Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 57 / Wednesday, March 25, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 15693 

3 (May/June); Wave 4 (July/August); 

Wave 5 (September/October); and Wave 

6 (November/December). In the last 

several years, the black sea bass 

recreational season has opened during 

Wave 3. Additional background 

information on the standard recreational 

management process was provided in 

the proposed rule for this action (79 FR 

78022; December 29, 2014), and is not 

repeated here. Additional background 

information on recreational fishing data 

can be found on the Marine Recreational 

Information Program’s Web site (http:// 

www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/recreationalfisheries). 

Final Action 

This action revises the start date of 

the black sea bass recreational fishery by 

four days to begin on May 15 instead of 

May 19, unless otherwise changed by 

subsequent rulemaking. 

In recent years, the black sea bass 

recreational harvest limit has been 

achieved or exceeded. Because of this, 

starting the season on May 15 (i.e., 

earlier in Wave 3) requires the Council 

to compensate by shortening the Wave 

5 season, when fishing effort is 

equivalent to Wave 3, by four days, in 

addition to other potential management 

changes, to ensure that the recreational 

harvest limit is not exceeded in 2015. 

The Council made the necesary 

recommendations on other management 

measures, including shortening Wave 5 

to accommodate the earlier season 

opening, at its December 2014 meeting. 

The Commission is also preparing stateby-state management measures for the 

2015 season in order to ensure the 

recreational harvest limit is not 

exceeded. Pending submission and 

review of the Council’s and 

Commission’s proposed recreational 

management measures, NMFS will 

implement further changes to the black 

sea bass recreational management 

measures in a subsequent rulemaking 

later this year. 

Comments and Responses 

Two comments were received on the 

proposed rule. 

Comment: One commenter stated that 

the start date for the black sea bass 

season should not be changed to make 

the season longer. 

Response: As described above, the 

Wave 5 season will be adjusted in a 

future rulemaking action, as 

recommended by the Council and 

Commission, to offset the extra days 

added to Wave 3, so the fishing season 

as a whole is not getting longer. Because 

of the timing of the normal recreational 

management measures rulemaking, in 

order have the change effective for 

fishing year 2015, we needed to separate 

the changes into two rulemakings. 

Comment: A second commenter 

simply stated that black sea bass are 

delicious. 

Response: NMFS agrees (see 

FishWatch at http://

www.fishwatch.gov), but this comment 

is not directly relevant to the action. 

Changes From the Proposed Rule 

There are no changes from the 

proposed measures. 

Classification 

The Administrator, Greater Atlantic 

Region, NMFS, determined that this 

framework adjustment is necessary for 

the conservation and management of the 

black sea bass fishery and that it is 

consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act and other applicable laws. 

This final rule has been determined to 

be not significant for purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. 

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration during 

the proposed rule stage that this action 

would not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. The factual basis for the 

certification was published in the 

proposed rule and is not repeated here. 

No comments were received regarding 

this certification. As a result, a Final 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis was not 

required and none was prepared. 

There are no new reporting or 

recordkeeping requirements contained 

in any of the alternatives considered for 

this action. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648 

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: March 18, 2015. 

Samuel D. Rauch III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 648 is amended 

as follows: 

PART 648—FISHERIES OF THE 

NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 648 

continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. Section 648.146 is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 648.146 Black sea bass recreational 

fishing season. 

Vessels that are not eligible for a 

moratorium permit under § 648.4(a)(7), 

and fishermen subject to the possession 

limit specified in § 648.145(a), may only 

possess black sea bass from May 15 

through September 18, and October 18 

through December 31, unless this time 

period is adjusted pursuant to the 

procedures in § 648.142. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06797 Filed 3–24–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 665 

[Docket No. 141110950–5227–02] 

RIN 0648–BE63 

Pacific Island Fisheries; Pacific 

Remote Islands Marine National 

Monument Expansion 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In this final rule, NMFS 

establishes requirements for fishing in 

the Pacific Remote Islands Marine 

National Monument Expansion. This 

final rule implements fishery 

management measures required by 

Presidential Proclamation 9173. 

