MidAtlantic Scallop Access Area after 0001 

local time, December 24, 2018. Any 

LAGC IFQ vessel that has declared into 

the Mid-Atlantic Access Area scallop 

fishery, complied with all trip 

notification and observer requirements, 

and crossed the VMS demarcation line 

on the way to the area before 0001, 

December 24, 2018, may complete its 

trip without being subject to this 

closure. This closure is in effect for the 

remainder of the 2018 scallop fishing 

year, through March 31, 2019. 

Classification 

This action is required by 50 CFR part 

648 and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. NMFS finds 

good cause under 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. The 

Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area 

opened for the 2018 fishing year on 

April 19, 2018. The regulations at 

§ 648.59(g)(3)(iii) require this closure to 

ensure that LAGC IFQ scallop vessels do 

not take more than their allocated 

number of trips in the area. The 

projected date on which the LAGC IFQ 

fleet will have taken all of its allocated 

trips in an Access Area becomes 

apparent only as trips into the area 

occur on a real-time basis and as activity 

trends begin to appear. As a result, 

NMFS can only make an accurate 

projection very close in time to when 

the fleet has taken all of its trips. To 

allow LAGC IFQ scallop vessels to 

continue to take trips in the MidAtlantic Scallop Access Area during the 

period necessary to publish and receive 

comments on a proposed rule would 

likely result in the vessels taking much 

more than the allowed number of trips 

in the Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access 

Area. Excessive trips and harvest from 

the Mid-Atlantic Scallop Access Area 

would result in excessive fishing effort 

in the area, where effort controls are 

critical, thereby undermining 

conservation objectives of the Atlantic 

Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan 

and requiring more restrictive future 

management measures. Also, the public 

had prior notice and full opportunity to 

comment on this closure process when 

it was enacted For these same reasons, 

NMFS further finds, under to 5 U.S.C 

553(d)(3), good cause to waive the 30- 

day delayed effectiveness period. 

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

Dated: December 21, 2018. 

Karen H. Abrams, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–28247 Filed 12–21–18; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 170828822–70999–02] 

RIN 0648–XG692 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Summer Flounder Fishery; 

2018 Commercial Quota Harvested for 

the State of Rhode Island 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; closure. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

2018 summer flounder commercial 

quota allocated to the state of Rhode 

Island has been harvested. Vessels 

issued a commercial Federal permit for 

the summer flounder fishery may not 

land summer flounder in Rhode Island 

for the remainder of calendar year 2018, 

unless additional quota becomes 

available through a transfer from 

another state. Regulations governing the 

summer flounder fishery require 

publication of this notice to advise 

Rhode Island that the quota has been 

harvested, and to advise vessel and 

dealer permit holders that no Federal 

commercial quota is available to land 

summer flounder in Rhode Island. 

DATES: Effective 0001 hours, December 

29, 2018, through December 31, 2018. 


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