Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 10 / Friday, January 14, 2022 / Proposed Rules 2399 

section is exceeded in a fishing year, 

then during the following fishing year, 

the AA will file a notification with the 

Office of the Federal Register to reduce 

the length of the recreational fishing 

season by the amount necessary to 

ensure that the recreational ACL is not 

exceeded during the fishing year 

following the total ACL overage. 

However, the recreational fishing season 

will not be reduced in the following 

fishing year if NMFS determines, based 

on the best scientific information 

available, that the reduction in the 

recreational fishing season is 

unnecessary. The recreational ACL is 

22,850,811 lb (10,364,954 kg), round 

weight. 

(3) Total ACL. The total ACL, 

commercial and recreation ACLs 

combined, for Atlantic dolphin, is 

24,570,764 lb (11,145,111 kg), round 

weight. 

(b) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(i) If commercial landings for Atlantic 

wahoo, as estimated by the SRD, reach 

or are projected to reach the commercial 

ACL of 70,690 lb (32,064 kg), round 

weight, the AA will file a notification 

with the Office of the Federal Register 

to close the commercial sector for the 

remainder of the fishing year. * * * 

* * * * * 

(2) Recreational sector. As described 

in the FMP, if average annual 

recreational landings, when determined 

using 3-year geometric mean, exceed the 

recreational ACL of 2,814,613 lb 

(1,276,687 kg), round weight, then in 

the following fishing year, the AA will 

file a notification with the Office of the 

Federal Register to reduce the length of 

the recreational fishing season by the 

amount necessary to ensure that the 

recreational ACL is not exceeded during 

the fishing year following the 

recreational ACL overage determination. 

However, the length of the recreational 

fishing season will not be reduced in the 

following fishing year if NMFS 

determines, based on the best scientific 

information available, that the reduction 

in the recreational fishing season is 

unnecessary. 

[FR Doc. 2022–00635 Filed 1–13–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

RIN 0648–BK17 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Amendment 23 to the 

Northeast Multispecies Fishery 

Management Plan 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Announcement of availability of 

amendment; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

New England Fishery Management 

Council has transmitted Amendment 23 

to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery 

Management Plan, incorporating the 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

the Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, for 

review by the Secretary of Commerce, 

and is requesting comments from the 

public. This action would adjust the 

existing industry-funded at-sea 

monitoring program for groundfish 

sectors to improve the accuracy of 

collected catch data (landings and 

discards) and catch accounting in order 

to better determine total catch and effort 

and achieve coverage levels sufficient to 

minimize effects of potential monitoring 

bias. The measures recommended by the 

New England Fishery Management 

Council in Amendment 23 are intended 

to ensure there is a precise and accurate 

representation of catch to set catch 

limits at levels that prevent overfishing 

and to determine when catch limits are 

exceeded. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before March 15, 2022 

ADDRESSES: The New England Fishery 

Management Council (Council) has 

prepared an Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) for this action that 

describes the proposed measures in 

Amendment 23 to the Northeast 

Multispecies Fishery Management Plan 

(FMP) and other considered alternatives 

and analyzes the impacts of the 

proposed measures and alternatives. 

The Council transmitted the amendment 

to NMFS, including the EIS, a 

description of the Council’s preferred 

alternatives, the Council’s rationale for 

selecting each alternative, and a 

Regulatory Impact Review (RIR). Copies 

of supporting documents used by the 

Council, including the EIS and RIR, are 

available from: Thomas A. Nies, 

Executive Director, New England 

Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 

Street, Newburyport, MA 01950 and 

accessible via the internet in documents 

available at: https://www.nefmc.org/ 

library/amendment-23. 

You may submit comments, identified 

by NOAA–NMFS–2020–0144, by: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA– 

NMFS–2020–0144 in the Search box. 

Click the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, complete 

the required fields, and enter or attach 

your comments. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method 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 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: 

Mark Grant, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9145. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires that 

each Regional Fishery Management 

Council transmit any amendment it 

prepares to NMFS for review and 

approval, disapproval, or partial 

approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act 

also requires that NMFS, upon receiving 

an amendment and associated 

regulations deemed necessary by the 

Council to implement the amendment, 

immediately publish notification in the 

Federal Register that the amendment is 

available for public review and 

comment. The Council transmitted its 

final version of Amendment 23 to the 

Northeast Multispecies FMP 

(Amendment 23) to NMFS for review on 

August 9, 2021. On January 3, 2022, the 

Council submitted Amendment 23 

proposed rule regulations they deemed 

to be necessary and appropriate as 

specified in section 303(c) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act. 

The Council initiated Amendment 23 

to consider changes to the Northeast 

multispecies (groundfish) monitoring 

and reporting system to ensure it is 

providing the accurate catch 

information necessary to manage the 

fishery effectively and efficiently. The 

alternatives considered in this action 


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focus on measures that adjust the 

existing industry-funded sector 

monitoring program to better (1) 

determine effort and the total catch of 

target and regulated species; and (2) 

achieve monitoring coverage sufficient 

to minimize the effects of potential 

monitoring bias while maintaining 

flexibility to enhance fleet viability. To 

address these issues, the Council 

approved Amendment 23 that would: 

• Replace the current process for 

calculating an annual monitoring 

coverage target with a fixed coverage 

target as a percentage of trips. The 

coverage target would be 100 percent of 

trips for 4 years, as long as Federal 

funding can support agency and 

industry costs; 

• Set a baseline coverage target for 

when there is an absence of Federal 

funding to pay industry costs. The 

coverage target in that instance would 

default to 40 percent; 

• Allow for increased coverage in 

subsequent years (years 5+) when 

Federal funding is available to support 

industry costs; 

• Approve additional electronic 

monitoring (EM) technologies as an 

alternative to human at-sea monitors; 

• Exclude from the human at-sea 

monitoring requirement all trips in 

geographic areas with low groundfish 

catch; 

• Require periodic evaluation of the 

monitoring program and exclusions 

from the monitoring requirement; 

• Allow for removal of the 

management uncertainty buffer from the 

portion of the acceptable biological 

catch (ABC) allocated to the sector catch 

share when the monitoring coverage 

target is 100 percent; and 

• Grant authority to the Greater 

Atlantic Regional Administrator to 

revise sector reporting requirements to 

streamline reporting for the industry. 

Background 

The Northeast Multispecies FMP 

specifies the management measures for 

13 groundfish species (cod, haddock, 

yellowtail flounder, pollock, plaice, 

witch flounder, white hake, 

windowpane flounder, Atlantic halibut, 

winter flounder, redfish, ocean pout, 

and Atlantic wolffish) off the New 

England and Mid-Atlantic coasts. The 

Northeast multispecies fishery occurs 

from Maine to North Carolina, although 

most fishing activity takes place north of 

New Jersey. The fishery has a 

recreational component and a 

commercial component. The 

commercial component is comprised of 

the common pool and the sector system. 

NMFS manages fishing by vessels in the 

common pool with a suite of effort 

controls, including limits to the number 

of days-at-sea that vessels may fish and 

possession limits for various species. 

The sector system is a voluntary catch 

share program where vessels form legal 

entities, called sectors. NMFS allocates 

each sector annual catch entitlements, 

subdivisions of annual catch limits 

(ACL), for most groundfish species. The 

annual catch entitlements are based on 

the collective catch history of the 

sector’s members. NMFS also grants 

each sector exemptions from many 

effort controls in exchange for the sector 

monitoring and managing the catch of 

all member vessels. 

The Groundfish Sector System 

Amendment 16 (75 FR 18261; April 9, 

2010), which became effective on May 

1, 2010, expanded the sector 

management program and adopted a 

process for setting ACLs for the 

groundfish fishery. Each sector must 

submit an operations plan and sector 

contract to the Regional Administrator, 

and must receive approval to operate for 

a fishing year. The sector contract binds 

all members to the sector and to each 

other for a fishing year. The sector 

operations plan, once approved by 

NMFS, is an enforceable set of 

requirements governing how the sector 

and its members operate, including 

administrative measures (e.g., sector 

fees and membership rules) and fishing 

operations. The Council specified a 

number of operational requirements for 

sectors and require that sector 

operations plans explain how the sector 

will meet the requirements and operate. 

Sector operations plans and/or contracts 

must contain a number of elements. 

Required elements are codified at 

§ 648.87(b)(2), and additional 

requirements are specified by NMFS in 

the Sector Operations Plan, Contract, 

and Environmental Assessment 

Requirements posted at: https://bit.ly/ 

3pdau1L. 

The Sector Monitoring Program 

Amendment 16 also updated the 

requirements for sector and common 

pool monitoring programs, including 

requirements for industry-funded at-sea 

monitoring (ASM) and dockside 

monitoring (DSM). Amendment 16 

required each sector to implement an 

industry-funded monitoring program as 

part of its approved operations plan. 

Each sector must monitor catch 

(landings and discards) by participating 

sector vessels to ensure that the sector 

does not exceed its allocated quotas 

during the fishing year. Each sector 

must determine all species landings by 

stock areas; apply discard estimates to 

landings; deduct catch from each quota 

allocated to the sector; and report the 

sector’s catch on a weekly basis to 

NMFS. Sectors are required to pay for 

their monitoring costs to the extent they 

are not covered by Federal funds. 

Sectors may use EM systems (e.g., 

cameras and hydraulic sensors) in place 

of human at-sea monitors if NMFS has 

approved the EM method and 

technology. Currently, sectors can use 

the audit model EM method and 

technology, which we have described in 

more detail below. 

Framework Adjustment 48 (78 FR 

26117; May 3, 2013) specified the 

overall goals and objectives of the 

groundfish monitoring program and 

discontinued the DSM program. 

Framework 55 (81 FR 26411; May 2, 

2016) clarified that the primary goal of 

the monitoring program is to verify area 

fished, catch, and discards by species 

and gear type; and should be done in 

the most cost effective means 

practicable. Framework 55 further 

clarified that all other goals and 

objectives of groundfish monitoring 

programs are equally weighted 

secondary goals. Additionally, 

Framework 55 modified the method 

used to set the coverage target for the 

industry-funded sector ASM program 

and excluded certain types of 

groundfish trips with low groundfish 

catch from the monitoring requirement. 

Amendment 23 would revise the 

monitoring program further to improve 

catch accounting and management of 

the groundfish sector program fishery. 

Amendment 23 would require sectors 

to meet the coverage level for each year, 

as described below. The amendment 

includes an exemption for vessels that 

fish on trips that occur entirely west of 

71°30′ W longitude. This provision is 

intended to reduce the monitoring 

burden on vessels that fish in areas 

where groundfish catch is minimal. 

Monitoring Coverage Target Calculation 

Current regulations at 

§ 648.87(b)(1)(v)(B)(1)(i) set forth an 

annual process for determining the 

target at-sea coverage rate for the sector 

monitoring program, which must be less 

than 100 percent. NMFS is required to 

determine an ASM coverage target that 

is sufficient to at least meet the 

coefficient of variation (CV) specified in 

the Standardized Bycatch Reporting 

Methodology at the overall stock level 

for each stock of regulated species and 

ocean pout, and to monitor sector 

operations, to the extent practicable, in 

order to reliably estimate overall catch 

by sector vessels. Framework 55 revised 

the method used to calculate the 

coverage target necessary to meet the CV 

standard to make the program more cost 


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effective and smooth the fluctuations in 

the annual coverage level to provide 

additional stability for the fishing 

industry. NMFS determines the 

coverage target for the upcoming fishing 

year based on the most recent 3-year 

average of the total required coverage 

level necessary to reach the required CV 

for each stock. For each stock, the 

coverage level needed to achieve the 

required CV is calculated first for each 

of the 3 years and then averaged. The 

coverage level that will apply is the 

maximum stock-specific level after 

considering several criteria. For a given 

fishing year, stocks that are not 

overfished, with overfishing not 

occurring according to the most recent 

available stock assessment, and that in 

the previous fishing year have less than 

75 percent of the sector sub-ACL 

harvested and less than 10 percent of 

catch comprised of discards, are not 

used to set the coverage target. A stock 

must meet all of these criteria to be 

eliminated from use as the annual 

coverage target for a given year. This 

prescriptive methodology is used to 

calculate the ASM coverage target that 

would meet the CV standard, but NMFS 

must also ensure that the coverage target 

reliably estimates overall catch by sector 

vessels. Accordingly, NMFS considers 

factors beyond the coverage target that 

meets the CV standard and in recent 

years has set an ASM coverage target 

above the minimum to account for bias 

in the monitoring program. 

Amendment 23 would replace the 

current process for calculating an 

annual monitoring coverage target with 

a fixed coverage target as a percentage 

of trips. The coverage target would be 

100 percent of trips for 4 years, as long 

as Federal funding can pay for both 

agency and industry costs. The 

amendment would set a baseline 

coverage target for when there is an 

absence of Federal funding to pay 

industry’s costs. In that instance, the 

coverage target would default to 40 

percent. Amendment 23 would also 

allow for increased coverage in 

subsequent years, i.e., for years 5 and 

beyond, when Federal funding is 

available to pay for industry’s costs. 

Electronic Monitoring 

Beginning in 2016, NMFS worked 

with members of industry and other 

stakeholders to develop EM as a tool to 

meet the sector monitoring 

requirements. In December 2019, NMFS 

notified the Council of its intent to 

expand EM and allow sectors to submit 

an EM plan as part of the fishing years 

2021–2022 sector operations plan 

approval process. On March 31, 2021, 

NMFS announced its determination that 

the EM audit model is sufficient for use 

instead of ASM to meet sector 

monitoring and reporting requirements 

(86 FR 16687). 

Amendment 23 would implement two 

EM programs that sector vessels could 

use to satisfy the sector monitoring 

requirement. Amendment 23 does not 

remove or alter the existing authority for 

the Regional Administrator to deem 

types of EM technology sufficient to be 

used in place of human at-sea monitors. 

However, the two EM models in 

Amendment 23 would be available for 

sectors to include in their operations 

plans without requiring a separate 

determination by the Regional 

Administrator. The audit model, as 

described in the rule announcing its 

approval, is one of the EM models 

included in Amendment 23 (86 FR 

16687; March 31, 2021). Amendment 23 

would also allow the maximized 

retention EM model (MREM). 

Under the MREM model, on all sector 

EM trips, the vessel operator and crew 

are required to retain and land all catch 

of allocated groundfish, including fish 

below the minimum size that they 

would otherwise be required to discard. 

Unallocated groundfish and nongroundfish species must be handled in 

accordance with standard commercial 

fishing operations. Any allowable 

discards must occur at designated 

discard control points on the vessel, 

described in the vessel-specific 

monitoring plan. EM data from the trip 

would be reviewed by the EM service 

provider to verify that the vessel 

operator and crew complied with the 

catch retention requirements. A human 

dockside monitor would meet the vessel 

at port upon its return from each trip to 

observe the offload and collect 

information on the catch. Landings of 

all fish, including fish below the 

minimum size in the regulations, are 

reported to NMFS by the dealer. 

Sector Reporting Requirements 

Amendment 16 established sector 

monitoring requirements, codified at 

§ 648.87(b)(1)(v), and sector reporting 

requirements, codified at 

§ 648.87(b)(1)(vi). Each sector must 

submit weekly reports to NMFS. When 

a sector has caught 90 percent of any 

quota, that sector must submit daily 

catch reports. Each sector must also 

submit an annual report that 

summarizes the fishing activities of 

participating vessels. In addition to the 

reporting requirements applicable to all 

commercial groundfish vessels, sector 

vessels must submit additional 

information through their vessel 

monitoring systems. 

At the time the reporting 

requirements were developed for 

Amendment 16, sectors were expected 

to use real-time information from their 

vessels to monitor catch. In practice, 

NMFS provides sector managers with a 

weekly download of official trip data 

(dealer and vessel trip report landings 

data, observer discard data, and 

calculated discard rates for unobserved 

trips), which most sectors use to update 

their sector accounting and then submit 

a weekly report to NMFS. Some sectors 

use data collected directly from vessels 

in their reports. Data reconciliation 

occurs regularly between the sectors and 

NMFS to improve monitoring accuracy 

by identifying and resolving any data 

errors in either the sector’s or NMFS’ 

information. 

Amendment 23 would authorize the 

Regional Administrator to modify the 

sector monitoring requirements at 

§ 648.87(b)(1)(v) and the sector reporting 

requirements at § 648.87(b)(1)(vi) to 

streamline the sector reporting process. 

More efficient methods might be 

developed that would still involve 

timely monitoring and reconciliation of 

data sources between sectors and 

NMFS. For example, NMFS could 

eliminate the requirement for sectors to 

submit weekly and daily reports and 

instead the agency would provide 

monitoring summaries for the sectors to 

use for catch accounting and managing 

annual catch entitlements, while 

continuing the process where NMFS 

and sectors reconcile catch data to 

confirm accuracy. Authorizing the 

Regional Administrator to streamline 

the sector reporting process could help 

to reduce reporting redundancies, 

provide flexibility to sectors and sector 

managers, and improve timeliness of 

data processing. 

Management Uncertainty Buffer 

In 2010, Amendment 16 implemented 

new requirements of the MagnusonStevens Act, including ACLs and 

accountability measures. Amendment 

16 included a process for setting an 

overfishing limit (OFL) for groundfish 

stocks. The OFL represents the 

maximum amount of fish that can be 

caught in a year without resulting in 

overfishing. The Council typically 

recommends an ABC for a groundfish 

stock that is lower than the OFL to 

account for scientific uncertainty. The 

Council sets an ACL at a level below the 

ABC to account for management 

uncertainty, and this serves as a buffer 

to prevent the fishery from exceeding 

the ABC. The management uncertainty 

buffer accounts for the possibility that 

management measures will result in a 

level of catch greater than expected. The 


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current process for evaluating 

management uncertainty buffers 

includes consideration of the following 

elements: (1) Enforceability of 

management measures; (2) monitoring 

adequacy (including timeliness, 

completeness, and accuracy of 

monitoring data); (3) precision; (4) latent 

effort; and (5) other fishery catch. 

The Council evaluates the 

management uncertainty buffers in each 

specification setting action. The current 

default adjustment for management 

uncertainty for groundfish stocks is 5 

percent of the ABC. For stocks with less 

management uncertainty, the buffer is 

set at 3 percent of the ABC; for stocks 

with more uncertainty, the buffer is set 

at 7 percent of the ABC. Stocks not 

caught in state waters have a lower 

management uncertainty buffer of 3 

percent of the ABC; zero possession, 

discard-only stocks have a higher 

management uncertainty buffer of 7 

percent of the ABC. 

Amendment 23 would remove the 

management uncertainty buffer from the 

portion of the ABC allocated to the 

sector catch share when the monitoring 

coverage target is 100 percent. The 

revised management uncertainty buffers 

would apply only to sectors, and not to 

the common pool component of the 

fishery, or other sub-ACLs or subcomponents for any stocks. After NMFS 

determines the coverage target for a 

fishing year, NMFS will remove the 

management uncertainty buffer from the 

sector allocation in any year the 

coverage target is 100 percent. If Federal 

funds are not available for 100 percent 

coverage and a lower target coverage 

level is set, the management uncertainty 

buffers would be in place for that 

fishing year, subject to the Council’s 

review as part of each specification 

action. 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act allows us 

to approve, partially approve, or 

disapprove measures recommended by 

the Council in an amendment based on 

whether the measures are consistent 

with the FMP, plan amendment, the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act and its National 

Standards, and other applicable law. 

The Council develops policy 

recommendations for its fisheries and 

NMFS review and approves the 

recommendations after considering 

consistency the Magnuson-Steven Act 

and other applicable law. As such, we 

are seeking comment on whether the 

measures in Amendment 23 are 

consistent with the FMP, the MagnusonStevens Act and its National Standards, 

and other applicable law, including 

whether the Amendment’s measures 

will achieve its goals and objectives. 

Through this notice, NMFS seeks 

comments on Amendment 23 and its 

incorporated documents through the 

end of the comment period stated in the 

DATES section of this notice of 

availability (NOA). Following the 

publication of this NOA, a rule 

proposing the implementation of 

measures in this amendment is 

anticipated to be published in the 

Federal Register for public comment. 

Public comments must be received by 

the end of the comment period provided 

in this NOA of Amendment 23 to be 

considered in the approval/disapproval 

decision. All comments received by the 

end of the comment period on the NOA, 

whether specifically directed to the 

NOA or the proposed rule, will be 

considered in the approval/disapproval 

decision. Comments received after the 

end of the comment period for the NOA 

will not be considered in the approval/ 

disapproval decision of Amendment 23. 

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

Dated: January 11, 2022. 

Ngagne Jafnar Gueye, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–00677 Filed 1–13–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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