[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 3, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11331-11332]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-04319]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 141002822-5169-03]
RIN 0648-BE56


Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast 
Groundfish Fishery; Fishing Year 2014; Interim Gulf of Maine Cod 
Management Measures; Correction

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

ACTION: Temporary rule, correcting amendment.

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SUMMARY: This document makes corrections to the Gulf of Maine cod 
interim regulations published in the Federal Register on November 13, 
2014. This document corrects regulatory text by including the exemption 
from certain seasonal interim closure areas for vessels fishing for 
whiting in the Small Mesh Area 1 and 2 Exempted Areas with a raised 
footrope trawl. These two exempted areas, which overlap with certain 
seasonal closure areas, were inadvertently overlooked in the interim 
rule. This action does not make any substantive changes to the interim 
rule regulations.

DATES: Effective February 26, 2015, until May 12, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Whitmore, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, phone: 978-281-9182.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On November 13, 2014, we published interim management measures (79 
FR 67362) to increase protection for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod in 
response to a recently updated stock assessment that concluded the 
stock is severely depleted. The management measures included seasonal 
interim closure areas where fishing for groundfish is prohibited. The 
regulations implemented through the GOM cod interim rule allowed 
vessels fishing with exempted gear or fishing in exempted fisheries to 
continue to fish within the seasonal interim closure areas; however, 
the rule mistakenly did not include the Small Mesh Area 1 and 2 
Exemption Areas.
    An exempted fishery is implemented after it is determined that a 
specific fishery utilizes a certain gear type, and/or fishes in 
specific areas or times that result in a groundfish bycatch that is 
less than 5 percent and doesn't jeopardize fishing mortality 
objectives. Vessels fishing in the Small Mesh Areas must use raised 
footrope trawl nets that result in minimal groundfish bycatch. Vessels 
fishing in these areas may not fish for, possess, or land any 
groundfish. They are allowed to fish for and possess only whiting, red 
hake, and a limited number of other species.
    Additional information on exempted fisheries can be found online at 
www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/regs/info.html.

Correction

    We recently recognized that the GOM cod interim rule regulations 
inadvertently omitted two small mesh exemption areas utilized by 
groundfish vessels. Groundfish vessels are allowed to fish with small 
mesh nets using raised footrope trawls in the Small Mesh

[[Page 11332]]

Area 1 and 2 Exempted Areas, as described at 50 CFR 648.80(a)(9). 
Because these areas were omitted from the regulatory text, groundfish 
vessels would be unable to fish in the portions of the Small Mesh 1 and 
2 Exemption Areas that overlap with the GOM cod seasonal interim 
closure areas. This correction adds the Small Mesh Area 1 and 2 
Exempted Areas to the list of exempted fishery areas that are exempt 
from the GOM cod seasonal interim closure areas. As a result, vessels 
can now fish with small mesh nets with raised footrope trawls in the 
Small Mesh Area 2 Exemption Area in March and April, and, if the 
interim rule were to be extended another six months, in the Small Mesh 
Area 1 Exemption Area July 15 through November 15. This correction is 
consistent with the original intent of the GOM cod interim rule.

Classification

    The Assistant Administrator (AA) for Fisheries, NOAA, finds that 
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, as notice 
and comment would be contrary to the public interest. This temporary 
rule adds the Small Mesh Area 1 and 2 Exempted Areas to the list of 
exempted fisheries that are exempt from the GOM cod seasonal interim 
closure areas. These two areas were inadvertently left out of the GOM 
cod interim action and adding these areas does not substantively change 
the regulations. Providing notice and comment on these changes is 
contrary to the public interest because any additional delay would 
cause economic harm to fishery participants by denying them 
opportunities to fish in the specified areas, which would have been 
permitted but for the previous inadvertent omission. Moreover, this 
action reduces a regulatory restriction and provides fishermen with 
greater fishing opportunities while maintaining the goals and 
objectives of the GOM cod interim rule and the groundfish fishery 
management plan.
    The Assistant Administrator also finds good cause under 5 U.S.C. 
553(d)(3) to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness and makes this 
rule effective immediately upon filing for public inspection. In 
addition to the reasons stated above, an area within Small Mesh Area 2 
will close on March 1, 2015. Vessels fishing with raised footrope 
trawls would then be prohibited from fishing in that area 
unnecessarily. Waiving the 30-day delay avoids this unnecessary closure 
and allows fishery participants to fish in Small Mesh Area 2 without 
interruption, as was originally intended when the interim management 
measures were published.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648

    Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

    Dated: February 24, 2015.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    Therefore, NOAA amends 50 CFR part 648 as follows:

PART 648--FISHERIES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES

0
1. The authority citation for part 648 continues to read as follows:

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


0
2. Section 648.81 is amended by:
0
A. Suspending from February 26, 2015, unti May 12, 2015, paragraph 
(o)(2)(iv), and
0
B. Temporarily adding from February 26, 2015, until May 12, 2015, 
paragraph (o)(2)(vi).
    The addition reads as follows:


Sec.  648.81  NE multispecies closed area and measures to protect EFH.

* * * * *
    (o) * * *
    (2) * * *
    (vi) That are fishing in the Raised Footrope Trawl Exempted Whiting 
Fishery, ass specified in Sec.  648.80(a)(15), or the Small Mesh Area 1 
and 2 Exemption Areas as specified in Sec.  648.80(a)(9).

[FR Doc. 2015-04319 Filed 2-26-15; 4:15 pm]
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