DATES: This final rule is effective on 

April 24, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may review 

Presidential Proclamation 9173 

establishing the Pacific Remote Islands 

Marine National Monument (PRI 

Monument Expansion), Presidential 

Proclamation 8336 (establishing the PRI 

Monument), and the PRI Monument 

fishing requirements established in 

Amendment 2 to the Fishery Ecosystem 

Plan for the Pacific Remote Island Areas 

published in 2013, at 

www.regulations.gov. Amendment 2 is 

also available from the Western Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council), 

1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu, 

HI 96813, tel 808–522–8220, fax 808– 

522–8226, or from www.wpcouncil.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob 

Harman, NMFS PIR Sustainable 

Fisheries, tel 808–725–5170. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS and 

the Council manage Pacific Island 

fisheries through fishery ecosystem 

plans (FEP) for American Samoa, 


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15694 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 57 / Wednesday, March 25, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

Hawaii, the Mariana Archipelago (Guam 

and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

Mariana Islands), the Pacific Remote 

Island Areas (PRIA), and pelagic 

fisheries. Fishing regulations for the 

Pacific Islands are found mainly in 50 

CFR part 665. 

In 2009, President Bush issued 

Presidential Proclamations that 

established three Marine National 

Monuments in the Pacific Islands, 

including the PRI Monument 

(Proclamation 8336). The 2009 

Proclamations directed the Secretaries 

of the Interior and Commerce to regulate 

fisheries, including allowing for 

traditional indigenous fishing practices, 

and to ensure proper care and 

management of the monuments. In 

2013, the Council incorporated the 

Proclamations’ fishery management 

provisions into its FEPs. Based on the 

Proclamations and Council 

recommendations, NMFS implemented 

a final rule (78 FR 32996, June 3, 2013) 

that, among other things, codified the 

PRI Monument’s boundaries and 

prohibited commercial fishing 

throughout the PRI Monument. It 

further established management 

measures for non-commercial and 

recreational fishing. 

In September 2014, President Obama 

issued Presidential Proclamation 9173, 

the ‘‘Pacific Remote Islands Marine 

National Monument Expansion’’ (PRI 

Monument Expansion). The PRI 

Monument Expansion includes the 

waters and submerged lands of Jarvis 

and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll 

that lie from the PRI Monument 

boundary established in Proclamation 

8336 to the seaward limit of the U.S. 

Exclusive Economic Zone (U.S. EEZ, as 

established in Proclamation 5030 of 

March 10, 1983). 

The intent of the PRI Monument 

Expansion was to provide expanded 

protection to objects of scientific 

interest, including seamounts, deep sea 

corals, sea turtles, seabirds, and other 

species. The action called for the 

prohibition on commercial fishing in 

the PRI Monument Expansion and 

directed the Secretaries of the Interior 

and Commerce to ensure that 

recreational and non-commercial fishing 

continue to be managed as sustainable 

activities in the PRI Monument and 

Monument Expansion. 

Consistent with Proclamation 9173, 

existing requirements in the PRI 

Monument, and Council 

recommendations from its 161st 

meeting held in Honolulu from October 

20–23, 2014, this final rule prohibits 

commercial fishing, and allows for 

managed non-commercial fishing, in the 

PRI Monument Expansion. The 

requirements for fishing in the 

Monument Expansion now include, 

among other things, the following: 

• Prohibition of commercial fishing; 

• Permit and reporting requirements 

for non-commercial and recreational 

fishing; 

• Prohibition of the conduct of 

commercial fishing outside the PRI 

Monument and Monument Expansion 

and non-commercial fishing within the 

PRI Monument and Monument 

Expansion during the same trip; and 

• Federal permit and reporting 

requirements at §§ 665.13 and 665.14, 

and the vessel identification 

requirements at § 665.16. 

Additional background information 

on this final rule is found in the 

preamble to the proposed rule 

published on January 14, 2015 (80 FR 

1881), and is not repeated here. 

