[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 10 (Friday, January 14, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2399-2402]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00677]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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:
    <bullet> 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

[[Page 2400]]

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:
    <bullet> 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;
    <bullet> 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;
    <bullet> Allow for increased coverage in subsequent years (years 
5+) when Federal funding is available to support industry costs;
    <bullet> Approve additional electronic monitoring (EM) technologies 
as an alternative to human at-sea monitors;
    <bullet> Exclude from the human at-sea monitoring requirement all 
trips in geographic areas with low groundfish catch;
    <bullet> Require periodic evaluation of the monitoring program and 
exclusions from the monitoring requirement;
    <bullet> 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
    <bullet> 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 Sec.  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[deg]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 Sec.  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

[[Page 2401]]

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 non-
groundfish 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 Sec.  648.87(b)(1)(v), and sector reporting requirements, codified 
at Sec.  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 Sec.  648.87(b)(1)(v) and the 
sector reporting requirements at Sec.  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 Magnuson-
Stevens 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

[[Page 2402]]

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 sub-components 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 Magnuson-Stevens 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