82946 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 245 / Monday, December 21, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 

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

Dated: December 14, 2020. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs,National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27852 Filed 12–18–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 201214–0338; RTID 0648– 

XX006] 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Summer Flounder, Scup, and 

Black Sea Bass 2021 Specifications 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces 2021 

specifications for the summer flounder, 

scup, and black sea fisheries. The 

implementing regulations for the 

Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea 

Bass Fishery Management Plan require 

us to publish specifications for the 

upcoming fishing year for each of these 

species. This action is intended to 

inform the public of the specifications 

for the start of the 2021 fishing year for 

summer flounder, scup, and black sea 

bass. 

DATES: This rule is effective January 1, 

2021. 

ADDRESSES: A Supplemental 

Information Report (SIR) was prepared 

for the 2021 summer flounder, scup, 

and black sea bass specifciations. Copies 

of the SIR are available on request from 

Dr. Christopher M. Moore, Executive 

Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, Suite 201, 800 

North State Street, Dover, DE 19901. 

The SIR is also accessible via the 

internet at http://www.mafmc.org/s/SF_

2020-2021_specs_EA.pdf. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Emily Keiley, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9116. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

General Background 

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council and the Atlantic 

States Marine Fisheries Commission 

cooperatively manage the summer 

flounder, scup, and black sea bass 

fisheries. The Summer Flounder, Scup, 

and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP) outlines the Council’s 

process for establishing specifications. 

The FMP requires NMFS to set an 

acceptable biological catch (ABC), 

annual catch limit (ACL), annual catch 

targets (ACT), commercial quotas, 

recreational harvest limits (RHL), and 

other management measures, for 1 to 3 

years at a time. Projected 2021 

specifications for summer flounder (84 

FR 54041; October 9, 2019) and scup 

and black sea bass (85 FR 29345; May 

15, 2020) were previously announced. 

This action revises the 2021 ABC limits, 

as well as the recreational and 

commercial ACLs, ACTs, commercial 

quotas, and RHLs for all three species, 

consistent with the recommendations 

made by the Commission’s Summer 

Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass 

Board and the Council at their joint 

August 2020 meeting. These revisions 

are primarily based on recent changes to 

the Council’s risk policy that we 

approved on December 15, 2020. The 

risk policy defines the acceptable risk of 

overfishing associated with an ABC. The 

revised risk policy allows for increased 

risk of overfishing under high stock 

biomass conditions compared to the 

previous risk policy. The change is 

greatest for stocks with biomass above 

the target level (BMSY). 

Final 2021 Specifications 

Summer Flounder Specifications 

For summer flounder, applying the 

revised risk policy, keeping all other 

relevant factors the same as previously 

adopted, results in an increase in the 

2021 ABC from 25.03 million lb (11,354 

mt) to 27.11 million lb (12,297 mt). This 

represents an 8-percent increase in the 

ABC and an increase in the probability 

of overfishing from 34 to 39 percent. 

Given the high biomass (healthy stock 

status) of summer flounder, the revised 

risk policy allows for a slightly 

increased risk of overfishing, which 

balances fishery access with the 

prevention of overfishing. Section 5.1 of 

the Council’s SIR provides information 

on how the revised ABC was calculated 

using the new risk policy. The resulting 

catch and landings limits are shown in 

Table 1. 

TABLE 1—SUMMARY OF THE FINAL 2021 SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY SPECIFICATIONS

2021 Specifications million lb mt 

OFL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 31.67 14,367 

ABC .......................................................................................................................................................................... 27.11 12,297 

Commercial ACL ...................................................................................................................................................... 14.63 6,635 

Commercial ACT ..................................................................................................................................................... 14.63 6,635 

Commercial Quota ................................................................................................................................................... 12.49 5,663 

Recreational ACL ..................................................................................................................................................... 12.48 5,662 

Recreational ACT .................................................................................................................................................... 12.48 5,662 

Recreational Harvest Limit ...................................................................................................................................... 8.32 3,776 

We also recently approved (October 

19, 2020) and implemented (December 

14 2020, 85 FR 80661) Amendment 21 

to the FMP. Amendment 21 implements 

a new state-by-state allocation formula 

for the commercial summer flounder 

fishery. The revised allocation formula 

was used to set the final 2021 summer 

flounder commercial state quotas. In 

addition to the revised allocation 

formula, the final state summer flounder 

quotas take into account any overages 

that occurred during the 2019 or current 

fishing year, through October 31, as 

described at 50 CFR 648.103(b)(2). The 

final 2021 state-by-state summer 

flounder quotas are provided in Table 2. 

Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 245 / Monday, December 21, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 82947 

TABLE 2—FINAL 2021 SUMMER FLOUNDER STATE-BY-STATE QUOTAS

State Percent 

share 

Additional 

percent share 

of 

quota above 

9.55 m lb 

(4,332 mt) 

Initial 

allocation 

lb 

Initial 

allocation 

kg 

Preliminary 

2020 

overage 

Final 

allocation 

lb 

Final 

allocation 

kg 

Maine ......................................... 0.04756 0.333 14,342 6,501 ...................... 14,332 6,501 

New Hampshire ......................... 0.00046 0.333 9,844 4,461 ...................... 9,834 4,461 

Massachusetts ........................... 6.82046 12.375 1,015,179 460,477 ...................... 1,015,179 460,477 

Rhode Island .............................. 15.68298 12.375 1,861,550 844,385 ...................... 1,861,550 844,385 

Connecticut ................................ 2.25708 12.375 579,376 262,801 ...................... 579,376 262,801 

New York ................................... 7.64699 12.375 1,094,113 496,281 ...................... 1,094,113 496,281 

New Jersey ................................ 16.72499 12.375 1,961,062 889,523 ...................... 1,961,062 889,523 

Delaware .................................... 0.01779 0.333 11,499 5,211 ¥52,307 ¥40,818 ¥18,515 

Maryland .................................... 2.0391 12.375 558,559 253,358 ...................... 558,559 253,358 

Virginia ....................................... 21.31676 12.375 2,399,576 1,088,429 ...................... 2,399,576 1,088,429 

North Carolina ............................ 27.44584 12.375 2,984,903 1,353,929 ...................... 2,984,903 1,353,929 

This action makes no changes to the 

current commercial management 

measures, including the minimum fish 

size (14 inches (36 cm), total length), 

gear requirements, and possession 

limits. No changes to 2021 recreational 

management measures (bag limits, size 

limits, and seasons) were considered as 

part of this action. 

Scup Specifications 

Application of the revised risk policy 

to the 2021 scup OFL, keeping all other 

relevant factors the same, results in the 

2021 ABC increasing from 30.67 million 

lb (13,912 mt) to 34.81 million lb 

(15,790 mt). This represents a 13- 

percent increase in the ABC. Section 5.2 

of the Council’s SIR provides 

information on how the revised ABC 

was calculated using the new risk 

policy. The resulting catch and landings 

limits are shown in Table 3. 

TABLE 3—SUMMARY OF THE FINAL 2021 SCUP FISHERY SPECIFICATIONS

2021 Specifications million lb mt 

OFL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 35.30 16,012 

ABC .......................................................................................................................................................................... 34.81 15,791 

Commercial ACL ...................................................................................................................................................... 27.15 12,317 

Commercial ACT ..................................................................................................................................................... 27.15 12,317 

Commercial Quota ................................................................................................................................................... 20.50 9,299 

Recreational ACL ..................................................................................................................................................... 7.66 3,474 

Recreational ACT .................................................................................................................................................... 7.66 3,474 

Recreational Harvest Limit ...................................................................................................................................... 6.07 2,752 

TABLE 4—COMMERCIAL SCUP QUOTA ALLOCATIONS FOR 2021 BY QUOTA PERIOD

Quota period Percent 

share lb mt 

Winter I ........................................................................................................................................ 45.11 9,247,904 4,194.77 

Summer ....................................................................................................................................... 38.95 7,985,056 3,621.96 

Winter II ....................................................................................................................................... 15.94 3,267,825 1,482.26 

Total ...................................................................................................................................... 100.0 20,500,000 9,299.00 

Note: Pounds are converted from metric tons and may not necessarily total due to rounding. 

This action does not change the 2021 

commercial management measures for 

scup, including the minimum fish size 

(9 inches (22.9 cm), total length), gear 

requirements, and quota period 

possession limits. Like summer 

flounder, changes to the recreational 

measures for 2021 were not considered 

in this action. 

Black Sea Bass Specifications 

Application of the revised risk policy 

to the 2021 black sea bass OFL, keeping 

all other relevant factors the same, 

results in the 2021 ABC increasing from 

15.07 million lb (6,836 mt) to 17.45 

million lb (7,915 mt), representing a 16- 

percent increase. As specified in the 

FMP, 49 percent of the ABC that is 

expected to be landed is allocated to the 

commercial fishery and 51 percent is 

allocated to the recreational fishery. 

Expected discards in each sector are 

added to these amounts to derive 

commercial and recreational ACLs. The 

Council and Board recommended 

revisions to the method for calculating 

expected discards for black sea bass. 

The revised method is based on the 

assumption that sector-specific discards, 

as a percentage of sector-specific catch, 

will be the same as the 2016–2018 

average (i.e., commercial dead discards 

would account for 36 percent of 

commercial catch and recreational dead 

discards would account for 20 percent 

of recreational catch). This allows 

commercial discards to scale up with 

the increase in the quota, consistent 

with past trends in the fishery. The 

previously used method for calculating 

expected discards under-predicted 

82948 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 245 / Monday, December 21, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 

actual discards in both sectors, 

contributing to commercial and 

recreational ACL overages in every year 

since 2015. The revised methodology 

reduces the likelihood of ACL overages. 

The resulting catch and landings limits 

are shown in Table 5. This action does 

not change the 2021 commercial 

management measures for black sea 

bass, including the commercial 

minimum fish size (11 inches (27.94 

cm), total length) and gear requirements. 

TABLE 5—SUMMARY OF THE FINAL 2021 BLACK SEA BASS SPECIFICATIONS

2021 Specifications million lb mt 

OFL .......................................................................................................................................................................... 17.68 8,021 

ABC .......................................................................................................................................................................... 17.45 7,916 

Commercial ACL ...................................................................................................................................................... 9.52 4,320 

Commercial ACT ..................................................................................................................................................... 9.52 4,320 

Commercial Quota ................................................................................................................................................... 6.09 2,764 

Recreational ACL ..................................................................................................................................................... 7.93 3,596 

Recreational ACT .................................................................................................................................................... 7.93 3,596 

Recreational Harvest Limit ...................................................................................................................................... 6.34 2,877 

This action revises the projected stateby-state February black sea bass 

recreational fishery harvest. No changes 

to the management measures for the 

February fishery are being proposed. 

The harvest projections are being 

updated to incorporate the revised 

Marine Recreational Information 

Program data, but the overall estimation 

method would remain unchanged 

(Table 6). States that choose to 

participate in this optional opening 

must use these revised values when 

developing state waters management 

measures for the rest of the year. The 

purpose is to ensure their participation 

in this optional opening does not 

increase their annual recreational black 

sea bass harvest in such a way as to 

result in an overage of the coastwide 

RHL. Changes to management measures 

for the overall recreational black sea 

bass fishery were not considered in this 

action. 

TABLE 6—RECREACTIONAL BLACK SEA BASS FEBRUARY 2021 HARVEST ESTIMATES

State 

Harvest 

estimates 

(lb) 

Harvest 

estimates 

(mt) 

Rhode Island ............................................................................................................................................................ 1,146 0.52 

Connecticut .............................................................................................................................................................. 158 0.07 

New York ................................................................................................................................................................. 41,871 18.99 

New Jersey .............................................................................................................................................................. 405,913 184.12 

Delaware .................................................................................................................................................................. 6,418 2.91 

Maryland .................................................................................................................................................................. 2,227 1.01 

Virginia ..................................................................................................................................................................... 24,891 11.29 

North Carolina .......................................................................................................................................................... 1,369 0.62 

Total .................................................................................................................................................................. 483,993 219.54 

Comments and Responses 

We received two comments on the 

proposed rule. One comment was not 

relevant to the proposed specifications 

and is not discussed further. The second 

comment was from the State of New 

York and the New York State 

Department of Environmental 

Conservation (hereinafter referenced as 

‘‘New York’’). New York’s comment 

comprises a cover letter and ten 

attachments. The attachments were the 

comment letters and supporting 

documents that New York previously 

submitted in response to the proposed 

rule for the 2020–2021 Summer 

Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass, and 

Bluefish Specifications (84 FR 36046; 

July 26, 2019) and the proposed rule for 

Amendment 21 to the FMP (85 FR 

48660; August 12, 2020). Similar to 

arguments made in ongoing and past 

litigation, New York contends that the 

revised allocations and resulting quotas 

are not in accordance with MagnusonStevens Act’s National Standards 2, 4, 5, 

and 7. NMFS’s responses to New York’s 

previously submitted comments can be 

found in the final rules for those two 

actions (84 FR 54041; October 8, 2019, 

and 85 FR 80661; December 14, 2020) 

and are not repeated here. 

In the proposed rule, we published 

initial 2021 summer flounder state 

quotas based on two scenarios. In the 

first scenario the distribution of state 

quota was based on the new allocation 

method we approved through 

Amendment 21 to the FMP. Although 

we approved Amendment 21 on October 

19, 2020, when the specifications 

proposed rule was published, we did 

not know whether the final rule for 

Amendment 21, implementing the new 

allocation method, would be published 

and effective prior to the start of the 

2021 fishing year. Due to the timing 

uncertainty, the proposed rule included 

a second scenario under which the 

commercial state summer flounder 

quota distribution would be based on 

the old allocation formula. In its 

comment letter, New York opposed ‘‘the 

state-by-state allocations proposed 

under either scenario.’’ 

The final rule for Amendment 21 

published on December 14, 2020. 

Therefore the current regulations 

governing the FMP require that quota 

allocations be distributed based on the 

percentages outlined in Table 2. Any 

adjustments to these quota allocations 

that are currently part of the FMP must 

be developed and considered through 

an amendment to the FMP and are 

outside the scope of this specifications 

action. 

Changes From the Proposed Rule 

As described in the proposed rule, the 

summer flounder specifications in this 

final rule incorporate overage 

information to calculate the final state 

quotas. 

Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 245 / Monday, December 21, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 82949 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304(b)(3) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

that this final rule is consistent with the 

Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea 

Bass FMP, other provisions of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law. 

The Assistant Administrator for 

Fisheries finds that the need to 

implement these measures in a timely 

manner constitutes good cause, under 

the authority contained in 5 U.S.C. 

553(d)(3), to waive the 30-day delay in 

effective date of this action. This action 

implements 2021 specifications for the 

summer flounder, scup, and black sea 

bass fisheries. These specifications 

should be effective by the start of the 

fishing year on January 1, 2021, and 

must be published on or before 

December 31, 2020. 

This rule is being issued at the earliest 

possible date. Preparation of the 

proposed rule was dependent on the 

Council’s submission of the SIR. NMFS 

received the final version of the SIR on 

November 2, 2020. Preparation of the 

final rule is also dependent on the 

analysis of commercial summer 

flounder landings for the prior fishing 

year (2019) and the current fishing year 

through October 31, to determine 

whether any overages have occurred 

and adjustments are needed to the final 

state quotas. This process is codified in 

the summer flounder regulations, and, 

therefore, cannot be performed earlier. 

Annual publication of the summer 

flounder quotas prior to the start of the 

fishing year, by December 31, is 

required by Court Order in North 

Carolina Fisheries Association v. Daley. 

The 30-day delay in implementation 

for this rule is also unnecessary because 

this rule contains no new measures (e.g., 

requiring new nets or equipment) for 

which regulated entities need time to 

prepare or revise their current practices. 

This final 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 during 

the proposed rule stage that this action 

would not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. The factual basis for the 

certification was published in the 

proposed rule and is not repeated here. 

No comments were received regarding 

this certification. As a result, a 

regulatory flexibility analysis was not 

required and none was prepared. 

This final rule contains no 

information collection requirements 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995. 

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

Dated: December 14, 2020. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27851 Filed 12–18–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P