31262 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 111 / Friday, June 11, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

microorganism as delineated in 

§ 725.422(d). 

(ii) [Reserved] 

(b) Specific requirements. The 

provisions of subpart L of this part 

apply to this section except as modified 

by this paragraph (b). 

(1) Recordkeeping. Recordkeeping 

requirements as specified in 

§ 725.950(b)(2) through (4) are 

applicable to manufacturers and 

processors of this microorganism. 

(2) Modification or revocation of 

certain notification requirements. The 

provisions of § 725.984 apply to this 

section. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2021–12147 Filed 6–10–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 210607–0122] 

RIN 0648–BK55 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Northeast Multispecies 

Fishery; 2021–2023 Small-Mesh 

Multispecies Specifications 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes small-mesh 

multispecies specifications for the 2021 

fishing year, and projected 

specifications for fishing years 2022 and 

2023, as recommended by the New 

England Fishery Management Council. 

This action also proposes changes to 

whiting possession limits on certain 

trips and would restore the in-season 

adjustment trigger for northern red hake. 

This action is necessary to establish 

allowable harvest levels and other 

management measures consistent with 

the most recent scientific information. 

This rule also informs the public of the 

proposed fishery specifications and 

provides an opportunity for comment. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

June 28, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2021–0043, 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–2021–0043’’ 

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). 

The New England Fishery 

Management Council prepared a draft 

environmental assessment (EA) for this 

action that describes the proposed 

measures and other considered 

alternatives. The EA also provides an 

economic analysis, as well as an 

analysis of the biological, economic, and 

social impacts of the proposed measures 

and other considered alternatives. 

Copies of the specifications document, 

including the EA and information on 

the economic impacts of the proposed 

measures, are available upon request 

from Thomas A. Nies, Executive 

Director, New England Fishery 

Management Council, 50 Water Street, 

Newburyport, MA 01950. This 

document is also accessible via the 

internet at https://www.nefmc.org/ 

library/2021-2023-whitingspecifications. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cynthia Ferrio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9180. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The small-mesh multispecies fishery 

comprises three species of hakes that are 

managed as five stocks: Northern and 

southern silver hake; northern and 

southern red hake; and offshore hake. 

Southern silver hake and offshore hake 

are often grouped together for 

management purposes and collectively 

referred to as ‘‘southern whiting.’’ The 

New England Fishery Management 

Council manages the small-mesh 

multispecies fishery within the 

Northeast Multispecies Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP). This action 

proposes catch limit specifications for 

the 2021 small-mesh multispecies 

fishery, and projects specifications for 

fishing years 2022 and 2023, based on 

the Council’s recommendations. 

This action would also increase 

whiting (silver hake and offshore hake) 

possession limits on trips using gear 

with less than 3-in (7.62-cm) mesh from 

3,500 pounds (lb) (1,588 kilograms (kg)) 

or 7,500 lb (3,402 kg) to 15,000 lb (6,804 

kg), and restore the in-season 

adjustment trigger for northern red hake 

to 90 percent from 37.9 percent. These 

recommended changes reflect the most 

recent stock assessment information 

(September 2020), and are intended to 

increase fishing flexibility, decrease 

regulatory discards, and promote 

rebuilding of the southern red hake 

stock. 

Proposed Specifications 

This action proposes the Council’s 

recommendations for 2021 and 

projected 2022–2023 small-mesh 

multispecies catch specifications, as 

well as revised management measures 

reduce regulatory discards. These 

proposed catch limits would increase 

annual quotas for southern whiting and 

both red hake stocks, and decrease the 

quota for northern silver hake (Table 1). 

Specifications for fishing years 2022 and 

2023 are projected to be the same as the 

proposed 2021 limits. 

