7808 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 29 / Thursday, February 12, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

EPA APPROVED AMERICAN SAMOA NONREGULATORY PROVISIONS AND QUASI-REGULATORY MEASURES—Continued 

Name of SIP provision 

Applicable 

geographic or 

nonattainment 

area 

State submittal 

date EPA approval date Explanation 

Appendix A. American Samoa Environmental Quality Act, excluding section 

35.0113.

State-wide ....... 03/9/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Public Law 12–45. Chapter 35.01 of the 

Code of American Samoa. See 40 

CFR 52.2823(c)(1). Section 35.0113 

(‘‘Variances’’) was deleted without replacement at 62 FR 34641 (June 27, 

1997)]. See 40 CFR 52.2823(b)(1). 

Section 3. Air Quality Data ........................ State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

Section 4. Emission Inventory ................... State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

Section 5. Control Strategy: 

Control Strategy ......................................... State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

Letter from Peter T. Coleman, Governor, 

American Samoa, to Kathleen M. Bennett, EPA, dated November 12, 1982.

State-wide ....... 11/12/82 08/14/85, 50 FR 

32697.

Negative declaration indicating no Lead 

sources in American Samoa. See 40 

CFR 52.2823(c)(5)(i). 

Section 6. Compliance Schedule .............. State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

Section 7. Air Quality Surveillance Network.State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

Section 8. Review of New Sources and 

Modifications.

State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

Section 9. Source Surveillance ................. State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

Section 10. Resources .............................. State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

Section 11. Intergovernmental Cooperation.State-wide ....... 01/27/72 05/31/72, 37 FR 

10842.

Included as part of the original SIP. See 

40 CFR 52.2823(b). 

[FR Doc. 2015–02856 Filed 2–11–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 141002820–5113–01] 

RIN 0648–XD536 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Herring Fishery; 

Adjustments to 2015 Annual Catch 

Limits 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary final rule; 

adjustment of specifications. 

SUMMARY: This action adjusts 2015 

annual catch limits for the Atlantic 

herring fishery to account for the 

underharvest of herring catch in 2013. 

The herring fishery caught less than its 

allocated catch in all herring 

management areas in 2013. As a result, 

this action adds unharvested 2013 catch 

to the 2015 herring catch limits, equal 

to ten percent of the allocated 2013 

annual catch limit for each area. While 

the annual catch limit for each area 

increases, the total annual catch limit 

for the herring fishery will not increase 

under this action. This will ensure that 

the carryover pounds do not cause 

overfishing of the herring resource in 

2015. This action is necessary to ensure 

that NMFS accounts for herring catch 

consistent with the requirements of the 

Atlantic Herring Fishery Management 

Plan. 

DATES: Effective February 12, 2015, 

through December 31, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of supporting 

documents, including the 2013–2015 

Specifications/Framework 2 to the 

Herring Fishery Management Plan 

(FMP), are available from the 

Sustainable Fisheries Division, Greater 

Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 

Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 

01930, telephone (978) 281–9315, or 

online at: http://

www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/

sustainable/species/atlherring/

index.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Travis Ford, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

978–281–9233, fax 978–281–9135. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Atlantic herring harvest in the 

United States is managed under the 

Atlantic Herring Fishery Management 

Plan (Herring FMP) developed by the 

New England Fishery Management 

Council (Council). The Herring FMP 

divides the stock-wide herring ACL 

among three management areas, one of 

which has two sub-areas. It divides Area 

1 (located in the Gulf of Maine (GOM)) 

into an inshore section (Area 1A) and an 

offshore section (Area 1B). Area 2 is 

located in the coastal waters between 

Massachusetts and North Carolina, and 

Area 3 is on Georges Bank (GB). The 

Herring FMP considers the herring stock 

complex to be a single stock, but there 

are inshore (GOM) and offshore (GB) 

stock components. The GOM and GB 

stock components segregate during 

spawning and mix during feeding and 

migration. Each management area has 

its own sub-ACL to allow greater control 

of the fishing mortality on each stock 

component. 

NMFS issued a final rule that 

implemented Amendment 4 to the 

Herring FMP (76 FR 11373, March 2, 

2011) to address ACL and accountability 

measure (AM) requirements. As a way 

to account for ACL overages in the 

herring fishery, Amendment 4 

established an AM that provided for 


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overage deductions in the year 

immediately following the catch overage 

determination. If the catch of herring 

exceeds any ACL or sub-ACL, NMFS 

subsequently deducts the overage from 

the corresponding ACL/sub-ACL in the 

year following the catch overage 

determination. Amendment 4 also 

specified that NMFS will announce 

overage deductions in the Federal 

Register prior to the start of the fishing 

year, if possible. 

