Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 226 / Monday, November 27, 2023 / Proposed Rules 82819 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

[RTID 0648–XD471] 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; West 

Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 

24 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery 

Management Plan 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Announcement of availability of 

proposed fishery management plan 

amendment; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) has 

submitted Amendment 24 to the Pacific 

Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan 

(Salmon FMP) to the Secretary of 

Commerce for review. The intent of 

Amendment 24 is to clarify the 

technical process for reviewing updates 

to the models used to determine the 

Chinook salmon abundance threshold 

that may trigger additional management 

measures to limit the impact of ocean 

salmon fisheries on Southern Resident 

killer whales (SRKW). The whales are 

listed under the Endangered Species Act 

(ESA) and Chinook salmon, some of 

which are listed as threatened under the 

ESA, are their preferred prey. This 

action is administrative in nature and 

does not change the formula for 

calculating the threshold or the fishery 

management responses currently 

described in the Salmon FMP. 

DATES: Comments on Amendment 24 

must be received by January 26, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on Amendment 24, identified by 

NOAA–NMFS–2023–0105, by the 

following method: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and enter 

NOAA–NMFS–2023–0105 in the Search 

box. Click the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

Instructions: Comments must be 

submitted by the above method to 

ensure that the comments are received, 

documented, and considered by NMFS 

by the applicable deadlines. 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. All comments received 

are a 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.) 

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). 

The draft Salmon FMP, as amended 

through Amendment 24, with notations 

showing how Amendment 24 would 

change the Salmon FMP, if approved, is 

available on the NMFS website at 

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/ 

fisheries-west-coast-states-west-coastsalmon-fisheries-amendment-24-pacificcoast-salmon. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shannon Penna at 562–980–4239, 

Shannon.Penna@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The ocean salmon fisheries in the 

exclusive economic zone (3–200 

nautical miles; 5.6–370.4 kilometers) off 

Washington, Oregon, and California are 

managed under the Pacific Coast 

Salmon Fishery Management Plan 

(Salmon FMP). The Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (MSA) requires that each regional 

fishery management council submit any 

fishery management plan (FMP) or plan 

amendment it prepares to NMFS for 

review and approval, disapproval, or 

partial approval by the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary) (MSA section 

304(a)). The MSA also requires that 

NMFS, upon receiving a proposed FMP 

or plan amendment, immediately 

publish a notice that the FMP or plan 

amendment is available for public 

review and comment. Publication 

occurs on or before the fifth day after 

the day on which a Council transmits to 

the Secretary a FMP or plan 

amendment. This document announces 

that proposed Amendment 24 to the 

Salmon FMP is available for public 

review and comment. NMFS will 

consider the public comments received 

during the comment period described 

above in determining whether to 

approve, partially approve, or 

disapprove Amendment 24 to the 

Salmon FMP. 

In November 2020, the Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) adopted 

management measures for Southern 

Resident killer whales (SRKW) under 

Amendment 21 (86 FR 51017, 

September 14, 2021) to the Salmon 

FMP. The Salmon FMP was amended by 

adding Section 6.6.8 which describes 

provisions to limit the impacts of the 

Council-managed ocean salmon 

fisheries on SRKW by limiting the 

extent to which they reduce Chinook 

salmon prey availability for SRKW. 

Amendment 21 established a Chinook 

salmon abundance threshold (threshold) 

for U.S. waters north of Cape Falcon, 

Oregon and if preseason projections of 

abundance in a given year are less than 

the threshold, then a list of management 

actions will be implemented through 

the management measures for ocean 

salmon fisheries that year. 

In April 2022, the Salmon Technical 

Team and Scientific and Statistical 

Committee conducted a technical 

review of updates to the models that 

inform the threshold. During this 

review, it became apparent that the 

language in Section 6.6.8 describing the 

process, roles and responsibilities for 

reviewing model updates and using the 

updated models to update the threshold, 

and the appropriate depth of review was 

unclear. In November 2022, the Council 

adopted a revised threshold value to 

account for the model updates. At the 

same time, the Council tasked NMFS 

and Council staff to evaluate the 

description in the Salmon FMP of the 

process for the technical review and 

suggest clarifying language to improve 

the process. Based on this evaluation, in 

November 2023, the Council adopted 

the recommended changes for the 

Salmon FMP. 

If approved, Amendment 24 to the 

Salmon FMP would clarify the process 

for review of updates to the models, and 

the recalculation of the threshold value 

based on updated model information, by 

revising Section 6.6.8 of the Salmon 

FMP. The revised text would not change 

the approach used to calculate the 

threshold. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
82820 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 226 / Monday, November 27, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

Amendment 24 also includes some 

minor housekeeping edits, such as 

updates to references and correction of 

a species name. 

All comments received by the end of 

the comment period (see DATES and 

ADDRESSES above) will be considered in 

the Secretary’s decision to approve, 

disapprove, or partially approve 

Amendment 24. To be considered in 

this decision, comments must be 

received by close of business on the last 

day of the comment period; that does 

not mean postmarked or otherwise 

transmitted by that date. 

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

Dated: November 20, 2023. 

Kelly Denit, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25997 Filed 11–24–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS