[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 115 (Thursday, June 14, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 27747-27748]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-12777]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 697

[Docket No. 150401332-7999-01]
RIN 0648-BF01


Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; 
American Lobster Fishery; Consideration of Expanded Harvester and 
Biological Sampling Requirements for American Lobster

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

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR); request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that NMFS intends to consider expanded 
harvester reporting requirements for the American lobster fishery as 
recommended by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and is 
soliciting comments. The expanded requirements would be intended to 
improve the data available to enhance lobster stock assessments, 
evaluate the co-occurrence of fixed-gear fisheries with large whales, 
and estimate the economic impacts of offshore energy projects and other 
marine activities on the fishing industry. We may combine this action 
with an ongoing rulemaking that considers trap caps and ownership 
limits for the lobster fishery. The intent is to address the harvester 
reporting as soon as practicable, as recommended by the Atlantic States 
Marine Fisheries Commission.

DATES: We must receive written comments on or before July 16, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2013-0169 by any of the following methods:
    [ssquf] Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0169, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
    [ssquf] Mail: Submit written comments to Michael Pentony, Regional 
Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic 
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope, 
``Comments on Lobster Harvester Reporting.''
    Instructions: Comments must be submitted by one of the above 
methods to ensure that the comments are received, documented, and 
considered by NMFS. We may not consider comments sent by any other 
method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end 
of the comment period. All comments received are a part of the public 
record and will generally be posted for public viewing on 
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address, etc.) submitted voluntarily by the 
sender will be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business 
information, or otherwise sensitive or protected information. NMFS will 
accept anonymous comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you 
wish to remain anonymous). We accept attachments to electronic comments 
only in Microsoft Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file 
formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Burns, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
978-281-9144.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    NMFS works cooperatively with the states to conserve the American 
lobster resource within the framework of the Atlantic States Marine 
Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American 
Lobster (ISFMP). Through the ISFMP, the Commission adopts fishery 
conservation and management strategies for the lobster resource and 
coordinates the efforts of the states and NMFS to implement these 
strategies.
    In February 2018, the Commission approved Addendum XXVI. The intent 
of Addendum XXVI is to expand lobster harvester reporting requirements, 
enhance the spatial and effort data collections, and improve the amount 
and type of biological data collected in the offshore trap fishery. 
Given the offshore expansion of lobster trap effort in recent years, 
the Commission developed this addendum to address data gaps due to 
inconsistent reporting and data collection requirements across state 
agencies and imposed in Federal waters by NMFS.
    The addendum also serves to complement the Commission's Jonah crab 
management program as Addendum III to the Jonah Crab ISFMP. NMFS is 
currently in rulemaking to consider adopting management measures for 
the Jonah crab fishery, which could include the harvester reporting and 
other data collection elements of the addendum.
    Addendum XXVI recommends that we require all Federal lobster permit 
holders to submit trip-level catch reports. Approximately 60 percent of 
all Federal lobster permit holders are currently required to submit a 
trip-level catch report. Federal reporting requirements are limited to 
those Federal lobster permit holders who also hold another Federal 
fishery permit with a reporting requirement. The new addendum also 
extends the 100-percent reporting requirement to the State of Maine, 
which currently requires about 10 percent of state lobster licensees to 
report their catch. All other lobster-producing states require all of 
their harvesters to report their catch. The Commission requested that 
we implement the mandatory trip-level harvester reporting requirement 
as soon as practicable. Consequently, we propose to combine the 
harvester reporting action with the ongoing actions for Addenda XXI and 
XXII and consolidate them into a single rulemaking action. Focused 
primarily on lobster conservation management areas (LCMAs) 2 and 3, 
these two addenda recommended modifications to the trap transfer 
program and trap caps in these LCMAs.
    Addendum XXVI also recommends that we develop a fixed-gear catch 
report with expanded data elements, including a requirement for 
fishermen to report their fishing locations down to the 10-minute 
square to provide more

[[Page 27748]]

accurate data on where the fishery is taking place. The expanded data 
elements also include reporting the number of vertical lines deployed 
and number of traps per trawl to help get a better sense of fishing 
effort and to assist in evaluating the interactions between the fixed-
gear fisheries and large whales. Further, the addendum recommends that 
we expand our offshore biological sampling program to help characterize 
the commercial catch and understand the biological characteristics of 
the stock. We will consider the expanded data elements and fixed-gear 
catch report, as well as the expanded offshore sampling 
recommendations, in a separate future action. We are requesting 
comments from the public on this approach.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.

    Dated: June 11, 2018.
Donna S. Wieting,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National 
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-12777 Filed 6-13-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P