Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 45 / Tuesday, March 8, 2022 / Notices 12939 

information collection should be 

submitted within 30 days of the 

publication of this notice on the 

following website www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 

selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function and 

entering either the title of the collection 

or the OMB Control Number 0648–0773. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Chief Information Officer, Commerce 

Department. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04849 Filed 3–7–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB816] 

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; 

General Provisions for Domestic 

Fisheries; Application for Exempted 

Fishing Permits 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional 

Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, 

Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has 

made a preliminary determination that 

a proposed exempted fishing permit 

contains all of the required information 

and warrants further consideration. This 

exempted fishing permit would allow 

Atlantic herring vessels to use electronic 

monitoring, coupled with portside 

sampling, in lieu of at-sea monitoring to 

satisfy their industry-funded monitoring 

requirements during 2022. Regulations 

under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

require publication of this notification 

to provide interested parties the 

opportunity to comment on applications 

for proposed exempted fishing permits. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before March 23, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit written 

comments by the following method: 

• Email: nmfs.gar.efp@noaa.gov. 

Include in the subject line ‘‘HERRING 

EM EFP.’’ 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Maria Fenton, Fishery Management 

Specialist, 978–281–9196. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The New England Fishery 

Management Council took final action 

on the New England Industry-Funded 

Monitoring (IFM) Omnibus Amendment 

in 2018 and recommended a 50-percent 

coverage target for at-sea monitoring 

(ASM) coverage aboard vessels issued a 

Category A or B herring permit. This 50- 

percent coverage target includes a 

combination of Standardized Bycatch 

Reporting Methodology (SBRM) and 

IFM coverage. IFM coverage 

requirements may be waived on a tripby-trip basis if monitoring coverage is 

unavailable, if vessels intend to land 

less than 50 mt of herring, or if vessels 

carry no fish on pair trawling trips (i.e., 

wing vessels). The IFM Amendment 

also included a provision allowing 

midwater trawl vessels to purchase 

observer coverage in order to fish in 

Groundfish Closed Areas (GCA). 

The Council reviewed the results from 

a midwater trawl electronic monitoring 

(EM) pilot study and concluded that a 

combination of EM and portside 

sampling was an appropriate substitute 

for ASM aboard midwater trawl vessels. 

However, rather than including EM and 

portside requirements in the IFM 

Amendment, the Council recommended 

that NMFS administer EM and portside 

sampling via an exempted fishing 

permit (EFP) for midwater trawl vessels 

during the first 2 years of IFM in the 

herring fishery. The Council is required 

to evaluate the effectiveness of the 

herring IFM program 2 years after 

implementation of the amendment. In 

July 2021, NMFS issued an EFP 

authorizing six herring vessels to use 

EM and portside sampling in lieu of 

ASM to satisfy their IFM requirements 

during the first year of IFM in the 

herring fishery. The issuance of this 

2022 EFP would cover the second year 

of IFM in the herring fishery. The 

Council would consider lessons learned 

through the 2021 and 2022 EFPs when 

reviewing herring IFM requirements and 

considering how to most effectively and 

efficiently administer an EM and 

portside sampling program for the 

herring fishery. 

Herring fishing effort has been limited 

in IFM year 2021 due to low annual 

catch limits (ACL). As of February 15, 

2022, participating vessels completed 27 

trips under the 2021 EFP: 

• Eight trips were selected for IFM 

coverage. Coverage waivers were issued 

for seven of these trips, and one was 

portside sampled; 

• One GCA trip was taken, and that 

trip was portside sampled; and 

• Twelve trips were eligible for EM 

video review (i.e., there was fishing 

effort). Video review had been 

completed for 11 of these trips. 

Findings from the voluntary EM 

study, as well as analyses in the 

Environmental Assessment for the IFM 

Amendment, suggest that EM and 

portside sampling may be a more costeffective monitoring option than at-sea 

monitors or observers for the herring 

fishery. Developing another permanent 

monitoring option for the herring 

fishery would give herring vessels 

additional flexibility to select the most 

cost-effective monitoring option for 

their fishing operations, which would 

help mitigate the negative economic 

impacts of recent reductions to herring 

ACLs. Additionally, information 

gathered through this EFP would also 

help further evaluate the utility of EM 

and portside sampling to monitor 

fishing in GCAs, and to monitor herring 

vessels fishing with purse seine or 

bottom trawl gear. 

