87368 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 241 / Monday, December 18, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 

Dated: December 12, 2023. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, NMFS amends 50 CFR part 

622 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 § 622.43: 

■ a. Suspend paragraphs (a)(1) and (2); 

and 

■ b. Add paragraph (a)(3). 

The addition reads as follows: 

§ 622.43 Commercial trip limits. 

* * * * * 

(a) * * * 

(3) Until the commercial quota 

specified in § 622.39(a)(1)(v) is 

reached—7 fish. See § 622.39(b) for the 

limitations regarding greater amberjack 

after the quota is reached. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2023–27714 Filed 12–15–23; 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– 

XD575] 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Northeast Multispecies 

Fishery; Gulf of Maine Cod Trimester 

Total Allowable Catch Area Closure 

and Possession Limit Adjustments for 

the Common Pool Fishery 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; in-season 

possession limit adjustment and area 

closure. 

SUMMARY: This action prohibits 

possession of Gulf of Maine cod by 

common pool vessels through the end of 

fishing year. This action also closes the 

Gulf of Maine Cod Trimester Total 

Allowable Catch Area to Northeast 

multispecies common pool vessels 

fishing with trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, 

and longline/hook gear for Trimester 3 

of fishing year 2023. These actions are 

necessary because the common pool 

fishery is projected to have achieved the 

annual sub-annual catch limit and 

caught more than 90 percent of its 

Trimester 3 quota for Gulf of Maine cod. 

This action is intended to prevent 

overages of the common pool’s quota for 

this stock. 

DATES: The prohibition of cod 

possession by common pool vessels is 

effective December 15, 2023, through 

April 30, 2024. The closure of the Gulf 

of Maine Cod Trimester Total Allowable 

Catch Area is effective January 1, 2024, 

through April 30, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Spencer Talmage, Fishery Policy 

Analyst, (978) 281–9232. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

temporary rule immediately prohibits 

common pool vessel possession of Gulf 

of Maine (GOM) cod through the end of 

the fishing year on April 30, 2024, and 

closes the GOM Cod Trimester Total 

Allowable Catch (TAC) Area from 

January 1, 2024, through April 30, 2024. 

These actions are intended to prevent 

the common pool fishery from 

exceeding the common pool GOM cod 

Third Trimester TAC and common pool 

GOM cod annual sub-Annual Catch 

Limit (sub-ACL). 

Possession Prohibition for GOM Cod 

Recently available fishing year 2023 

catch information shows that as of 

November 28, 2023, the Northeast 

Multispecies Common Pool fishery has 

caught 100 percent of its 10.6-metric ton 

(mt) sub-ACL for GOM cod. Regulations 

at 50 CFR 648.86(o)(1) provide that the 

Regional Administrator may implement 

or adjust the Days-at-Sea (DAS) 

possession limit to prevent an 

exceedance of the sub-ACL. In addition, 

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

a deduction of an amount equal to an 

overage from the common pool’s subACL in the next fishing year. To prevent 

a common pool overage of its 2023 subACL for GOM cod, effective December 

15, 2023, the GOM cod possession and 

trip limits are decreased to 0 pounds (lb) 

(0 kilograms (kg)), and possession is 

prohibited for all common pool vessels 

(table 1). 

TABLE 1—NEW POSSESSION AND TRIP LIMITS FOR GOM COD

Permit type Current possession/trip limits New possession/trip limits 

Days-At-Sea (A DAS) ........ 50 lb (22.7 kg) per DAS, up to 100 lb (45.4 kg) per trip ................. 0 lb (0 kg) per trip; Possession Prohibited. 

Handgear A ........................ 50 lb (22.7 kg) per trip.

Handgear B ........................ 25 lb (11.3 kg) per trip.

Small Vessel Category ...... 150 lb (11.3 kg) per trip, within combined 300 lb (136.1 kg) trip 

limit for cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder.

Common pool groundfish vessels that 

have declared their trip through the 

Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) or the 

interactive voice response system, and 

crossed the VMS demarcation line prior 

to December 15, 2023, are not subject to 

the new possession and trip limits for 

that trip. 

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. 

Closure of the Gulf of Maine Cod 

Trimester Total Allowable Catch Area 

Federal regulations at 

§ 648.82(n)(2)(ii) require the Regional 

Administrator to close a common pool 

Trimester TAC Area for a stock when 90 

percent of the Trimester TAC is 

projected to be caught. Based on 

recently available catch information, 

common pool vessel catch is projected 

to exceed the GOM cod Trimester 3 TAC 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 241 / Monday, December 18, 2023 / Rules and Regulations 87369 

as of November 28, 2023. Consequently, 

beginning January 1, 2024, through 

April 30, 2024, the GOM Cod Trimester 

TAC Area is closed. 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 common pool fishery is currently 

in Trimester 2, which runs from 

September 1, 2023, through December 

31, 2023. Current Trimester 1 and 2 

catch amounts leave no Trimester 3 

TAC available to catch. Regulations at 

§ 648.82(n)(2)(iii) state that any overage 

or underage of common pool Trimester 

TACs in Trimesters 1 and 2 must be 

accounted for in the Trimester 3 TAC by 

deducting overages and adding 

underages to the Trimester 3 TAC. 

Common pool catch of GOM cod in 

Trimester 1 resulted in an overage of 3.3 

mt, leaving only 1.9 mt available catch 

for the remainder of the year and 

Trimester 2. Deducting the Trimester 1 

overage from the current Trimester 2 

underage results in an overall overage of 

1.9 mt that must be deducted from the 

Trimester 3 TAC. The Trimester 3 TAC 

is 1.9 mt, so this deduction results in a 

Trimester 3 TAC of 0 mt. 

With a Trimester 3 TAC of 0 mt, any 

amount of catch in Trimester 3 would 

result in the common pool exceeding 

the Trimester 3 TAC and the common 

pool sub-ACL for GOM cod. 

Additionally, 90 percent of 0 is 0. As a 

result, we conclude that on January 1, 

2024, the common pool fishery will 

have caught 90 percent of the Trimester 

3 TAC. 

Based on the above, effective on 

January 1, 2024, the Gulf of Maine Cod 

Trimester TAC Area is closed for 

Trimester 3, through April 30, 2024. The 

Gulf of Maine Cod Trimester TAC Area 

consists of statistical areas 513 and 514. 

During the closure, common pool 

vessels fishing with trawl gear, sink 

gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear, 

may not fish for, harvest, possess, or 

land regulated multispecies or ocean 

pout in or from this area. This closure 

of the GOM Cod TAC Area ends at the 

beginning of Trimester 1 of fishing year 

2024 on May 1, 2024. 

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 28, 

2023, only recently became available 

indicating that the common pool fishery 

is projected to have caught 90 percent 

of its Trimester 3 TAC for GOM cod, 

and 100 percent of its GOM cod subACL. The time necessary to provide for 

prior notice and comment, and a 30-day 

delay in effectiveness, would prevent 

the timely closure of the GOM Cod 

Trimester TAC Area on January 1, 2024, 

and immediate prohibition of 

possession of the stock. Delay in closure 

would be contrary to the regulatory 

requirements and, with a delay in 

implementation of the possession 

prohibition would increase the 

likelihood that the common pool fishery 

would exceed its annual quota of GOM 

cod. 

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. 

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

Dated: December 13, 2023. 

Everett Wayne Baxter, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–27748 Filed 12–15–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

RIN 0648–BM29 

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; 

Groundfish Electronic Monitoring 

Program; Service Provider Revisions; 

Correction 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule; correction. 

SUMMARY: NMFS published a final rule 

on November 22, 2023, announcing 

changes to Federal requirements for 

service providers in the Pacific Coast 

Groundfish electronic monitoring 

program and other minor corrections to 

the groundfish regulations. This 

correction is necessary to modify 

regulatory instructions so that the 

implementing regulations are accurate. 

DATES: Effective December 22, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: 

Electronic Access 

This rule is accessible via the internet 

at the Office of the Federal Register 

website at https://

www.federalregister.gov. Background 

information and documents are 

available at the Pacific Fishery 

Management Council’s website at 

https://www.pcouncil.org/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Melissa Hooper, (206) 526–4357, 

melissa.hooper@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

published a final rule on November 22, 

2023, announcing changes to Federal 

requirements for service providers in 

the Pacific Coast Groundfish electronic 

monitoring program. This final rule also 

made minor administrative changes to 

other groundfish regulations to correct 

typos and update web addresses and 

other outdated references (88 FR 81354). 

This rule is effective December 22, 2023. 

This action corrects the amendatory 

instructions to 50 CFR part 660 to 

correct additional typos that were left 

out of the original final rule; specifically 

changing the word ‘‘coop’’ to ‘‘co-op’’ 

when referring to harvest cooperatives. 

This correction is necessary to modify 

the incorrect regulatory instruction so 

that the implementing regulations are 

accurate. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES