Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 89 / Monday, May 9, 2022 / Proposed Rules 27557 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–C 

Appendix C 

Paperwork Reduction Act Collection 

Information Collection 

Title: Annual Reports of Tare Weight and 

Loss and Damage Data. 

OMB Control Number: 2140–XXXX. 

STB Form Number: None. 

Type of Review: New collection. 

Summary: As part of its continuing effort 

to reduce paperwork burdens, and as 

required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995, the Surface Transportation Board gives 

notice that it is requesting from the Office of 

Management and Budget approval of a new 

collection, Annual Reports of Tare Weight 

and Loss and Damage Data, OMB Control No. 

2140–XXXX. The new collection is 

necessitated by the notice of proposed 

rulemaking, which proposes to give Class I 

carriers the option to provide tare weight and 

loss and damage data to the Board 

individually. 

Respondents: Class I railroads. 

Number of Respondents: Seven. 

Estimated Time per Response: Four hours, 

plus a one-time addition of nine start-up 

hours. 

Frequency: Annual. 

Total Annual Hour Burden: 49 hours 

(including the additional 21 hours, which is 

the estimated 63 start-up hours amortized 

over the three-year approval period). 

Total ‘‘Non-hour Burden’’ Cost: There are 

no non-hourly burden costs for this 

collection. The collections may be filed 

electronically. 

Needs and Uses: This collection will be 

used by the Board in the Uniform Railroad 

Costing System (URCS). The Board is 

authorized, under 49 U.S.C. 11161, to 

maintain cost accounting rules for rail 

carriers. In 1989, the Board’s predecessor, the 

Interstate Commerce Commission, adopted 

URCS as its general purpose costing system. 

Adoption of the Unif. R.R. Costing Sys. as a 

Gen. Purpose Costing Sys. for All Regul. 

Costing Purposes, 5 I.C.C.2d 894 (1989). The 

Board uses URCS for a variety of regulatory 

functions. URCS is used in rate 

reasonableness proceedings as part of the 

initial market dominance determination, and 

at later stages is used in parts of the Board’s 

determination as to whether the challenged 

rate is reasonable and, when warranted, the 

maximum rate prescription. URCS is also 

used to, among other things, develop variable 

costs for making cost determinations in 

abandonment proceedings, to provide the 

railroad industry and shippers with a 

standardized costing model, to cost the 

Board’s Carload Waybill Sample to develop 

industry cost information, and to provide 

interested parties with basic cost information 

regarding railroad industry operations. 

[FR Doc. 2022–09571 Filed 5–6–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

[Docket No. 220503–0110; RTID 0648– 

XB877] 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; 

Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; 

Annual Specifications; 2022–2023 

Annual Specifications and 

Management Measures for Pacific 

Sardine 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes to implement 

annual harvest specifications and 

management measures for the northern 

subpopulation of Pacific sardine 

(hereafter, Pacific sardine), for the 

fishing year from July 1, 2022, through 

June 30, 2023. The proposed action 

would prohibit most directed 

commercial fishing for Pacific sardine 

off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, 

and California. Pacific sardine harvest 

would be allowed only for use as live 

bait, in minor directed fisheries, as 

incidental catch in other fisheries, or as 

authorized under exempted fishing 

permits. The incidental harvest of 

Pacific sardine would be limited to 20 

percent by weight of all fish per trip 

when caught with other stocks managed 

under the Coastal Pelagic Species 

Fishery Management Plan, or up to 2 

metric tons per trip when caught with 

non-Coastal Pelagic Species stocks. The 

proposed annual catch limit for the 

2022–2023 Pacific sardine fishing year 

is 4,274 metric tons. This proposed rule 

is intended to conserve, manage, and 

rebuild the Pacific sardine stock off the 

U.S. West Coast. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

May 24, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2022–0046, by the following 

method: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

public comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to https://

www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA– 

NMFS–2022–0046 in the Search box. 

Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, complete 

the required fields, and enter or attach 

your comments. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method or received after the end 

of the comment period may not be 

considered by NMFS. All comments 


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SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD 

ANNUAL REPORT OF TARE WEIGHT DATA 

Railroad: ___ _ 

For the year ending December 31, 20 _ 

AAR Total Total 

Car Tare Tare 

Type Weight Weight 

Code (Tons) Cars (Pounds) 
27558 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 89 / Monday, May 9, 2022 / Proposed Rules 

1For the 2022–2023 fishing year, the Quinault 

Indian Nation has not requested a tribal set-aside, 

and therefore none is proposed. 

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). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Taylor Debevec, West Coast Region, 

NMFS, (562) 619–2052, 

Taylor.Debevec@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

manages the Pacific sardine fishery in 

the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) 

off the Pacific coast (California, Oregon, 

and Washington) in accordance with the 

Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP). The CPS FMP 

and its implementing regulations 

require NMFS to set annual catch levels 

for the Pacific sardine fishery based on 

the annual specification framework and 

control rules in the FMP. These control 

rules include the harvest guideline (HG) 

control rule, which, in conjunction with 

the overfishing limit (OFL) and 

acceptable biological catch (ABC) rules 

in the FMP, are used to manage harvest 

levels for Pacific sardine, in accordance 

with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(MSA), 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

During public meetings each year, the 

NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science 

Center (SWFSC) presents the estimated 

biomass for Pacific sardine to the Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council), 

including the Council’s CPS 

Management Team (Team), CPS 

Advisory Subpanel (Subpanel), and 

Scientific and Statistical Committee 

(SSC). The Team, Subpanel, and SSC 

review the biomass and the status of the 

fishery, and recommend applicable 

catch limits and additional management 

measures. Following Council review 

and public comment, the Council 

adopts a biomass estimate and 

recommends catch limits and any inseason accountability measures to 

NMFS. NMFS publishes annual 

specifications in the Federal Register to 

establish these catch limits and 

management measures for each Pacific 

sardine fishing year. This rule proposes 

the Council’s recommended catch limits 

for the July 1, 2022—June 30, 2023 

fishing year, as well as management 

measures to ensure that harvest does not 

exceed those limits and the adoption of 

an OFL and ABC that take into 

consideration uncertainty surrounding 

the current estimate of biomass for 

Pacific sardine. 

Recommended Catch Limits 

According to the CPS FMP, the catch 

limit for the primary directed fishery is 

determined using the FMP-specified HG 

formula. This Pacific sardine HG control 

rule, the primary mechanism for setting 

the primary directed fishery catch limit, 

includes a CUTOFF parameter, which 

has been set at a biomass level of 

150,000 mt. This amount is subtracted 

from the annual biomass estimate before 

calculating the applicable HG for the 

fishing year. Because this year’s biomass 

estimate, 27,369 metric tons (mt), is 

below that value, the formula results in 

an HG of zero, and no Pacific sardine 

are available for the primary directed 

fishery during the 2022–2023 fishing 

season. This is the eighth consecutive 

year that the primary directed fishery is 

closed. 

During the 2019–2020 fishing year, 

the estimated biomass of Pacific sardine 

dropped below its 50,000-mt minimum 

stock size threshold (MSST), which 

triggered an overfished determination 

process. Accordingly, NMFS declared 

the stock overfished on June 26, 2019, 

and notified the Council on July 9, 2019. 

NMFS worked with the Council to 

develop a rebuilding plan for Pacific 

sardine to implement within two years 

of the date and finalized it June 24, 2021 

(86 FR 33142). The rebuilding plan 

(Amendment 18 to the CPS FMP) 

stipulates that total catch limits (i.e., 

OFL/ABC/ACL) are to be set annually 

based on annual stock assessments, the 

control rules in the FMP, and 

recommendations from the SSC 

regarding uncertainty in the assessment 

and OFL. The rebuilding plan also 

includes the following management 

measures: (1) Closing the primary 

directed fishery until the biomass 

reaches or exceeds 150,000 mt; (2) 

restricting incidental limits in other 

primary directed CPS fisheries to no 

more than 20 percent until the biomass 

reaches or exceeds 50,000 mt; (3) 

limiting catch in the minor directed 

fishery to 1 mt per trip per day; and (4) 

other management measure the Council 

may recommend. The 2022–2023 

proposed harvest specifications are 

consistent with the management 

strategy in the rebuilding plan. 

At the Council’s April 2022 meeting, 

the Council’s SSC reviewed the SWFSC 

2022–2023 Pacific sardine stock 

assessment ‘‘Update assessment of the 

Pacific sardine resource in 2022 for U.S. 

management in 2022–2023.’’ The 

SWFSC completes annual assessments 

for Pacific sardine. The type of 

assessment alternates between 

benchmark assessments in one year and 

update assessments the following two 

years. Both types of assessments are 

based largely on data collected from 

annual research cruises. The SSC agreed 

that the SWFSC’s 2022–2023 assessment 

satisfied the Terms of Reference for an 

update assessment and that it represents 

the best scientific information available 

for management of Pacific sardine. 

Based on this year’s biomass estimate 

and the harvest control rule in the FMP, 

the Council recommended, and NMFS 

is proposing for the 2022–2023 fishing 

year, an OFL of 5,506 mt, an ABC of 

4,274 mt, an annual catch limit (ACL) of 

4,274 mt, and a prohibition on 

commercial Pacific sardine catch, unless 

it is harvested as part of the live bait, 

tribal,1 or minor directed fisheries, as 

incidental catch in other fisheries, or as 

part of exempted fishing permit (EFP) 

activities. The Council also 

recommended an annual catch target 

(ACT) of 3,800 mt for the 2022–2023 

fishing year. For comparison, the ABC/ 

ACL and ACT adopted last year were 

3,329 mt and 3,000 mt, respectively. 