We also published a final rule 

implementing Framework 2 to the 

Herring FMP and the 2013–15 

specifications for the herring fishery on 

October 4, 2013 (78 FR 61828). Among 

other measures, Framework 2 allows for 

the carryover of unharvested catch in 

the year immediately following the 

catch determination. Up to 10 percent of 

each sub-ACL may be carried over, 

provided the stock-wide catch did not 

exceed the stock-wide ACL. The 

carryover provision allows a sub-ACL 

increase for a management area, but it 

does not allow a corresponding increase 

to the stock-wide ACL. 

For fishing year 2015, the catch limits 

for the herring fishery, without any 

adjustments for catch overages or 

underages, are specified in Table 1. 

Research set-aside equal to 3 percent of 

each sub-ACL has been awarded to one 

research project. The 2015 Adjusted 

ACL in Table 1 is the catch, excluding 

carryover, that will be available to the 

commercial herring fishery in 2015 after 

removing research set-aside allocation 

from the 2015 sub-ACLs. 

TABLE 1—HERRING SUB-ACLS FOR 2015 

[mt] 

2015 ACL Research set aside 

(3 percent of sub-ACL) 

2015 adjusted 

ACL 

Area 1A ........................................ 31,200 936 .................................................................................................... 30,264 

Area 1B ........................................ 4,600 138 .................................................................................................... 4,462 

Area 2 .......................................... 30,000 900 .................................................................................................... 29,100 

Area 3 .......................................... 42,000 1260 .................................................................................................. 40,740 

Stock-wide ................................... 107,800 3,234 (total of all sub-ACL set-asides) ............................................. 104,566 

Provisions Implemented Through This 

Final Rule 

After completing the 2013 catch 

determination in October 2014, NMFS 

determined that the herring fishery 

caught less than its allocated catch in all 

herring management areas in 2013. As a 

result, this action adds unharvested 

2013 catch to the 2015 herring catch 

limits, equal to the amount of the 

underage (up to ten percent of the 

allocated 2013 sub-annual catch limit) 

for each area. 

In 2013, the herring fleet 

underharvested the stockwide ACL and 

each of the management areas’ subACLs. Table 2 provides the harvest 

details for 2013 and adjustments for 

2015. 

TABLE 2—HERRING ACLS, CATCH, AND CARRYOVER

[MT] 

2013 ACL 2013 catch Underage 

Carryover 

(max 10 

percent of 

sub-ACL) * 

2015 

adjusted ACL 

(from Table 1) 

2015 ACLs 

adjusted for 

carryover 

Area 1A ................ 29,775 29,454 321 321 30,264 30,585 

Area 1B ................ 4,600 2,459 2,141 460 4,462 4,922 

Area 2 .................. 30,000 26,562 3,438 3,000 29,100 32,100 

Area 3 .................. 42,000 37,290 4,170 4,170 40,740 44,910 

Stock-wide ............ 106,375 95,764 10,611 NA 104,566 ** 104,566 

* Carryover is based on the initial sub-ACLs: Area 1A, 31,200 mt; Area 1B, 4,600 mt; Area 2, 30,000 mt; and Area 3, 42,000 mt (see Table 1). 

** The sum of the 2015 adjusted sub-ACLs does not equal the overall ACL of 104,566 (as adjusted for RSA) because the overall ACL cannot 

be increased by carryover, as noted above. 

NMFS calculated the amount of 

herring landings in 2013 based on 

dealer reports (Federal and state) of 

herring purchases supplemented by 

vessel trip reports (VTRs) (Federal and 

State of Maine) of herring landings. We 

compared dealer reports to VTRs for all 

trips that landed herring in 2013. 

Because VTRs are generally a hail 

weight or estimate of landings, with an 

assumed 10-percent margin of error, 

dealer reports are a more accurate 

source of landings data. However, if the 

amount of herring reported via VTR 

exceeded the amount of herring 

reported by the dealer by 10 percent or 

more, we assumed that the dealer report 

for that trip was in error. We used the 

higher amount of herring reported via 

VTR to determine the amount of herring 

landed on that trip to improve the 

likelihood of not exceeding ACLs. We 

checked the herring landings in the VTR 

database for accuracy against the 

scanned image of the paper VTRs 

submitted by the owner/operator of the 

vessel. NMFS also verified VTR 

landings by comparing reported 

landings to harvesting potential and 

applicable possession limits for each 

vessel. 

We assigned herring landings 

reported on the VTRs to herring 

management areas using latitude and 

longitude coordinates. We also 

manually corrected VTRs with missing 

or invalid latitude/longitude 

coordinates using the statistical area 

reported on the VTR. If the fisherman 

did not report statistical area on the 

VTR, then we used a combination of 

recent fishing activity and a review of 

the scanned images of the original VTR 

to assign landings to herring 

management areas. Finally, we prorated 

dealer reports without corresponding 

VTRs to herring management area using 


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7810 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 29 / Thursday, February 12, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

the proportion of total herring landings 

stratified by week, gear type, and 

management area. 

As we were reviewing the 2013 

herring data and comparing individual 

VTRs with individual dealer reports, we 

encountered data errors resulting from 

misreporting. These errors were 

resolved prior to calculating the final 

2013 herring data. Common dealer 

reporting issues were: Missing dealer 

reports; incorrect or missing VTR serial 

numbers; incorrect or missing vessel 

permit numbers; and incorrect dates. 

VTRs had similar errors due to 

misreporting. Common VTR reporting 

issues were: Missing VTRs; missing or 

incorrect dealer information; incorrect 

amounts of landed herring; incorrect 

dates; and missing or incorrect 

statistical area. The quality of herring 

landings data is affected by unresolved 

data errors; therefore, we strongly 

encourage vessel owner/operators and 

dealers to double-check reports for 

accuracy and to ensure that reports are 

submitted on a timely basis. We will 

closely monitor reporting complianc1e 

in fishing year 2015 and will increase 

our compliance efforts, including 

referrals to the Office of Law 

Enforcement where appropriate. 

NMFS determined discards of herring 

in 2013 by extrapolating Northeast 

Fisheries Observer Program (observer) 

data to the entire herring fishery. We 

divided the amount of observed herring 

discards (‘‘Atlantic herring’’ and 

‘‘herring unidentified’’) by the amount 

of observed fish landed. Then we 

multiplied that discard ratio by the 

amount of all fish landed for each trip 

to calculate total amount of herring 

discards in 2013. We determined the 

amount of discards for each 

management area and gear type, and 

calculated the total herring catch for 

2013 by adding the amount of herring 

landings to the amount of herring 

discarded. The Council’s Herring Plan 

Development Team reviewed and 

approved this methodology used by 

NMFS to calculate the amount of landed 

herring and the amount of discarded 

herring. 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304 (b)(1)(A) of 

the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(MSA), the NMFS Assistant 

Administrator has determined that this 

final rule is consistent with the Atlantic 

Herring FMP, other provisions of the 

MSA, and other applicable law. 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), there 

is good cause to waive prior notice and 

an opportunity for public comment on 

this action. This rule increases the 2015 

herring management area catch limits by 

the amounts that were unharvested in 

2013 (up to 10 percent). It thereby 

relieves a restriction. Further, notice 

and comment are contrary to the public 

interest because a delay would 

potentially impair achievement of the 

management plan’s objectives of 

preventing overfishing and achieving 

optimum yield due to vessels’ ability to 

harvest available catch allocations. 

Further, this is a nondiscretionary 

action required by provisions of 

Amendment 4 and Framework 2, which 

were previously subject to public 

comment. This action simply effectuates 

this mandatory calculation. The 

proposed and final rules for Framework 

2 and Amendment 4 explained the need 

and likelihood for adjustments to the 

sub-ACLs based on final catch numbers. 

Framework 2, specifically, provided 

prior notice of the need to distribute 

carryover catch. These actions provided 

a full opportunity for the public to 

comment on the substance and process 

of this action. 

Allowing for prior notice and public 

comment on this adjustment is 

impracticable because the Atlantic 

herring fishing year already began on 

January 1, 2015. It is important for the 

herring fleet to have as much advance 

notice as possible to aid in developing 

their business plans for the remainder of 

the fishing year (January 1, 2015 

through December 31, 2015). The 

opportunity to plan is expected to 

facilitate the fleet’s harvesting of 

available catch, thereby achieving 

optimum yield. Two areas are currently 

closed and will open on May 1 and June 

1, respectively. Management Area 3 is 

already open and subject to a lower 

catch limit until this action is 

implemented. Putting in place the 

correct sub-ACLs as soon as possible 

will provide the fleet with this 

opportunity to develop their business 

plans in sufficient time to facilitate their 

harvest of available catch. 

There is good cause under 5 U.S.C. 

553(d)(3) to waive the 30-day delay in 

effective date and make the rule 

effective upon publication in the 

Federal Register. The 2015 herring 

fishing year began on January 1, 2015. 

To prevent confusion and finalize the 

structure of the 2015 fishing year, it is 

necessary to have the proper sub-ACLs 

in place as soon as possible. In addition, 

having the updated sub-ACLs in place 

will allow the herring fleet to develop 

accurate business plan for the remainder 

of fishing year. Accordingly, any delay 

in the rule’s effectiveness would be 

contrary to the conservation objectives 

of the MSA and the Herring FMP. 

This final rule has been determined to 

be not significant for purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. This final rule 

does not contain a collection-ofinformation requirement for purposes of 

the Paperwork Reduction Act. 

Because prior notice and opportunity 

for public comment are not required for 

this rule by 5 U.S.C. 553, or any other 

law, the analytical requirements of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 

et seq., are inapplicable. 

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

Dated: February 9, 2015. 

Samuel D. Rauch III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02941 Filed 2–11–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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