Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 27 / Thursday, February 8, 2024 / Proposed Rules 8639 

[FR Doc. 2024–02517 Filed 2–7–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 240202–0034] 

RIN 0648–BM80 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Atlantic 

Coastal Migratory Pelagic Fishery; 

Atlantic Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery; 

and South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper 

Fishery; Control Date 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Advanced notice of proposed 

rulemaking; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: This advance notice of 

proposed rulemaking seeks comment on 

the benefits or disadvantages of the 

South Atlantic Fishery Management 

Council (Council) potentially setting 

future restrictions, resulting in 

subsequent rulemakings from NMFS, in 

the Atlantic the coastal migratory 

pelagics fishery and the dolphin and 

wahoo fishery, and the snapper-grouper 

fishery in the South Atlantic. The 

Council recently set a control date of 

December 8, 2023. That control date, 

and an existing control date of June 15, 

2016, may both be used to create 

restrictions limiting participation in the 

exclusive economic zone for the Federal 

charter vessel/headboat (for-hire) 

components of the recreational sectors 

of the coastal migratory pelagics fishery 

in the Atlantic, dolphin and wahoo 

fishery in the Atlantic, and snappergrouper fishery in the South Atlantic. 

The Council is considering a future 

action that may affect or limit the 

number of participants in the fishery, 

and stresses that participants should 

locate and preserve all relevant, fishingrelated documents. If such an action is 

developed, approved, and implemented 

through a Council decision and a 

subsequent rulemaking by NMFS, future 

access to the fishery after the control 

date would not be assured. NMFS is 

informing the public of the new control 

date, in part, to promote awareness of 

the potential changes to eligibility 

criteria for future access so as to 

discourage speculative entry into the 

Federal for-hire components of the 

Atlantic coastal migratory pelagics, 

Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, or the 

South Atlantic snapper-grouper 

fisheries, while the Council and NMFS 

consider whether and how access to 

these for-hire components should be 

managed. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received no later than March 11, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by ‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2023– 

0157’’ by either of the following 

methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and type 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2023–0157’’ in the 

Search box (note: copying and pasting 

the FDMS Docket Number directly from 

this document may not yield search 

results). Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Nikhil Mehta, NMFS Southeast Regional 

Office, 263 13th Avenue South, St. 

Petersburg, FL 33701. 

Instructions: 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 by NMFS. 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.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter 

‘‘N/A’’ in the required fields if you wish 

to remain anonymous). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nikhil Mehta, telephone: 727–824– 

5305, or email: nikhil.mehta@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

coastal migratory pelagics fishery in the 

Atlantic is managed under the Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP) for Coastal 

Migratory Pelagic Resources (CMP 

FMP). The dolphin and wahoo fishery 

in the Atlantic is managed under the 

FMP for the Dolphin and Wahoo 

Fishery of the Atlantic (Dolphin and 

Wahoo FMP). The snapper-grouper 

fishery in the South Atlantic is managed 

under the FMP for the Snapper-Grouper 

Fishery of the South Atlantic Region 

(Snapper-Grouper FMP). The CMP FMP 

was prepared jointly by the Gulf of 

Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery 

Management Councils. The Dolphin and 

Wahoo and Snapper-Grouper FMPs 

were prepared by the Council. Under 

the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), NMFS 

approved the FMPs and implements 

them through regulations at 50 CFR part 

622. 

The purpose of a control date is to 

enable the Council to inform current 

and potential participants that it is 

considering whether to create 

restrictions that limit participation in a 

fishery. NMFS previously published a 

control date of June 15, 2016, for the 

coastal migratory pelagics, dolphin and 

wahoo, and snapper-grouper for-hire 

components of the recreational sector on 

September 27, 2016 (81 FR 66244). At 

its December 2023 meeting, the Council 

again discussed access options for these 

fisheries and requested that NMFS 

publish another control date of 

December 8, 2023, for the Federal forhire component of the recreational 

sectors of the Atlantic coastal migratory 

pelagics, Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, 

and South Atlantic snapper-grouper 

fisheries as a possible future eligibility 

criteria for these fisheries. The Federal 

charter vessel/headboat permits for 

these for-hire components are currently 

open access, available to be applied for 

by anyone with a valid vessel 

registration. The new control date of 

December 8, 2023, and the existing 

control date of June 15, 2016, could both 

be considered as possible options for 

use by the Council to determine future 

access to these fisheries. The purpose of 

these control dates is to inform current 

and potential participants that the 

Council is considering whether to 

propose future restrictions that limit 

fishery participation in the for-hire 

components of these fisheries. Should 

the Council decide to implement further 

restrictions on the fishery, those 

restrictions would be codified into the 

regulations through a NMFS 

rulemaking. 

As a condition of the for-hire, 

December 8, 2023, control date, the 

Council specified at their December 

2023 meeting that Federal permit 

holders that had not reported catch from 

the for-hire components of these 

fisheries to the Southeast For-Hire 

Integrated Electronic Reporting 

(SEFHIER) program in the Atlantic on, 

or prior to, December 5, 2023, would not 

be assured of future access should a 

management regime that limits 

participation in the for-hire components 

of these fisheries be prepared and 

implemented. The Atlantic SEFHIER 

program was implemented on January 4, 

2021 (85 FR 47917, August 7, 2020). 

That final rule established weekly 

electronic reporting requirements for 

owners or operators of federally 

permitted coastal migratory pelagics, 

dolphin and wahoo, and snapperVerDate Sep<11>2014 17:04 Feb 07, 2024 Jkt 262001 PO 00000 Frm 00081 Fmt 4702 Sfmt 4702 E:\FR\FM\08FEP1.SGM 08FEP1

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8640 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 27 / Thursday, February 8, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

grouper charter vessels and changed the 

electronic reporting deadline for owners 

and operators of federally permitted 

headboats. The purpose of that final rule 

and the Atlantic SEFHIER program was 

to improve recreational fisheries 

management of the for-hire components 

in the Atlantic. NMFS notes that as of 

October 2023, 54 percent of vessels in 

the Atlantic SEFHIER program were 

missing required reports since the 

implementation of the program (https:// 

safmc.net/documents/fc1_a2_sefhierprogram-analysis_202312-revised-pdf/). 

The Council chose Tuesday, December 

5, 2023, because Atlantic SEFHIER 

participants are required to report their 

catch weekly on Tuesdays and in order 

to avoid a possible influx of late reports 

occurring prior to December 8, 2023, by 

permit holders in reaction to the 

announcement of the control date. Late 

reporting by SEFHIER participants can 

negatively impact reliable and timely 

catch and effort data, decrease accuracy 

of reports, and increase recall bias of 

participants. 

In addition to selecting a control date, 

at their December 2023 meeting, the 

Council also approved a motion to 

initiate an amendment to the CMP FMP, 

the dolphin and wahoo FMP, and the 

snapper-grouper FMP to consider 

establishing limited entry for the forhire components of the recreational 

sectors of Atlantic coastal migratory 

pelagics, Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, 

and South Atlantic snapper-grouper 

fisheries. 

NMFS is therefore, informing current 

and potential fishery participants in the 

Federal for-hire components of the 

recreational sectors for Atlantic coastal 

migratory pelagics, Atlantic dolphin and 

wahoo, and South Atlantic snappergrouper fisheries that began 

participating after December 8, 2023, 

that they may not be ensured 

participation under future management 

of these fisheries, should the Council 

elect to implement, and NMFS 

subsequently codify, further restrictions. 

Additionally, Federal permit holders 

that have not reported catch from these 

fisheries to the Atlantic SEFHIER 

Program on, or prior to, December 5, 

2023, will not be assured of future 

access should a management regime that 

limits participation in the Federal 

charter vessel/headboat (for-hire) 

component of the recreational sectors is 

implemented. If the Council decides to 

amend the FMPs to restrict participation 

in the Federal for-hire components of 

the recreational sectors of the Atlantic 

coastal migratory pelagics, Atlantic 

dolphin and wahoo, or South Atlantic 

snapper-grouper fisheries in relation to 

this control date, an analysis of the 

specific administrative, biological, 

economic, and social effects will be 

prepared at that time. The Gulf of 

Mexico Fishery Management Council 

will also need to approve any such 

action taken toward the management of 

any species within the CMP FMP. 

Participants, and other persons, 

interested in obtaining a Federal for-hire 

permit for the Atlantic coastal migratory 

pelagics, Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, 

or South Atlantic snapper-grouper 

fisheries after the control date are not 

assured of future access to these for-hire 

components should management 

changes be implemented that would 

restrict participation. Such management 

changes would require preparation of 

amendments to the respective FMPs, 

NMFS publication of a notice of 

availability and proposed rule in the 

Federal Register with public comment 

periods, and NMFS approval of the FMP 

amendments and issuance of a final 

rule. 

Fishermen are not guaranteed future 

participation in a fishery, sector, or 

component within a sector regardless of 

when they obtained their permits or of 

their level of participation in the 

fishery, sector, or component within a 

sector before or after the control date 

under consideration. The Council 

subsequently may choose a different 

control date, or they may propose 

different management approaches 

without using a control date. The 

Council also may choose to take no 

further action to propose measures to 

control entry or access to the Federal 

for-hire components of the recreational 

sectors of the Atlantic coastal migratory 

pelagics, Atlantic dolphin and wahoo, 

or South Atlantic snapper-grouper 

fisheries. 

Interested participants should locate 

and preserve records that substantiate 

and verify their participation in the 

Federal for-hire components of the 

recreational sectors of the Atlantic 

coastal migratory pelagics, Atlantic 

dolphin and wahoo, or South Atlantic 

snapper-grouper fisheries. 

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

Dated: February 2, 2024. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–02509 Filed 2–7–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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