11716 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 37 / Friday, February 26, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

Area does not include islands offshore 

of Kodiak Island. A registration permit 

is not required to hunt on lands and 

waters outside the Kodiak Island 

Roaded Area. 

* * * * * 

Shannon A. Estenoz, 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish 

and Wildlife and Parks, Exercising the 

Delegated Authority of the Assistant Secretary 

for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. 

[FR Doc. 2021–03979 Filed 2–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 210219–0028] 

RIN 0648–BK18 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Removing the 

Processing Restriction on Incidentally 

Caught Squids and Sculpins in the 

Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands Groundfish Fisheries 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS issues this proposed 

rule to remove the regulatory restriction 

that limits processing of squids and 

sculpins to fishmeal only. This 

proposed rule is necessary to allow the 

processing and sale of squids and 

sculpins as products other than fishmeal 

and thereby to help prevent waste of the 

incidental catch of these ecosystem 

component species. This proposed rule 

is intended to promote the goals and 

objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the 

Fishery Management Plans (FMP) for 

Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) 

and Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

Management Area (BSAI) (Groundfish 

FMPs), and other applicable laws. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

March 29, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by FDMS 

Docket Number NOAA–NMFS–2020– 

0160, by any of the following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

www.regulations.gov/ 

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

0160, click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Glenn Merrill, Assistant Regional 

Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries 

Division, Alaska Region NMFS, Attn: 

Records Office. Mail comments to P.O. 

Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802–1668. 

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), 

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). 

Electronic copies of the draft 

Regulatory Impact Review (referred to as 

the ‘‘Analysis’’) and the draft 

Categorical Exclusion prepared for this 

proposed rule may be obtained from 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Megan Mackey, 907–586–7228. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Authority for Action 

NMFS manages the groundfish 

fisheries in the exclusive economic zone 

(EEZ) of the BSAI and GOA under the 

Groundfish FMPs. The North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council) 

prepared the Groundfish FMPs under 

the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. Regulations 

governing U.S. fisheries and 

implementing the Groundfish FMPs 

appear at 50 CFR parts 600 and 679. 

All relevant comments submitted on 

this proposed rule and received by the 

end of the comment period (See DATES) 

will be considered by NMFS and 

addressed in the response to comments 

in the final rule. 

Background 

Squids and sculpins are defined in 

the ecosystem component (EC) category 

of the Groundfish FMPs. Directed 

fishing for EC species is prohibited. 

Incidental catch of squid species is 

retained in some groundfish fisheries 

and often utilized to prevent waste. 

Typically, sculpins are not retained but 

can be in some circumstances. 

The Council’s 2017 and 2019 actions 

to reclassify squids and sculpins, 

respectively, into the EC category of the 

Groundfish FMPs were based on the 

best available scientific information and 

were consistent with the National 

Standard guidelines. The Federal 

rulemakings to implement the Council’s 

actions prohibited the use or sale of 

incidentally caught squids and sculpins 

unless processed into fishmeal, in 

accordance with the regulations 

governing other EC species (85 FR 

41427, July 10, 2020 (sculpin); 83 FR 

31460, July 6, 2018 (squid)). The 

purpose of this action is to provide 

flexibility for the use of incidentally 

caught squids and sculpins, thereby 

reducing the waste of these EC species, 

and to align the regulations with the 

long-standing use of incidentally caught 

squid species as bait. 

The following sections of this 

preamble provide: 

• A brief history of the restriction on 

processing and sale of squids and 

sculpins, 

• The expected effects of and need for 

this action, and 

• A description of the regulatory 

change proposed in this action. 

Brief History of the Restriction on 

Processing and Sale of Squids and 

Sculpins 

EC species are stocks that a fishery 

management council (council) or the 

Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) has 

determined do not require conservation 

and management, but desire to list in an 

FMP in order to achieve ecosystem 

management objectives (50 CFR 

600.305(c)(5) & (d)(13) and 50 CFR 

600.310(d)(1)). Retention and personal 

use of some EC species in the 

Groundfish FMPs (forage fish, 

grenadiers, squids, and sculpins) is 

allowed up to the applicable maximum 

retainable amount (MRA), which is the 

proportion or percentage of retained 

catch of a species closed for directed 

fishing (incidental catch species) to the 

retained catch of a species open for 

directed fishing (basis species) (50 CFR 

679.20(e) & (i)). Current Federal 

regulations at 50 CFR 679.20(i)(4) & (5) 

prohibit the processing, barter, trade, 

and sale of EC species in Alaska (forage 

fish, grenadiers, squids, and sculpins) 

unless they are processed as fishmeal. 

Amendment 96 to the BSAI FMP and 

Amendment 87 to the GOA FMP 

(Amendments 96/87) (75 FR 61639, 

October 6, 2010) established the EC 

category and designated prohibited 

species (defined in Table 2b to 50 CFR 

part 679, to include salmon, steelhead 

trout, crab, halibut, and herring) and 

forage fish (defined in Table 2c to 50 

CFR part 679 and § 679.20(i)) as EC 

species in both the Groundfish FMPs. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 37 / Friday, February 26, 2021 / Proposed Rules 11717 

When Amendments 96/87 were 

recommended by the Council in 2010, 

the Council’s stated intention was that 

prohibited species and forage fish 

would be in the new EC category. 

Because the retention, processing, and 

sale of prohibited species and forage 

fish was not permitted before their 

placement in the EC category, those 

restrictions remained in place and 

unchanged under Amendments 96/87. 

The Council did not indicate whether it 

intended that species added to the EC 

category at a later date would be subject 

to those same restrictions. 

When the Council took action to 

recommend reclassifying squids in the 

EC category in 2017, harvesters and 

processors expected that incidentally 

caught squids in the groundfish 

fisheries could be processed and sold as 

bait, consistent with long-standing and 

common practice. Similarly, when the 

Council recommended reclassifying 

sculpins in the EC category in 2019, 

there was some interest in exploring 

food fish markets for incidentally caught 

sculpins, which have rarely been 

retained or processed. However, once 

squids and sculpins were reclassified in 

the EC category, existing Federal 

regulations at 50 CFR 679.20(i) applied 

to all EC species and prohibited the 

processing, barter, trade, and sale of 

squids and sculpins as anything other 

than fishmeal. 

In October 2019, the Council initiated 

an analysis to reconsider the processing 

and sale restrictions on squids and 

sculpins in the EC category. No other 

species in the EC category were 

considered in this analysis. As a result, 

processing and sale restrictions will 

remain in place for prohibited species, 

forage fish, and grenadiers under this 

action. 

The Expected Effects of and Need for 

This Action 

This action would continue to manage 

squids and sculpins as EC species in the 

Groundfish FMPs. Directed fishing of 

squids and sculpins would continue to 

be prohibited, and retention of squids 

and sculpins up to the MRA of 20 

percent would continue to be permitted. 

Recordkeeping and reporting 

requirements would be maintained. The 

only proposed change to current 

regulations would be to remove the 

processing restrictions limiting 

processing and sale of squids and 

sculpins to fishmeal, and include new 

regulations on allowable fish products 

for squids and sculpins. Specifically, 

the proposed regulations would provide 

that retained catch of squids and 

sculpins not exceeding the MRA may be 

sold to a processor or processed into any 

product form, including (but not limited 

to) fishmeal, bait, and whole fish/food 

fish, for sale, barter, or trade. All other 

regulations pertaining to EC species 

would remain in place. 

This proposed action would allow 

squid species to be processed as whole 

bait and be available to local fixed gear 

fisheries, which may reduce costs for 

those vessels. While there has never 

been a significant market for sculpin 

products, this action would allow for 

the exploration of potential markets for 

incidentally caught sculpins up to the 

MRA. 

The potential social impacts of the 

alternatives on the fishing community 

are primarily economic in nature. 

Processing squid species into bait 

provides some revenue to shore-based 

processors (see Table 4–5 of the 

Analysis) and may reduce costs to local 

fleets, which currently purchase more 

expensive, imported bait. The potential 

economic impacts are limited, the 

potential benefits would be marginal, 

and no impacts were identified that 

would create adverse economic impacts 

on any fishing community or cause any 

other adverse social impacts. 

The Council determined, and NMFS 

agrees, that this proposed action would 

provide groundfish harvesters and 

processors with additional flexibility to 

conduct their business in an efficient 

manner by providing them with more 

options for the processing and sale of 

incidentally caught squids and sculpins 

up to the MRA, and would help reduce 

waste of these incidentally caught 

species. 

Proposed Rule 

This proposed rule would remove the 

regulatory restriction that limits 

processing of incidentally caught squids 

and sculpins to fishmeal only, and 

would allow retained catch of squids 

and sculpins not exceeding the MRA to 

be sold to a processor or to be processed 

into any product form. This proposed 

rule is necessary to allow the processing 

and sale of squids and sculpins as 

products other than fishmeal and to 

help prevent waste of the incidental 

catch of these species. To make that 

change, this proposed rule would revise 

language in 50 CFR 679.20(i). 

Classification 

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

Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

that this proposed rule is consistent 

with the Groundfish FMPs, other 

provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, and other applicable law, subject to 

further consideration after public 

comment. 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for the 

purposes of Executive Order 12866. 

Certification Under the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act 

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. 

This proposed rule would remove the 

regulatory restriction that limits 

processing of squids and sculpins to 

fishmeal only. The purpose of this 

action is to allow processing and sale of 

squids and sculpin products to provide 

enhanced economic opportunity and to 

prevent waste of the incidental catch of 

these species in the BSAI and GOA 

groundfish fisheries. 

Entities that would be directly 

regulated by this proposed rule include 

the owners and operators of catcher 

vessels (CVs), catcher/processor vessels 

(C/Ps), and motherships in the 

groundfish fisheries of the BSAI and 

GOA, and eligible shore-based 

processing facilities. These are the 

participants currently regulated by the 

prohibition at 50 CFR 679.20(i). 

In 2018, there were 182 CVs and 3 C/ 

Ps in the BSAI, 756 CVs and 3 C/Ps in 

the GOA, and three motherships that 

met the definition of small entities. 

There also may be one or more shorebased processors that could be 

considered small entities because the 

processing company and its affiliates, 

worldwide, may employ fewer than 750 

people. However, total employment 

numbers of processing companies and 

their affiliates, worldwide, are not 

available to make that small entity 

threshold determination. Based on the 

scope of this action, impacts to small, 

directly regulated entities are expected 

to be neutral or beneficial if the entities 

decide to use the flexibility this rule 

affords to process squids and sculpins 

into product forms in addition to 

fishmeal. 

As described above, this action does 

not place any new regulatory burden on 

groundfish fishery participants. Instead, 

it allows increased flexibility for the 

processing and sale of squids and 

sculpins. For all of the reasons 

described above, this proposed action is 

not expected to have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of the small entities directly 

regulated by this proposed action. As a 

result, an initial regulatory flexibility 

analysis is not required, and none has 

been prepared. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
11718 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 37 / Friday, February 26, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

Regulatory Impact Review 

A Regulatory Impact Review was 

prepared to assess the costs and benefits 

of available regulatory alternatives. The 

Council recommended and NMFS 

proposes these regulations based on 

those measures that maximize net 

benefits to the Nation. A copy of this 

analysis is available from NMFS (see 

ADDRESSES). 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This proposed rule contains no 

information collection requirements 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679 

Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: February 22, 2021. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For reasons set out in the preamble, 

NMFS proposes to amend 50 CFR part 

679 as follows: 

PART 679—FISHERIES OF THE 

EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF 

ALASKA 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 679 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et 

seq.; 3631 et seq.; Pub. L. 108–447; Pub. L. 

111–281. 

■ 2. In § 679.20, revise paragraph (i) to 

read as follows: 

§ 679.20 General limitations. 

* * * * * 

(i) Forage fish, grenadiers, squids, and 

sculpins—(1) Definition. See Table 2c to 

this part. 

(2) Applicability. The provisions of 

this paragraph (i) apply to all vessels 

fishing for groundfish in the BSAI or 

GOA, and to all vessels processing 

groundfish harvested in the BSAI or 

GOA. 

(3) Closure to directed fishing. 

Directed fishing for forage fish, 

grenadiers, squids, and sculpins is 

prohibited at all times in the BSAI and 

GOA. 

(4) Limits on sale, barter, trade, and 

processing of forage fish and grenadiers. 

The sale, barter, trade, or processing of 

forage fish and grenadiers is prohibited, 

except as provided in paragraph (i)(5) of 

this section. 

(5) Allowable fishmeal production of 

forage fish and grenadiers. Retained 

catch of forage fish or grenadiers not 

exceeding the maximum retainable 

amount may be processed into fishmeal 

for sale, barter, or trade. 

(6) Allowable fish products for squids 

and sculpins. Retained catch of squids 

and sculpins not exceeding the 

maximum retainable amount may be 

sold to a processor or processed into any 

product form, including (but not limited 

to) fishmeal, bait, and whole fish/food 

fish, for sale, barter, or trade. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2021–03900 Filed 2–25–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS