[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 25, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 3890-3892]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-1700]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 991229356-9356-01; 121799F]
RIN 0648-AN36


Fisheries off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications

AGENCY:  National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:  Final harvest guidelines.

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SUMMARY:  NMFS announces the annual harvest guidelines for Pacific 
sardine and Pacific mackerel in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off 
the Pacific coast. The Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan 
(FMP) and its implementing regulations require NMFS to establish annual 
harvest guidelines for Pacific sardine and Pacific mackerel based on a 
formulas appearing in the FMP. The intended effect of this action is to 
establish allowable harvest levels for coastal pelagic species off the 
Pacific coast.

DATES:  Effective January 1, 2000. Comments are invited until February 
24, 2000.

ADDRESSES:  Submit comments on the annual specifications to Rodney R. 
McInnis, Acting Regional Administrator, Southwest Region, (Regional 
Administrator), NMFS, 501 West Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 
90802-4213. The reports Stock Assessment of Sardine for 1999 with 
Management Recommendations for 2000 and Status of the Pacific Mackerel 
Resource and Fishery in 1999 are available from this same address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  James J. Morgan, Southwest Region, 
NMFS, (562) 980-4030.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  The FMP, which was partially approved by 
the Secretary of Commerce on June 10, 1999, and implemented by 
publication of a final rule in the Federal Register on December 15, 
1999 (64 FR 69888), divides managed species into the categories of 
actively managed and monitored. Harvest guidelines of actively managed 
species (Pacific sardine and Pacific mackerel) are based on formulas 
applied to current biomass estimates. Harvest guidelines for monitored 
species (jack mackerel, northern anchovy, and market squid), which are 
underutilized or managed primarily by California, are not based on 
current biomass estimates. Nonetheless, the FMP includes a constant 
allowable biological catch (ABC) for each monitored species based on 
long-term yields. If an ABC for a monitored species is reached, it 
would be designated an actively managed species; at that time, the 
Pacific Fishery Management (Council) would review the condition of the 
resource and recommend necessary management action. Except for northern 
anchovy, this is the first year of managing coastal pelagic species 
under this FMP.
    At a public meeting each year, the biomass for each actively 
managed species is presented by the Council's Coastal Pelagic Species 
Management Team (Team) to the Council's Coastal Pelagic Species 
Advisory Subpanel (Subpanel). At that time, the biomass,

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the harvest guideline, and the status of the fisheries is reviewed. 
This information is also reviewed by the Council's Scientific and 
Statistical committee. Following review by the Council and after 
hearing all public comments, NMFS publishes the annual harvest 
guidelines in theFederal Register before the beginning of the 
appropriate fishing season. The Pacific sardine season begins on 
January 1 of each year and ends on December 31. The Pacific mackerel 
season begins on July 1 of each year and ends on June 30. Normally, the 
Pacific mackerel harvest guideline would be announced in June; however, 
the first harvest guidelines for both species will be effective on 
January 1, 2000, as this will be the first year of managing these 
species.
    The FMP allows the Administrator, Southwest Region, NMFS to 
announce harvest guidelines before review by the Council if there is 
insufficient time for review. At its meeting in September 1999, the 
Council decided to use this procedure during the first year of managing 
Pacific sardine and Pacific mackerel because the sardine assessment 
would not be completed by its November 1999 Meeting. The Council plans 
to complete its review at its March 2000 meeting, when the stock 
assessment and fishery evaluation report for Pacific sardine will be 
presented. At the November meeting, the Team presented the Council with 
the Pacific mackerel assessment to establish a harvest guideline for 
the season that began on July 1, 1999. The Council adopted the Team's 
recommendations, including the necessary procedure to subtract the 
estimated harvest of Pacific mackerel from July 1, 1999, to December 
31, 1999, to establish a harvest guideline beginning January 1, 2000, 
consistent with the beginning of the fishing season.
    On December 9, 1999, consistent with the procedures of the FMP, the 
biomass report and attendant harvest guidelines for Pacific sardine and 
Pacific mackerel were reviewed at a public meeting of the Team at the 
NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California. A 
public meeting between the Team and the Subpanel was held on December 
14, 1999, at the Southwest Region, NMFS, in Long Beach, California. No 
significant comments regarding the harvest guidelines were received.
    The sardine population was estimated using a modified version of 
the integrated stock assessment model called Catch at Age Analysis of 
Sardine-Two Area Model (CANSAR-TAM). CANSAR is a forward-casting, age-
structured analysis using fishery dependent and fishery independent 
data to obtain annual estimates of sardine abundance, year-class 
strength, and age-specific fishing mortality for 1983 through 1999. The 
modification of CANSAR was developed to account for the expansion of 
the Pacific sardine stock northward to include waters off the northwest 
Pacific coast. Documentation of the 1999 estimate is described in the 
Council report Stock Assessment of Sardine for 1999 with Management 
Recommendations for 2000 (see ADDRESSES).
    The formula in the FMP uses the following factors to determine the 
harvest guideline for Pacific sardine:
    1. The biomass of age one sardine and above. For 1999, this 
estimate is 1,581,346 metric tons (mt).
    2. The cutoff. This is the biomass level below which no commercial 
fishery is allowed. The FMP established this level at 150,000 mt.
    3. The portion of the sardine biomass that is in U.S. waters. For 
1999, this estimate is 87 percent, based on the average of larval 
distribution obtained from scientific cruises and the distribution of 
the resource obtained from logbooks of fish-spotters.
    4. The harvest fraction. This is the percentage of the biomass 
above 150,000 mt that may be harvested. The fraction used varies (5-15 
percent) with current ocean temperatures, a higher fraction for warmer 
ocean temperatures and a lower fraction for cooler temperatures. Warm 
ocean temperatures favor the production of Pacific sardine. For 1999, 
the fraction used was 15 percent, based on three seasons of sea surface 
temperature at Scripps Pier, California.
    Based on the estimated biomass of 1,581,346 mt and the formula in 
the FMP, a harvest guideline of 186,791 mt was calculated for the 
fishery beginning on January 1, 2000. The harvest guideline is 
allocated one third for Subarea A, which is north of 35 deg. 40' N. 
lat. to the Canadian border, and two thirds for Subarea B, which is 
south of 35 deg. 40' N. lat. to the Mexican border. Any unused resource 
in either area will be reallocated between areas to help ensure that 
optimum yield will be achieved. The northern allocation is 62,264 mt; 
the southern allocation is 124,527 mt.
    The size of the Pacific mackerel population was estimated using a 
modified virtual population analysis stock assessment model, which 
employs both fishery dependent and fishery independent data to estimate 
abundance. The model was used to calculate biomass estimates through 
the end of 1998 and then project an estimate of biomass for July 1, 
1999, based on the number of Pacific mackerel estimated to comprise 
each year class at the beginning of 1999, estimates of fishing 
mortality during 1998, assumptions of natural and fishing mortality 
through the first half of 1999, and estimates of age-specific growth. 
Documentation of the 1999 estimate is described in the Council report 
Status of the Pacific Mackerel Resource and Fishery in 1999 (see 
ADDRESSES).
    The formula in the FMP uses the following factors to determine the 
harvest guideline for Pacific mackerel:
    1. The biomass of Pacific mackerel. For 1999, this estimate is 
239,286 mt.
    2. The cutoff. This is the biomass level below which no commercial 
fishery is allowed. The FMP established the cutoff level at 18,200 mt.
    3. The portion of the Pacific mackerel biomass that is in U.S. 
waters. This estimate is 70 percent, based on the average of larval 
distribution obtained from scientific cruises and the distribution of 
the resource obtained from logbooks of fish-spotters.
    4. The harvest fraction. This is the percentage of the biomass 
above 18,200 mt that may be harvested. The FMP established the harvest 
fraction at 30 percent.
    Based on the estimated biomass of 239,286 mt and the formula in the 
FMP, a harvest guideline of 46,428 was calculated for the fishery 
beginning on July 1, 1999. To determine a harvest guideline for the 
period beginning January 1, 2000, the estimated harvest of Pacific 
mackerel between July 1, 1999, through December 31, 1999, was 
subtracted from the harvest guideline. The amount harvested is 3,609 
mt; therefore, the harvest guideline available to the fishery beginning 
on January 1, 2000, is 42,819 mt.

Classification

    This action is authorized by 50 CFR 660.509 and is exempt from 
review under Executive Order 12866.
    The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA (AA) finds for good 
cause under 5 U.S.C. Sec. 553(b)(B) that providing prior notice and an 
opportunity for public comment on this action is unnecessary because 
establishing the harvest guidelines is a ministerial act, determined by 
applying formulas in the FMP. Accordingly, providing prior notice and 
an opportunity for public comment would serve no useful purpose.
    Because this rule merely announces the result of harvest guideline 
calculations and does not require any participants in the fishery to 
take action or to come into compliance, the AA finds for good cause 
under 5 U.S.C. Sec. 553(d)(3) that delaying the effective

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date of this rule for 30 days is unnecessary.
    Because prior notice and opportunity for public comment are not 
required for this action by 5 U.S.C. 553, or any other law, the 
analytical requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 
et seq., are not applicable.

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

    Dated: January 18, 2000.
Andrew R. Rosenberg,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 00-1700 Filed 1-24-00; 8:45 am]
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