10762 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 38 / Friday, February 25, 2022 / Proposed Rules 

‘‘While we anticipate changes to the 

number of respondents and our active 

time estimates for the Part C and Part D 

applications, if this proposal is finalized 

we would revise control numbers 0938– 

0935 (CMS–10237) and 0938–0936 

(CMS–10137) for the 2025 plan year 

application and prior to the effective 

date of the requirement. The CMS– 

10237 and CMS–10137 collection of 

information materials would be made 

available to the public for review/ 

comment under the standard PRA 

process which includes the publication 

of 60- and 30-day Federal Register 

notices and the posting of the collection 

of information documents on our PRA 

website.’’ 

Karuna Seshasai, 

Executive Secretary to the Department, 

Department of Health and Human Services. 

[FR Doc. 2022–03966 Filed 2–24–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 220222–0052] 

RIN 0648–BL15 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Spiny Dogfish Fishery; 

2022 Specifications and Trip Limit 

Adjustment 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes Atlantic 

spiny dogfish specifications for the 2022 

fishing year, and an adjustment to the 

commercial trip limit, as recommended 

by the Mid-Atlantic and New England 

Fishery Management Councils. This 

action is necessary to establish 

allowable harvest levels and other 

management measures to prevent 

overfishing while enabling optimum 

yield, using the best scientific 

information available. This rulemaking 

also informs the public of the proposed 

fishery action and provides an 

opportunity for comment. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

March 14, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2022–0008, 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–2022–0008’’ 

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). If you are unable 

to submit your comment through 

www.regulations.gov, contact Cynthia 

Ferrio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

Cynthia.Ferrio@noaa.gov. 

Copies of the Supplemental 

Information Report (SIR) and other 

supporting documents for this action are 

available upon request from Dr. 

Christopher M. Moore, Executive 

Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, Suite 201, 800 

North State Street, Dover, DE 19901. 

These documents are also accessible via 

the internet at http://www.mafmc.org/ 

supporting-documents. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9180. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Mid-Atlantic and New England 

Fishery Management Councils jointly 

manage the Atlantic Spiny Dogfish 

Fishery Management Plan (FMP), with 

the Mid-Atlantic Council acting as the 

administrative lead. Additionally, the 

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 

Commission manages the spiny dogfish 

fishery in state waters from Maine to 

North Carolina through an interstate 

fishery management plan. The federal 

FMP requires the specification of an 

acceptable biological catch (ABC), 

annual catch limit (ACL), annual catch 

target (ACT), total allowable landings 

(TAL), and a coastwide commercial 

quota. These limits and other related 

management measures may be set for up 

to five fishing years at a time, with each 

fishing year running from May 1 

through April 30. This action proposes 

status quo specifications for fishing year 

2022, and an increased commercial trip 

limit for the Atlantic spiny dogfish 

fishery, as recommended by the 

Councils. 

The spiny dogfish fishery is currently 

operating under multi-year 

specifications for fishing years 2021 and 

2022 based on a 2020 assessment update 

and the Mid-Atlantic Council’s updated 

risk policy. The 2021 trawl survey 

conducted by the Northeast Fisheries 

Science Center showed little change 

from recent years in the spiny dogfish 

stock. As a result, the Mid-Atlantic 

Council’s Scientific and Statistical 

Committee (SSC), the Spiny Dogfish 

Monitoring Committee, and the Joint 

Spiny Dogfish Committee (which 

includes members from both Councils) 

all agreed that no changes are necessary 

to the previously-projected 

specifications for fishing year 2022. 

Upon review, both Councils also 

recommended status quo catch 

specifications for 2022. 

During meetings of the Spiny Dogfish 

Advisory Panel and Committees in 

2021, industry representatives requested 

an increase in the federal commercial 

trip limit as a way to provide more 

economic stability and opportunity to 

fully achieve the commercial quotas 

provided to the fishery. The commercial 

fishery has consistently harvested less 

than 60 percent of the coastwide quota 

in the past five years (with one 

exception in 2019 when there was a 

substantially smaller quota). Changes to 

the trip limit have been considered in 

recent years without action to this point. 

The different management committees 

decided that a moderate increase of 25 

percent could provide the requested 

flexibility and opportunity while 

minimizing risk of negative impacts to 

the resource or markets. Both Councils 

reviewed and approved this decision at 

their respective meetings in October and 

December 2021, and recommended 

increasing the 6,000-lb (2,722-kg) 

commercial trip limit to 7,500 lb (3,402 

kg) through this proposed action. 

Proposed Measures 

This action proposes the Councils’ 

recommendations for status quo 2022 

spiny dogfish specifications (Table 1), 

and a 25-percent increase to the 

commercial trip limit from 6,000 lb 

(2,722 kg) per trip to 7,500 lb (3,402 kg) 

per trip. These proposed measures are 

consistent with the SSC, Joint 

Committee, and Monitoring Committee 

recommendations (Table 1). 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 38 / Friday, February 25, 2022 / Proposed Rules 10763 

TABLE 1—PROPOSED STATUS QUO

SPINY DOGFISH FISHERY SPECIFICATIONS FOR FISHING YEAR 2022 

2021–2022 

Million lb Metric tons 

ABC .......... 38.58 17,498 

ACL = ACT 38.48 17,453 

TAL ........... 29.68 13,461 

Commercial 

Quota .... 29.56 13,408 

There is a research track stock 

assessment in progress for Atlantic 

spiny dogfish. This assessment is 

expected to inform development of the 

next set of specifications beginning in 

fishing year 2023. 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the 

Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation 

and Management Act (MagnusonStevens Act), the NMFS Assistant 

Administrator has determined that this 

proposed rule is consistent with the 

Atlantic Spiny Dogfish FMP, other 

provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, and other applicable law, subject to 

further consideration after public 

comment. 

The Councils reviewed the proposed 

regulations for this action and deemed 

them necessary and appropriate to 

implement consistent with section 

303(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 

This proposed 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 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 Councils conducted an 

evaluation of the potential 

socioeconomic impacts of the proposed 

measures in conjunction with a SIR. The 

proposed action would maintain status 

quo specifications for fishing year 2022, 

and would increase the vessel 

possession limit of spiny dogfish per 

trip by 25 percent. 

This proposed action would affect 

entities that participate in commercial 

spiny dogfish fishing (those that hold 

commercial spiny dogfish permits). 

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, 1,934 

separate vessels held commercial spiny 

dogfish permits in 2020, the most recent 

year of fully available data. A total of 

1,513 commercial entities owned those 

permitted vessels, and of those entities, 

1,504 are categorized as small 

businesses, and 9 as large businesses. 

The proposed specifications are 

expected to provide similar fishing 

opportunities when compared to the 

previous fishing year as no annual catch 

limits are changing. The trip limit 

adjustment is expected to provide 

increased operational flexibility and 

opportunity to fully harvest the 

coastwide quota without increasing risk 

to the resource or substantially changing 

fishing behavior. Entities issued a 

commercial spiny dogfish permit may 

experience a slight positive impact 

related to the potential for higher 

landings each trip. However, effort in 

the fishery remains dependent on 

market conditions and pricing rather 

than management measures such as trip 

limits. As such, the proposed action is 

not expected to have an impact on the 

way the fishery operates or the revenue 

of small entities. 

Overall, analyses indicate that the 

overall economic impact of this 

proposed action is expected to be 

slightly positive, and that these 

measures are not expected to 

substantially change fishing effort, the 

risk of overfishing, prices/revenues, or 

fishery behavior. Therefore, the 

Councils concluded, and NMFS agrees, 

that this action would not have a 

significant adverse 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. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648 

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: February 22, 2022. 

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 proposed 

to be 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. In § 648.235, revise paragraph (a)(1) 

to read as follows: 

§ 648.235 Spiny dogfish possession and 

landing restrictions. 

(a) * * * 

(1) Possess up to 7,500 lb (3,402 kg) 

of spiny dogfish per trip; and 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2022–04042 Filed 2–24–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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