Comments and Responses 

On January 14, 2015, NMFS 

published a proposed rule and request 

for public comments (80 FR 1881); the 

comment period ended February 13, 

2015. NMFS received one comment 

from the Tri Marine Group, which 

represents six U.S. flag tuna purse seine 

vessels, and responds as follows: 

Comment: The proposed expansion of 

the Monument would be harmful to the 

economic future of the U.S. purse seine 

fleet and to American Samoa because it 

unnecessarily restricts access to fishing 

areas that are already heavily restricted, 

and would further concentrate tuna 

fishing pressure into a smaller 

geographic area. Therefore, NMFS 

should include a regulatory permit 

exception in the final rule that would 

allow U.S. fishery endorsed and 

documented purse seine vessels to fish 

in the expanded Monument area 

between the existing Monument 

boundaries and the outer limit of the 

U.S. EEZ at Jarvis and Wake Islands and 

at Johnston Atoll. 

Response: NMFS acknowledges that 

the Monument Expansion will have 

impacts on the U.S. purse seine fishery. 

Purse seine fishing effort in the PRIAs 

over the past several decades has ranged 

from less than one percent to about a 

fifth of the total U.S. purse seine fishing 

effort in the Pacific. The purse seine 

catch from the PRIAs has ranged from 

none to a quarter of the total U.S. Pacific 

purse seine catch. The average catch 

from all the PRIAs combined have 

averaged about five percent of the total 

U.S. Pacific purse seine catch. The EEZ 

around Howland and Baker—not 

affected by this final rule—has received 

the most effort (about eight fishing days 

per vessel per year), followed by Jarvis 

(two days) and Kingman and Palmyra 

(0.3 days). No purse seine fishing has 

occurred at Wake Island. 

Despite these impacts, Presidential 

Proclamation 8336 clearly states that the 

Secretaries of Commerce and the 

Interior shall not allow or permit any 

appropriation, injury, destruction, or 

removal of any feature of this 

monument, except as provided for by 

the Proclamation. Specifically, the 

Proclamation calls for the prohibition of 

commercial fishing within boundaries 

of the monument (January 12, 2009, 74 

FR 1565). Proclamation 9173 expands 

the boundaries of the Pacific Remote 

Islands Marine National Monument to 

the seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ at 

Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston 

Atoll, and directs the Secretaries of the 

Commerce and the Interior to continue 

to manage the expanded monument as 

directed in Proclamation 8336. 

Proclamation 9173 directs the Secretary 

of Commerce to extend the ban on 

commercial fishing to the seaward limit 

of the U.S. EEZ at Jarvis and Wake 

Islands and Johnston Atoll. NMFS, 

under authority of the MagnusonStevens Act, may not take action 

inconsistent with other applicable laws; 

here, the Proclamations are clear 

regarding the prohibition on commercial 

fishing within the PRI Monument and 

Monument Expansion. NMFS, therefore, 

does not have authority under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act to provide a 

permit exception to this prohibition. 

Changes to the Proposed Rule 

There are no changes in this final rule 

from the proposed rule. 

Classification 

The Regional Administrator, Pacific 

Islands Region, NMFS, has determined 

that this final rule is necessary for the 

conservation and management of the 

fisheries in the PRI Monument, and that 

it is consistent with the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act and other applicable 

laws. 

Executive Order 12866 

This final rule has been determined to 

be not significant for purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. 

Certification Under the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act 

The Chief Council for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Council for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration during 

the proposed rule stage that this action 

would not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. NMFS published the factual 

basis for the certification in the 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 57 / Wednesday, March 25, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 15695 

proposed rule and does not repeat it 

here. NMFS received no comments 

regarding this certification. As a result, 

a regulatory flexibility analysis was not 

required and none was prepared. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 665 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Commercial fishing, 

Fisheries, Monuments and memorials, 

Pacific Remote Islands. 

Dated: March 13, 2015. 

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 

665 as follows: 

PART 665—FISHERIES IN THE 

WESTERN PACIFIC 

■ 1. The authority citation for 50 CFR 

part 665 continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. Revise § 665.930 to read as follows: 

§ 665.930 Scope and purpose. 

The regulations in this subpart codify 

certain provisions of the Proclamations, 

and govern the administration of fishing 

in the Monument. 

■ 3. In § 665.931, revise paragraphs (a), 

(c), and (d) to read as follows: 

§ 665.931 Boundaries. 

* * * * * 

(a) Wake Island. The Wake Island unit 

of the Monument includes the waters 

and submerged and emergent lands 

around Wake Island to the seaward limit 

of the U.S. EEZ. 

* * * * * 

(c) Jarvis Island. The Jarvis Island unit 

of the Monument includes the waters 

and submerged and emergent lands 

around Jarvis Island to the seaward limit 

of the U.S. EEZ. 

(d) Johnston Atoll. The Johnston Atoll 

unit of the Monument includes the 

waters and submerged and emergent 

lands around Johnston Atoll to the 

seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ. 

* * * * * 

■ 4. In § 665.932, revise the definition of 

‘‘Monument’’, remove the definition of 

‘‘Proclamation’’, and add the definition 

of ‘‘Proclamations’’ in alphabetical order 

to read as follows: 

§ 665.932 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

Monument means the waters and 

submerged and emergent lands of the 

Pacific Remote Islands Marine National 

Monument and the Pacific Remote 

Islands Marine National Monument 

Expansion, as defined in § 665.931. 

Proclamations means Presidential 

Proclamation 8336 of January 6, 2009, 

‘‘Establishment of the Pacific Remote 

Islands Marine National Monument,’’ 

and Presidential Proclamation 9173 of 

September 29, 2014, ‘‘Pacific Remote 

Islands Marine National Monument 

Expansion.’’ 

[FR Doc. 2015–06402 Filed 3–24–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 141021887–5172–02] 

RIN 0648–XD846 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Reallocation of 

Pollock in the Bering Sea and Aleutian 

Islands 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is reallocating the 

projected unused amounts of the Aleut 

Corporation pollock directed fishing 

allowance from the Aleutian Islands 

subarea to the Bering Sea subarea. This 

action is necessary to provide 

opportunity for harvest of the 2015 total 

allowable catch of pollock, consistent 

with the goals and objectives of the 

Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands Management Area. 

DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local 

time (A.l.t.), March 25, 2015, through 

2400 hrs, A.l.t., December 31, 2015. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Steve Whitney, 907–586–7228. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

manages the groundfish fishery in the 

BSAI exclusive economic zone 

according to the Fishery Management 

Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea 

and Aleutian Islands Management Area 

(FMP) prepared by the North Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council) 

under authority of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act. Regulations governing 

fishing by U.S. vessels in accordance 

with the FMP appear at subpart H of 50 

CFR part 600 and 50 CFR part 679. 

In the Aleutian Islands subarea, the 

portion of the 2015 pollock total 

allowable catch (TAC) allocated to the 

Aleut Corporation directed fishing 

allowance (DFA) is 14,700 metric tons 

(mt) as established by the final 2015 and 

2016 harvest specifications for 

groundfish in the BSAI (80 FR 11919, 

March 5, 2015). 

As of March 17, 2015, the 

Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS, 

(Regional Administrator) has 

determined that 2,554 mt of the A 

season allowance of the Aleut 

Corporation pollock DFA in the 

Aleutian Islands subarea will not be 

harvested. Therefore, in accordance 

with § 679.20(a)(5)(iii)(B)(4), NMFS 

reallocates 2,554 mt of A season pollock 

DFA from the Aleutian Islands subarea 

to the 2015 Bering Sea subarea DFAs. 

The 2,554 mt of the A season Aleut 

Corporation pollock DFA is added to the 

2015 Bering Sea non-CDQ DFA. As a 

result, the 2015 harvest specifications 

for pollock in the Aleutian Islands 

subarea included in the final 2015 and 

2016 harvest specifications for 

groundfish in the BSAI (80 FR 11919, 

March 5, 2015, and 80 FR 12781, March 

11, 2015) are revised as follows: 12,146 

mt to the annual Aleut Corporation 

pollock DFA and 7,350 mt to the A 

season Aleut Corporation pollock DFA. 

Furthermore, pursuant to § 679.20(a)(5), 

Table 4 of the final 2015 and 2016 

harvest specifications for groundfish in 

the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (80 

FR 11919, March 5, 2015, and 80 FR 

12781, March 11, 2015), is revised to 

make 2015 pollock allocations 

consistent with this reallocation. This 

reallocation results in adjustments to 

the 2015 pollock allocations established 

at § 679.20(a)(5). 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with RULES