66234 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Proposed Rules 

Appendix—Information Collection 

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act 

Title: Water Carrier Tariffs. 

OMB Control Number: 2140–0026. 

STB Form Number: None. 

Type of Review: Extension with change. 

Summary: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork burdens, and as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction Act 

(PRA), the Surface Transportation Board 

(STB or Board) gives notice that it is 

requesting from the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) approval for the revision 

of the currently approved information 

collection, Water Carrier Tariffs, OMB 

Control No. 2140–0026, as further described 

below. The requested revision to the 

currently approved collection is necessitated 

by this NPRM. 

Respondents: Water carriers that provide 

freight transportation in noncontiguous 

domestic trade. 

Number of Respondents: Approximately 

20. 

Frequency: Annually. 

Total Burden Hours (annually including all 

respondents): 80 hours (20 annual filings × 4 

hours estimated time per certification). 

Total ‘‘Non-Hour Burden’’ Cost (such as 

start-up costs and mailing costs): There are 

no non-hourly burden costs for this 

collection. The annual certifications will be 

submitted electronically. 

Needs and Uses: Under 49 U.S.C. 13702(b) 

and 49 CFR part 1312, water carriers that 

provide freight transportation in 

noncontiguous domestic trade (i.e., 

shipments moving to or from Alaska, Hawaii, 

or the U.S. territories or possessions (Puerto 

Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, 

American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana 

Islands) to or from the mainland U.S.) may 

file an annual certification with the Board 

that includes the internet address of a 

website containing a list of current and 

historical prices and fees that the water 

carrier charges to the shipping public, rather 

than submit individual tariffs to the Board. 

The collection by the Board of these water 

carrier annual certifications with active 

website links will decrease the burden on 

carriers. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27913 Filed 12–21–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 181010932–8999–01] 

RIN 0648–XG562 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 2019 

Bluefish Specifications 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes specifications 

for the 2019 Atlantic bluefish fishery, as 

recommended by the Mid-Atlantic 

Fishery Management Council. This 

action is necessary to comply with the 

implementing regulations of the 

Bluefish Fishery Management Plan that 

require NMFS to publish specifications 

for the fishery after providing the 

opportunity for public comment. The 

proposed specifications are intended to 

establish allowable harvest levels for the 

stock that will prevent overfishing while 

allowing optimum yield, consistent 

with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act and 

the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan. 

This action also informs the public of 

the proposed fishery specifications, and 

provides an opportunity for comment. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

January 10, 2019. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2018–0127, by either of the 

following methods: 

Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. 

1. Go to www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2018- 

0127, 

2. Click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and 

3. Enter or attach your comments. 

—OR— 

Mail: Submit written comments to 

Michael Pentony, Regional 

Administrator, National Marine 

Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic 

Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the 

outside of the envelope: ‘‘Comments on 

the Proposed Rule for Bluefish 

Specifications.’’ 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, may not be 

considered by NMFS. All comments 

received are part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter 

‘‘N/A’’ in the required fields if you wish 

to remain anonymous). 

Copies of the Supplemental 

Information Report (SIR) prepared for 

this action and other supporting 

documents for the proposed 

specifications are available upon request 

from Dr. Christopher M. Moore, 

Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic 

Fishery Management Council, Suite 201, 

800 N State Street, Dover, DE 19901. 

These documents are also accessible via 

the internet at http://www.mafmc.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9180. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council and the Atlantic 

States Marine Fisheries Commission 

jointly manage the Atlantic Bluefish 

Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The 

FMP requires the specification of the 

acceptable biological catch (ABC), 

annual catch limit (ACL), annual catch 

targets (ACT), commercial quotas, 

recreational harvest limit, and other 

management measures, for up to three 

years at a time. This action proposes 

specifications for the bluefish fishery for 

the 2019 fishing year. 

In 2015, the 60th Northeast Stock 

Assessment Workshop concluded that 

the Atlantic bluefish stock is not 

overfished, and overfishing is not 

occurring. The most recent data update 

(2018) showed slight declines in 

biomass after 2016, but no change in 

stock status from the 2015 benchmark 

assessment. Based on this best available 

scientific information, the Council’s 

Scientific and Statistical Committee 

(SSC) recommended that specifications 

for the 2019 bluefish fishery remain 

unchanged from the 2018 specifications 

provided in the August 4, 2016, final 

rule (81 FR 26267), as corrected in the 

September 27, 2016, final rule (81 FR 

66197). The SSC found no compelling 

reason to change the overfishing limit, 

ABC, or subsequent catch limits and 

targets. The Council’s Bluefish 

Monitoring Committee (MC) also made 

status quo recommendations following 

their 2018 meeting, consistent with the 

SSC. 

The Bluefish FMP has a prescriptive 

process for deriving specifications from 

the ABC. The FMP sets the ACL equal 

to the ABC, and there is historically no 

reduction due to management 

uncertainty because of persistent underharvest of available catch limits. The 

ACL is then divided between the 

commercial and recreational sectors by 

allocating 17 percent to the commercial 

ACT and 83 percent to the recreational 

ACT. Discards are then subtracted from 

each sector to calculate each sector’s 

TAL. Commercial discards are assumed 

to be negligible and recreational 

discards are projected using a terminal 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with PROPOSALS1
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Proposed Rules 66235 

year estimate derived from Marine 

Recreational Information Program 

(MRIP) data. If the recreational fishery is 

not projected to land its harvest limit, 

then quota may be transferred from the 

recreational to the commercial sector 

increasing the resulting commercial 

quota up to 10.5 million pounds (4,763 

mt). The Council may also specify a 

research set-aside (RSA) quota of up to 

3 percent of the TAL; however, no RSA 

quota has been allocated since 2015. 

The final commercial quota is then 

allocated to the coastal states from 

Maine to Florida based on percent 

shares specified in the FMP. 

The Council and the Commission’s 

Bluefish Management Board met jointly 

in August 2018 to consider the SSC and 

MC’s recommendations and receive 

public comments. The Council and 

Board also voted to recommend largely 

status quo specifications for the 2019 

bluefish fishery. Additionally, the 

Council recommended that the 2017 

estimate of recreational catch be used as 

the basis for recreational landings 

projections and discards. They also 

recommended that the sector quota 

transfer from the recreational fishery to 

the commercial fishery be 4.0 million 

pounds (1,814 mt), rather than the 

maximum allowable transfer of 6.1 

million pounds (2,767 mt). The Council 

stated that the resulting final quotas 

more accurately represent the current 

sector-based allocations and the overall 

goals of the Bluefish FMP. This will 

result in slightly different final 

commercial quotas and recreational 

harvest limits than 2018, so proposed 

specifications are not entirely status 

quo. The Council and Board did not 

recommend changes to any other 

regulations in place for bluefish; 

therefore, all other fishery management 

measures in place would remain 

unchanged for the 2019 fishing year. 

The bluefish stock will undergo an 

operational assessment in early 2019. 

The assessment is designed to 

incorporate updated MRIP information. 

It is expected the Council and 

Commission will use the assessment 

results to set specifications for the 

2020–2022 fishing years. 

Proposed Specifications 

A summary of the Council’s 

recommended specifications is shown 

below in Table 1. 

TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF CURRENT 2018 AND PROPOSED 2019 BLUEFISH SPECIFICATIONS

Current 2018 specifications Proposed 2019 specifications 

million lb metric tons million lb metric tons 

Overfishing Limit .............................................................................................. 27.97 12,688 27.97 12,688 

ABC = ACL ...................................................................................................... 21.81 9,895 21.81 9,895 

Commercial ACT ............................................................................................. 3.71 1,682 3.71 1,682 

Recreational ACT ............................................................................................ 18.11 8,213 18.11 8,213 

Commercial TAL .............................................................................................. 3.71 1,682 3.71 1,682 

Recreational TAL ............................................................................................. 15.11 6,857 15.62 7,083 

Sector Transfer ................................................................................................ 3.54 1,604 4.00 1,814 

Commercial Quota ........................................................................................... 7.24 3,286 7.71 3,497 

Recreational Harvest Limit .............................................................................. 11.58 5,253 11.62 5,271

These recommendations are largely 

status quo compared to the current 2018 

specifications, with only minor 

adjustments to the final commercial 

quota and recreational harvest limit to 

account for most recent recreational 

catch and an adjusted sector transfer. 

