Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 18, 2022 / Proposed Rules 2587 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 

Greenhouse gases, Incorporation by 

reference, Intergovernmental relations, 

Lead, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 

Particulate matter, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur 

oxides, Volatile organic compounds. 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq. 

Dated: January 11, 2022. 

KC Becker, 

Regional Administrator, Region 8. 

[FR Doc. 2022–00777 Filed 1–14–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 220110–0007] 

RTID 0648–XX075 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Northeast Skate Complex; 2022 

and 2023 Specifications 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes Northeast 

skate specifications for the 2022 fishing 

year, and projects specifications for 

fishing year 2023, as recommended by 

the New England Fishery Management 

Council. This action is necessary to 

establish annual allowable harvest 

levels for the skate fishery that prevent 

overfishing while enabling optimum 

yield, using the best scientific 

information available. This rule also 

informs the public of the proposed 

fishery specifications and provides an 

opportunity for comment. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

February 17, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2021–0116, by the following 

method: 

Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. 

1. Go to https://www.regulations.gov, 

and enter ‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2021–0116’’ 

in the Search box; 

2. Click the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields; and 

3. Enter or attach your comments. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, 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). 

Copies of the Supplemental 

Information Report (SIR) and other 

supporting documents for this action are 

available upon request from Thomas A. 

Nies, Executive Director, New England 

Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 

Street, Newburyport, MA 01950. These 

documents are also accessible via the 

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

management-plans/skates. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9180. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The New England Fishery 

Management Council (Council) manages 

a complex of seven skate species 

(barndoor, clearnose, little, rosette, 

smooth, thorny, and winter skate) in the 

New England and Mid-Atlantic regions 

under the Northeast Skate Complex 

Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Skates 

are harvested and managed in two 

different fishery sectors, one for food 

(the wing fishery) and one for bait used 

in other fisheries (the bait fishery). The 

FMP requires the review and 

specification of annual skate harvest 

limits, including: An annual catch limit 

(ACL), an annual catch target (ACT), a 

fishery-level total allowable landings 

limit (TAL), separate TALs for the wing 

and bait fisheries, and other 

management measures, as needed, for 

up to two fishing years (FY) at a time. 

This action proposes skate 

specifications for the 2022 fishing year, 

and projects specifications for 2023, as 

recommended by the Council. The 

current specifications that were 

implemented through Framework 

Adjustment 8 to the FMP (85 FR 33579; 

June 2, 2020) expire on April 30, 2022, 

but will roll over beyond that date until 

a final rule for new specifications is in 

effect. 

Proposed Specifications 

This action proposes the Council’s 

recommended northeast skate fishery 

specifications for fishing year 2022 and 

projects unchanged specifications for 

fishing year 2023. These proposed catch 

limits are consistent with 

recommendations from the Council’s 

SSC, Skate Committee, and Skate Plan 

Development Team (Skate PDT). The 

resulting proposed specifications would 

increase all catch limits by at least 14 

percent in fishing year 2022, largely as 

a result of increased skate biomass 

throughout the complex. A comparison 

of the current 2021 and the proposed 

2022–2023 specifications is summarized 

below in Table 1. The Council will 

review the projected 2023 specifications 

to determine if any changes need to be 

made prior to the 2023 fishing year. We 

will publish a notice prior to the 2023 

fishing year to confirm these limits as 

projected or a proposed rule for any 

necessary changes. 

TABLE 1—COMPARISON OF CURRENT 2021, AND PROPOSED 2022–2023 SKATE FISHERY SPECIFICATIONS, IN METRIC

TONS

2021 

(current) 

2022–23 

(proposed) 

Percent 

change 

ABC/ACL ...................................................................................................................................... 32,715 37,236 +14 

ACT .............................................................................................................................................. 29,444 33,513 +14 

Overall Fishery TAL ..................................................................................................................... 17,864 21,142 +18 

Wing TAL (66.5% of Overall TAL) ............................................................................................... 11,879 14,059 +18 

Wing Season 1 TAL (57% of Wing TAL) .................................................................................... 6,771 8,014 +18 

Wing Season 2 TAL .................................................................................................................... 5,108 6,045 +18 

Bait TAL (33.5% of Overall TAL) ................................................................................................. 5,984 7,082 +18 

Bait Season 1 TAL (30.8% of Bait TAL) ..................................................................................... 1,843 2,181 +18 

Bait Season 2 TAL (37.1% of Bait TAL) ..................................................................................... 2,220 2,627 +18 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
2588 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 18, 2022 / Proposed Rules 

TABLE 1—COMPARISON OF CURRENT 2021, AND PROPOSED 2022–2023 SKATE FISHERY SPECIFICATIONS, IN METRIC

TONS—Continued 

2021 

(current) 

2022–23 

(proposed) 

Percent 

change 

Bait Season 3 TAL ...................................................................................................................... 1,921 2,274 +18 

The Council did not recommend 

changes to regulations governing the 

skate fishery. Although the Skate PDT 

considered increasing trip limits along 

these proposed specifications, no 

changes to other management measures 

are recommended. Trip limits were 

recently raised in both the wing and bait 

fisheries through Framework 

Adjustment 8 to the Skate FMP (85 FR 

23240; April 27, 2020), and it was 

determined that it is unnecessary to 

consider trip limit changes again at this 

time. 

Classification 

Consistent with regulations at 50 CFR 

648.320, the NMFS Assistant 

Administrator has determined that this 

proposed rule is consistent with the 

Northeast Skate Complex FMP, the 

Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation 

and Management Act, and other 

applicable law, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 

This action is exempt from review 

under Executive Order 12866 because it 

contains no implementing regulations. 

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration that this 

proposed rule, if adopted, would not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

The factual basis for this determination 

is as follows. 

The Council conducted an evaluation 

of the potential socioeconomic impacts 

of the proposed measures in 

conjunction with a SIR. There are no 

proposed regulatory changes in this 

skate action, so none are considered in 

the evaluation. The proposed 

specifications would increase quotas in 

both the wing and bait skate fisheries by 

18 percent in fishing year 2022 and 

maintain these proposed catch limits 

with no changes for fishing year 2023. 

This action proposes no changes to 

other management measures beyond 

specifications, such as per-trip 

possession limits. 

This proposed action would affect 

entities that participate in commercial 

skate fishing (those that hold 

commercial skate permits and/or report 

skate landings). Vessels may hold 

multiple fishing permits and some 

entities own multiple vessels and/or 

permits. According to the Northeast 

Fisheries Science Center commercial 

ownership database, 295 commercial 

fishing affiliate firms owning 321 

vessels landed skates during the 2018– 

2020 period (the most recent and 

complete data available), and all 295 of 

those commercial entities are 

categorized as small businesses. 

The proposed specifications are 

expected to provide some additional 

operational flexibility and opportunity 

within the skate fishery without 

increasing risk to the resource or 

substantially changing fishing behavior. 

Under this action, the annual coastwide 

quotas would increase, but there are no 

proposed changes to the management 

measures (such as per-trip possession 

limits) that are most likely to affect 

fishery behavior. While entities issued a 

commercial skate permit may 

experience a slight positive impact 

related to potentially higher landings 

throughout the course of the entire year, 

short-term landings are not expected to 

increase. Additionally, fishing behavior 

and short-term landings are often based 

on market conditions, which are not 

expected to substantially change as a 

result of these specifications. As such, 

the proposed action is not expected to 

have an impact on the way the fishery 

operates/fishing behavior, or a 

substantial impact on the revenue of 

small entities. 

Overall, the Council’s analyses 

indicate that the overall economic 

impact of this proposed action is 

expected to be slightly positive, and that 

the proposed specifications are not 

expected to substantially change fishing 

effort, the risk of overfishing, prices/ 

revenues, or fishery behavior. Therefore, 

the Council concluded, and NMFS 

agrees, that this action would not have 

a significant impact on a substantial 

number of small businesses. As a result, 

an initial regulatory flexibility analysis 

is not required and none has been 

prepared. 

This action would not establish any 

new reporting or record-keeping 

requirements. 

This proposed rule contains no 

information collection requirements 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995. 

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

Dated: January 10, 2022. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–00629 Filed 1–14–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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