[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50331-50333]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19380]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XB330]


Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Halibut Abundance-Based 
Management of Amendment 80 Prohibited Species Catch Limit

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft environmental impact 
statement (DEIS); request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This DEIS is prepared pursuant to the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) to assess the environmental impacts from alternatives 
associated with a proposed management measure to link the Pacific 
halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) prohibited species catch (PSC) limit 
for the Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl fleet in the Bering 
Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries to halibut 
abundance. The objectives of linking the PSC limit are to minimize 
halibut PSC to the extent practicable under National Standard 9 of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and to 
achieve optimum yield in the BSAI groundfish fisheries on a continuing 
basis under National Standard 1. The action would also be expected to 
provide incentives for the Amendment 80 fleet to minimize halibut 
mortality at all times. Achievement of these objectives could result in 
additional harvest opportunities in the commercial halibut fishery.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 25, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2021-0074, 
by any of the following methods:

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    <bullet> Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2021-0074 in the Search box. 
Click the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
    <bullet> Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region 
NMFS, Attn: Records Office. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 
99802-1668.
    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), 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 the DEIS may be obtained from http://www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS Alaska Region website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/bycatch/bering-sea-and-aleutian-islands-bsai-halibut-abundance-based-management.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph Krieger, telephone: 907-586-
7221.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The International Pacific Halibut Commission 
(IPHC) and NMFS manage Pacific halibut fisheries through regulations 
established under the authority of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 
1982 (Halibut Act) (16 U.S.C. 773-773k). The IPHC adopts regulations 
governing the target fishery for Pacific halibut under the Convention 
between the United States of America and Canada for the Preservation of 
the Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea 
(Convention), signed at Ottawa, Ontario, on March 2, 1953, as amended 
by a Protocol Amending the Convention (signed at Washington, DC, on 
March 29, 1979). For the United States, regulations governing the 
fishery for Pacific halibut developed by the IPHC are subject to 
acceptance by the Secretary of State with concurrence from the 
Secretary of Commerce. After acceptance by the Secretary of State with 
the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce, NMFS publishes the IPHC 
regulations in the Federal Register as annual management measures 
pursuant to 50 CFR 300.62. IPHC and NMFS regulations authorize the 
harvest of halibut in commercial, personal use, sport and subsistence 
fisheries by hook-and-line gear and pot gear. In the BSAI, (which 
largely coincides with IPHC Regulatory Area 4 (hereafter referred to as 
``Area 4'') and its five subsareas (ABCDE)), halibut is harvested in 
all of these fisheries.
    Section 5(c) of the Halibut Act also provides the North Pacific 
Fisheries Management Council (Council) with authority to develop 
regulations that are in addition to, and not in conflict with, approved 
IPHC regulations. The Council has exercised this authority in the 
development of Federal regulations for the halibut fishery such as (1) 
subsistence halibut fishery management measures, codified at 50 CFR 
300.65; (2) the limited access program for charter vessels in the 
guided sport fishery, codified at Sec.  300.67; and (3) the Individual 
Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program for the commercial halibut and sablefish 
fisheries, codified at 50 CFR part 679, under the authority of Section 
5 of the Halibut Act and Section 303(b) of the MSA.
    The Council manages the groundfish fisheries of the BSAI under the 
authority of the MSA and the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish 
for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI FMP). National Standard 9 
of the MSA requires that fishery conservation and management measures 
shall, to the extent practicable: (1) Minimize bycatch; and (2) to the 
extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such 
bycatch.
    In the BSAI FMP, the Council has designated Pacific halibut, along 
with several other fully utilized species such as salmon, herring, and 
crab species, as ``prohibited species'' in the groundfish fisheries 
(Section 3.6.1 of the BSAI FMP). By regulation, the operator of any 
vessel fishing for groundfish in the BSAI must minimize the catch of 
prohibited species (Sec.  679.21(a)(2)(i)). The Council has also set 
catch limits for individual PSC species, which are defined in BSAI FMP 
Section 3.6.2.1. Under the designation as a PSC species; their capture 
is required to be avoided; and their retention is prohibited except 
when retention is required or authorized by other applicable law. 
Unintended removals of prohibited species are separately monitored and 
controlled under the BSAI FMP.
    The Council does not have authority to set catch limits for the 
commercial halibut fisheries, and halibut PSC in the groundfish 
fisheries is only one of the factors that affects harvest limits for 
the commercial halibut fisheries. Nonetheless, halibut PSC in the 
groundfish fisheries is a significant portion of total mortality in 
BSAI IPHC areas and has the potential to affect catch limits for the 
commercial halibut fisheries in Area 4 under the current IPHC harvest 
policy. While the impact of halibut PSC reductions on catch limits for 
commercial halibut fisheries is dependent on IPHC policy and management 
decisions, reductions to the current Amendment 80 halibut PSC limit in 
the BSAI could provide additional harvest opportunities in the BSAI 
commercial halibut fishery.
    A Notice of Intent to prepare this DEIS was published in the 
Federal Register on December 12, 2017 (82 FR 58374). This DEIS analyzes 
alternative management measures to link the Pacific halibut PSC limit 
for the Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl fleet in the BSAI 
groundfish fisheries to halibut abundance. The Council is considering a 
program that provides incentives for the fleet to minimize halibut 
mortality at all times, that could promote conservation of the halibut 
stock, and may provide additional opportunities for the directed 
halibut fishery.
    Pacific halibut is targeted in Alaska in commercial, personal use, 
recreational (sport), and subsistence halibut fisheries. Halibut has 
significant social, cultural, and economic importance to fishery 
participants and communities throughout the geographic range of the 
resource. Halibut is also incidentally taken as bycatch in commercial 
groundfish fisheries.
    The Council is examining abundance-based approaches to set the 
halibut PSC limit for the Amendment 80 sector in the BSAI. Currently 
halibut PSC limits for groundfish fishery sectors are set in the BSAI 
FMP at a fixed amount of halibut mortality in metric tons. When halibut 
abundance declines, halibut PSC becomes a larger proportion of total 
halibut removals and can result in lower catch limits for directed 
halibut fisheries. This action is limited to the Amendment 80 sector 
because that sector is responsible for the majority of BSAI halibut 
mortality in the groundfish fisheries. In light of the continued 
decline of the halibut stock, both the Council and the IPHC have 
expressed concern about impacts on directed halibut fisheries under the 
status quo and identified abundance-based halibut PSC limits as a 
potential management approach to address these concerns.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.


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    Dated: September 2, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-19380 Filed 9-7-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P