[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 9, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 81878-81879]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-23262]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

RIN 0648-BN15


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off West Coast States; 
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery 
Management Plan; Amendment 34; Groundfish Exclusion Area for Coral 
Research and Restoration

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of proposed fishery management plan 
amendment; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council) submitted amendment 34 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish 
Fishery Management Plan (Groundfish FMP) to the Secretary of Commerce 
for review. If approved, amendment 34 would modify the groundfish 
exclusion areas (GEA) section in the Groundfish FMP and refer to the 
GEAs described in Federal regulation.

DATES: Comments on amendment 34 must be received on or before Sunday, 
December 8, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2024-0081, by the following method:
    <bullet> Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2024-0081 in the Search box. 
Click on the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter 
or attach your comments.
    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).
    Electronic copies of proposed amendment 34 and the draft analysis 
prepared for this action may be obtained from https://www.regulations.gov and the NMFS West Coast Region website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/west-coast.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Megan Mackey, 206-526-6140, 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3c51595b5d5212515d5f5759457c52535d5d125b534a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3a575f5d5b5414575b59515f437a54555b5b145d554c">[email protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the groundfish fisheries in the 
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) seaward of Washington, Oregon, and 
California under the Groundfish FMP. The Council prepared and NMFS 
implemented the Groundfish FMP under the authority of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. and by regulations at 50 CFR parts 
600 and 660. The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each regional 
fishery management council submit any FMP or plan amendment it prepares 
to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval by 
the Secretary of Commerce. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that 
NMFS, upon receiving an FMP or amendment, immediately publish a notice 
that the FMP or amendment is available for public review and comment. 
This notice announces that the proposed amendment 34 to the Groundfish 
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 34 to the Groundfish FMP.

[[Page 81879]]

Background

    The Council met over 2023 and 2024 to consider developing fisheries 
area closures for deep-sea coral restoration and research in response 
to a request from the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS). 
ONMS conducts scientific research in national marine sanctuary areas, 
including on deep sea coral survival, growth and reproduction, under 
the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
    In September 2023, ONMS presented a scoping paper to the Council 
that proposed five potential locations, with ten areas (or `sites') 
within Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and Monterey Bay 
National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS), for coral restoration and research 
(section 1.2 of the Analysis). At that meeting, the Council chose to 
only continue to scope closures in MBNMS at the locations of A[ntilde]o 
Nuevo and Ascension Canyons (two sites) and Sur Ridge (one site) for 
areas to conduct coral research and restoration. The Council proposed 
that these areas could be closed to bottom contact gears as GEAs. GEAs 
were established by amendment 32 to the Groundfish FMP in December 
2023, and are a management tool intended to mitigate the impacts to 
sensitive environments from certain groundfish fishing activity (88 FR 
83830, December 1, 2023).
    At the March 2024 meeting, the Council adopted a range of 
alternatives for this action that included modified versions of the 
A[ntilde]o Nuevo and Ascension Canyon sites to address concerns raised 
by the public regarding closing off key fishing grounds shallower than 
400 fathoms, and enforcement concerns (section 1.2 of the Analysis). 
The Council also confirmed that the potential sites would only be 
closed to commercial groundfish bottom contact gears and that no other 
gear types or fisheries would be included in the closures.
    At the June 2024 meeting, the Council adopted their final preferred 
alternative to develop a GEA for commercial groundfish bottom contact 
gear at Sur Ridge. If the GEA is established, it is expected that ONMS 
would begin deep-sea coral outplanting at Sur Ridge in 2025.
    The proposed GEA at Sur Ridge would apply to commercial groundfish 
vessels using bottom contact gear. Currently, the GEA area is within a 
bottom trawl essential fish habitat conservation area (EFHCA) and 
therefore no bottom trawling is permitted. If the EFHCA were to be 
removed at a future time, the GEA would continue to prohibit bottom 
trawl. The GEA would create new restrictions for non-trawl commercial 
groundfish vessels using bottom contact gears in the limited entry 
fixed gear, directed open access, and shore-based individual fishing 
quota sectors. Vessels using non-bottom contact gear would still be 
permitted to operate in the area. Overall, this GEA at Sur Ridge would 
allow the ONMS to perform deep-sea coral research and restoration and 
have limited impact to the groundfish fisheries. The regulatory changes 
to establish this GEA will be presented in a forthcoming proposed rule.
    In terms of specific changes to the Groundfish FMP, amendment 34 
would revise the description of GEAs to remove specific GEA references, 
in order to be consistent with how other closed area types are set up 
under the FMP. Active GEAs would be noted in the Federal groundfish 
regulations at Sec.  660.70 instead, and the history of a specific GEA 
would likely be provided in the groundfish Stock Assessment Fishery 
Evaluation document.
    NMFS welcomes comments on the proposed FMP amendment through the 
end of the comment period. A proposed rule to implement amendment 34 
has been submitted for Secretarial review and approval. NMFS expects to 
publish and request public review and comment on proposed regulations 
to implement amendment 34 in the near future. For public comments on 
the proposed rule to be considered in the approval or disapproval 
decision on amendment 34, those comments must be received by the end of 
the comment period on the amendment. All comments received by the end 
of the comment period for the amendment, whether specifically directed 
to the amendment or the proposed rule, will be considered in the 
approval/disapproval decision.

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

    Dated: October 3, 2024.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-23262 Filed 10-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P


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