Project Description 

The project period for this EFP would 

cover IFM year 2022 (April 1, 2022– 

March 31, 2023), contingent upon 

availability of funds. Under this EFP, up 

to 21 vessels holding Category A or B 

herring permits would be required to 

run EM systems (video cameras and gear 

sensors) on 100 percent of declared 

herring trips, except under the following 

circumstance: If a vessel using midwater 

trawl gear intends to operate as a wing 

vessel on a trip (meaning it will pair 

trawl with another midwater trawl 

vessel but will not pump or carry any 

fish onboard), and NMFS issues the 

wing vessel a waiver from IFM 

requirements for that trip, the wing 

vessel does not need to run its EM 

system during that trip. Declared 

herring trips include any trips declared 

using the herring (HER) plan code, or 

any trips where the vessel indicates that 

it is retaining herring when 

participating in the Atlantic mackerel 

(e.g., mackerel trip with herring 

retention (MAH), mackerel trip with 

herring and squid retention (MHS)) or 

the squid fishery (e.g., longfin squid trip 

with herring retention (SLH), longfin 

squid trip with herring and mackerel 

retention (LHM), Illex squid trip with 

herring retention (SIH), Illex squid trip 

with herring and mackerel 

retention(IHM)). 

The purpose of EM is to confirm catch 

retention and verify compliance with 

slippage restrictions. Participating 

vessels would be required to run EM 

systems regardless of whether they are 

carrying an SBRM observer on trips that 

are selected for SBRM coverage. 

Participating vessels would be required 

to adhere to all normal reporting 


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12940 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 45 / Tuesday, March 8, 2022 / Notices 

requirements, except as exempted 

through this EFP. Participating vessels 

would be required to adhere to 

individual Vessel Monitoring Plans 

(VMP) when fishing under the EFP. 

Each vessel’s VMP would outline the 

catch handling protocols and EM system 

configurations that the vessel would use 

while participating in the program. 

Vessels would not be permitted to fish 

under the EFP until they hold a NMFSapproved VMP. 

NMFS contracted Saltwater Inc., as 

the EM service provider for this EFP 

during IFM year 2022. Vessels would be 

required to use Saltwater Inc., as the EM 

service provider when fishing under 

this EFP. The EM service provider 

would be responsible for developing 

VMPs for participating vessels. The EM 

service provider would also be 

responsible for: Installing, maintaining, 

and uninstalling EM equipment on 

participating vessels; reviewing EM 

video footage; processing and 

annotating video and sensor data; 

generating EM data analysis summaries; 

and working with NMFS personnel to 

review program performance for 

refinement. 

Given anticipated low fishing effort 

during IFM year 2022, EM data from 100 

percent of EFP trips with fishing effort 

would get selected for video review in 

order to learn as much as possible about 

administering an EM program through 

this EFP. Because the purpose of EM is 

to confirm catch retention and trips 

without fishing effort would have no 

catch, trips without fishing effort would 

not get selected for video review. EM 

video reviewers would identify 

(presence/absence) and characterize 

each discard event that occurs on 

reviewed trips. 

Participating vessels would primarily 

fish with midwater trawl or purse seine 

gear on declared herring trips; however, 

some vessels may fish with small-mesh 

bottom trawl gear under the EFP. Prior 

to the start of each year, participating 

vessels would be required to inform the 

Principal Investigator (PI) and NMFS 

about which gears they planned to fish 

with at what points during the year. 

Participating vessels would also be 

required to notify the PI and NMFS one 

month ahead of when they planned to 

switch gears. Feedback from industry 

suggests that catch handling protocols 

remain consistent regardless of whether 

vessels fish with midwater trawl, purse 

seine, or small-mesh bottom trawl gear. 

However, when a vessel switches gears, 

EM technicians may need to reconfigure 

the cameras on board to ensure that they 

can still adequately capture fishing 

activity. After switching gears, the 

vessel may not depart on a declared 

herring trip until the EM service 

provider has confirmed that the EM 

system is properly configured and 

documented in the vessel’s VMP. 

Allowing vessels to switch gears 

during the year will incentivize 

participation in the EFP by allowing 

vessels flexibility to maximize fishing 

opportunities. Additionally, allowing 

participating vessels to fish with purse 

seine and small-mesh bottom trawl gear 

would provide NMFS with additional 

information on the effectiveness of 

using EM to monitor vessels fishing 

with these gear types, because the pilot 

study and the 2021 EFP focused 

primarily on vessels fishing with 

midwater trawl gear. Participation in the 

EFP is not expected to lead to any shifts 

in effort that would not otherwise have 

occurred in the fishery. 

Portside Sampling 

Prior to any declared herring trip, 

representatives from vessels with 

Category A or B permits are required to 

follow the usual notification process for 

monitoring coverage. NMFS will notify 

the vessel representative if a trip is 

selected for SBRM or IFM coverage. 

