Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 86849 

or technical information relevant to 

analyzing potential regulatory 

alternatives; 

(iii) Requests public comment on the 

available data, benefits, and costs with 

respect to regulatory alternatives 

reasonably likely to be considered as 

part of the rulemaking; and 

(iv) Requests public comment on 

available alternatives to regulation; or 

(2) Proceed with a negotiated 

rulemaking. 

(c) Paragraph (b) of this section does 

not apply to a proposed rule if the 

Administrator, for good cause, finds 

(and incorporates the finding and a brief 

statement of reasons for such finding in 

the proposed or final rule) that an 

advance notice of proposed rulemaking 

is impracticable, unnecessary, or 

contrary to the public interest. A 

proposed rule subject to paragraph (b) of 

this section should also be evaluated to 

determine the applicability of 49 CFR 

5.17. 

§ 389.15 [Amended] 

■ 5. The title of § 389.15 and paragraphs 

(a) and (b)(1) are revised by removing 

the term ‘‘rule making’’ and replacing it 

with the term ‘‘rulemaking.’’ 

■ 6. Revise § 389.21 to read as follows: 

§ 389.21 Submission of written comments. 

(a) You may submit comments 

identified by the docket number 

provided in the rulemaking document 

using any of the following methods. To 

avoid duplication, please use only one 

of these four methods. 

(1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

(2) Mail: Dockets Operations, U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

(3) Hand Delivery or Courier: West 

Building, Ground Floor, Room W12– 

140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. 

(4) Fax: (202) 493–2251. 

(b) All written comments must be 

submitted in English and include copies 

of any material that the commenter 

refers to within the comment. 

■ 7. Revise § 389.29 to read as follows: 

§ 389.29 Adoption of final rules. 

Final rules are prepared by 

representatives from all relevant offices 

of FMCSA. The final rule is then 

submitted to the Administrator for his/ 

her consideration and forwarded, as 

necessary, to the Office of the Secretary 

for review and approval. Once approved 

by the Office of the Secretary, and, if 

necessary, by the Office of Management 

and Budget’s Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, the final rule is 

signed by the Administrator. All final 

rules must be published in the Federal 

Register, unless all persons subject to 

the final rule are named and personally 

served with a copy of it. 

■ 8. Revise § 389.31 to read as follows: 

§ 389.31 Petitions for rulemaking. 

(a) Any interested person may 

petition the Administrator to establish, 

amend, interpret, clarify, or withdraw a 

rule. 

(b) Each petition filed under this 

section must: 

(1) Be submitted in writing by mail to 

the Administrator, Federal Motor 

Carrier Safety Administration, 1200 

New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 

20590–0001 or electronically at 

www.regulations.gov, using the general 

petitions for rulemaking docket listed 

on FMCSA’s website at 

www.FMCSA.gov. 

(2) Set forth the text or substance of 

the rule or amendment proposed, or 

specify the rule that the petitioner seeks 

to have interpreted, clarified or 

withdrawn, as the case may be; 

(3) Explain the interest of the 

petitioner in the action requested; 

(4) Contain any information, data, 

research studies, and arguments 

available to the petitioner to support the 

action sought. 

■ 9. Revise § 389.35 paragraph (a) to 

read as follows: 

§ 389.35 Petitions for reconsideration. 

(a) Any interested person may 

petition the Administrator for 

reconsideration of any rule issued under 

this part. The petition for 

reconsideration must be in English and 

submitted to the Administrator, Federal 

Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 

1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, 

DC 20590–0001, or electronically 

submitted using the docket for the 

rulemaking at www.regulations.gov, and 

received not later than thirty (30) days 

after publication of the rule in the 

Federal Register. Petitions for 

reconsideration filed after that time will 

be considered as petitions for 

rulemakings filed under § 389.31 of this 

part. The petition for reconsideration 

must contain a brief statement of the 

complaint and an explanation as to why 

compliance with the rule is not 

practicable, is unreasonable, or is not in 

the public interest. 

