78676 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 220 / Thursday, November 16, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

approval at least 90 days prior to the 

planned start of vessel activity. The plan 

must provide details on the vessel-based 

observer and PAM protocols for 

transiting vessels. If a plan is not 

submitted or approved by NMFS prior 

to vessel operations, all project vessels 

transiting, year round, must travel at 

speeds of 10 knots (11.5 mph) or less. 

LOA Holder must comply with any 

approved North Atlantic Right Whale 

Vessel Strike Avoidance Plan; and 

(18) Speed over ground will be used 

to measure all vessel speed restrictions. 

Dated: November 13, 2023. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25366 Filed 11–15–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 230810–0190] 

RTID 0648–XD514 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Northeast Multispecies 

Fishery; White Hake Trimester Total 

Allowable Catch Area Closure for the 

Common Pool Fishery 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; area closure. 

SUMMARY: This action closes the White 

Hake Trimester Total Allowable Catch 

Area to Northeast multispecies common 

pool vessels fishing with trawl gear, 

sink gillnet gear, and longline/hook 

gear, except Handgear A and Handgear 

B vessels, through December 31, 2023. 

The closure is required because the 

common pool fishery is projected to 

have caught 90 percent of its Trimester 

2 quota for white hake. This closure is 

intended to prevent an overage of the 

common pool’s quota for this stock. 

DATES: This action is effective 

November 13, 2023, through December 

31, 2023. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Spencer Talmage, Fishery Policy 

Analyst, (978) 281–9232. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Federal 

regulations at § 648.82(n)(2)(ii) require 

the Regional Administrator to close a 

common pool Trimester Total 

Allowable Catch (TAC) Area for a stock 

when 90 percent of the Trimester TAC 

is projected to be caught. The closure 

applies to all common pool vessels 

fishing with gear capable of catching 

that stock, and remains in effect for the 

remainder of the trimester. During the 

closure, affected common pool vessels 

may not fish for, harvest, possess, or 

land regulated multispecies or ocean 

pout in or from the Trimester TAC Area 

for the stock. 

The Trimester 2 TAC for white hake 

is 17,482 lb (pounds) (7.9 metric tons 

(mt)). Based on the best available data 

from this fishing year and the analyses 

described below, the common pool is 

estimated to have achieved 90 percent 

of the Trimester 2 TAC for white hake 

on or shortly after November 9, 2023. 

NMFS closely monitors commercial 

fisheries landings on a weekly basis. 

Catch projections of white hake were 

run using data through November 7, 

2023, which indicated that 87.7 percent 

(15,211.9 lb (6.9 mt)) of the Trimester 2 

TAC was harvested. Given these 

projections and additional information, 

including that there have been up to 

four trips for which catch data are not 

yet available, NMFS estimates that 90 

percent of the white hake Trimester 2 

TAC has been harvested. As noted 

above, implementing regulations for the 

Northeast Multispecies FMP require the 

Regional Administrator to close an area 

when a trimester TAC is projected to 

reach the 90-percent trigger. 

Effective November 13, 2023, the 

White Hake Trimester TAC Area is 

closed for the remainder of Trimester 2, 

through December 31, 2023. The White 

Hake Trimester TAC Area consists of 

statistical areas 513, 514, 515, 521, and 

522. During the closure, common pool 

vessels fishing with trawl gear, sink 

gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear 

(except for Handgear A and Handgear B 

vessels), may not fish for, harvest, 

possess, or land regulated multispecies 

or ocean pout in or from this area. This 

closure of the White Hake Trimester 

TAC Area ends at the beginning of 

Trimester 3 of fishing year 2023 on 

January 1, 2024. 

If a vessel declared its trip through the 

Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) or the 

interactive voice response system, and 

crossed the VMS demarcation line prior 

to November 13, 2023, it may complete 

its trip within the GOM Cod Trimester 

TAC Area. A vessel that has set gillnet 

gear prior to November 13, 2023, may 

complete its trip by hauling such gear. 

If the common pool fishery exceeds 

its annual sub-Allowable Catch Limit 

(sub-ACL) for a stock in the 2023 fishing 

year, the overage must be deducted from 

the common pool’s sub-ACL for that 

stock for fishing year 2024. 

Weekly quota monitoring reports for 

the common pool fishery are on our 

website at: https://www.greateratlantic.

fisheries.noaa.gov/ro/fso/reports/h/

nemultispecies.html. We will continue 

to monitor common pool catch through 

vessel trip reports, dealer-reported 

landings, VMS catch reports, and other 

available information and, if necessary, 

will make additional adjustments to 

common pool management measures. 

Classification 

This action is required by 50 CFR part 

648 and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

The Assistant Administrator for 

Fisheries, NOAA, finds good cause 

pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and 5 

U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to waive prior notice 

and the opportunity for public comment 

and the 30-day delayed effectiveness 

period because it would be 

impracticable, unnecessary, and 

contrary to the public interest. 

The regulations require the Regional 

Administrator to close a trimester TAC 

area to the common pool fishery when 

90 percent of the Trimester TAC for a 

stock has been caught. Updated catch 

information through November 7, 2023, 

only recently became available 

indicating that the common pool fishery 

is projected to have caught 90 percent 

of its Trimester 2 TAC for white hake. 

The time necessary to provide for prior 

notice and comment, and a 30-day delay 

in effectiveness, would prevent the 

immediate closure of the White Hake 

Trimester TAC Area. This would be 

contrary to the regulatory requirement 

and would increase the likelihood that 

the common pool fishery would exceed 

its annual quota of white hake. Any 

overage of the Trimester 2 TAC is 

deducted from the Trimester 3 TAC, and 

any overage of the annual quota would 

be deducted from common pool’s quota 

for the next fishing year, to the 

detriment of this stock. This could 

undermine conservation and 

management objectives of the Northeast 

Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. 

Prior notice and comment and a 30-day 

delay in effectiveness are unnecessary 

because fishermen were provided ample 

notice and opportunity to comment on 

the regulations that require this 

immediate closure. Fishermen expect 

these closures to occur in a timely way 

to prevent overages and their payback 

requirements. Overages of the trimester 

or annual common pool quota could 

cause negative economic impacts to the 

common pool fishery as a result of 

overage paybacks deducted from a 

future trimester or fishing year. 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1
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 


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