Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 220 / Thursday, November 16, 2023 / Proposed Rules 78715 

engagement opportunities with 

stakeholders or groups of stakeholders. 

The withdrawal of this proposed rule 

does not preclude NMFS from 

reinitiating rulemaking concerning the 

issues addressed in the proposed rule. 

Should that occur, NMFS will repropose the action and provide new 

opportunities for comment. More 

information on SIMP and the NMFS 

review are available online at the 

Agency’s website (https://www.fisheries.

noaa.gov/action/noaa-fisherieswithdrawal-its-simp-proposed-rule-andannouncement-comprehensive-review). 

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

Dated: November 13, 2023. 

Alexa Cole, 

Director; Office of International Affairs, 

Trade, and Commerce, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25309 Filed 11–14–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 231106–0262; RTID 0648– 

XD357] 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 2024 

and Projected 2025 Bluefish 

Specifications 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes Atlantic 

bluefish specifications for the 2024 

fishing year and projects specifications 

for fishing year 2025, as recommended 

by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council. This action is 

necessary to establish allowable harvest 

levels for the stock to prevent 

overfishing and promote rebuilding, 

using the best scientific information 

available. This rule also informs the 

public of the proposed fishery 

specifications and provides an 

opportunity for comment on the 

proposed action. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

December 1, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2023–0126, by the following 

method: 

Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. 

1. Go to https://www.regulations.gov, 

and enter ‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2023–0126’’ 

in the Search box; 

2. Click the ‘‘Comment’’ 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 part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on https://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). If you are unable to 

submit your comment through https://

www.regulations.gov, contact Cynthia 

Ferrio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

Cynthia.Ferrio@noaa.gov. 

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council prepared a draft 

environmental assessment (EA) for this 

action that describes the proposed 

measures and other considered 

alternatives. The EA also provides an 

economic analysis, as well as an 

analysis of the biological, economic, and 

social impacts of the proposed measures 

and other considered alternatives. 

Copies of the specifications document, 

including the EA, are available on 

request from Dr. Christopher M. Moore, 

Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic 

Fishery Management Council, Suite 201, 

800 North State Street, Dover, DE 19901. 

These documents are also accessible via 

the internet at https://www.mafmc.org/ 

supporting-documents. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9180. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council and the Atlantic 

States Marine Fisheries Commission 

jointly manage the Atlantic Bluefish 

Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The 

FMP requires the specification of annual 

regulatory limits for up to 3 years at a 

time, including: an acceptable biological 

catch (ABC), commercial and 

recreational annual catch limits (ACL), 

commercial and recreational annual 

catch targets (ACT), a commercial quota, 

a recreational harvest limit (RHL), and 

other management measures. This 

action proposes bluefish specifications 

for the 2024 fishing year, and projects 

specifications for 2025, based on 

Council and Commission 

recommendations. 

Recent research track and 

management track assessments for 

bluefish (December 2022 and June 2023, 

respectively) determined that the stock 

is no longer overfished and overfishing 

is not occurring. However, the spawning 

stock biomass has not yet reached its 

target, so the fishery remains under its 

rebuilding plan. These proposed 

specifications would decrease the 2024 

acceptable biological catch by 43 

percent from 2023, based on 

recommendations from the Council’s 

Scientific and Statistical Committee 

(SSC), results from these assessments, 

and the rebuilding plan for the stock. 

The Council’s Bluefish Monitoring 

Committee recommended that no 

uncertainty buffers be applied to either 

the commercial or recreational sector in 

2024 or 2025, but did recommend that 

commercial discards be accounted for in 

the specifications process beginning in 

fishing year 2024. In prior years, 

commercial discards have been 

considered negligible, but with updated 

assessment information, it is 

recommended that discards from both 

sectors be included. Although the stock 

is no longer overfished and therefore 

transferring quota between recreational 

and commercial sectors is no longer 

prohibited by governing regulations, no 

sector quota transfer is recommended 

because the fishery is still under a 

rebuilding plan. The resulting 2024 

specifications would decrease the 

commercial quota by 43 percent, and 

the RHL by 15 percent from 2023. At 

their joint meeting in August 2023, the 

Council and the Commission’s Bluefish 

Board reviewed and approved these 

specifications as recommended by the 

SSC and Monitoring Committee. No 

changes were recommended to 

recreational management measures (i.e., 

bag limits), as the average recreational 

harvest since 2021 (11.54 million 

pounds (lb); 5,234 metric tons (mt)) 

remains below the proposed RHL for 

2024 (11.96 million lb; 5,425 mt). Status 

quo recreational measures are also 

intended to promote continued stability 

and consistency in the fishery while 

minimizing the risk of an overage in the 

recreational sector. 

Although catch limits are decreasing, 

neither sector of the fishery is expected 

to be substantially impacted by this 

action. Harvest in both sectors has been 

decreasing in recent years; coastwide 

commercial landings have not exceeded 

2.2 million lb (998 mt) in the last 3 


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78716 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 220 / Thursday, November 16, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

years, and recreational harvest averaged 

11.54 million lb (5,234 mt), both lower 

than the proposed future limits. 

Proposed Specifications 

This action proposes the Council’s 

recommendations for 2024 and 

projected 2025 bluefish catch 

specifications, which are consistent 

with the SSC and Monitoring 

Committee recommendations (Table 1). 

These proposed specifications would 

decrease catch limits in 2024 based on 

best available information from the 

recent assessments and the rebuilding 

plan, but increases to limits are 

projected in 2025. A comparison of the 

current 2023, proposed 2024, and 

projected 2025 specifications is 

summarized below in Table 1. As 

previously mentioned, the Council did 

not recommend any changes to 

recreational management measures in 

these specifications, as the expected 

recreational landings under the existing 

measures are likely to achieve the 

proposed RHL without exceeding it. 

Therefore, all other Federal management 

measures, including commercial 

management measures, recreational 

season (open all year) and recreational 

fish size (none), would also remain 

unchanged under this action. 

TABLE 1—COMPARISON OF 2023, PROPOSED 2024, AND PROJECTED 2025 BLUEFISH SPECIFICATIONS * 

2023 (Current) 2024 (Proposed) 2025 (Projected) 

Million lb Metric tons Million lb Metric tons Million lb Metric tons 

Overfishing Limit ...................................... 45.17 20,490 25.87 11,734 27.49 12,467 

ABC = Fishery ACL ................................. 30.62 13,890 17.48 7,929 21.83 9,903 

Commercial ACL = Commercial ACT ...... 4.29 1,945 2.45 1,110 3.06 1,386 

Recreational ACL = Recreational ACT .... 26.34 11,945 15.03 6,819 18.78 8,517 

Commercial Discards ............................... 0 0 0.02 11 0.02 11 

Recreational Accountability Measures ..... 5.59 2,536 0 0 0 0 

Recreational Discards .............................. 6.64 3,012 3.08 1,396 3.08 1,396 

Commercial Total Allowable Landings 

(TAL) ..................................................... 4.29 1,945 2.42 1,099 3.03 1,375 

Recreational TAL ..................................... 14.11 6,400 11.96 5,423 15.70 7,121 

Sector Transfer ........................................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 

Commercial Quota ................................... 4.29 1,945 2.42 1,099 3.03 1,375 

RHL .......................................................... 14.11 6,400 11.96 5,423 15.70 7,121 

*Specifications are derived from the ABC in metric tons (mt). When values are converted to millions of pounds the numbers may shift due to 

rounding. The conversion factor used is 1 mt = 2204.6226 lb. 

The coastwide commercial quota is 

allocated to coastal states from Maine to 

Florida based on percent shares 

specified in the FMP. Table 2 provides 

the proposed commercial state 

allocations based on the Councilrecommended coastwide commercial 

quotas for 2024 and 2025, and the 

phased-in changes to the percent share 

allocations to the states specified in 

Amendment 7. No states exceeded their 

allocated quota in 2022, or are projected 

to do so in 2023; therefore, no 

accountability measures for the 

commercial fishery are required for the 

2024 fishing year based on the data 

available at this time. 

TABLE 2—PROPOSED 2024 AND PROJECTED 2025 BLUEFISH STATE COMMERCIAL QUOTA ALLOCATIONS

State 

2024 (Proposed) 2025 (Projected) 

Percent share Quota 

(lb) 

Quota 

(kg) Percent share Quota (lb) 

Quota 

(kg) 

Maine ....................................................... 0.43 10,398 4,716 0.35 10,582 4,800 

New Hampshire ....................................... 0.33 7,983 3,621 0.30 9,123 4,138 

Massachusetts ......................................... 8.17 198,205 89,904 8.66 262,663 119,142 

Rhode Island ............................................ 8.01 194,201 88,088 8.41 255,061 115,694 

Connecticut .............................................. 1.19 28,847 13,085 1.16 35,309 16,016 

New York ................................................. 14.40 349,264 158,424 15.74 477,518 216,598 

New Jersey .............................................. 14.40 349,216 158,402 14.26 432,630 196,238 

Delaware .................................................. 1.29 31,167 14,137 1.09 32,990 14,964 

Maryland .................................................. 2.54 61,527 27,908 2.38 72,265 32,779 

Virginia ..................................................... 9.30 225,585 102,324 8.44 256,125 116,176 

North Carolina .......................................... 32.05 777,159 352,513 32.04 972,012 440,897 

South Carolina ......................................... 0.06 1,562 709 0.07 2,250 1,021 

Georgia .................................................... 0.05 1,195 542 0.06 1,897 860 

Florida ...................................................... 7.80 189,071 85,761 7.04 213,625 96,899 

Total .................................................. 100 2,425,085 1,100,000 100 3,033,561 1,376,000 

The catch limits for 2025 were 

projected based on the new assessment 

data and the fourth year of the 

rebuilding plan model. The Council will 

review the projected 2025 specifications 

in light of any new information to 

determine if changes need to be made 

prior to their implementation. We will 

publish a notice prior to the 2025 

fishing year to confirm these limits as 

projected or announce any necessary 

changes. 

Classification 

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

Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 220 / Thursday, November 16, 2023 / Proposed Rules 78717 

and Management Act (MagnusonStevens Act), the NMFS Assistant 

Administrator has determined that this 

proposed rule is consistent with the 

Atlantic Bluefish FMP, other provisions 

of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 

NMFS finds that a 15-day comment 

period for this action provides a 

reasonable opportunity for public 

participation in this action pursuant to 

Administrative Procedure Act section 

553(c) (5 U.S.C 553(c)), while also 

ensuring that the final specifications are 

in place for the start of the bluefish 

fishing year on January 1, 2024. 

Stakeholder and industry groups have 

been involved with the development of 

this action and have participated in 

public meetings throughout the past 

year. A prolonged comment period and 

subsequent potential delay in 

implementation past the start of the 

2024 fishing year would be contrary to 

the public interest, as it could create 

confusion both in the bluefish industry 

around current quotas and with state 

agencies as they prepare their annual 

management measures. 

This action is exempt from review 

under Executive Order 12866 because it 

contains no implementing regulations. 

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. 

The factual basis for this determination 

is as follows. 

The Councils conducted an 

evaluation of the potential 

socioeconomic impacts of the proposed 

specifications in conjunction with an 

EA. There are no proposed regulatory 

changes in this bluefish action, so none 

are considered in the evaluation. The 

proposed action would decrease the 

2024 ABC by 43 percent, the 

commercial quota by 43 percent, and 

the recreational harvest limit by 15 

percent from 2023, consistent with the 

Mid-Atlantic Council SSC’s 

recommendations, the results of the 

2023 management track assessment, and 

the rebuilding plan for the stock. This 

action proposes no changes to 

recreational management measures 

beyond annual catch limits, such as bag 

limits. 

This action would affect entities that 

participate in commercial bluefish 

fishing (those that hold commercial 

bluefish permits), and those with 

Federal for-hire (party/charter) 

recreational fishing permits for bluefish. 

Vessels may hold multiple fishing 

permits and some entities own multiple 

vessels and/or permits. According to the 

Northeast Fisheries Science Center 

commercial ownership database, 479 

commercial fishing affiliate firms 

landed bluefish during the 2020–2022 

period (the most recent and complete 

data available), with 473 of those 

commercial entities categorized as small 

businesses and 6 categorized as large 

businesses. Analyses indicate that 

bluefish revenues contributed less than 

two percent of the annual total gross 

receipts on average for those small 

businesses that landed bluefish in those 

years. For the recreational for-hire 

fishery, 412 for-hire affiliate firms 

generated revenues from recreational 

fishing for various species during 2020– 

2022. All of those business affiliates are 

categorized as small businesses, but it is 

not possible to derive the proportion of 

overall revenues for these for-hire firms 

resulting from fishing activities for an 

individual species such as bluefish. 

Nevertheless, given the popularity of 

bluefish as a recreational species in the 

Mid-Atlantic and New England, it is 

likely that revenues generated from 

bluefish may be somewhat important for 

many of these firms at certain times of 

the year. 

Overall, proposed specifications for 

2024 and projected specifications for 

2025 are expected to provide similar 

fishing opportunities when compared to 

the 2023 fishing year. Although catch 

limits are decreasing in both the 

commercial and recreational sectors 

under these specifications, this change 

is not expected to substantially change 

overall fishing activity, result in catch 

overages or revenue losses to industry, 

or substantially impact the bluefish 

fishery as a whole. Harvest in both 

sectors has been decreasing in recent 

years; coastwide commercial landings 

have not exceeded 2.2 million lb (998 

mt) in the last 3 years, and recreational 

harvest has averaged 11.54 million lb 

(5,234 mt), both lower than the 

proposed 2024 limits of 2.4 million lb 

(1,099 mt) and 11.96 million lb (5,425 

mt), respectively. Additionally, this 

action is expected to provide similar 

fishing opportunities in the recreational 

sector compared to the previous year, as 

there are no proposed changes to the 

management measures such as 

recreational bag limits, which are most 

limiting to fishery behavior. Finally, 

state quota allocations are still changing, 

as 2024 is the third year of the phasedin quota re-allocation implemented by 

Amendment 7 to the Bluefish Fishery 

Management Plan. Therefore, regionally, 

there may be different amounts of 

commercial quota available. Often, 

fishing behavior and short-term 

landings are based on market 

conditions, which are not expected to 

substantially change as a result of these 

specifications. As such, this proposed 

action is not expected to have a 

substantial impact on the way the 

fishery operates or the revenue of small 

entities. 

Overall, analyses indicate that the 

proposed specifications will not 

substantially change fishing effort, the 

risk of overfishing, prices/revenues, or 

fishery behavior. Therefore, the Council 

concluded, and NMFS agrees, that this 

action would not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small businesses. As a result, 

an initial regulatory flexibility analysis 

is not required and none has been 

prepared. 

This action would not establish any 

new reporting or record-keeping 

requirements. 

This proposed rule contains no new 

information collection requirements 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995. 

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. 2023–25222 Filed 11–15–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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