* * * * * 

Issued under authority delegated in 49 CFR 

1.87. 

James W. Deck, 

Deputy Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27854 Filed 12–30–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 201222–0352] 

RIN 0648–BK16 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Increase in Sector Carryover of 

2019 Annual Catch Entitlements and 

Carryover of Unused Leased-In Daysat-Sea by Common Pool Vessels 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; emergency 

action. 

SUMMARY: This temporary rule 

implements emergency measures under 

the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act to revise portions of the fishing year 

2019 carryover provisions in the 

Northeast Multispecies Fishery 

Management Plan into fishing year 

2020. This action is necessary to address 

an emergency presenting conservation 

and management plans to the fishery. 

This action is intended to mitigate 

economic harm to the Northeast 

multispecies fishery participants by 

providing the opportunity to use sector 

Annual Catch Entitlement and unused 

leased-in Days-at-Sea that would have 

otherwise may have gone unused. 

DATES: This action is effective December 

31, 2020, through June 29, 2021. 

Comments must be received by 

February 1, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: For this action, NMFS 

developed a Supplemental Impact 

Report (SIR) for the Environmental 

Assessment (EA) for Framework 

Adjustment 59 to the Northeast 

Multispecies Fishery Management Plan 

(FMP) that describes the measures in 

this temporary rule. Copies of the SIR 

and the Regulatory Impact Review of 

this rulemaking are available on the 

internet at https://

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/newengland-mid-atlantic. 

You may submit comments on this 

document, identified by NOAA–NMFS– 

2020–0162, by the following method: 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES
86850 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. 

1. Go to www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2020- 

0162 

2. Click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and 

3. Enter or attach your comments. 

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 a 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). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Spencer Talmage, Fishery Management 

Specialist, phone: 978–281–9232; email: 

Spencer.Talmage@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

At the end of fishing year 2019, the 

Northeast Multispecies fishery 

experienced significant unexpected 

economic harm from the effects of state 

health and travel restrictions due to 

COVID–19, in combination with 

disruptions to fishery markets, which 

resulted in reduced prices for 

groundfish and a limitation of fishing 

opportunity. Because these impacts 

occurred at the end of the fishing year, 

this loss of fishing opportunity 

prevented or limited industry 

participants from capitalizing on 

investments in quota and Days-at-Sea 

(DAS) prior to the start of the new 

fishing year on May 1, 2020. 

On July 2, 2020, the New England 

Fishery Management Council sent 

NMFS a letter requesting an emergency 

action to mitigate these significant 

adverse economic impacts to the 

groundfish fishery. The Council 

recommended that through an 

emergency action, NMFS should: 

• Allow sectors to carry over more 

than 10 percent of their unused fishing 

year 2019 Annual Catch Entitlement 

(ACE) into fishing year 2020 for Gulf of 

Maine (GOM) haddock, Georges Bank 

(GB) haddock, American plaice, and 

witch flounder; 

• Allow common pool vessels to 

carryover unused leased-in DAS from 

fishing year 2019 to fishing year 2020; 

• Allow de minimis carryover of 

fishing year 2019 ACE to be more than 

one percent of the fishing year 2020 

sector sub-ACL for all stocks with 

carryover; and 

• Reopen the post-year sector ACE 

trading window for fishing year 2019. 

After considering the Council’s 

request, NMFS is implementing some, 

but not all, of the requested emergency 

action provisions. For the reasons 

outlined below as justification for an 

emergency action, this action increases 

maximum carryover of fishing year 2019 

sector ACE for GOM haddock, GB 

haddock, and American plaice and 

allows for unused leased-in DAS to be 

carried over from fishing year 2019 into 

fishing year 2020 by common pool 

vessels. This action does not increase 

maximum carryover of fishing year 2019 

sector ACE for witch flounder, increase 

de minimis carryover of fishing year 

2019 ACE, or reopen the post-year 

sector ACE trading window for fishing 

year 2019. 

ACE Carryover 

Carryover regulations at 50 CFR 

648.87(b)(1)(i)(C) allow each groundfish 

sector to carry over an amount of 

unused ACE equal to 10 percent of the 

sector’s original ACE for each stock 

(except for GB yellowtail flounder) that 

is unused at the end of the fishing year 

into the following fishing year. 

However, the total unused sector ACE 

being carried over, plus the overall ACL, 

cannot exceed the ABC for the following 

year. If this were to occur, sector 

carryover provisions require us to adjust 

the maximum ACE carryover down from 

10 percent to an amount that prevents 

total potential catch from exceeding the 

ABC. The final adjustment to the 

maximum carryover possible for each 

sector is based on final fishing year 

catch for the sectors and each sector’s 

total unused allocation; and is 

proportional to the cumulative Percent 

Sector Contributions of permits 

participating in the sector. 

This action revises the ACE carryover 

regulations to increase the maximum 

amount of ACE for GOM haddock, GB 

haddock, and American plaice that may 

be carried over by groundfish sectors 

from fishing year 2019 into fishing year 

2020. The maximum amount of unused 

2019 sector ACE for these stocks carried 

over into fishing year 2020 will not 

allow catch to exceed the 2020 ABC for 

each stock (i.e., the 2020 ABC will be 

equal to the overall ACL plus the 

maximum carryover number). The 

revised carryover cap is a percentage of 

each sector’s original ACE for each stock 

(Table 1). 

TABLE 1—MAXIMUM SECTOR ACE 

CARRYOVER FROM 2019 TO 2020 

Stock 

Total 

carryover 

available 

(percent of 

initial 2019 

ACE) 

GB haddock .......................... 12.6 

GOM haddock ...................... 13.7 

American Plaice .................... 11.3 

This action does not make any 

changes to the sector ACE carryover 

provisions for witch flounder. Witch 

flounder is overfished, in a rebuilding 

plan, and has an unknown overfishing 

status and Overfishing Limit (OFL). The 

July 2020 National Standard 1 Technical 

Guidance for Designing, Evaluating, and 

Implementing Carry-over and Phase-in 

Provisions does not recommend 

applying carryover or phase-in 

provisions for stocks that have an 

unspecified OFL. Though carryover of 

ACE for witch flounder is already 

permitted by the sector implementing 

regulations, increasing the maximum 

amount of carryover for the stock above 

10 percent would increase risk of 

overfishing. 

Carryover of Unused Leased-In DAS by 

Common Pool Vessels 

DAS carryover regulations at 

§ 648.82(a)(1) allow limited access 

vessels that have unused, unleased DAS 

available at the end of a fishing year to 

carry over a maximum of 10 DAS into 

the following fishing year. These 

measures are intended to promote safety 

by reducing risk and increasing 

flexibility while not compromising the 

conservation impact of the DAS 

program. The regulations at 

§ 648.82(a)(1) and (k)(4)(iii) do not allow 

us to adjust the maximum DAS 

carryover, nor do they authorize us to 

allow the carryover of unused leased-in 

DAS. 

This action revises the DAS carryover 

regulations to allow common pool 

vessels with unused leased-in DAS at 

the end of fishing year 2019 to carry 

those DAS into fishing year 2020, even 

if doing so would result in a vessel 

carrying over more than 10 DAS into the 

fishing year. This action does not revise 

the regulations to allow any additional 

carryover of unused allocated DAS. 

De Minimis Carryover 

Regulations at § 648.87(b)(1)(i)(C)(2) 

set de minimis carryover at one percent 

of the overall sector sub-ACL in the 

fishing year in which carryover would 

be harvested. If the overall ACL for a 

particular stock is exceeded, the 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 86851 

allowed carryover, minus the de 

minimis amount, would be counted 

against the sector’s ACE for the 

purposes of determining an overage 

subject to a sector accountability 

measure that requires payback. 

This action does not increase de 

minimis carryover for sectors above one 

percent as requested by the Council 

because it would not address a recent, 

unforeseen event or recently discovered 

circumstance as required by the criteria 

for an emergency action published in 

the Federal Register on August 21, 

1997, 62 FR 44421, as well as 

subsequent guidance. De minimis 

carryover is only triggered by an overage 

of the overall ACL for a stock. No such 

overage has occurred in fishing year 

2020 to trigger de minimis carryover, 

and we do not currently anticipate any 

overages. This action is putting in place 

measures to address the opposite 

problem arising from travel and health 

restrictions, the fishing industry’s 

inability to fully utilize available ACE. 

Further, there are no immediate benefits 

from changing the de minimis carryover 

provision at this time that would 

outweigh the value of advance notice, 

public comment, and deliberative 

consideration of the impacts. 

Post-Year Sector ACE Trading Window 

In the beginning of each fishing year, 

there is a 2-week period for sectors to 

address any overages from the prior 

fishing year by transferring ACE to or 

from other sectors. This 2-week period 

generally takes place in early July, once 

final catch information is available to 

each sector. Sectors are only allowed to 

transfer ACE to balance an overage, or 

transfer out quota to assist another 

sector in balancing its overage. The 

Council requested that we consider 

reopening the post-year sector ACE 

trading window in order to allow 

sectors to optimize individual sector 

carryover amounts for fishing year 2020. 

This action does not reopen the postyear sector ACE trading window for 

fishing year 2019. Reopening the postyear trading window would complicate 

and delay implementation of this 

emergency action, without significant 

benefit to sectors as a whole. It would 

not result in an increase in the overall 

amount of carryover that could occur, 

and any ACE carried over from fishing 

year 2019 to fishing year 2020 can 

already be traded without limitation in 

fishing year 2020, without requiring a 

reopening of the fishing year 2019 

trading window. 

Reopening the 2019 post-fishing year 

trading window could potentially result 

in increases in individual sector 

carryover amounts, but this is not 

guaranteed given that sectors are not 

obligated to trade. It would not increase 

the overall amount of carryover 

available to the sectors because we have 

already calculated the maximum 

amount of overall carryover by stock 

that could be allowed for fishing year 

2020 without exceeding a stock’s ABC. 

Further, we have already calculated an 

increased percentage per sector that may 

be carried over from fishing year 2019 

to fishing year 2020. 

Justification for Emergency Action 

NMFS’ policy guidelines for the use 

of emergency rules (62 FR 44421; 

August 21, 1997) specify the following 

three criteria for emergency actions: (1) 

The emergency results from recent, 

unforeseen events or recently 

discovered circumstances; (2) the 

emergency presents serious 

conservation or management problems 

in the fishery; and (3) the emergency 

can be addressed through emergency 

regulations for which the immediate 

benefits outweigh the value of advance 

notice, public comment, and 

deliberative consideration of the 

impacts on participants to the same 

extent as would be expected under the 

normal rulemaking process. NMFS’ 

policy guidelines further provide that 

emergency action is justified for certain 

situations where emergency action 

would prevent significant direct 

economic loss, or to preserve a 

significant economic opportunity that 

otherwise might be foregone. NMFS has 

determined that extending portions of 

the carryover provisions in the 

Northeast Multispecies Fishery 

Management Plan meets the criteria for 

emergency action for the reasons 

outlined below. 

The emergency results from recent, 

unforeseen events or recently 

discovered circumstances. Towards the 

end of the 2019 fishing year (March 

2020), state health mandates and travel 

restrictions were implemented in 

response to the COVID–19 pandemic. 

These restrictions and mandates 

contributed to market and supply chain 

disruptions while also making it 

difficult for vessels to make fishing 

trips. This reduced or prevented fishing 

opportunities. Further, market prices 

dropped substantially. These impacts 

were unforeseen during the 

development of Framework Adjustment 

59 that included measures for the 2020 

fishing year that began on May 1, 2020. 

The emergency presents serious 

conservation or management problems 

in the fishery. As described above, 

unforeseen health mandates and travel 

restrictions during the last months of 

fishing year 2019 disrupted vessel 

business plans, fishing practices and 

markets. This caused revenues for the 

groundfish fishery to decline due to 

abnormally low ex-vessel prices that fell 

below production costs and lost 

investment in quota that could not be 

landed by the end of the 2019 fishing 

year. Health mandates and travel 

restrictions additionally prevented or 

limited common pool vessels from using 

leased-in DAS, which resulted in lost 

revenue when the vessels were unable 

to carry them over into fishing year 

2020. Increasing ACE carryover of 

certain stocks into fishing year 2020 and 

allowing common pool vessels to 

carryover unused leased-in DAS will 

help mitigate negative impacts to the 

industry, prevent additional economic 

loss to industry participants, shoreside 

businesses, and fishing communities, 

and help offset lost fishing 

opportunities at the end of fishing year 

2019. 

The emergency can be addressed 

through emergency regulations for 

which the immediate benefits outweigh 

the value of advanced notice, public 

comment, and deliberative 

consideration of the impacts on 

participants to the same extent as would 

be expected under the normal 

rulemaking process. The Council has 

the authority to develop a management 

action to increase the maximum of 2019 

carryover and allow carryover of unused 

leased-in DAS. However, an emergency 

action can be developed and 

implemented by NMFS more swiftly 

than a Council action through the public 

meeting and rulemaking procedures. If 

the normal Council Framework 

Adjustment and regulatory process is 

used to revise the carryover provisions, 

it would take not be possible for the 

revised provisions to be implemented 

prior to the end of the fishing year. 

Implementing these measures well in 

advance of the end of this fishing year 

will allow vessels more operational 

flexibility. Timely availability of 

additional ACE carryover or DAS 

should provide fishermen with 

operational flexibility to increase fishing 

effort within seasonal demands and 

variations, or to lease out available ACE 

or DAS to others who may effectively 

use it. Fully capitalizing on this 

carryover requires time to plan and 

adapt to current market and seasonal 

conditions. Any delay of this action 

reduces the length of time during which 

industry could choose to use additional 

ACE or DAS that have been carried over 

from fishing year 2019 into fishing year 

2020. If the action is not implemented 

in a timely way well before the end of 

fishing year 2020, industry participants 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES
86852 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 

would be likely unable or less able to 

effectively use the increased carryover. 

Classification 

The Assistant Administrator for 

Fisheries, NOAA, has determined that 

this rule is necessary to respond to an 

emergency situation and is consistent 

with the national standards and other 

provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act 

and other applicable laws. The rule may 

be extended for a period of not more 

than 186 days as provided under section 

305(c)(3)(B) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act. 

The Assistant Administrator 

Fisheries, NOAA, finds that it would be 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest to provide for prior notice and 

an opportunity for public comment. 

This action is intended to mitigate the 

impact of lost investment in quota and 

DAS due to health mandates and major 

disruptions to markets at the end of 

fishing year 2019. The action increases 

maximum ACE carryover for some 

stocks and allows carryover of unused 

leased-in DAS by the common pool, 

allowing industry to use the carried over 

quota and DAS in fishing year 2020 at 

a time of their choosing. Any delay of 

this action reduces the length of time 

during which industry could benefit 

from increased ACE or DAS that have 

been carried over. If the action is not 

implemented in a timely way well 

before the end of fishing year 2020, 

industry participants would be unable 

to use the increased carryover. Given 

this, a delay in the implementation of 

this action could result in additional 

negative impacts to industry 

participants and fishing communities. 

As a result, prior notice and the 

opportunity for public comment, 

pursuant to authority set forth at U.S.C. 

553(b)(B), would be impracticable and 

contrary to the public interest. Data 

supporting the additional ACE carryover 

were available only recently in October. 

This action could not be implemented 

prior to the availability of that data, 

even though the Council request for an 

emergency action was received in July. 

Similarly, the need to implement 

these measures in a timely manner for 

the above reasons constitutes good 

cause under authority contained in 5 

U.S.C. 553(d)(3), to make the rule 

effective immediately upon publication 

in the Federal Register. 

This action is being taken pursuant to 

the emergency provision of MSA and is 

exempt from OMB review. 

This rule is an Executive Order 13771 

deregulatory action. 

This temporary rule for an emergency 

action is exempt from the procedures of 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act because 

the rule is issued without opportunity 

for prior notice and opportunity for 

public comment. 

This temporary rule for an emergency 

action contains no information 

collection requirements under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

In the interest of receiving public 

input on this action, the SIR analyzing 

this action will be made available to the 

public and this temporary final rule 

solicits public comment. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648 

Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping and 

reporting requirements. 

Dated: December 22, 2020. 

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 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 § 648.82, suspend paragraphs 

(a)(1) and (2) and (k)(4)(iii) and add 

paragraphs (a)(3) and (4) and (k)(4)(xii) 

to read as follows: 

§ 648.82 Effort-control program for NE 

multispecies limited access vessels. 

* * * * * 

(a) * * * 

(3) End-of-year carryover. With the 

exception of vessels that held a 

Confirmation of Permit History, as 

described in § 648.4(a)(1)(i)(J), for the 

entire fishing year preceding the carryover year, limited access vessels that 

have unused DAS on the last day of 

April of any year may carry over a 

maximum of 10 DAS into the next year. 

Unused leased DAS may not be carried 

over, except as specified in paragraph 

(a)(3)(i) of this section. Vessels that have 

been sanctioned through enforcement 

proceedings will be credited with 

unused DAS based on their DAS 

allocation minus any total DAS that 

have been sanctioned through 

enforcement proceedings. For the 2004 

fishing year only, DAS carried over from 

the 2003 fishing year will be classified 

as Regular B DAS, as specified under 

paragraph (d)(2) of this section. 

Beginning with the 2005 fishing year, 

for vessels with a balance of both 

unused Category A DAS and unused 

Category B DAS at the end of the 

previous fishing year (e.g., for the 2005 

fishing year, carry-over DAS from the 

2004 fishing year), Category A DAS will 

be carried over first, than Regular B 

DAS, than Reserve B DAS. Category C 

DAS cannot be carried over. 

(i) Leased DAS that remain unused at 

the end of fishing year 2019 may be 

carried over to fishing year 2020 by the 

Lessee vessel, provided that the vessel 

fished in the common pool in fishing 

year 2019 and continues to do so in 

fishing year 2020. Carried over leased 

DAS from fishing year 2019 do not 

count towards the maximum number of 

DAS that can be carried over to fishing 

year 2020, as described in paragraph 

(a)(3) of this section. 

(ii) [Reserved] 

(4) Vessels carrying passengers for 

hire. Notwithstanding any other 

provision of this part, any vessel issued 

a NE multispecies limited access permit 

may not call into the DAS program and 

fish under a DAS, fish on a sector trip, 

or fish under the provisions of a limited 

access Small Vessel Category or 

Handgear A permits pursuant to 

paragraphs (b)(5) and (6) of this section, 

respectively, if such vessel carries 

passengers for hire for any portion of a 

fishing trip. 

* * * * * 

(k) * * * 

(4) * * * 

(xii) Carry-over of leased DAS. Leased 

DAS that remain unused at the end of 

the fishing year may not be carried over 

to the subsequent fishing year by the 

Lessor or Lessee vessel, except as 

specified in paragraph (a)(3)(i) of this 

section. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. In § 648.87, add paragraph 

(b)(1)(i)(C)(1)(iii) to read as follows: 

§ 648.87 Sector allocation. 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(i) * * * 

(C) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(iii) Fishing year 2019 carryover. A 

sector that has over 10 percent of its 

original ACE for GB haddock, GOM 

haddock, or American plaice unused at 

the end of fishing year 2019 may carry 

over more than 10 percent of that ACE 

to fishing year 2020. The total unused 

fishing year 2019 ACE for a particular 

stock that is carried over to fishing year 

2020, plus the overall ACL for fishing 

year 2020, may not exceed the ABC for 

that stock for fishing year 2020. The 

total maximum carryover of fishing year 

2019 ACE for GB haddock, GOM 

haddock, and American plaice for each 

sector is specified in Table 1 to this 

paragraph (b)(1)(i)(C)(1)(iii). 


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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 251 / Thursday, December 31, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 86853 

TABLE 1 TO PARAGRAPH

(b)(1)(i)(C)(1)(iii)—MAXIMUM SECTOR ACE CARRYOVER FROM 2019 

TO 2020 

Stock 

Total 

maximum 

carryover 

(percent of 

initial 2019 

ACE) 

GB haddock .......................... 12.6 

GOM haddock ...................... 13.7 

American Plaice .................... 11.3 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2020–28898 Filed 12–30–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

[Docket No. 201204–0325] 

RIN 0648–BJ74 

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; 

Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 

Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery 

Management Plan; Amendment 29; 

2021–22 Biennial Specifications and 

Management Measures; Correction 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule; correction. 

SUMMARY: NMFS published a final rule 

on December 11, 2020 to establish the 

2021–2022 harvest specifications and 

management measures for groundfish 

taken in the U.S. exclusive economic 

zone off the coasts of Washington, 

Oregon, and California. That final rule 

modified the boundaries of the 

commercial non-trawl rockfish 

conservation area (RCA) for limited 

entry fixed-gear and open-access 

vessels. In implementing these changes, 

NMFS incorrectly identified the 

seaward boundary of the commercial 

non-trawl RCA south of 34°27′ N lat. for 

limited entry fixed-gear vessels. This 

correction is necessary so that the 

implementing regulations are accurate 

and implement the action as intended 

by the Pacific Fishery Management 

Council (Council). 

DATES: This correction is effective on 

January 1, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Karen Palmigiano at karen.palmigiano@

noaa.gov or 206–526–4491. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

published a final rule on December 11, 

2020 (853 FR 79880) that established the 

2021–2022 harvest specifications and 

management measures for groundfish 

taken in the U.S. exclusive economic 

zone off the coasts of Washington, 

Oregon, and California. That final rule 

is effective January 1, 2021. 

The December 11, 2020 final rule 

defined the boundaries of the 

commercial non-trawl rockfish 

conservation area (RCA) south of 34°27′ 

north latitude (N lat.) for limited entry 

fixed-gear vessels as 100 fathoms (fm) to 

125 fm. The same rule defined the 

boundaries of the commercial non-trawl 

RCA south 34°27′ N lat. for open-access 

vessels as 100 fm to 150 fm. The correct 

boundaries for the commercial nontrawl RCA south of south of 34°27′ N lat. 

for both limited entry fixed-gear and 

open-access vessels is 100 fm to 150 fm. 

This correction is consistent with the 

Council recommendation for the 2021– 

2022 groundfish harvest specifications 

and is a minor correction to correctly 

implement the Council intent in their 

final action taken at the June 2020 

Council meeting. 

Correction 

In FR. Doc. 2020–27142 at 85 FR 

79880 in the issue of December 11, 

2020, on page 79922, in amendatory 

instruction 16, Table 2 (South) to part 

660, subpart E, is corrected to read as 

follows: 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES