69418 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 225 / Friday, November 21, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

Public Hearing 

We will convene a public hearing to 

provide background information and 

accept public comments on the 

proposed listing of the Nassau grouper 

under the ESA. We will accept both oral 

and written comments regarding the 

proposed listing decision during the 

meeting. 

Special Accommodations 

The meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to 

Jason Reuter, (727) 824–5350, at least 5 

working days prior to the meeting date. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. 

Dated: November 17, 2014. 

Donna S. Wieting, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–27651 Filed 11–20–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 140728622–4622–01] 

RIN 0648–BE44 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish 

Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Red 

Snapper Management Measures 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes to implement 

management measures described in a 

framework action to the Fishery 

Management Plan for the Reef Fish 

Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP), 

as prepared by the Gulf of Mexico 

Fishery Management Council (Council). 

If implemented, this rule would revise 

the recreational accountability measures 

(AMs) and establish a recreational 

annual catch target (ACT) for red 

snapper in the exclusive economic zone 

(EEZ) of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf). The 

purpose of this proposed rule is to help 

achieve optimum yield (OY) for the Gulf 

red snapper resource and better ensure 

red snapper recreational landings do not 

exceed the recreational quota 

established in the rebuilding plan, in 

accordance with sections 303(a)(15) and 

407(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 

U.S.C. 1853(a)(15); 16 U.S.C. 1883(d)). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before December 22, 

2014. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the proposed rule, identified by 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2014–0120’’ by any of 

the following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2014- 

0120, click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Peter Hood, Southeast Regional Office, 

NMFS, 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). Attachments to 

electronic comments will be accepted in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF 

file formats only. 

Electronic copies of the framework 

action, which includes an 

environmental assessment, a regulatory 

impact review, and a Regulatory 

Flexibility Act analysis may be obtained 

from the Southeast Regional Office Web 

site at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/

sustainable_fisheries/gulf_fisheries/

reef_fish/index.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Peter Hood, Southeast Regional Office, 

NMFS, telephone 727–824–5305; email: 

Peter.Hood@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS and 

the Council manage the Gulf reef fish 

fishery under the FMP. The Council 

prepared the FMP and NMFS 

implements the FMP through 

regulations at 50 CFR part 622 under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). 

Background 

In 2013, the most recent Southeast 

Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) 

benchmark assessment for Gulf red 

snapper (SEDAR 31), determined that 

the red snapper stock in the Gulf is no 

longer undergoing overfishing. 

However, it remains overfished and is in 

the 14th year of a 31-year rebuilding 

plan that began in 2001 and that will 

remain in place through 2032. 

Beginning in the 2008 fishing year, 

following a substantial reduction in the 

quota in Amendment 27 to the FMP (73 

FR 5117, January 29, 2008), NMFS 

began projecting the season length of the 

recreational season on an annual basis 

based on a June 1 start date. However, 

due to difficulties in monitoring the 

recreational harvest and projecting the 

recreational season length, recreational 

quota overages have occurred regularly 

even though the recreational quota has 

been increasing annually since 2010. 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires 

the use of annual catch limits (ACLs) 

and AMs to end and prevent 

overfishing. For red snapper, NMFS 

determined the existing commercial and 

recreational quotas are functionally 

equivalent to sector ACLs, and the sum 

of the quotas is functionally equivalent 

to the stock ACL. Additionally, the 

commercial individual fishing quota 

(IFQ) program serves as an AM for the 

commercial sector. The recreational AM 

is currently an in-season closure based 

on annual projections of the recreational 

season length. 

The current recreational quota, 

implemented through a 2013 framework 

amendment (78 FR 57318, September 

18, 2013), is 5.390 million lb (2.445 

million kg), round weight. The red 

snapper recreational season begins on 

June 1, each year. NMFS determines the 

length of the red snapper recreational 

season in advance of June 1, and 

announces the closure date in the 

Federal Register. Previously, this 

closure was based on projections of 

when the recreational quota would be 

caught, but for 2014, projections were 

based on an ACT that is 20 percent 

below the quota; this modification was 

implemented through an emergency 

rule (79 FR 27768, May 15, 2014). 

In September 2013, individual 

commercial fishermen and two 

commercial fishing interest groups filed 

a lawsuit challenging the rules 

implementing red snapper quotas for 

the 2013 fishing year and setting the 

2013 recreational red snapper fishing 

season. In March 2014, the Court ruled 

in favor of the plaintiffs (Guindon v. 

Pritzker, 2014 WL 1274076; D.D.C. Mar. 

26, 2014), finding in pertinent part that 

NMFS failed to require adequate AMs to 

prohibit the retention of fish after the 

recreational quota had been harvested 

and address any overages. 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 225 / Friday, November 21, 2014 / Proposed Rules 69419 

To address the Court’s decision and 

reduce the probability that the 

recreational sector would exceed its 

quota, the Council requested and NMFS 

issued an emergency rule for the red 

snapper recreational sector (79 FR 

27768, May 15, 2014). The emergency 

rule implemented an AM that based the 

season length on an annual catch target 

(ACT) that was set 20 percent below the 

recreational quota. Although the 

emergency rule established a 

recreational AM for 2014, permanent 

recreational AMs are still needed for the 

2015 and subsequent fishing years. 

Management Measures Contained in 

This Proposed Rule 

If implemented, this proposed rule 

would establish a red snapper 

recreational ACT and revise the red 

snapper recreational AMs to support 

management efforts to maintain 

landings within the recreational quota 

and to mitigate any recreational quota 

overages should they occur. 

Red Snapper Recreational ACT and 

Season Length 

This proposed rule would establish a 

red snapper recreational ACT by 

applying a buffer to the recreational 

quota that is based on the Council’s 

ACL/ACT control rule developed in the 

Generic ACL/Amendment (76 FR 82044, 

December 29, 2011). The ACL/ACT 

control rule establishes a process for 

determining the appropriate target catch 

levels that account for management 

uncertainty in maintaining catches at or 

below the ACL. The control rule is 

intended to be applied separately to the 

recreational and commercial sectors 

because each sector has different levels 

of management uncertainty. The control 

rule recommends no buffer be applied 

to the quota for the red snapper 

commercial sector because the sector is 

managed by an IFQ program, has 

accurate landings data, and has not 

exceeded its quota in the last 7 years of 

the IFQ program being in effect. For the 

recreational sector, the control rule 

recommends applying a 20 percent 

buffer to the quota primarily because of 

the recreational quota overages in 3 of 

the last 4 years. Applying the 20 percent 

buffer to the quota results in an ACT of 

4.312 million pounds. 

This proposed rule would also revise 

the procedure for determining the 

recreational season length (closure 

date). Beginning with the 2015 fishing 

year, the red snapper recreational 

season closure date would be based on 

the recreational ACT instead of the 

recreational quota. Using the ACT to set 

the season length is an in-season AM 

that reduces the probability of 

exceeding the recreational quota during 

a fishing year from 50 percent to 15 

percent. 

Red Snapper Recreational Post-Season 

AM 

This rule would revise the 

recreational AMs to also include a quota 

overage adjustment (payback) should 

the recreational quota be exceeded 

while the red snapper stock is 

overfished. If red snapper are overfished 

and the recreational quota is exceeded, 

then in the year following the overage, 

the recreational quota would be reduced 

by the amount of the recreational quota 

overage in the prior fishing year, unless 

the best scientific information available 

determines that a greater, lesser, or no 

overage adjustment is necessary. The 

recreational ACT would also be reduced 

to maintain the 20 percent buffer 

between the ACT and the adjusted 

quota. This post-season AM is 

consistent with the National Standard 1 

guidelines for stocks that are in a 

rebuilding plan, as is the case for Gulf 

red snapper. 

Classification 

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

Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

that this proposed rule is consistent 

with the FMP, other provisions of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for 

purposes of Executive Order 12866. 

NMFS prepared an Initial Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (IRFA), as required 

by section 603 of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act, for this proposed rule. 

The IRFA describes the economic 

impact this rule, if adopted, would have 

on small entities. A description of the 

action, why it is being considered, the 

objectives of, and legal basis for this 

action are contained at the beginning of 

this section in the preamble and in the 

SUMMARY section of the preamble. A 

copy of the full analysis is available 

from NMFS (see ADDRESSES). A 

summary of the IRFA follows. 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act provides 

the statutory basis for this rule. No 

duplicative, overlapping, or conflicting 

Federal rules have been identified. In 

addition, no new reporting, recordkeeping, or other compliance 

requirements are introduced by this 

rule. Accordingly, this rule does not 

implicate the Paperwork Reduction Act. 

This rule, if implemented, would be 

expected to directly affect federally 

permitted for-hire vessels operating in 

the Gulf reef fish fishery. The for-hire 

sector is comprised of charter boats and 

headboats (party boats). Although 

charter boats tend to be smaller in 

length, on average, than headboats, the 

key distinction between the two types of 

operations is how the fee is determined. 

On a charter boat trip, the fee charged 

is for the entire vessel, regardless of how 

many passengers are carried, whereas 

the fee charged for a headboat trip is 

paid per individual angler. 

A Federal Gulf charter/headboat 

permit has been required for reef fish 

since 1996 and the sector currently 

operates under a limited access permit 

system. In 2013, there were 1,190 valid 

(non-expired) or renewable Gulf of 

Mexico Charter/Headboat Reef Fish 

Permits. A renewable permit is an 

expired permit that may not be actively 

fished, but is renewable for up to 1 year 

after expiration. Although the for-hire 

permit application collects information 

on the primary method of operation, the 

permit itself does not identify the 

federally permitted vessel as either a 

headboat or a charter boat. Operation as 

either a headboat or charter boat is not 

restricted by the Federal permitting 

regulations, and vessels may operate in 

both capacities. However, only federally 

permitted headboats are required to 

submit harvest and effort information to 

NMFS’ Headboat Survey (HBS). 

Participation in the HBS is based on 

determination by the NMFS Southeast 

Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) that 

the vessel primarily operates as a 

headboat. In 2013, seventy Gulf vessels 

were registered in the HBS. As a result, 

1,120 of the vessels with a valid or 

renewable reef fish charter/headboat 

permit are expected to operate as charter 

boats. The average charter boat is 

estimated to earn approximately 

$83,000 (2013 dollars) in gross annual 

revenue and the average headboat is 

estimated to earn approximately 

$251,000 (2013 dollars) in gross annual 

revenue. 

The Small Business Administration 

established size criteria for all major 

industry sectors in the U.S. including 

fish harvesters and for-hire operations. 

A business involved in finfish 

harvesting is classified as a small 

business if independently owned and 

operated, is not dominant in its field of 

operation (including its affiliates), and 

its combined annual receipts are not in 

excess of $20.5 million (NAICS code 

114111, finfish fishing) for all of its 

affiliated operations worldwide. For forhire vessels, all qualifiers apply except 

that the annual receipts threshold is 

$7.5 million (NAICS code 487210, 

recreational industries). 

Based on the revenue figures above, 

all for-hire vessels expected to be 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
69420 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 225 / Friday, November 21, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

directly affected by this rule are 

determined for the purpose of this 

analysis to be small business entities. 

Because all entities expected to be 

affected by this rule are small entities, 

NMFS has determined that this rule 

would affect a substantial number of 

small entities. Moreover, the issue of 

disproportionate effects on small versus 

large entities does not arise in the 

present case. 

Establishing an ACT, which serves as 

the basis for estimating the length of the 

recreational red snapper fishing season, 

is expected to reduce net operating 

revenues (the return used to pay all 

labor wages, returns to capital, and 

owner profits) of all Gulf reef fish forhire vessels (charter and headboats) by 

a combined total of approximately 

$2.286 million (2013 dollars) in the first 

year this rule is implemented. If there 

are no recreational quota overages, this 

amount will be the annual net operating 

revenue loss to the for-hire vessels. If 

recreational quota overages occur in a 

fishing year, and red snapper are 

overfished, net operating revenues 

would further decrease in the following 

fishing year with the application of 100 

percent of the recreational ACL overage 

reduction from the following year’s 

quota. In effect, establishing a payback 

provision would tend to increase the 

potential losses in net operating revenue 

to the for-hire vessels. 

An important feature associated with 

the payback provision is the uncertainty 

of the occurrence and level of overages. 

Under the proposed buffer of 20 percent 

for deriving the ACT from the 

recreational ACL, the probability of 

exceeding the quota is estimated at 15 

percent. At this probability level, the 

occurrence of an overage is relatively 

low. However, should an overage occur, 

the overage level could be insignificant 

or could be substantial. If the ACL 

overage is low, the net operating 

revenue loss to the for-hire vessels 

would be approximately equivalent to 

the amount estimated above ($2.286 

million). If the ACL overage is 

substantial, it could result in setting the 

ACT at zero the following year. In this 

case, net operating revenue loss to the 

for-hire vessels could be relatively 

substantial, with some unknown 

number of for-hire businesses possibly 

exiting the industry as a result of 

revenue loss. The year after that overage 

adjustment, however, the recreational 

ACL and the corresponding ACT would 

be restored as there would be no 

overages in the previous year if the ACT 

had been set at zero. Assuming no 

increases in the recreational red snapper 

quota, for-hire vessels would continue 

to lose the amount of net operating 

revenue estimated above. A recreational 

quota increase would alleviate some of 

the losses to the for-hire vessels. 

Given the uncertainty discussed 

above, it cannot be ascertained whether 

the effects of the rule on the net 

operating revenues of for-hire vessels 

would be significant. The public, 

therefore, is encouraged to address this 

issue during the public comment 

period. 

The following discussion analyzes the 

alternatives that were not selected as 

preferred by the Council. Five 

alternatives, including the preferred 

alternative (as fully described in the 

preamble), were considered for setting a 

red snapper recreational ACT. The first 

alternative, the no action alternative, 

would not establish an ACT. This 

alternative is associated with the highest 

probability of exceeding the recreational 

quota and so would not address the 

need to better control the recreational 

harvest to the sector’s quota. The other 

three alternatives would establish an 

ACT by applying a buffer of 30 percent, 

40 percent, or 60 percent to the quota. 

Relative to the preferred alternative, 

each of these three alternatives would 

result in a lower ACT and therefore 

greater loss in net operating revenues for 

the for-hire component of the 

recreational sector. 

Three alternatives, including the 

preferred alternative (as fully described 

in the preamble), were considered for 

establishing a payback provision in case 

of recreational ACL overages. It is noted 

that the payback provision only applies 

when red snapper are overfished. The 

first alternative, the no action 

alternative, would not establish a 

payback provision. This alternative 

would not address the need to mitigate 

for overages that may negatively impact 

the rebuilding plan. The second 

alternative would establish a 100 

percent recreational ACL payback 

provision, similar to the preferred 

alternative, and in addition would 

further reduce the adjusted ACT in the 

following season by 100 percent, 50 

percent, or 30 percent of the quota 

overage. The adjusted ACT is derived by 

applying the 20 percent buffer to the 

ACL after the recreational ACL is 

reduced by the amount of overage. This 

alternative, together with any of its 

additional options to further reduce the 

following season’s overage adjusted 

ACT, would be expected to result in 

higher net operating revenue losses for 

the for-hire sector. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 622 

Fisheries, Fishing, Gulf, Quotas, Red 

snapper. 

Dated: November 18, 2014. 

Eileen Sobeck, 

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 622 is proposed 

to be amended as follows: 

PART 622—FISHERIES OF THE 

CARIBBEAN, GULF OF MEXICO, AND 

SOUTH ATLANTIC 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 622 

continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. In § 622.41, paragraph (q) is added 

to read as follows: 

§ 622.41 Annual catch limits (ACLs), 

annual catch targets (ACTs), and 

accountability measures (AMs). 

* * * * * 

(q) Red snapper—(1) Commercial 

sector. [Reserved] 

(2) Recreational sector. (i) The AA 

will determine the length of the red 

snapper recreational fishing season 

based on when recreational landings are 

projected to reach the recreational ACT 

specified in paragraph (q)(2)(iii) of this 

section, and announce the closure date 

in the Federal Register. This will serve 

as an in-season accountability measure. 

On and after the effective date of the 

recreational closure notification, the bag 

and possession limit for red snapper is 

zero. 

(ii) In addition to the measures 

specified in paragraph (q)(2)(i) of this 

section, if red snapper recreational 

landings, as estimated by the SRD, 

exceed the applicable quota specified in 

§ 622.39(a)(2)(i), and red snapper are 

overfished, based on the most recent 

Status of U.S. Fisheries Report to 

Congress, the AA will file a notification 

with the Office of the Federal Register 

to reduce the recreational quota by the 

amount of the quota overage in the prior 

fishing year, and reduce the recreational 

ACT specified in paragraph (q)(2)(iii) of 

this section (based on the buffer 

between the ACT and the quota 

specified in the FMP), unless the best 

scientific information available 

determines that a greater, lesser, or no 

overage adjustment is necessary. 

(iii) The recreational ACT for red 

snapper is 4.312 million lb (1.956 

million kg), round weight. 

[FR Doc. 2014–27648 Filed 11–20–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS