78022 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 248 / Monday, December 29, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

IUCN Red List as of 2006. However, 

these assessments and their conclusions 

do not directly inform our analysis of 

extinction risk for the pinto abalone. 

First, the criteria used for assessing 

whether a species warrants listing under 

the State ESA, Canada’s SARA, or the 

IUCN Red List are different than the 

standards for making a determination 

that a species warrants listing as 

threatened or endangered under the 

Federal ESA. Second, the geographic 

scope considered in these assessments 

differed from the scope of our analysis. 

Washington State’s review focuses on 

the status of the species within state 

waters. Canada’s SARA listing focused 

on the status of the species within 

British Columbia, and also did not 

incorporate more recent data that has 

become available since 2011, showing 

decreased poaching pressure and 

increasing abundances at index survey 

sites. The IUCN Red List assessment 

focused on the status of the northern 

form of pinto abalone (Point Conception 

to Alaska), and was largely based on 

population trends in Alaska and British 

Columbia (McDougall et al. 2006). 

McDougall et al. (2006) cited the lack of 

overlap in abundance and low presence 

of the southern form relative to other 

California abalone species as reasons for 

focusing on the northern form. 

However, as we have discussed above 

(see ‘‘The Species Question’’ section), 

more recent evidence indicates that the 

degree of overlap between the northern 

and southern form is greater than 

previously thought. We considered the 

pinto abalone as one species throughout 

its range due to the lack of genetic, 

geographic, or ecological justification 

for treating the northern and southern 

forms as separate species. In addition, 

the ESA does not allow the 

consideration of distinct population 

segments for invertebrate species. Thus, 

our analysis of the species’ status under 

the Federal ESA considered different 

standards and a broader geographic 

scope than these previous assessments. 

In this status review, we identified 

several important data gaps that need to 

be addressed to inform our 

understanding of the status of the 

species. These data gaps include: pinto 

abalone abundance and trends in 

Alaska, California, and Mexico; past and 

present fisheries harvest levels in 

Alaska and Mexico; and the presence, 

distribution, and abundance of pinto 

abalone along the outer coast of 

Washington and Oregon. We encourage 

the following research and monitoring 

efforts to address these data gaps. 

• In Alaska: (a) Establishment of 

regular, long-term monitoring of pinto 

abalone population abundance, trends, 

and distribution; and (b) monitoring and 

management of personal use and 

subsistence harvest to minimize impacts 

to pinto abalone. As discussed under 

the ‘‘Summary of factors affecting the 

species’’ (see the section on 

‘‘Overutilization’’), ADF&G believes that 

personal use and subsistence harvest is 

currently low, but regulations still allow 

harvest of up to five pinto abalone per 

person per day. Monitoring would 

provide the data needed to estimate 

current harvest levels and to evaluate 

the impacts of these harvest levels 

(allowed and actual) on the pinto 

abalone population in Alaska. 

• In Washington: Surveys to evaluate 

the presence, abundance, and 

distribution of pinto abalone along the 

outer coast of Washington. 

• In Oregon: Surveys to evaluate the 

presence, abundance, and distribution 

of pinto abalone along the outer coast of 

Oregon. Revision of the fisheries 

regulations may also be needed to 

clarify that harvest of pinto abalone is 

prohibited. 

• In California: Establishment of 

regular, long-term monitoring of pinto 

abalone population abundance, trends, 

and distribution. 

• In Mexico: (a) Establishment of 

regular, long-term monitoring of pinto 

abalone population abundance, trends, 

and distribution; and (b) monitoring of 

pinto abalone harvest and, as needed, 

management measures to minimize 

impacts of fisheries harvest on pinto 

abalone. As discussed under the 

‘‘Summary of factors affecting the 

species’’ (see the section on 

‘‘Overutilization’’), current harvest 

levels of pinto abalone in Mexico are 

thought to be low. Monitoring would 

provide the data needed to estimate 

current harvest levels and their impacts 

on the pinto abalone population in 

Mexico. 

Given the data gaps and uncertainties 

associated with our current 

understanding of the status of the 

species, we plan to retain pinto abalone 

on the NMFS Species of Concern list 

with one revision to apply the Species 

of Concern status throughout the 

species’ range (Alaska to Mexico). 

References 

A complete list of all references cited 

herein is available on the NMFS West 

Coast Region Web site (http://www.

westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/) and upon 

request (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT). 

Authority: The authority for this action is 

the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Dated: December 22, 2014. 