Although the biomass estimates in 

2021and 2022 are similar (28,276 mt 

and 27,369 mt, respectively), the 

proposed ABC/ACL and ACT for the 

2022–2023 fishing year are higher due 

to the SSC’s determination that there is 

less uncertainty associated with this 

year’s biomass estimate compared to last 

year, resulting in a decrease in the 

scientific uncertainty buffer between the 

OFL and ABC. 

In conjunction with setting an ACT, 

the Council also recommended inseason 

and other management measures to 

ensure harvest opportunity under the 

ACT throughout the year, which are 

discussed in the next section. 

Recommended Management Measures 

The proposed annual harvest limits 

and management measures were 

developed in the context of NMFS’ July 

2019 declaration that the Pacific sardine 

stock was overfished and June 2021 

approval of a rebuilding plan for the 

stock. Because the biomass remains 

below the 50,000 mt MSST, the FMP 

requires that incidental catch of Pacific 

sardine in other CPS fisheries be limited 

to an incidental allowance of no more 

than 20 percent by weight (instead of a 

maximum of 40 percent allowed when 

below the CUTOFF but above the 

MSST). 

The following are the proposed 

management measures and inseason 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 89 / Monday, May 9, 2022 / Proposed Rules 27559 

accountability measures for the Pacific 

sardine 2022–2023 fishing year: 

(1) If landings in the live bait fishery 

reach 2,500 mt, of Pacific sardine, then 

a 1-mt per-trip limit of sardine would 

apply to the live bait fishery. 

(2) An incidental per-landing limit of 

20-percent (by weight) Pacific sardine 

applies to other CPS primary directed 

fisheries (e.g., Pacific mackerel). 

(3) If the ACT of 3,800 mt is attained, 

then a 1-mt per-trip limit of Pacific 

sardine would apply to all CPS fisheries 

(i.e., (1) and (2) would no longer apply). 

(4) An incidental per-landing 

allowance of 2 mt of Pacific sardine 

would apply to non-CPS fisheries until 

the ACL is reached. 

At the April 2022 meeting, the 

Council also recommended NMFS 

approve three EFP proposals requesting 

an exemption from the prohibition to 

directly harvest sardine during their 

discussion of sardine management 

measures. Those EFP proposals include 

a total amount of up to 830 mt of the 

ACL. 

All sources of catch including any 

fishing occurring as part of an EFP, the 

live bait fishery, and other minimal 

sources of harvest, such as incidental 

catch in CPS and non-CPS fisheries, and 

minor directed fishing, will be 

accounted for against the ACT and ACL. 

The NMFS West Coast Regional 

Administrator would publish a notice in 

the Federal Register to announce when 

catch reaches the incidental limits, as 

well as any changes to allowable 

incidental catch percentages. 

Additionally, to ensure that the 

regulated community is informed of any 

closure, NMFS would make 

announcements through other means 

available, including emails to 

fishermen, processors, and state fishery 

management agencies. 

This action must be effective by July 

1, 2022; otherwise the fishery will open 

without any catch limits or restrictions 

in place. In order to ensure that these 

harvest specifications are effective in 

time for the start of the July 1 fishing 

year, NMFS will solicit public 

comments on this proposed rule for 15 

days rather than the standard 30 days. 

A 15-day comment period has been the 

practice since the 2015–2016 fishing 

year, when the primary directed fishery 

for sardine was first closed. NMFS 

received the recommendations from the 

Council that form the basis for this rule 

only last month. The subject of this 

proposed rule—the establishment of the 

reference points—is considered a 

routine action, because they are 

calculated annually based on the 

framework control rules in the FMP. 

Additionally, the Council provided an 

opportunity for public comment at its 

April 2022 meeting, as it does every 

year before adopting the recommended 

harvest specifications and management 

measures for the proceeding fishing 

year. 

Classification 

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

MSA, the NMFS Assistant 

Administrator has determined that this 

proposed rule is consistent with the CPS 

FMP, other provisions of the MSA, and 

other applicable law, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 

This proposed rule is exempt from 

review under Executive Order 12866. 

Pursuant to Executive Order 13175, 

this proposed rule was developed after 

meaningful consultation and 

collaboration with the tribal 

representative on the Council who has 

agreed with the provisions that apply to 

tribal vessels. 

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, 

for the following reasons: 

For Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

purposes only, NMFS has established a 

small business size standard for 

businesses, including their affiliates, 

whose primary industry is commercial 

fishing (see 50 CFR 200.2). A business 

primarily engaged in commercial fishing 

(NAICS code 11411) is classified as a 

small business if it is independently 

owned and operated, is not dominant in 

its field of operation (including its 

affiliates), and has combined annual 

receipts not in excess of $11 million for 

all its affiliated operations worldwide. 

The purpose of this proposed rule is 

to conserve and rebuild the Pacific 

sardine stock by preventing overfishing, 

while still allowing harvest opportunity 

among differing fishery sectors. This 

will be accomplished by implementing 

the 2022–2023 annual specifications for 

Pacific sardine in the U.S. EEZ off the 

West coast. The small entities that 

would be affected by the proposed 

action are the vessels that would be 

expected to harvest Pacific sardine as 

part of the West Coast CPS small purse 

seine fleet. In 2014, the last year that a 

directed fishery for Pacific sardine was 

allowed, there were approximately 81 

vessels permitted to operate in the 

directed sardine fishery component of 

the CPS fishery off the U.S. West Coast; 

58 vessels in the Federal CPS limited 

entry fishery off California (south of 39° 

N. lat.); and a combined 23 vessels in 

Oregon and Washington’s state Pacific 

sardine fisheries. We do not collect or 

have access to information about 

affiliation between vessels or affiliation 

between vessels and processing entities 

in this fishery, or receipts in Alaska, 

Hawaii, or international fisheries, so it 

is possible that some impacted entities 

may exceed $11 million in ex-vessel 

revenue or another size-standard 

threshold. Based on available data, the 

average annual west coast revenue per 

vessel for all west coast vessels, 

including those described above 

potentially affected by this rule, was 

well below the threshold level of $11 

million as of 2022; therefore, all of these 

vessels are considered small businesses 

under the RFA. Because each affected 

vessel is a small business, this proposed 

rule is considered to equally affect all of 

these small entities in the same manner. 

Therefore, this rulemaking would not 

create disproportionate costs between 

small and large vessels/businesses. 

The CPS FMP and its implementing 

regulations require NMFS to annually 

set an OFL, ABC, ACL, and HG or 

annual catch target for the Pacific 

sardine fishery based on the specified 

harvest control rules in the FMP applied 

to the current stock biomass estimate for 

that year. The derived annual HG is the 

level typically used to manage the 

principal commercial sardine fishery 

and is the harvest level NMFS typically 

uses for profitability analysis each year. 

As stated above, the CPS FMP dictates 

that when the estimated biomass drops 

below a certain level (150,000 metric 

tons (mt)), the HG is zero. Because there 

is again no directed fishing for the 

2022–2023 fishing year, this proposed 

rule will not change the potential 

profitability compared to the previous 

fishing year. Additionally, the proposed 

2022–2023 ACL is slightly higher 

compared to previous years, and is still 

expected to account for the various 

fishery sector needs (i.e., live bait, 

incidental catch in other CPS fisheries, 

and minor directed fisheries). 

The revenue derived from harvesting 

Pacific sardine is typically only one of 

the sources of fishing revenue for the 

commercial vessels that participate in 

this fishery. As a result, the economic 

impact to the fleet from the proposed 

action cannot be viewed in isolation. 

From year to year, depending on market 

conditions and availability of fish, most 

CPS/sardine vessels supplement their 

income by harvesting other species. 

Many vessels in California also harvest 

anchovy, mackerel, and in particular, 

squid, making Pacific sardine only one 

component of a multi-species CPS 

fishery. Additionally, some sardine 

vessels that operate off of Oregon and 

Washington also fish for salmon in 


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27560 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 89 / Monday, May 9, 2022 / Proposed Rules 

Alaska or squid in California during 

times of the year when sardine are not 

available. The purpose of the incidental 

catch limits proposed in this action are 

to ensure the vessels impacted by a 

prohibition on directly harvesting 

sardine can still access these other 

profitable fisheries while still 

minimizing Pacific sardine harvest. 

CPS vessels typically rely on multiple 

species for profitability because 

abundance of Pacific sardine, like the 

other CPS stocks, is highly associated 

with ocean conditions and seasonality. 

Variability in ocean conditions and 

season results in variability in the 

timing and location of CPS harvest 

throughout the year. Because each 

species responds to ocean conditions in 

its own way, not all CPS stocks are 

likely to be abundant at the same time. 

Therefore, as abundance levels and 

markets fluctuate, the CPS fishery as a 

whole has relied on a group of species 

for its annual revenues. 

Therefore the proposed action, if 

adopted, will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. As a result, an 

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is 

not required, and none has been 

prepared. 

This action does not contain a 

collection-of-information requirement 

for purposes of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act. There are no relevant 

Federal rules that may duplicate, 

overlap, or conflict with the proposed 

action. 

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

Dated: May 3, 2022. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–09926 Filed 5–6–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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