TABLE 1—PROPOSED SMALL-MESH MULTISPECIES SPECIFICATIONS FOR FISHING YEARS 2021–2023 (METRIC TONS), 

WITH THE PERCENT CHANGE IN THE TOTAL ALLOWABLE LANDINGS (TAL) FROM FISHING YEAR 2020 

Overfishing 

limit 

Acceptable 

biological 

catch 

Annual 

catch limit TAL Percent change 

Northern Red Hake .............................................................. N/A 3,452 3,278 1,405 +413 

Northern Silver Hake ........................................................... 39,930 20,410 19,387 17,457 ¥34 

Southern Red Hake ............................................................. N/A 1,505 1,429 422 +89 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 111 / Friday, June 11, 2021 / Proposed Rules 31263 

TABLE 1—PROPOSED SMALL-MESH MULTISPECIES SPECIFICATIONS FOR FISHING YEARS 2021–2023 (METRIC TONS), 

WITH THE PERCENT CHANGE IN THE TOTAL ALLOWABLE LANDINGS (TAL) FROM FISHING YEAR 2020—Continued 

Overfishing 

limit 

Acceptable 

biological 

catch 

Annual 

catch limit TAL Percent change 

Southern Whiting ................................................................. 72,160 40,990 38,941 28,742 +99 

In a separate action that is currently 

in the rulemaking process, the Council 

adopted a 10-year rebuilding program 

for southern red hake because this stock 

was declared overfished in 2018. 

Although the rebuilding plan has not 

yet been implemented in a final rule, 

the proposed southern red hake 

Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) is 

intended to be consistent with the 

Council’s proposed rebuilding plan, 

even though the proposed quota for the 

species is higher than in fishing year 

2020. The Council recommended an 

increased ABC, but at a level lower than 

what was recommended by its Scientific 

and Statistical Committee, to decrease 

regulatory discards and allow continued 

operation of the fishery while still 

enhancing the rebuilding potential for 

southern red hake. 

This proposed action would also 

revise management measures within the 

small-mesh multispecies fishery to 

reduce discards and improve fishery 

operations. The Council recommends 

increasing the possession limit for 

southern whiting on trips using gear 

with less than 3-in (7.62-cm) mesh to 

15,000 lb (6,804 kg) to reduce regulatory 

discards. This action also proposes that 

the in-season adjustment trigger for 

northern red hake be reset to 90 percent 

of the annual quota, from the current 

trigger of 37.9 percent. The trigger was 

most recently reduced in fishing year 

2017 to account for annual catch 

overages on the stock, and has been 

reduced multiple times prior in fishing 

years 2014 and 2015 from the original 

90 percent. However, catches of 

northern red hake have been well below 

specified catch limits since the large 

2014 year class of new young fish 

entered the fishery. Thus, this change in 

the in-season adjustment trigger for 

northern red hake is intended to avoid 

unnecessarily restrictive in-season 

accountability measures on the fishery, 

and further reduce excessive regulatory 

discards. 

The Council will review the projected 

2022 and 2023 specifications to 

determine if any changes need to be 

made prior to their final 

implementation. Changes may occur if 

quota overages trigger accountability 

measures, or if new stock information 

results in changes to the ABC 

recommendations. The rebuilding plan 

for southern red hake that is currently 

undergoing review in a separate 

rulemaking will not change any of these 

proposed specifications. NMFS will 

publish a notice prior to the 2022 and 

2023 fishing years to confirm the 

projected specifications or announce 

any necessary changes. 

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 

Northeast Multispecies FMP, other 

provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, and other applicable law, subject to 

further consideration after public 

comment. 

The Council 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 proposed action would impact all 

permitted vessels or affiliated groups 

that participate in small-mesh 

multispecies fisheries. The Council 

considered any business with at least 

one open access multispecies K permit, 

or other northeast multispecies permit 

that allows possession of hakes, in this 

evaluation, as well as any active entities 

that landed any small-mesh 

multispecies for commercial sale in 

2019. As of June 1, 2020, NMFS had 

issued 798 commercial open-access 

(small-mesh) permits; therefore, 798 

permits would be regulated by this 

action. According to the ownership 

database, there are 627 distinct business 

entities that hold at least one permit 

regulated by the proposed action, and of 

those 627 entities, all are engaged in 

commercial fishing, although 106 did 

not have revenues (were not active) in 

2019. Of those 627 entities potentially 

affected by this action, 618 are 

categorized as small entities and 9 are 

categorized as large entities. It was 

found that on average these small 

businesses derive less than four percent 

of their total fishing income from the 

small-mesh multispecies fishery, and 

that this fishery serves as more of a 

supplement to their overall fishing 

revenue rather than the primary source. 

This action, which proposes higher 

catch limits for most stocks and 

increases a whiting possession limit 

primarily to reduce regulatory discards, 

is expected to provide operational 

flexibility and opportunity in the fishery 

without increasing risk to the resource 

or substantially changing fishing 

behavior. Under this action, annual 

quotas would increase for southern 

whiting and both red hake stocks and 

decrease for northern silver hake. While 

permit holders may experience a slight 

positive impact from higher landings of 

some species throughout the course of 

the year, short-term landings are not 

expected to increase. Further, over the 

long-term of several years, the small 

increases in annual quotas will likely be 

negligible when balanced with the 

decreased access to northern silver 

hake. Also, the proposed changes to 

management measures, such as the 

whiting trip limit and northern red hake 

trigger, are primarily intended to reduce 

regulatory discards and prevent overrestriction of stable stocks in the fishery. 

These measures are expected to allow 

normal operation of the fishery to 

continue further into the year, and are 

not expected to change fishing behavior 

overall. 

The Council’s analyses indicate that 

the overall economic impact of 

proposed action is expected to be 

negligible to slightly positive, and that 

the proposed specifications are not 

expected to substantially change fishing 

effort, risk of overfishing, prices/ 

revenues, or fishery behavior. The 

proposed measures are intended to 

provide operational flexibility and 

fishing opportunities, while preventing 

overharvest of the stocks. Therefore, the 

Council concluded, and NMFS agrees, 

that this action would not have a 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
31264 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 111 / Friday, June 11, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

significant economic 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: June 7, 2021. 

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 § 648.86, revise paragraph 

(d)(1)(i), and remove and reserve 

paragraph (d)(1)(ii) to read as follows: 

§ 648.86 NE Multispecies possession 

restrictions. 

* * * * * 

(d) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(i) Vessels possessing on board or 

using nets of mesh size smaller than 3 

in (7.62 cm). Owners or operators of a 

vessel may possess and land not more 

than 15,000 lb (6,804 kg) of combined 

silver hake and offshore hake, if either 

of the following conditions apply: 

(A) The mesh size of any net or any 

part of a net used by or on board the 

vessel is smaller than 3 inches (7.62 

cm), as applied to the part of the net 

specified in paragraph (d)(1)(iv) of this 

section, as measured in accordance with 

§ 648.80(f); or 

(B) The mesh size of any net or part 

of a net on board the vessel not 

incorporated into a fully constructed net 

is smaller than 3 inches (7.62 cm), as 

measured by methods specified in 

§ 648.80(f). ‘‘Incorporated into a fully 

constructed net’’ means that any mesh 

smaller than 3 inches (7.62 cm) that is 

incorporated into a fully constructed net 

may occur only in the part of the net not 

subject to the mesh size restrictions 

specified in paragraph (d)(1)(iv) of this 

section, and the net into which the 

mesh is incorporated must be available 

for immediate use. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. In § 648.90, revise paragraph 

(b)(5)(iii) to read as follows: 

§ 648.90 NE multispecies assessment, 

framework procedures and specifications, 

and flexible area action system. 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 

(5) * * * 

(iii) Small-mesh multispecies inseason adjustment triggers. The smallmesh multispecies in-season 

accountability measure adjustment 

triggers are as follows: 

Species 

In-season 

adjustment 

trigger 

(percent) 

Northern Red Hake .............. 90 

Northern Silver Hake ............ 90 

Southern Red Hake .............. 40.4 

Southern Silver Hake ........... 90 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2021–12282 Filed 6–10–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with PROPOSALS