Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 27297 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 170413393–8487–02] 

RIN 0648–BG83 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish 

Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; 

Modifications to Individual Fishing 

Quota Programs 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS implements 

management measures described in 

Amendment 36A to the Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP) for the Reef 

Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico 

(Gulf) (Amendment 36A), as prepared 

by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery 

Management Council (Council). This 

final rule requires owners or operators 

of federally permitted commercial Gulf 

reef fish vessels landing any 

commercially harvested, federally 

managed reef fish from the Gulf to 

provide notification prior to landing and 

to land at approved locations; requires 

shares from the red snapper individual 

fishing quota (IFQ) (RS–IFQ) program 

and the groupers and tilefishes IFQ 

(GT–IFQ) program that are in nonactivated IFQ accounts to be returned to 

NMFS for redistribution; and allows 

NMFS to withhold a portion of IFQ 

allocation at the start of a fishing year 

equal to an anticipated commercial 

quota reduction. The purpose of this 

final rule is to improve compliance and 

increase management flexibility in the 

RS–IFQ and GT–IFQ programs, and 

increase the likelihood of achieving 

optimum yield (OY) for Gulf reef fish 

stocks managed under these programs. 

DATES: This final rule is effective July 

12, 2018, except for the addition of 

§ 622.26(a)(2), which is effective on 

January 1, 2019. 

ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of 

Amendment 36A, which includes an 

environmental assessment, a fishery 

impact statement, a regulatory impact 

review, and a Regulatory Flexibility Act 

(RFA) analysis may be obtained from 

the Southeast Regional Office website at 

http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_

fisheries/gulf_fisheries/reef_fish/2017/ 

A36A_comm_IFQ/am36Aindex.html. 

Written comments regarding the 

burden-hour estimates or other aspects 

of the collection-of-information 

requirement contained in this final rule 

may be submitted to Adam Bailey, 

NMFS Southeast Regional Office, 263 

13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 

33701; or to the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) by email to OIRA_

submission@omb.eop.gov, or by fax to 

202–395–5806. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Peter Hood, NMFS Southeast Regional 

Office, telephone: 727–824–5305, email: 

peter.hood@noaa.gov; IFQ Customer 

Service, telephone: 1–866–425–7627, 

Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 

4:30 p.m., eastern time. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS and 

the Council manage the Gulf reef fish 

fishery under the FMP. The FMP was 

prepared by the Council and is 

implemented by NMFS through 

regulations at 50 CFR part 622 under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) (16 U.S.C. 

1801 et seq.). 

On February 21, 2018, NMFS 

published a notice of availability (NOA) 

for Amendment 36A and requested 

public comment (83 FR 7447). On 

March 21, 2018, NMFS published a 

proposed rule for Amendment 36A and 

requested public comment (83 FR 

12326). The proposed rule and 

Amendment 36A outline the rationale 

for the actions contained in this final 

rule. A summary of the management 

measures described in Amendment 36A 

and implemented by this final rule is 

provided below. 

Management Measures Contained in 

This Final Rule 

This final rule requires that the owner 

or operator of a commercial reef fish 

permitted vessel landing any 

commercially harvested Gulf reef fish, 

or Florida Keys/East Florida hogfish 

harvested in the Gulf, to notify NMFS 

between 3 and 24 hours in advance of 

landing and to land at approved 

locations. In addition, this final rule 

permanently returns to NMFS any IFQ 

shares contained in RS–IFQ or GT–IFQ 

accounts that have not been activated 

since the current web-based system was 

put in place on January 1, 2010. Finally, 

this final rule allows NMFS to withhold 

distribution of IFQ allocation on January 

1, the beginning of the fishing year, if a 

reduction in the commercial quota for 

any IFQ species or multi-species group 

is expected to be implemented in that 

same fishing year. The amount of IFQ 

allocation withheld from distribution 

would equal the amount of the expected 

commercial quota reduction. 

Landing Notification 

This final rule expands the 

requirement for an advance landing 

notification to all commercial trips that 

land Gulf reef fish species or Florida 

Keys/East Florida hogfish harvested in 

the Gulf even if no IFQ species are on 

board. 

The vessel owner or operator is 

required to notify NMFS at least 3 

hours, but no more than 24 hours, in 

advance of landing on each trip. The 

landing notification will report the 

vessel identification number, the date 

and time of landing, and the approved 

landing location. This notification will 

be submitted via the vessel’s existing 

onboard vessel monitoring system 

(VMS), but could also be submitted by 

other NMFS approved methods (e.g., by 

phone) if they are developed at a later 

time. NMFS expects that requiring a 

notification in advance of landing any 

federally managed reef fish from the 

Gulf will help deter fishermen from 

illegally landing IFQ species or 

reporting IFQ species as another species 

(e.g., red snapper reported as vermilion 

snapper), because law enforcement and 

port agents will be informed in advance 

of all reef fish trips returning to port and 

can meet vessels to inspect landings. If 

any IFQ species are to be landed, all 

regulations under the applicable IFQ 

program must be followed, including 

the more extensive advance notice of 

landing report. Only one IFQ advance 

landing notification covering both IFQ 

and non-IFQ Gulf reef fish species or 

Florida Keys/East Florida hogfish 

harvested in the Gulf is required on 

such a trip. 

Additional information about 

approved landing locations and 

submitting additional landing locations 

to NMFS for approval is described later 

in this final rule. 

Non-Activated IFQ Shareholder 

Accounts 

This final rule also addresses RS–IFQ 

and GT–IFQ shareholder accounts that 

received shares through the initial 

apportionment when each IFQ program 

began, but the accounts have never been 

accessed by the shareholder since 

January 1, 2010, the initiation of the 

current IFQ system. NMFS and the 

Council have attempted to notify 

account holders with these nonactivated IFQ accounts through phone 

calls, certified letters, and discussion at 

public meetings. Although shares in the 

non-activated accounts represent a 

small fraction of the total shares, annual 

allocation assigned to these nonactivated IFQ accounts is not landed, 

and therefore, may prevent achieving 


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27298 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

OY if not made available for use. This 

final rule will return the shares from 

non-activated RS–IFQ and GT–IFQ 

accounts to NMFS for redistribution. 

The Council intends to redistribute 

these shares to IFQ program participants 

through a mechanism determined in 

Amendment 36B to the FMP, which is 

currently under development. 

For more information on how to 

activate an existing non-activated IFQ 

account before this final rule is 

effective, persons may call the IFQ 

Customer Service line at 1–866–425– 

7627, and select option 2 during 

weekday business hours of 8 a.m. to 

4:30 p.m., eastern time (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section). In April 

2018, NMFS sent additional notification 

to holders of the non-activated IFQ 

accounts via certified mail to advise 

them of this action and to provide an 

opportunity for those individuals to 

activate their accounts. 

Allocation 

Finally, this final rule addresses how 

to distribute allocation to IFQ 

shareholders in years in which there is 

an anticipated reduction of the 

commercial quota. As a result of the 

time involved to develop documents, 

consider alternatives, and solicit public 

feedback, this situation would generally 

occur if the Council approved an action 

to reduce the commercial quota of any 

IFQ species or multi-species share 

category but NMFS could not complete 

the associated rulemaking before 

January 1, the start of the fishing year. 

Under the IFQ programs, annual 

allocation is distributed to IFQ 

shareholders on January 1, and most 

IFQ program participants begin to use or 

transfer their allocation early in each 

year. After shareholders begin 

transferring or landing allocation, NMFS 

is not able to retroactively withdraw 

allocation from shareholder accounts if 

a quota decrease became effective after 

the beginning of the fishing year. This 

final rule allows NMFS to anticipate a 

decrease in the quota of any IFQ species 

or multi-species share categories after 

the start of a fishing year and withhold 

distribution of quota equal to the 

amount of the expected decrease in 

commercial quota. NMFS would 

distribute the remaining portion of the 

annual allocation to shareholders on 

January 1. If a final rule to implement 

the associated commercial quota 

reduction is not effective by June 1 in 

the same fishing year, then NMFS 

would distribute the withheld quota 

back to the current shareholders, as 

determined on the date the withheld 

IFQ allocation is distributed. 

Approved Landing Locations 

As explained previously, this final 

rule requires vessel owners or operators 

on commercial trips who harvest nonIFQ Gulf reef fish species or Florida 

Keys/East Florida hogfish harvested in 

the Gulf to land at an approved landing 

location. To comply with this 

requirement, current and potential 

fishery participants may submit 

additional landing locations to NMFS 

for approval. Landing locations can be 

submitted by calling IFQ Customer 

Service at any time (see contact 

information above), or by submitting a 

Landing Location Request Form to 

NMFS, which is available from http://

sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_

fisheries/ifq/documents/pdfs/landing_

location_request_form.pdf. 

A list of currently approved landing 

locations for the IFQ programs can be 

found at the IFQ website 

(portal.southeast.fisheries.noaa.gov/cs/ 

main.html), under View Landing 

Locations. Any landing locations that 

have been approved for use in the IFQ 

programs will also be approved to land 

non-IFQ Gulf reef fish species or Florida 

Keys/East Florida hogfish harvested in 

the Gulf. Therefore, NMFS suggests 

persons check the list to determine if 

desired landing locations are currently 

in use prior to submitting a landing 

location for approval. 

Approved landing locations must be 

publicly and freely accessible by land 

and water, and must have a street 

address or, if a particular landing 

location has no street address on record, 

global positioning system (GPS) 

coordinates for an identifiable 

geographic location provided in degrees 

and decimal minutes. Other criteria 

used by NOAA’s Office of Law 

Enforcement (OLE) when approving 

locations are listed at 50 CFR 

622.21(b)(5)(v) and 622.22(b)(5)(v), and 

are added by reference to 

§ 622.26(a)(2)(v) through this final rule. 

Comments and Responses 

A total of 12 comments from 11 

individuals were received on the notice 

of availability and proposed rule for 

Amendment 36A. Three comments 

supported the actions in Amendment 

36A and the proposed rule and four 

comments were not relevant to 

Amendment 36A or the proposed rule. 

Specific comments related to the actions 

in Amendment 36A and the proposed 

rule are grouped as appropriate and 

summarized below, followed by NMFS’ 

respective responses. 

Comment 1: No change should be 

made to the IFQ program unless all 

Federal reef fish permit holders can vote 

on the issue. 

Response: NMFS disagrees. The RS– 

IFQ and GT–IFQ programs were 

approved through referenda as required 

by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. However, 

there is no requirement that NMFS 

conduct a referendum before the 

Council revises the IFQ programs as 

implemented through this final rule. 

Federal Gulf reef fish permit holders as 

well as any other interested persons 

were provided opportunities to submit 

written comments or provide testimony 

at Council meetings and public hearings 

as part of the Council’s decision-making 

process. Further, NMFS provided 

opportunities for public comment on 

Amendment 36A and the proposed rule. 

These opportunities for comment were 

solicited not only through the Federal 

Register, but also through Council and 

NMFS outreach materials. All 

comments received were considered by 

the Council and NMFS in the 

development of Amendment 36A and 

implementation of the associated 

regulations. 

Comment 2: The landing notification 

requirement for trips with non-IFQ reef 

fish species is unnecessary, because 

VMS already documents vessel position, 

and there are already reporting 

requirements in place for fishermen and 

dealers. The landing notification 

requirement creates an additional 

burden for commercial fishermen that 

make only 1-day trips and will make 

landings more difficult. 

Response: NMFS disagrees that the 

notification requirement is unnecessary. 

The 5-year review of the RS–IFQ 

program identified improving 

enforcement as a priority, and the 

landing notification is designed to aid 

enforcement of both IFQ programs. 

Requiring additional notification in 

advance of landing non-IFQ reef fish 

species or Florida Keys/East Florida 

hogfish harvested in the Gulf means that 

law enforcement will be alerted in 

advance of all reef fish trips returning to 

port, and therefore can meet vessels to 

inspect landings. This is expected to 

help to deter fishermen from illegally 

landing IFQ species or reporting IFQ 

species as another species (e.g., red 

snapper reported as vermilion snapper). 

NMFS does not expect this requirement 

to result in a significant burden to 

fishermen. As described in Amendment 

36A, from 2007 to 2015, 80 to 91 

percent of trips landing reef fish species 

also landed IFQ species. Trips with IFQ 

species on board already have to 

provide an advance notice of landing 

under the regulations for the applicable 

IFQ program. Thus, this new 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 27299 

requirement will apply to a relatively 

small percentage of additional trips. 

NMFS estimates that an advance 

notice of landing will take 

approximately 3 minutes to complete 

for each trip. Therefore, NMFS does not 

expect the advance landing notification 

to substantially affect fishing operations 

for Gulf reef fish. The landing 

notification may be amended, if 

necessary, as provided for in the 

regulatory text of this final rule at 50 

CFR 622.26(a)(2)(iv). In addition, 

because the window for an advance 

landing notification is from 3 to 24 

hours prior to landing, flexibility is 

provided for fishermen that make only 

daily trips to complete the advance 

landing notification when time permits. 

Comment 3: Shares from nonactivated RS–IFQ and GT–IFQ 

shareholder accounts returned to NMFS 

should be redistributed by auction or 

issued to owners of commercial Gulf 

reef fish permitted vessels who do not 

have shares or allocation. 

Response: As stated in the NOA and 

proposed rule for Amendment 36A, the 

method for redistribution of the shares 

returned to NMFS is being considered 

in Amendment 36B. Amendment 36B is 

under development by the Council, 

which is currently considering 

alternatives for determining how shares 

should be redistributed and who should 

receive those shares. 

Classification 

The Regional Administrator for the 

NMFS Southeast Region has determined 

that this final rule is consistent with 

Amendment 36A, the FMP, the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable laws. 

This final rule has been determined to 

be not significant for purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act provides 

the statutory basis for this final rule. No 

duplicative, overlapping, or conflicting 

Federal rules have been identified. A 

description of this final rule, why it is 

being implemented, and the purposes of 

this final rule are contained in the 

SUMMARY and SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION sections of this preamble. 

The objectives of this rule are to prevent 

overfishing; to achieve, on a continuing 

basis, the OY from federally managed 

reef fish stocks; and to rebuild the red 

snapper stock that has been determined 

to be overfished. 

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration (SBA) 

during the proposed rule stage that this 

final rule, if adopted, would not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

NMFS did not receive any comments 

from SBA’s Office of Advocacy or the 

public regarding the economic analysis 

of Amendment 36A or the certification 

in the proposed rule. No changes to this 

final rule were made in response to 

public comments. The factual basis for 

the certification was published in the 

proposed rule and is not repeated here. 

Because this final rule is not expected 

to have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small 

entities, a final regulatory flexibility 

analysis is not required and none has 

been prepared. 

This final rule contains a collectionof-information requirement that has 

been approved by OMB under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 

temporary control number 0648–0761. 

NMFS will merge the collection-ofinformation requirement implemented 

by this final rule with the existing, 

approved information collection under 

OMB Control Number 0648–0551, 

Southeast Region IFQ Programs. This 

final rule requires an owner or operator 

of a vessel with a commercial Gulf reef 

fish permit to submit a notification to 

NMFS on each trip prior to landing 

exclusively non-IFQ Gulf reef fish 

species or Florida Keys/East Florida 

hogfish harvested in the Gulf. Public 

reporting burden for the requirement is 

estimated to average 3 minutes per 

applicable trip, including the time for 

reviewing instructions, searching 

existing data sources, gathering and 

maintaining the data needed, and 

completing and reviewing the collection 

information. Send comments on this 

burden estimate or any other aspects of 

the collection of information, including 

suggestions for reducing the burden, to 

the NMFS Southeast Regional Office at 

the ADDRESSES above; or to OMB by 

email to OIRA_submission@

omb.eop.gov, or by fax to 202–395– 

5806. 

Notwithstanding any other provision 

of the law, no person is required to 

respond to, and no person will be 

subject to penalty for failure to comply 

with, a collection of information subject 

to the requirements of the PRA, unless 

that collection of information displays a 

currently valid OMB control number. 

All currently approved collections of 

information may be viewed at http://

www.cio.noaa.gov/services_programs/ 

prasubs.html. 

Changes to Codified Text From the 

Proposed Rule 

In this final rule, NMFS modifies the 

language in §§ 622.21(a)(4) and 

622.22(a)(4) to more succinctly explain 

the amount of IFQ allocation that NMFS 

may withhold at the beginning of a 

fishing year if a reduction in the 

commercial quota of an IFQ species or 

multi-species share category is expected 

to be implemented between January 1 

and June 1 in the same fishing year. If 

this situation is expected to occur, then 

the amount withheld will be equal to 

the expected reduction of the 

commercial quota. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 622 

Commercial, Fisheries, Fishing, 

Grouper, Gulf of Mexico, Individual 

fishing quota, Red snapper, Tilefish. 

Dated: June 6, 2018. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 622 is amended 

as follows: 

PART 622—FISHERIES OF THE 

CARIBBEAN, GULF OF MEXICO, AND 

SOUTH ATLANTIC 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 622 

continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. In § 622.21, revise paragraph (a)(4) 

and add paragraph (a)(6) to read as 

follows: 

§ 622.21 Individual fishing quota (IFQ) 

program for Gulf red snapper. 

(a) * * * 

(4) IFQ allocation. IFQ allocation is 

the amount of Gulf red snapper, in 

pounds gutted weight, an IFQ 

shareholder or allocation holder is 

authorized to possess, land, or sell 

during a given fishing year. IFQ 

allocation is derived at the beginning of 

each year by multiplying a shareholder’s 

IFQ share times the annual commercial 

quota for Gulf red snapper. If the quota 

is increased after the beginning of the 

fishing year, then IFQ allocation is 

derived by multiplying a shareholder’s 

IFQ share at the time of the quota 

increase by the amount the annual 

commercial quota for red snapper is 

increased. If a reduction in the 

commercial quota specified in 

§ 622.39(a)(1)(i) is expected to occur 

after January 1, the beginning of the 

fishing year, but before June 1 in that 

same fishing year, NMFS will withhold 

distribution of IFQ allocation on January 

1 in the amount equal to that reduction. 

If a final rule to implement the 

commercial quota reduction is not 

published in the Federal Register and 

effective by June 1, NMFS will 

distribute withheld IFQ allocation of red 

snapper commercial quota to current 


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27300 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2018 / Rules and Regulations 

shareholders based on shareholdings on 

the date the withheld IFQ allocation is 

distributed. 

* * * * * 

(6) Returning IFQ shares. Any shares 

contained in IFQ accounts that have 

never been activated since January 1, 

2010, in the IFQ program are returned 

permanently to NMFS on July 12, 2018. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. In § 622.22, revise paragraph (a)(4) 

and add paragraph (a)(9) to read as 

follows: 

§ 622.22 Individual fishing quota (IFQ) 

program for Gulf groupers and tilefishes. 

(a) * * * 

(4) IFQ allocation. IFQ allocation is 

the amount of Gulf groupers and 

tilefishes, in pounds gutted weight, an 

IFQ shareholder or allocation holder is 

authorized to possess, land, or sell 

during a given fishing year. IFQ 

allocation is derived at the beginning of 

each year by multiplying a shareholder’s 

IFQ share times the annual commercial 

quota for Gulf groupers and tilefishes. If 

the quota is increased after the 

beginning of the fishing year, then IFQ 

allocation is derived by multiplying a 

shareholder’s IFQ share at the time of 

the quota increase by the amount the 

annual commercial quota for groupers 

and tilefishes is increased. If a reduction 

in the applicable commercial quota 

specified in § 622.39(a)(1) is expected to 

occur after January 1, the beginning of 

the fishing year, but before June 1 in 

that same fishing year, NMFS will 

withhold distribution of IFQ allocation 

of the applicable groupers and tilefishes 

commercial quota on January 1 in the 

amount equal to that reduction. If a final 

rule to implement the commercial quota 

reduction is not published in the 

Federal Register and effective by June 1, 

NMFS will distribute withheld IFQ 

allocation of the applicable groupers 

and tilefishes commercial quota to 

current shareholders based on the date 

the withheld IFQ allocation is 

distributed. 

* * * * * 

(9) Returning IFQ shares. Any shares 

contained in IFQ accounts that have 

never been activated since January 1, 

2010, in the IFQ program are returned 

permanently to NMFS on July 12, 2018. 

* * * * * 

■ 4. In § 622.26, revise paragraph (a) to 

read as follows: 

§ 622.26 Recordkeeping and reporting. 

(a) Commercial vessel owners and 

operators. (1) The owner or operator of 

a vessel for which a commercial permit 

for Gulf reef fish has been issued, as 

required under § 622.20(a)(1), or whose 

vessel fishes for or lands reef fish in or 

from state waters adjoining the Gulf 

EEZ, who is selected to report by the 

SRD must maintain a fishing record on 

a form available from the SRD. These 

completed fishing records must be 

submitted to the SRD postmarked no 

later than 7 days after the end of each 

fishing trip. If no fishing occurred 

during a calendar month, a report so 

stating must be submitted on one of the 

forms postmarked no later than 7 days 

after the end of that month. Information 

to be reported is indicated on the form 

and its accompanying instructions. 

(2) Advance notice of landing—(i) 

General requirement. For the purpose of 

this paragraph (a)(2), landing means to 

arrive at a dock, berth, beach, seawall, 

or ramp. The owner or operator of a 

vessel landing Gulf reef fish not 

managed under an IFQ program or 

Florida Keys/East Florida hogfish 

harvested in the Gulf is responsible for 

ensuring that NMFS is contacted at least 

3 hours, but no more than 24 hours, in 

advance of landing to report the time, 

date, and location of landing, and the 

vessel identification number (e.g., Coast 

Guard registration number or state 

registration number). The vessel must 

land at an approved landing location 

and within 1 hour after the time given 

in the landing notification, except as 

provided in paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this 

section. A vessel landing Gulf reef fish 

managed under an IFQ program must 

also comply with the requirements in 

§§ 622.21 and 622.22, as applicable. 

(ii) Submitting an advance landing 

notification. Authorized methods for 

contacting NMFS and submitting a 

completed landing notification include 

the VMS unit, or another contact 

method approved by NMFS. 

(iii) Landing prior to the notification 

time. The owner or operator of a vessel 

that has completed a landing 

notification and submitted it to NMFS 

may land prior to the notification time, 

only if an authorized officer is present 

at the landing site, is available to meet 

the vessel, and has authorized the 

owner or operator of the vessel to land 

prior to the notification time. 

(iv) Changes to a landing notification. 

The owner or operator of a vessel who 

has submitted a landing notification to 

NMFS may make changes to the 

notification by submitting a superseding 

notification. If the initial superseding 

notification makes changes to the time 

of landing that is later than the original 

time in the notification, the vessel does 

not need to wait an additional 3 hours 

to land. If the initial superseding 

notification makes changes to the 

landing location, the time of landing is 

earlier than previously specified, or 

more than one superseding notification 

is submitted on a trip, the vessel must 

wait an additional 3 hours to land, 

except as provided in paragraph 

(a)(2)(iii) of this section. 

(v) Approved landing locations. Gulf 

reef fish not managed under an IFQ 

program, and Florida Keys/East Florida 

hogfish harvested in the Gulf, must be 

landed at an approved landing location. 

Landing locations must be approved by 

the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement 

prior to a vessel landing these species at 

these sites. Proposed landing locations 

may be submitted to NMFS; however, 

new landing locations will be approved 

only at the end of each calendar-year 

quarter. To have a landing location 

approved by the end of the calendaryear quarter, it must be submitted at 

least 45 days before the end of the 

calendar-year quarter. NMFS will 

evaluate the proposed sites based on, 

but not limited to, the criteria at 

§§ 622.21(b)(5)(v) and 622.22(b)(5)(v). 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2018–12548 Filed 6–11–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 141107936–5399–02] 

RIN 0648–XG286 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; 2018 

Commercial Accountability Measure 

and Closure for South Atlantic Gray 

Triggerfish; January Through June 

Season 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; closure. 

SUMMARY: NMFS implements 

accountability measures for commercial 

gray triggerfish in the exclusive 

economic zone (EEZ) of the South 

Atlantic. NMFS projects commercial 

landings for gray triggerfish will reach 

the commercial annual catch limit 

(ACL) for the January through June 

period by June 13, 2018. Therefore, 

NMFS is closing the commercial sector 

for gray triggerfish in the South Atlantic 

EEZ on June 13, 2018. This closure is 

necessary to protect the gray triggerfish 

resource. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with RULES