Consistent with the Councilrecommended 50-percent IFM coverage 

target for herring vessels, 50 percent of 

EFP trips would be selected for 

coverage. If selected for IFM coverage, 

participating vessels would be subject to 

portside sampling on the selected trip in 

lieu of hiring an at-sea monitor. The 

purpose of portside sampling is to 

collect species composition data along 

with age and length information. If 

NMFS notifies a participating vessel 

that a trip has been selected for IFM 

coverage, that vessel would be required 

to procure portside sampling services 

from a NMFS-approved service 

provider. Consistent with the herring 

monitoring requirements at 

§ 648.11(m)(1)(iv), the vessel would be 

prohibited from fishing for, taking, 

possessing, or landing any herring 

without procuring portside sampling 

services for that trip, unless NMFS 

issued the vessel a coverage waiver for 

that trip. 

When a trip is portside sampled (i.e., 

selected for IFM coverage or paying for 

portside sampling in order to fish in a 

GCA), participating vessels would be 

required to comply with slippage 

prohibitions and consequence measures, 

and they would need to offload their 

catch at a NMFS-approved sampling 

station. Sampling station owners would 

be responsible for maintaining sampling 

stations according to NMFS safety 

standards. Portside samplers would 

complete a safety inspection upon 

arrival at each sampling station, prior to 

the start of an offload. If a station failed 

to meet all of the requirements outlined 

in the safety inspection checklist, the 

participating vessel would be issued a 

one-time waiver by the portside sampler 

to continue the offload and an 

explanation of the safety deficiency 

refusal. The portside sampler would 

also report the safety deficiency refusal 

to NMFS. If the original safety 

deficiency was not addressed within 48 

hours of being reported to NMFS, 

participating vessels would not be 

permitted to continue offloading at that 

location on trips selected for portside 

sampling until the station had been 

brought into compliance. 

Slippage Requirements 

If a participating vessel slipped catch 

on a trip that was portside sampled, that 

vessel would be subject to all of the 

following consequence measures: 

• The vessel operator must move at 

least 15 nautical miles (nm) (27.78 km) 

from the location of the slippage event 

before deploying any gear again, and 

must stay at least 15 nm (27.78 km) 

away from the slippage event location 

for the remainder of the fishing trip; 

• The vessel operator must complete 

and sign a Released Catch Affidavit 

detailing: The vessel name and permit 

number; the VTR serial number; where, 

when, and for what reason the catch 

was released; the estimated weight of 

each species brought on board or 

released on that tow. A completed 

affidavit must be submitted to NMFS 

within 48 hours of the end of the trip; 

and 

• The vessel operator must report 

slippage events on the herring daily 

Vessel Monitoring System catch report 

and indicate the reason for slipping 

catch. 

Fishing Inside of Groundfish Closed 

Areas 

To comply with the 100-percent 

monitoring coverage requirement when 

fishing inside a GCA, participating 

vessels would be authorized to use EM 

and portside sampling, in lieu of 

carrying a human observer, even if not 

selected for IFM or SBRM coverage. A 

GCA trip that was portside sampled 

would not count towards the vessel’s 

realized coverage rate if the trip was not 

selected for IFM or SBRM coverage. In 

other words, if a trip was not selected 

for either coverage type but the vessel 

elected to pay for optional portside 

sampling coverage in order to fish 

inside a GCA, that trip would not count 

towards the vessel’s realized coverage 

rate. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 45 / Tuesday, March 8, 2022 / Notices 12941 

Proposed Exemptions 

General Exemptions for Participating 

Vessels 

This EFP would exempt participating 

vessels from the IFM ASM coverage 

requirements at § 648.11(m)(1)(ii). This 

exemption would authorize 

participating vessels to use EM, coupled 

with portside sampling, to satisfy their 

IFM coverage requirements in lieu of 

carrying a human at-sea monitor. 

Slippage Exemptions for Participating 

Vessels Fishing Outside of Groundfish 

Closed Areas 

This EFP would exempt participating 

vessels from the slippage definition at 

§ 648.2 under the following 

circumstance: Participating vessels 

fishing outside of GCAs would be 

authorized to discard fish sorted at the 

grate (with the exception of haddock) in 

view of a camera on trips selected for 

portside sampling. These discards 

would not be considered slippage and 

would not trigger slippage consequence 

measures, but vessels would still be 

required to report them as discards. This 

exemption would not apply when 

vessels are fishing inside GCAs. When 

fishing inside GCAs, fish discarded at 

the grate after sorting would be 

considered slippage and would trigger 

slippage consequence measures. 

Vessels with observer or ASM 

coverage may discard fish at the grate 

after those fish are made available for 

sampling, and those discards are not 

considered slippage. However, fish 

discarded at the grate after sorting are 

considered slippage on vessels selected 

for portside sampling. This exemption 

would resolve operational differences 

resulting from the slippage definition 

and help create equity in vessel 

operations across gear and monitoring 

types. Feedback from industry suggests 

that only small quantities of fish are 

handpicked at the grate, so it is unlikely 

that this exemption would result in high 

volumes of fish being discarded prior to 

catch being sampled portside. 

Observer Exemptions for Participating 

Vessels Fishing Inside of Groundfish 

Closed Areas 

This EFP would exempt participating 

vessels from the Northeast multispecies 

season and area restrictions at 

§ 648.202(b)(1), and from the 

prohibition against fishing in a 

Northeast multispecies closed area 

without an observer on board at 

§ 648.14(r)(2)(v). The EFP would 

authorize participating vessels to use 

EM and portside sampling in lieu of 

carrying a human observer when fishing 

in a GCA on a trip not selected for 

SBRM coverage. Purchasing portside 

sampling coverage to fish in GCAs is 

expected to be less expensive than 

purchasing observer coverage to fish in 

GCAs, so this exemption would provide 

an incentive for vessels to participate in 

the EFP. This exemption would also 

allow NMFS to assess the feasibility of 

using EM and portside sampling to 

monitor midwater trawl herring trips 

fished in GCAs. 

Operational Discarding Exemptions for 

Participating Vessels Fishing Inside of 

GCAs 

This EFP would exempt participating 

vessels from season and area restrictions 

at § 648.202(b)(2) and (4) when 

operationally discarding catch. The EFP 

would authorize participating vessels to 

operationally discard catch in GCAs 

without triggering the consequence 

measures described at § 648.202(b)(4). 

Operational discards in the herring 

fishery are defined as ‘‘small amounts of 

fish that cannot be pumped on board 

and remain in the codend or seine at the 

end of pumping operations.’’ Midwater 

trawl vessels are permitted to 

operationally discard outside of GCAs 

without triggering consequence 

measures, but not inside GCAs. This 

exemption would allow participating 

vessels to maintain operational 

consistency inside and outside of GCAs. 

This exemption would also allow NMFS 

to collect additional information on the 

frequency of operational discards in 

GCAs. This exemption would not 

undermine conservation objectives 

because participating vessels would be 

fully monitored on 100 percent of trips 

and would be fully accountable for their 

catch in GCAs. 

If approved, minor modifications and 

extensions to the EFP may be made 

throughout the year. EFP modifications 

and extensions may be granted without 

further notice if they are deemed 

essential to facilitate completion of the 

proposed research and have minimal 

impacts that do not change the scope or 

impact of the initially approved EFP 

request. Any fishing activity conducted 

outside the scope of the exempted 

fishing activity would be prohibited. 

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

Dated: March 1, 2022. 

Ngagne Jafnar Gueye, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04868 Filed 3–7–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB689] 

Pacific Island Pelagic Fisheries; False 

Killer Whale Take Reduction Plan; 

Trigger for the Southern Exclusion 

Zone Closure Met in 2021 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: In 2021, four observed 

mortalities or serious injuries (M&SI) of 

false killer whales occurred incidental 

to the Hawaii deep-set longline fishery 

within the U.S. Exclusive Economic 

Zone (EEZ) around Hawaii on January 

18, 2021, March 26, 2021, April 17, 

2021, and November 19, 2021. These 

M&SI met the established annual trigger 

of four observed M&SI for closing the 

Southern Exclusion Zone (SEZ) to deepset longline fishing under the False 

Killer Whale Take Reduction Plan (Plan) 

regulations. In accordance with the Plan 

regulations a closure of the SEZ is 

required through the end of the fishing 

year. Because the injury determination 

for the fourth interaction meeting the 

trigger was not available until January 

2022, the timeframe for closing the SEZ 

in 2021 had passed, and the SEZ was 

not closed. In accordance with the Plan 

regulations, the requirements for closure 

of the SEZ were met in 2021, therefore, 

if the trigger is met in 2022, the process 

for closure of the SEZ will follow the 

procedures described in the Plan 

regulations. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by April 7, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2022–0027 by either of the 

following methods: 

Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and enter 

NOAA–NMFS–2022–0027 in the search 

box. Click the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

Mail: Submit written comments to 

Michael D. Tosatto, Regional 

Administrator, NMFS Pacific Islands 

Region (PIR), attention Diana Kramer, 

Protected Resources, 1845 Wasp Blvd., 

Bldg. 176, Honolulu, HI 96818. 

Instructions: NMFS may not consider 

comments sent by any other method, to 

any other address or individual, or 


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