13274 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 9, 2022 / Notices 

The meeting is open to the public; 

however, during the ‘Report Writing’ 

session on Friday, March 11, 2022, the 

public should not engage in discussion 

with the Peer Review Panel. 

Special Accommodations 

This meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Special 

requests should be directed to Michele 

Traver, via email. 

Dated: March 4, 2022. 

Ngagne Jafnar Gueye, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04981 Filed 3–4–22; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XB046 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish 

and Red Drum Fisheries of the Gulf of 

Mexico; Amendments 48/5 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: Combined in a single 

document, the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) 

Fishery Management Council (Gulf 

Council) has submitted Amendment 48 

to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) 

for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of 

Mexico and Amendment 5 to the FMP 

for the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf of 

Mexico (Amendments 48/5) for review, 

approval, and implementation by 

NMFS. Amendments 48/5 would 

establish or modify maximum 

sustainable yield (MSY) proxies, 

maximum fishing mortality thresholds 

(MFMTs), minimum stock size 

thresholds (MSSTs), and optimum yield 

(OY) for stocks in the Reef Fish and Red 

Drum FMPs. The need for this action is 

to have biological reference points that 

can be used for determining status of the 

stocks or stock complexes consistent 

with the requirements of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens 

Act). 

DATES: Written comments on 

Amendments 48/5 must be received by 

May 9, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on Amendments 48/5 identified by 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2021–0023’’ 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–2021–0023’’ in the 

Search box. Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ 

icon, complete the required fields, and 

enter or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Peter Hood, NMFS Southeast Regional 

Office, 263 13th Avenue South, St. 

Petersburg, FL 33701. 

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). 

Electronic copies of Amendments 48/ 

5 may be obtained from 

www.regulations.gov or the Southeast 

Regional Office website at http://

sero.nmfs.noaa.gov. Amendments 48/5 

includes an environmental assessment 

and fishery impact statement. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Peter Hood, NMFS Southeast Regional 

Office, telephone: 727–824–5305, or 

email: peter.hood@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Magnuson-Stevens Act requires each 

regional fishery management council to 

submit any FMP or amendment to the 

FMP to NMFS for review and approval, 

partial approval, or disapproval. The 

Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires 

that NMFS, upon receiving a plan or 

amendment to the plan, to publish an 

announcement in the Federal Register 

notifying the public that the FMP or 

amendment to the FMP is available for 

review and comment. 

Amendments 48/5 were prepared by 

the Gulf Council and, if approved, 

would be incorporated into the 

management of Gulf reef fish and red 

drum through the respective FMPs. 

Background 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act and the 

National Standard 1 Guidelines require 

that FMPs specify a number of reference 

points for managed fish stocks, 

including maximum sustainable yield 

(MSY) or MSY proxy, and optimum 

yield, as well as status determination 

criteria (SDC), including an MFMT or an 

overfishing limit (OFL), and an MSST. 

These SDC represent the point at which 

a stock is determined to be overfished 

(i.e., below MSST) or experiencing 

overfishing (i.e., above MFMT or OFL). 

In 1999, the Gulf Council submitted the 

Generic Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) 

Amendment, which proposed 

definitions of MSY, OY, MFMT, and 

MSST for all reef fish stocks. NMFS 

approved most of the MFMT criteria, 

but disapproved all of the definitions for 

MSY, OY, and MSST because they were 

not based on biomass. 

While NMFS refers to the document 

as ‘‘Amendments 48/5’’ in this notice of 

availability, each amendment applies 

separately to the stocks in the respective 

FMPs. Amendment 5 applies to the red 

drum stock. Amendment 48 applies to 

several reef fish stocks and stock 

complexes that either have not been 

assessed or were assessed but still 

require stock status determinations. 

These include: Cubera snapper, lane 

snapper, goliath grouper, the shallowwater grouper complex (scamp, black 

grouper, yellowmouth grouper, and 

yellowfin grouper), the deep-water 

grouper complex (yellowedge grouper, 

warsaw grouper, snowy grouper, and 

speckled hind), the tilefish complex 

(golden tilefish, blueline tilefish, and 

goldface tilefish), the jacks complex 

(lesser amberjack, almaco jack, and 

banded rudderfish), and the mid-water 

snapper complex (wenchman, silk 

snapper, blackfin snapper, and queen 

snapper). Amendments 48/5 also 

addresses four reef fish stocks that have 

been assessed and have known stock 

status determinations: Hogfish, mutton 

snapper, yellowtail snapper, and black 

grouper. Amendment 43 to the Reef Fish 

FMP established references points and 

SDC for hogfish. However, OY for 

hogfish was not defined there and is 

addressed in Amendments 48/5. Mutton 

snapper, yellowtail snapper, and black 

grouper, which occur in both the Gulf 

Council and South Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council areas of 

jurisdiction but are managed separately 

under each Council’s FMPs, have 

reference points and SDC specified in 

the South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper 

FMP, but not in the Gulf Reef Fish FMP. 

With respect to black grouper, that 

species is managed by the South 

Atlantic Council as a single stock but is 

managed by the Gulf Council as part of 

the shallow-water grouper complex. 

Maximum Sustainable Yield 

The MSY is the largest long-term 

average catch or yield that can be taken 

from a stock or stock complex under 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 9, 2022 / Notices 13275 

prevailing ecological, environmental 

conditions and fishery technological 

characteristics (e.g., gear selectivity), 

and the distribution of catch among 

fleets. However, the actual MSY can 

rarely be estimated with certainty 

because of the difficulty in accurately 

estimating the relationship between the 

size of the spawning stock and the 

subsequent annual recruitment. As a 

result, proxies for MSY are typically 

used because they are easier to measure. 

Generally, MSY proxies used for fish 

species in the Gulf are based on some 

percentage of spawning potential ratio 

(SPR) and are expressed as the yield 

when fishing at FPROXY (where F is 

fishing mortality rate). In using SPR, 

NMFS assumes that a certain amount of 

fish must survive and spawn in order to 

replenish the stock, thus SPR represents 

the average number of eggs per fish over 

its lifetime when the stock is fished, 

compared to the average number of eggs 

per fish over its lifetime when the stock 

is not fished. A sustainable SPR 

depends on the life history of the 

species, but in general, is between 20 

percent and 40 percent for reef fish 

species. The advantage of using SPR as 

a proxy is that it requires less 

information to calculate than MSY. 

For reef fish stocks and stock 

complexes with the exception of goliath 

grouper, the MSY proxy selected by the 

Gulf Council is the yield when fishing 

at F30% SPR. This is the proxy most 

commonly recommended by the Gulf 

Council’s SSC for assessed reef fish 

stocks and the SSC recommended this 

MSY proxy for the reef fish stocks and 

stock complexes in Amendment 48. For 

goliath grouper, the Gulf Council 

selected a more conservative MSY proxy 

because this species is more vulnerable 

to overfishing because of its long lifespan and slow growth rate. The goliath 

grouper MSY proxy is the yield when 

fishing at F40% SPR. The MSY proxies for 

goliath grouper, mutton snapper and 

yellowtail snapper are consistent with 

MSY proxy selected by the South 

Atlantic Council. 

The harvest of red drum is prohibited 

in Federal waters, but fishing is allowed 

in state waters under management 

measures developed by the respective 

Gulf state marine fisheries agencies. 

These agencies manage the stock to 

achieve a 30 percent escapement rate 

from state to Federal waters. Thus, 

Amendments 48/5 would define the red 

drum MSY proxy as the yield that 

provides for an escapement rate of 

juvenile fish to the spawning stock 

biomass (SSB) equivalent to 30 percent 

of those that would have escaped had 

there been no inshore state-waters 

fishery. 

Amendments 48/5 would also adopt a 

streamlined procedure for future 

specification of the MSY proxies for reef 

fish stocks and red drum. This 

procedure would allow the Gulf Council 

to adopt an MSY proxy recommended 

by the SSC by including a discussion of 

the change in a plan amendment. If the 

Council chooses to use this procedure, 

which would not include the 

consideration of alternatives to the MSY 

proxy recommended by the SSC, NMFS 

expects the Council to document its 

rationale for that decision. If more than 

one MSY proxy is supported by the best 

scientific information available, NMFS 

expects the Council to provide an 

appropriate analysis of these 

alternatives. 

Maximum Fishing Mortality Thresholds 

MFMT is the rate of fishing mortality 

above which a stock is experiencing 

overfishing. Overfishing can also be 

determined using the OFL, which is the 

annual amount of catch that 

corresponds to fishing at MFMT. 

Consistent with the Generic Annual 

Catch Limits and Accountability 

Amendment, NMFS uses the MFMT to 

determine overfishing for stocks or stock 

complexes that have stock assessments 

only in years in which a stock 

assessment is conducted. For other 

years, and for stocks or stock complexes 

without stock assessments, NMFS uses 

catch compared to the OFL to determine 

overfishing. 

The Generic SFA Amendment set 

MFMT equal to F50% SPR for goliath 

grouper, equal to F30% SPR for red drum, 

and equal to F30% SPR for all reef fish 

stocks except red snapper (MFMT = F26%

SPR). To keep MFMT consistent with the 

proposed MSY proxies, Amendments 

48/5 would set this threshold for the 

relevant stocks equal to the F at the 

MSY proxy for each stock or stock 

complex as discussed above. 

Minimum Stock Size Thresholds 

The MSST is a biomass reference 

point that measures how many fish are 

left in the water rather than how many 

fish are caught, and determines at what 

biomass level a stock or stock complex 

is overfished. The MSST can be 

specified in terms of pounds of fish, 

numbers of fish, or the expected egg 

production from the SSB of the adult 

stock. The long-term average size of a 

stock that results from harvesting at 

MSY is called the biomass at MSY 

(BMSY). If the stock level falls below 

BMSY, it cannot sustain harvest at the 

MSY level without further depletion. 

However, biomass may fluctuate over 

time because of changes in 

environmental conditions, recruitment 

to the stock, or other variables. Because 

of these natural fluctuations, the MSST 

is generally set at some level below 

BMSY, but cannot be set lower than 50 

percent of BMSY. The greater the 

difference between BMSY and MSST, the 

less likely a stock is to be declared 

overfished, but the more difficult it may 

be to rebuild the stock back to BMSY

should the stock size fall below MSST.

In Amendments 48/5 the Council 

considered several alternatives for 

MSST that would apply to all of the 

stocks and stock complexes for which 

the Council is also establishing MSY 

and MFMT. These alternatives ranged 

from (1–M)*BMSY (or proxy), where M is 

the natural mortality, to 0.50*BMSY (or 

proxy), and the Council chose to set 

MSST for these stocks and stock 

complexes at 0.75*BMSY (or proxy). This 

value is between the BMSY (or proxy) 

stock level and the 50 percent of BMSY

(or proxy) level used by the Gulf 

Council for assessed reef fish stocks as 

defined in Amendment 44 to the Reef 

Fish FMP. The Gulf Council determined 

that this more conservative value is 

appropriate for the unassessed stocks 

and stock complexes addressed in 

Amendments 48/5. The Council also 

considered and selected an additional 

alternative that would apply only to 

those individual stocks that span both 

the South Atlantic and Gulf Councils’ 

areas of jurisdiction and would set 

MSST consistent with the MSST 

specified by the South Atlantic Council. 

These stocks are goliath grouper, black 

grouper, mutton snapper, and yellowtail 

snapper. The MSST specified by the 

South Atlantic Council is 0.75*BMSY (or 

proxy) for black grouper, mutton 

snapper, and yellowtail snapper, and 

(1–M)*BMSY (or proxy) for goliath 

grouper. 

As discussed previously, and unlike 

the South Atlantic Council, the Gulf 

Council manages black grouper as part 

of the shallow water grouper complex, 

not as a single stock. Therefore, 

although black grouper was included in 

preferred alternative 5 that addressed 

the other three stocks that span both the 

South Atlantic and Gulf Councils’ areas 

of jurisdiction, Amendment 48 does not 

consider specifying an MSY for black 

grouper as a single stock. Instead, 

consistent with the Gulf Council’s 

current management of this stock, 

Amendment 48 would specify an MSY 

for the entire shallow-water grouper 

complex, which includes black grouper. 

NMFS invites specific comments on the 

part of Amendments 48/5 that proposes 

to specify MSST for black grouper as a 

single stock. 


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13276 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 9, 2022 / Notices 

Optimum Yield 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act and NS1 

guidelines state that OY is based on 

MSY as reduced by relevant economic, 

social, or ecological factors. 

Additionally, the NS1 guidelines state 

that OY should include some 

consideration of uncertainty. If the 

estimates of MFMT and current biomass 

are known with a high level of certainty, 

and management controls can 

accurately limit catch, then OY could be 

set very close to MSY, assuming no 

other reductions are necessary for 

social, economic, or ecological factors. 

However, OY cannot exceed MSY. To 

the degree that such MSY estimates and 

management controls are lacking or 

unavailable, OY should be reduced 

farther from MSY. 

For the assessed reef fish stocks that 

are not addressed in Amendments 48/5, 

the Gulf Council has defined OY as the 

yield from fishing at some percentage of 

FMSY (or proxy). However, the NMFS 

Southeast Fisheries Science Center 

(SEFSC) staff and the Gulf Council’s 

SSC have recommended against 

specifying OY as the yield at a certain 

value of F. They have suggested instead 

that OY be a percentage of MSY for 

three reasons: (1) If OY is specified as 

a percentage of FMSY (or proxy), SEFSC 

staff would need to provide two sets of 

yield projections when running stock 

assessments (one for MSY and one for 

OY), adding complexity to the 

projections; (2) it is possible that the 

calculated long-term yield at the FOY

proxy could be greater than the 

calculated long-term yield at the FMSY

proxy, which would be inconsistent 

with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and 

NS1 guidelines; and (3) defining OY as 

a percent of MSY is more intuitive and 

easier to understand than using a 

percentage of the FMSY proxy to define 

OY. Therefore, the Gulf Council 

proposes setting OY at 90 percent of the 

MSY or MSY proxy for all reef fish 

stocks addressed in Amendments 48/5 

with the exception of goliath grouper. 

For goliath grouper, the Council 

proposes using the ratio between the 

annual catch limit (ACL) and OFL to 

determine how much the OY should be 

reduced from the MSY. This 

relationship accounts for scientific and 

management uncertainty and would 

apply that knowledge to guide where 

OY should be set relative to MSY for 

this stock. Because possession of goliath 

grouper is prohibited, the OY value 

would be zero. 

For red drum, the Gulf Council 

decided to keep the existing OY 

definition, which is based on a 1987 

SEFSC stock assessment that concluded 

under certain escapement rates of 

juveniles, the stock could rebuild. This 

OY definition is: (1) All red drum 

commercially and recreationally 

harvested from Gulf state waters landed 

consistent with state laws and 

regulations under a goal of allowing 30 

percent escapement of the juvenile 

population; and (2) all red drum 

commercially or recreationally 

harvested from the Primary Area 

(Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama) 

of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) 

under the total allowable catch (TAC) 

level and allocations specified under the 

provisions of the Red Drum FMP, and 

a zero-retention level from the 

Secondary Areas (Florida and Texas) of 

the EEZ. The red drum TAC for the Gulf 

EEZ has been zero since 1988 with the 

implementation of Amendment 2 to the 

Red Drum FMP and harvest in the EEZ 

is prohibited (53 FR 34662; June 29, 

1988). Therefore, to achieve the OY, the 

Gulf states have independently and 

cooperatively implemented red drum 

regulations to achieve a 30 percent or 

greater escapement rate to the spawning 

stocks for each year class. 

Procedural Aspects of Amendments 48/ 

5 

The Council has submitted 

Amendments 48/5 for Secretarial 

review, approval, and implementation. 

NMFS’ decision to approve, partially 

approve, or disapprove Amendments 

48/5 will be based, in part, on 

consideration of comments, 

recommendations, and information 

received during the comment period on 

this notice of availability. After 

consideration of these factors, and 

consistency with the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act and other applicable laws, NMFS 

will publish a notice of agency decision 

in the Federal Register announcing the 

Agency’s decision to approve, partially 

approve, or disapprove Amendments 

48/5. Because none of the measures 

included in the amendments involve 

regulatory changes, no proposed or final 

rule is required at this time. If approved, 

the provisions of Amendments 48/5 

would not be specified in regulations 

but would be considered amendments 

to the respective FMPs. 

Consideration of Public Comments 

Comments on Amendments 48/5 must 

be received by May 9, 2022. Comments 

received during the comment period for 

this notice of availability will be 

considered by NMFS in its decision to 

approve, partially approve, or 

disapprove Amendments 48/5. 

Comments received after the comment 

period will not be considered by NMFS 

in this decision. All comments received 

by NMFS during the comment period 

will be addressed in the notice of 

agency decision. 

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

Dated: March 3, 2022. 

Ngagne Jafnar Gueye, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05010 Filed 3–8–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Public Meeting of the Science Advisory 

Board 

AGENCY: Office of Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Research (OAR), National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), Department of 

Commerce (DOC). 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the 

schedule and proposed agenda for the 

meeting of the Science Advisory Board 

(SAB). The members will discuss issues 

outlined in the section on Matters to be 

Considered. 

DATES: The meeting is scheduled for 

Wednesday, April 27, 2022, 9:30 a.m.– 

5:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) 

and Thursday, April 28, 2022, 8:30 

a.m.–12:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time 

(EDT). The time and the agenda topics 

described below are subject to change. 

For the latest agenda, please refer to the 

SAB website: https://sab.noaa.gov/ 

index.php/current-meetings/. 

ADDRESSES: The April 27 and 28, 2022 

venue is to be determined; please check 

the website for the location. The link for 

the webinar registration for the April 

27–28, 2022 meeting may be found here: 

https://sab.noaa.gov/index.php/currentmeetings/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Cynthia Decker, Executive Director, 

SSMC3, Room 11230, 1315 East-West 

Hwy., Silver Spring, MD 20910; Phone 

Number: 301–734–1156; Email: 

Cynthia.Decker@noaa.gov; or visit the 

SAB website at https://sab.noaa.gov/ 

index.php/current-meetings/. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

NOAA Science Advisory Board (SAB) 

was established by a Decision 

Memorandum dated September 25, 

1997, and is the only Federal Advisory 

Committee with responsibility to advise 

the Under Secretary of Commerce for 

Oceans and Atmosphere on strategies 

for research, education, and application 

of science to operations and information 


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