The Council and Board did not 

recommend any changes to the 

recreational fishing measures for 

bluefish, so the possession limit of up 

to 15 fish per person would remain in 

place for 2019. 

Once the final commercial quota is 

determined, state commercial quota 

from Maine through Florida are 

allocated based on specified percentages 

defined in the FMP. The proposed 

commercial state allocations for 2019 

based on the Council-recommended 

commercial quota is shown below in 

Table 2. No states exceeded their state 

allocated quota in 2018; therefore, no 

accountability measures need to be 

implemented for the 2019 fishing year. 

TABLE 2—PROPOSED 2019 BLUEFISH STATE COMMERCIAL QUOTA ALLOCATIONS

State Percent share 

Proposed 

quota 

(lb) 

Proposed 

quota 

(mt) 

Maine ........................................................................................................................................... 0.67 51,538 23.38 

New Hampshire ........................................................................................................................... 0.41 31,956 14.49 

Massachusetts ............................................................................................................................. 6.72 517,828 234.88 

Rhode Island ................................................................................................................................ 6.81 524,874 238.08 

Connecticut .................................................................................................................................. 1.27 97,626 44.28 

New York ..................................................................................................................................... 10.39 800,645 363.17 

New Jersey .................................................................................................................................. 14.82 1,142,264 518.12 

Delaware ...................................................................................................................................... 1.88 144,801 65.68 

Maryland ...................................................................................................................................... 3.00 231,426 104.97 

Virginia ......................................................................................................................................... 11.88 915,857 415.43 

North Carolina .............................................................................................................................. 32.06 2,471,746 1121.17 

South Carolina ............................................................................................................................. 0.04 2,714 1.23 

Georgia ........................................................................................................................................ 0.01 732 0.33 

Florida .......................................................................................................................................... 10.06 775,558 351.79 

Total ...................................................................................................................................... 100.00 7,709,565 3,497.00 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with PROPOSALS1
66236 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Proposed Rules 

The current 2018 specifications are in 

effect until December 31, 2018. After 

this date, the bluefish fishery will 

function without a quota in 2019 until 

these proposed specifications are 

finalized. Therefore, it is important to 

implement final specifications as 

quickly as possible into the fishing year 

in January 2019 to minimize time 

without functional quotas. To 

accomplish this, NMFS is requesting 

public comments by January 10, 2019. 

Please see the DATES section for 

submission instructions. 

Classification 

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

Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation 

and Management Act (MagnusonStevens Act), the NMFS Assistant 

Administrator has determined that this 

proposed rule is consistent with the 

Bluefish FMP, other provisions of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 

This proposed rule is exempt from 

review under Executive Order 12866. 

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration that this 

proposed rule, if adopted, would not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

The Council conducted an evaluation 

of the potential socioeconomic impacts 

of the proposed measures in 

conjunction with a SIR. Because no 

regulatory changes are proposed that 

would affect the bluefish fishery, they 

are not considered in the evaluation. 

The proposed measures would maintain 

the existing 2018 bluefish catch 

specifications and management 

measures with only minor adjustments 

to the final recreational TAL and 

resulting specifications. 

According to the commercial 

ownership database, 703 affiliate firms 

landed bluefish commercially (with a 

Federal commercial and/or charter/ 

party permit) during the 2015–2017 

period. Of the 703 affiliate firms 

categorized as commercial fishing 

operations, 698 are categorized as small 

business and 5 categorized as large 

business. Because the Councilrecommended specifications are largely 

status quo, the proposed action would 

have no impact on the way the fishery 

operates or affect small entities. These 

measures are expected to provide 

similar fishing opportunities in 2019 

when compared to 2018 (proxy for base 

year 2017). As such, revenue changes 

are not expected in 2019 due to these 

specifications. 

Analyses indicate that the proposed 

action is not expected to substantially 

change fishing effort or the risk of 

overfishing, prices/revenues, or fishery 

behavior. The proposed specifications 

are intended to maintain stability in the 

fishery for all regulated entities, while 

maintaining the healthy stock condition. 

There are no new reporting or 

recordkeeping requirements contained 

in this action. 

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

Dated: December 18, 2018. 

Donna S. Wieting, 

Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–27878 Filed 12–21–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with PROPOSALS1