Eileen Sobeck, 

Assistant Administrator, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–30345 Filed 12–22–14; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 141103917–4917–01 ] 

RIN 0648–BE60 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

Provisions; Fisheries of the 

Northeastern United States; Black Sea 

Bass Fishery; Framework Adjustment 

8 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes regulations to 

implement Framework Adjustment 8 to 

the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black 

Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan. 

This action would allow the black sea 

bass recreational fishery to begin on 

May 15 of each year, instead of May 19, 

to provide additional fishing 

opportunities earlier in the year. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

5 p.m. local time, on January 28, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified NOAA– 

NMFS–2014–BE60, 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- 

0155, click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail and Hand Delivery: John K. 

Bullard, Regional Administrator, NMFS, 

Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries 

Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, 

Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside 

of the envelope: ‘‘Comments on Black 

Sea Bass Framework 8.’’ 

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 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 248 / Monday, December 29, 2014 / Proposed Rules 78023 

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. 

Copies of the Supplemental 

Information Report and other 

supporting documents for this action are 

available from Dr. Christopher M. 

Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic 

Fishery Management Council, Suite 201, 

800 N. State Street, Dover, DE 19901. 

These documents are also accessible via 

the Internet at: http://www.greater

atlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Moira Kelly, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9218. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

General Background 

The summer flounder, scup, and 

black sea bass fisheries are managed 

cooperatively under the provisions of 

the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black 

Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan 

(FMP) developed by the Mid-Atlantic 

Fishery Management Council and the 

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 

Commission, in consultation with the 

New England and South Atlantic 

Fishery Management Councils. The 

management unit specified in the FMP 

for black sea bass (Centropristis striata) 

is U.S. waters of the Atlantic Ocean 

from 35 E. 13.3’ N. lat. (the latitude of 

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Buxton, 

North Carolina) northward to the U.S./ 

Canada border. 

The FMP is managed jointly by the 

Council and Commission, and states 

manage black sea bass within 3 nautical 

miles (4.83 km) of their coasts under the 

Commission’s plan. The applicable 

Federal regulations govern vessels and 

individual anglers fishing in Federal 

waters of the exclusive economic zone 

(EEZ), as well as vessels possessing a 

Federal black sea bass charter/party 

vessel permit, regardless of where they 

fish. The recreational fishery is 

essentially managed with four parts: 

The recreational harvest limit; the open 

season; minimum fish size; and a bag 

limit. The recreational harvest limit is 

established based on the specifications 

formula in the FMP. The open season, 

minimum fish size, and bag limit are 

collectively referred to as the 

‘‘recreational management measures.’’ 

Recreational Management Measures 

Background 

The Black Sea Bass Monitoring 

Committee, consisting of representatives 

from the Commission, the Council, state 

marine fishery agency representatives 

from Massachusetts to North Carolina, 

and NMFS, typically meets in 

November of each year to make 

recommendations on recreational 

management measures necessary to 

constrain landings within the 

recreational harvest limit established for 

the upcoming fishing year. The 

Council’s Demersal Species Committee 

and the Commission’s Summer 

Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass 

Management Board then consider the 

Monitoring Committee’s 

recommendations and any public 

comment in making their 

recommendations to the Council and 

the Commission, respectively. The 

Council reviews the recommendations 

of the Demersal Species Committee, 

makes its own recommendations, and 

forwards them to NMFS for review. The 

Commission similarly adopts 

recommendations for the states. NMFS 

is required to review the Council’s 

recommendations to ensure that they 

are consistent with the targets specified 

for each species in the FMP and all 

applicable laws and Executive Orders 

before ultimately implementing 

measures for Federal waters. A 

proposed rule is typically published in 

the spring of the next year, with a final 

rule typically published in late May or 

early June. 

The recreational management 

measures recommendations are 

typically based on recreational landings 

of the current fishing year, through 

Wave 4 (July/August), with projections 

to estimate total annual landings. If the 

estimate of total annual landings is 

below the recreational harvest limit for 

the next year, recreational measures 

may be kept the same or possibly even 

relaxed. If the estimate of annual 

landings is above the recreational 

harvest limit for the next year, measures 

may need to be more restrictive. In order 

to maximize fishing opportunities for a 

given recreational harvest limit, the 

Monitoring Committee uses a set of 

tables that illustrate the expected 

change in landing per unit of change for 

each of the management measures tools 

(season, size, and bag limit). 

Modifications to the minimium size and 

bag limit typically result in less change 

per unit than changes to the season. The 

Monitoring Committee considers the 

predicted changes in landings per day 

per wave for each state and coastwide. 

The highest coastwide percent change 

per day occurs in Wave 5 (September/ 

October), followed closely by Wave 3 

(May/June). 

In December 2013, the Council 

initiated a Framework Adjustment to 

consider two modifications to the black 

sea bass management measures for the 

2015 fishing year: (1) Opening Wave 1 

(January/February) with increased 

reporting requirements for federally 

permitted charter/party vessels only; 

and (2) move the start of the Wave 3 

fishery to May 1. Because of issues 

surrounding data collection, both 

current and historical, and the impact 

that the Wave 1 fishery would have on 

the recreational harvest limit later in the 

year, the Council voted at its August 

2014 meeting not to move forward with 

that measure at this time. The Council 

did, however, recommend opening the 

Wave 3 fishery on May 15, as opposed 

to the current start date of May 19. This 

framework adjustment is necessary 

because the timing of the normal 

rulemaking schedule, as described 

above, makes implementing 

management measure changes that 

would impact early May difficult, and 

they would likely not be effective until 

May 2016. 

Proposed Action 

This action proposes to revise the 

start date of the black sea bass 

recreational fishery by four days to 

begin on May 15 instead of May 19. The 

Council had originally considered 

moving the start date to May 1, but 

determined that an incremental change 

of only four days would allow for a 

wider distribution of opportunity. While 

some states would prefer that Wave 3 be 

open for more days than Wave 5, other 

states would prefer a shorter Wave 3 

season compared to Wave 5. However, 

there are usually other fisheries 

(summer flounder, striped bass, etc.) 

open during Wave 5 that are not also 

open in Wave 3, which may result in 

more fishing opportunity overall. 

In recent years, the black sea bass 

recreational harvest limit has been 

achieved or exceeded. Because of this, 

starting the season on May 15 would 

require the Council to shorten the Wave 

5 season by approximately four days, in 

addition to other potential management 

changes, to ensure that the recreational 

harvest limit is not exceeded in 2015. 

The Council will make 

recommendations on the other 

management measures, including those 

to accommodate the earlier season 

opening, at its December 2014 meeting. 

Classification 

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

Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Assistant 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
78024 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 248 / Monday, December 29, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

Administrator has determined that this 

proposed rule is consistent with the 

Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea 

Bass FMP, other provisions of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 

The Office of Management and Budget 

has determined that this proposed rule 

is not significant for the purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. 

The Chief Council for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Council 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 Council conducted an evaluation 

of the potential socioeconomic impacts 

of the proposed measures in 

conjunction with a supplemental 

information report. These analyses 

identified 777 unique fishing entities 

(i.e., federally permitted charter/party 

vessels) in the Greater Atlantic Region 

that could be affected by the proposed 

change. However, only 346 federally 

permitted charter/party vessels, all of 

which qualify as small entities under 

the Small Business Administration’s 

small business standards, are expected 

to participate in the black sea bass 

recreational fishery next year. The 

proposed measure would shift four days 

of the black sea bass season from later 

in the season, when there are more 

species to target, to earlier in the season 

when there are fewer species to target. 

Because of seasonal availability, if 

charter/party vessels are not able to 

target black sea bass earlier in May, they 

will not be able to advertise and book 

trips, thereby losing revenue. However, 

even with reduced black sea bass fishing 

in Wave 5, they will be able to continue 

to book trips to target other revenuegenerating species during that time, 

such as summer flounder. As a result, 

charter/party vessel operators will be 

able to take more trips over the course 

of the year and earn more revenue than 

is currently possible. Therefore, the 

economic impacts of this action are 

expected to be positive, if minimal. 

Although a substantial number of small 

entities will be affected, the effect will 

be neither negative nor significant. 

Because this rule will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities, an 

initial regulatory flexibility analysis is 

not required and none has been 

prepared. 

There are no new reporting or 

recordkeeping requirements contained 

in any of the alternatives considered for 

this action. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648 

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: December 19, 2014. 

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. Section 648.146 is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 648.146 Black sea bass recreational 

fishing season. 

Vessels that are not eligible for a 

moratorium permit under § 648.4(a)(7), 

and fishermen subject to the possession 

limit specified in § 648.145(a), may only 

possess black sea bass from May 15 

through September 18, and October 18 

through December 31, unless this time 

period is adjusted pursuant to the 

procedures in § 648.142. 

[FR Doc. 2014–30266 Filed 12–24–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS