Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 220 / Thursday, November 16, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 78677 

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

Dated: November 13, 2023. 

Kelly Denit, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25365 Filed 11–13–23; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

[RTID 0648–XC971] 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; West 

Coast Groundfish Fisheries; 

Amendment 31 to the Pacific Coast 

Groundfish Fishery Management Plan 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of agency decision. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces the 

approval of Amendment 31 to the 

Pacific Fishery Management Council’s 

(Council) Pacific Coast Groundfish 

Fishery Management Plan (FMP). 

Amendment 31 defines stocks that are 

in need of conservation and 

management, consistent with the 

provisions and guidelines of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act. 

Amendment 31 defines stocks for 14 

species within the fishery management 

unit. These species were prioritized 

because they had stock assessments in 

2021 or 2023. Amendment 31 is 

necessary for NMFS to make stock 

status determinations, which in turn 

will help prevent overfishing, rebuild 

overfished stocks, and achieve optimum 

yield. Amendment 31 is administrative 

in nature and does not change harvest 

levels or timing and location of fishing, 

nor does it revise the goals and 

objectives or the management 

frameworks of the Pacific Coast 

Groundfish Fishery Management Plan. 

DATES: The amendment was approved 

on November 8, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: The amended FMP is 

available on the Council’s website 

(https://www.pcouncil.org), as is the 

final supporting analysis. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gretchen Hanshew (206) 526–6147, 

email at gretchen.hanshew@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

manages the groundfish fisheries in the 

exclusive economic zone (EEZ) seaward 

of Washington, Oregon, and California 

under the Pacific Coast Groundfish 

fishery management plan (FMP). The 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(MSA) requires that each regional 

fishery management council submit any 

FMP or plan amendment it prepares to 

NMFS for review and approval, 

disapproval, or partial approval by the 

Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). The 

MSA also requires that NMFS, upon 

receiving an FMP or amendment, 

immediately publish a notice that the 

FMP or amendment is available for 

public review and comment. 

The Notice of Availability (NOA) for 

Amendment 31 was published in the 

Federal Register on August 23, 2023 (88 

FR 57400), with a 60-day comment 

period that ended on October 22, 2023. 

NMFS received three comments during 

the public comment period on the NOA, 

all in support of Amendment 31. NMFS’ 

authority for this action is limited by the 

MSA to approval, disapproval, or partial 

approval of the amendment submitted 

by the Council. NMFS summarized and 

responded to these comments under 

Comments and Responses, below. 

NMFS determined that Amendment 

31 is consistent with the MSA and other 

applicable laws, and the Secretary of 

Commerce approved Amendment 31 on 

November 8, 2023. The August 23, 2023 

NOA (88 FR 57400) contains additional 

information on this action. Amendment 

31 is administrative in nature and has 

no implementing regulations; no 

changes to existing Federal regulations 

are necessary and none were proposed. 

The Council recommended stock 

definitions for 14 species of Pacific 

Coast groundfish after NMFS was 

unable to make stock status 

determinations in 2021. NMFS was 

unable to make stock status 

determinations because the ‘‘stocks’’ for 

which the Council was expecting status 

determinations did not exist in the FMP. 

Currently, the FMP has a list of 80+ 

species to which it pertains, and does 

not describe whether each species is a 

single stock within the fishery 

management unit or if it is multiple 

(e.g., regional) stocks. The Council 

prioritized a sub-set of species for stock 

identification in Amendment 31. These 

species are black, canary, copper, 

quillback, squarespot, vermilion, and 

vermilion/sunset rockfishes; Dover, 

petrale, and rex soles; lingcod, Pacific 

spiny dogfish, sablefish, and shortspine 

thornyhead. These species were 

prioritized because they were subject to 

stock assessments in 2021 or were 

subject to stock assessments in 2023. 

The Council considered some of the 

biological, socioeconomic, and fishery 

management trade-offs that might be 

expected from implementation of future 

management actions based on the 

alternative stock definitions. The 

Council recommended Amendment 31 

at its June 20–27, 2023 meeting. 

Amendment 31 was transmitted to 

NMFS by the Council on August 14, 

2023. A detailed description of 

Amendment 31 is included in the NOA 

(88 FR 57400, August 23, 2023). 

Comments and Responses 

NMFS received two comment letters 

with three comments during the 60-day 

public comment period on the NOA. 

The comments were all in favor of 

NMFS’ approval of the amendment and 

included some specific rationale. The 

comments and NMFS’s responses are 

presented below. 

Comment 1: One commenter endorses 

Amendment 31 because it aims to 

reduce overfishing and rebuild stocks 

back to sustainable levels, which will 

help prevent food chain and food web 

imbalances. 

Response: NMFS agrees that defining 

stocks with Amendment 31will aid in 

preventing overfishing and rebuilding 

overfished stocks and that this may, in 

turn, also provide ecosystem benefits. 

Comment 2: One commenter urges 

approval and effective implementation 

of Amendment 31 to prevent overfishing 

which would in turn increase marine 

ecosystems’ resiliency to climate change 

stressors. 

Response: NMFS agrees that 

Amendment 31 will lead to future 

management decisions that improve the 

long-term sustainability of the managed 

fisheries, which may improve resilience 

of marine ecosystems to non-fishing 

climate stressors. Effective 

implementation of stock definitions in 

Amendment 31 will come in future 

biennial harvest specifications and 

management measures actions, where 

the best scientific information will be 

used to inform management of the 

defined stocks within the context of the 

FMP and the mixed stock fishery. 

Comment 3: One commenter 

expressed that Amendment 31 is 

warranted because the species that are 

the subject of Amendment 31 have 

already been verified as overfished 

stocks by governmental and 

nongovernmental organizations. 

Response: NMFS agrees that the 

Amendment 31 stock definitions for the 

subject species are based on the best 

scientific information available, and that 

stocks are the unit at which NMFS may 

determine whether an overfished status 

is warranted. NMFS notes that the 

determination whether or not a stock is 

overfished is the sole responsibility of 

NMFS, based on best scientific 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1
78678 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 220 / Thursday, November 16, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

information available and the stocks’ 

status determination criteria that are 

defined in the FMP. 

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

Dated: November 9, 2023. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25268 Filed 11–15–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 230224–0053] 

RTID 0648–XD210 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; ‘‘Other Rockfish’’ in 

the Western and Central Regulatory 

Areas of the Gulf of Alaska 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; closure. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is prohibiting retention 

of ‘‘other’’ rockfish in the Western and 

Central Regulatory Areas of the Gulf of 

Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary 

to prevent exceeding the 2023 total 

allowable catch of ‘‘other’’ rockfish in 

the Western and Central Regulatory 

Areas of the GOA. 

DATES: Effective 1200 hours, Alaska 

local time (A.l.t.), November 13, 2023, 

through 2400 hours, A.l.t., December 31, 

2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Obren Davis, 907–586–7241. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

manages the groundfish fishery in the 

GOA exclusive economic zone 

according to the Fishery Management 

Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of 

Alaska (FMP) prepared by the North 

Pacific Fishery Management Council 

under authority of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act. Regulations governing 

fishing by U.S. vessels in accordance 

with the FMP appear at subpart H of 50 

CFR parts 600 and 679. 

The 2023 total allowable catch (TAC) 

of ‘‘other rockfish’’ in the Western and 

Central Regulatory Areas of the GOA is 

940 metric tons (mt) as established by 

the final 2023 and 2024 harvest 

specifications for groundfish of the GOA 

(88 FR 13238, March 2, 2023). 

In accordance with § 679.20(d)(2), the 

Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS 

(Regional Administrator), has 

determined that the 2023 ‘‘other 

rockfish’’ TAC in the Western and 

Central Regulatory Areas of the GOA 

will soon be reached. Therefore, NMFS 

is requiring that ‘‘other rockfish’’ in the 

Western and Central Regulatory Areas of 

the GOA be treated as prohibited 

species in accordance with § 679.21(a), 

except ‘‘other rockfish’’ species in the 

Western and Central Regulatory Areas of 

the GOA caught by catcher vessels using 

hook-and-line, pot, or jig gear as 

described in § 679.20(j). 

Classification 

NMFS issues this action pursuant to 

section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 

part 679, which was issued pursuant to 

section 304(b), and is exempt from 

review under Executive Order 12866. 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), there 

is good cause to waive prior notice and 

an opportunity for public comment on 

this action, as notice and comment 

would be impracticable and contrary to 

the public interest, as it would prevent 

NMFS from responding to the most 

recent fisheries data in a timely fashion, 

and would delay prohibiting retention 

of ‘‘other rockfish’’ in the Western and 

Central Regulatory Areas of the GOA. 

NMFS was unable to publish a notice 

providing time for public comment 

because the most recent, relevant data 

only became available as of November 9, 

2023. 

The Assistant Administrator for 

Fisheries, NOAA also finds good cause 

to waive the 30-day delay in the 

effective date of this action under 5 

U.S.C. 553(d)(3). This finding is based 

upon the reasons provided above for 

waiver of prior notice and opportunity 

for public comment. 

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

Dated: November 13, 2023. 

Kelly Denit, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25318 Filed 11–13–23; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1