12656 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Notices 

determination regarding the proposed 

issuance of the authorization. 

Proposed Authorization 

As a result of these preliminary 

determinations, NMFS proposes to issue 

an IHA to the City for conducting for the 

proposed pile driving and removal 

activities as well as DTH during 

construction of the Hoonah Marine 

Industrial Center Cargo Dock Project, 

Hoonah Alaska for one year, beginning 

March or April 2021, provided the 

previously mentioned mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting requirements 

are incorporated. A draft of the 

proposed IHA can be found at https:// 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/ 

incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act. 

Request for Public Comments 

We request comment on our analyses, 

the proposed authorization, and any 

other aspect of this notice of proposed 

IHA for the proposed pile driving and 

removal activities as well as DTH during 

construction of the Hoonah Marine 

Industrial Center Cargo Dock Project. 

We also request at this time, comments 

on the potential for Renewal of this 

proposed IHA as described in the 

paragraph below. Please include with 

your comments any supporting data or 

literature citations to help inform 

decisions on the request for this IHA or 

a subsequent Renewal IHA. 

On a case-by-case basis, NMFS may 

issue a one-time, 1-year Renewal IHA 

following notice to the public providing 

an additional 15 days for public 

comments when (1) up to another year 

of identical or nearly identical, or nearly 

identical, activities as described in the 

Description of Proposed Activities 

section of this notice is planned or (2) 

the activities as described in the 

Description of Proposed Activities 

section of this notice would not be 

completed by the time the IHA expires 

and a Renewal would allow for 

completion of the activities beyond that 

described in the Dates and Duration 

section of this notice, provided all of the 

following conditions are met: 

D A request for renewal is received no 

later than 60 days prior to the needed 

Renewal IHA effective date (recognizing 

that the Renewal IHA expiration date 

cannot extend beyond one year from 

expiration of the initial IHA); 

D The request for renewal must 

include the following: 

(1) An explanation that the activities 

to be conducted under the requested 

Renewal IHA are identical to the 

activities analyzed under the initial 

IHA, are a subset of the activities, or 

include changes so minor (e.g., 

reduction in pile size) that the changes 

do not affect the previous analyses, 

mitigation and monitoring 

requirements, or take estimates (with 

the exception of reducing the type or 

amount of take); and 

(2) A preliminary monitoring report 

showing the results of the required 

monitoring to date and an explanation 

showing that the monitoring results do 

not indicate impacts of a scale or nature 

not previously analyzed or authorized. 

Upon review of the request for 

Renewal, the status of the affected 

species or stocks, and any other 

pertinent information, NMFS 

determines that there are no more than 

minor changes in the activities, the 

mitigation and monitoring measures 

will remain the same and appropriate, 

and the findings in the initial IHA 

remain valid. 

Dated: February 26, 2021. 

Donna S. Wieting, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–04431 Filed 3–3–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XA845 

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; 

General Provisions for Domestic 

Fisheries; Application for Exempted 

Fishing Permits 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional 

Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, 

Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has 

made a preliminary determination that 

an Exempted Fishing Permit application 

contains all of the required information 

and warrants further consideration. The 

Exempted Fishing Permit would allow 

two commercial fishing vessels to use 

large mesh gillnet gear to collect preconstruction data on the abundance, 

size structure, and distribution of 

monkfish and winter skate in the South 

Fork Wind Farm work area and adjacent 

waters, under the direction of the 

Commercial Fisheries Research 

Foundation. Regulations under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

require publication of this notification 

to provide interested parties the 

opportunity to comment on applications 

for proposed Exempted Fishing Permits. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before March 19, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit written 

comments by any of the following 

methods: 

• Email: nmfs.gar.efp@noaa.gov. 

Include in the subject line ‘‘CFRF South 

Fork Wind Farm Gillnet EFP.’’ 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Louis Forristall, Marine Resources 

Management Specialist, 978–281–9321, 

Louis.Forristall@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Commercial Fisheries Research 

Foundation (CFRF) submitted a 

complete application for an Exempted 

Fishing Permit (EFP) in support of its 

South Fork Wind Farm (SFWF) Gillnet 

Survey on October 16, 2020. The 

proposed research would use largemesh gillnet gear in a Before-AfterControl-Impact study design to collect 

pre-construction data on the abundance, 

size structure, and distribution of 

monkfish, winter skate, and other 

species in the SFWF lease area and 

adjacent waters. 

This EFP would temporarily exempt 

up to two active vessels and six backup 

vessels from: Possession limits and 

minimum size requirements specified in 

50 CFR 648 subparts A, B, and D 

through O for on-board sampling and 

donation of sampled catch; and gillnet 

tagging requirements in 50 CFR 648 

subparts A and F, so gillnets used in the 

surveys can be marked with tags from 

CFRF. 

A rotational sampling schedule would 

be used between a survey site inside the 

SFWF lease area and two reference 

survey areas outside the lease area. 

Individual surveys would sample one or 

two of these areas per trip, depending 

on the rotational schedule and steam 

time between the areas. Each survey 

would consist of four 1-day trips: Two 

trips to set the gear and two trips to 

retrieve gear and sample the catch. 

Survey trips would take place 

seasonally four times per month from 

April–June and again from October– 

December for each project year resulting 

in four sampling periods: October 2020– 

December 2020; April 2021–June 2021; 

October 2021–December 2021; and 

April 2022–June 2022. In total, 90 nets 

would be sampled after 48 hour soak 

times twice per month during the 

survey periods. 

Vessels sampling gillnets under this 

EFP would declare out of fishery (DOF) 

to avoid using a monkfish day-at-sea 

(DAS) while carrying out the research 

activities covered by this EFP. Vessels 

operating as DOF and solely conducting 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Notices 12657 

survey activities would not need to use 

monkfish DAS and a DAS exemption 

would be unnecessary. If vessels 

combine commercial activities with 

survey activities (i.e., setting or hauling 

commercial gear) the operator would 

need to be declared into the monkfish 

DAS program. The proposed research 

area would fall within the bounds of the 

monkfish Southern Fishery 

Management Area (SFMA). Current 

effort controls for the SFMA were 

established in Framework Adjustment 

12 to the Monkfish Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP). Framework 12 documented 

a decline in landings over the last ten 

years and decreased the SFMA Annual 

Catch Limit (ACL). Even with the 

decreased ACL in the SFMA, the limit 

is higher than landings in recent fishing 

years. Therefore, the fishing effort from 

this EFP would not be beyond the scope 

of what was considered in Framework 

12. Additionally, this EFP would not 

result in a significant increase in catch 

from what was considered in the 

Supplemental Information Report 

completed for Framework Adjustment 8 

to the Northeast Skate Complex FMP. A 

vessel conducting survey activities 

under this EFP would be required to 

adhere to its permit-based Vessel Trip 

Reporting requirements to ensure 

accurate catch accounting. Catch from 

this EFP will be counted against the 

monkfish and skate ACLs, but not 

against the in season Total Allowable 

Landings limits for the commercial 

skate fisheries. 

Participating vessels would use gillnet 

strings with six, 300-foot net panels of 

12-inch mesh and tie-downs. Gillnet 

strings would be compliant with all 

regulations, including the Atlantic Large 

Whale Take Reduction Plan, and will be 

using Future Oceans Marine Mammal 

Deterrent Devices (10Khz) to warn 

harbor porpoises of nearby nets. The 

EFP would exempt vessels from gillnet 

tagging requirements and all buoys 

would be labeled with ‘‘CFRF’’ and the 

EFP permit number to mark them as 

research gear. 

CFRF staff would be on board for all 

sampling trips of survey nets. No catch 

from the survey nets would be landed 

for sale. From each haul, researchers 

would record the number and size for 

all species, and all organisms would be 

identified to the species level. Length 

frequency distribution would be 

recorded for dominant species in the 

catch up to 50 individuals, as well as for 

any endangered species. Stomach 

content analysis would be performed for 

commercially important species 

(monkfish, winter skate, gadids, black 

sea bass) to determine the prey 

composition for these species during the 

pre-construction period in the offshore 

wind lease area. A maximum of 5 

individuals per species and 10 total 

animals per string will be sampled. 

Otoliths would be sampled from all fish 

that are sacrificed for biological 

sampling. 

If a sturgeon is encountered, the 

protocols outlined in the observer ondeck reference guide will be followed. 

This will include photographing the 

animal, taking a fin clip unless it is a 

shortnose sturgeon, measuring fork 

length and weight if possible, recording 

any injuries or bruises, and returning 

the animal to the water as soon as these 

activities are completed. 

Estimated catch of federally regulated 

species that would be expected under 

this EFP is shown in Table 1. Survey 

catch estimates were derived from 

commercial catch data for similar gillnet 

gear reported in NOAA Technical 

Memorandum NMFS–NE–254 2019 

Discard Estimation, Precision and 

Sample Size Analyses for 14 Federally 

Managed Species Groups in the Waters 

off the Northeastern United States 

(https://repository.library.noaa.gov/ 

view/noaa/23007). The gear 

configuration, location, and soak times 

of these trips is unknown, and would 

likely vary from what would be used 

under this EFP. It is also likely that the 

catch from this survey would be less 

than the estimates provided below 

because they are derived from fishing 

data from trips that often targeted these 

species directly with commercial fishing 

gear in areas where they are more 

abundant. 

TABLE 1—ESTIMATED CATCH OF FEDERALLY REGULATED SPECIES PER SURVEY TRIP, AND TOTAL ESTIMATED CATCH

Species name/species group Catch per area per trip Estimated total survey catch 

Skate Complex .................................................................................................... 1,516.5 lb (687.9 kg) ............... 109,184.8 lb (49,525.4 kg) 

Monkfish ............................................................................................................... 606.1 lb (274.9 kg) .................. 43,638.0 lb (19,793.9 kg) 

Spiny Dogfish ....................................................................................................... 140.1 lb (63.5 kg) .................... 10,147.3 lb (4602.7 kg) 

Fluke .................................................................................................................... 7.2 lb (3.3 kg) .......................... 1,443.9 lb (654.9 kg) 

Atlantic Halibut ..................................................................................................... 6.7 lb (3.0 kg) .......................... 561.8 lb (254.8 kg) 

Atlantic Cod ......................................................................................................... 6.5 lb (2.9 kg) .......................... 520.5 lb (236.1 kg) 

Pollock ................................................................................................................. 3.5 lb (1.6 kg) .......................... 483.8 lb (219.4 kg) 

Bluefish ................................................................................................................ 1.8 lb (0.8 kg) .......................... 467.1 lb (211.9 kg) 

Silver Hake .......................................................................................................... 1.8 lb (0.8 kg) .......................... 248.4 lb (112.7 kg) 

White Hake .......................................................................................................... 1.3 lb (0.6 kg) .......................... 132.3 lb (60.0 kg) 

Haddock ............................................................................................................... 1.0 lb (0.5 kg) .......................... 127.1 lb (57.7 kg) 

American Plaice ................................................................................................... 0.4 lb (0.2 kg) .......................... 126.4 lb (57.3 kg) 

Scup ..................................................................................................................... 0.4 lb (0.2 kg) .......................... 90.4 lb (41.0 kg) 

Winter Flounder ................................................................................................... 0.4 lb (0.2 kg) .......................... 73.2 lb (33.2 kg) 

Tilefish .................................................................................................................. 0.2 lb (0.1 kg) .......................... 29.5 lb (13.4 kg) 

Golden Tilefish ..................................................................................................... 0.2 lb (0.1 kg) .......................... 28.4 lb (12.9 kg) 

Black Sea Bass ................................................................................................... 0.2 lb (0.1 kg) .......................... 28.0 lb (12.7 kg) 

If approved, CFRF may request minor 

modifications and extensions to the EFP 

throughout the study. EFP modifications 

and extensions may be granted without 

further notice if they are deemed 

essential to facilitate completion of the 

proposed research and have minimal 

impacts that do not change the scope or 

impact of the initially approved EFP 

request. Any fishing activity conducted 

outside the scope of the exempted 

fishing activity would be prohibited. 

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

Dated: February 26, 2021. 

Kelly Denit, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–04420 Filed 3–3–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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