Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 11 / Friday, January 16, 2015 / Proposed Rules 2379 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

RIN 0648–BE47 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish 

Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; 

Amendment 40 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery 

Management Council (Council) has 

submitted Amendment 40 to the Fishery 

Management Plan for the Reef Fish 

Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) 

for review, approval, and 

implementation by NMFS. Amendment 

40 includes actions to establish a 

Federal charter vessel/headboat (forhire) component and private angling 

component within the recreational 

sector, allocate the red snapper 

recreational quota and annual catch 

target (ACT) between the components 

based on historical and recent landings, 

and establish separate red snapper 

season closure provisions for the 

Federal for-hire and private angling 

components. These measures would 

sunset after 3 years unless the Council 

takes additional action. The intent of 

Amendment 40 is to define distinct 

private angling and Federal for-hire 

components of the recreational sector 

who fish for red snapper, and allocate 

the recreational quota between these 

two components, to increase the 

stability for the for-hire component, 

provide a basis for increased flexibility 

in future management of the 

recreational sector, and minimize the 

chance for recreational quota overruns, 

which could negatively impact the 

rebuilding of the red snapper stock. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before March 17, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the amendment identified by 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2014–0107’’ 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- 

0107, 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 Amendment 40, 

which includes an environmental 

impact statement, a fishery impact 

statement, a Regulatory Flexibility Act 

analysis, and a regulatory impact 

review, may be obtained from the 

Southeast Regional Office Web site at 

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Peter Hood, Southeast Regional Office, 

NMFS, telephone: 727–824–5305; email: 

Peter.Hood@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires each 

regional fishery management council to 

submit any FMP or amendment to 

NMFS for review and approval, partial 

approval, or disapproval. The 

Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires 

that NMFS, upon receiving a plan or 

amendment, publish an announcement 

in the Federal Register notifying the 

public that the plan or amendment is 

available for review and comment. 

The FMP being revised by 

Amendment 40 was prepared by the 

Council and implemented through 

regulations at 50 CFR part 622 under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 

Background 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires 

NMFS and regional fishery management 

councils to prevent overfishing and 

achieve, on a continuing basis, the 

optimum yield (OY) from federally 

managed fish stocks. These mandates 

are intended to ensure fishery resources 

are managed for the greatest overall 

benefit to the nation, particularly with 

respect to providing food production 

and recreational opportunities, and 

protecting marine ecosystems. 

Amendment 40 includes actions to 

define distinct private angling and 

Federal for-hire components of the reef 

fish recreational sector fishing for red 

snapper and allocate red snapper 

resources between these recreational 

components. Establishing these separate 

components is intended to increase the 

stability for the for-hire component, 

provide a basis for increased flexibility 

in future management of the 

recreational sector, and reduce the 

likelihood for recreational quota 

overruns. As a result, the actions are 

intended to prevent overfishing while 

achieving the OY, particularly with 

respect to recreational fishing 

opportunities, while rebuilding the red 

snapper stock. 

Recreational Red Snapper Fishing 

The Gulf red snapper stock is 

overfished and currently under a 

rebuilding plan until 2032. The 

recreational sector, which has 

experienced quota overages and more 

recently, shorter seasons, is managed 

under a quota, bag and size limits, and 

closed seasons. 

The recreational sector in the Gulf 

includes a private angling component 

(which includes state-permitted guide 

boats) and a for-hire component. Those 

for-hire vessels with a Federal charter 

vessel/headboat permit for Gulf reef fish 

are allowed to fish for red snapper in 

Federal waters, and those for-hire 

vessels without Federal permits are 

restricted to fishing for red snapper in 

state waters. Current recreational 

management measures are typically 

applied to the recreational sector as a 

whole, without making a distinction 

between the private and for-hire 

components. This approach results in 

less flexible management for the two 

distinct components of the recreational 

sector, where goals and needs differ 

between components. 

Federal charter vessel/headboat 

permits for Gulf reef fish are limitedentry permits, thus there are no 

additional permits being issued. In 

addition, federally permitted reef fish 

charter vessels and headboats are 

prohibited from harvesting red snapper 

in state waters when the Federal season 

is closed. In contrast, there is no limit 

on the number of anglers fishing from 

private recreational vessels and the 

number of state-permitted for-hire 

vessels operating in state waters. Over 

time, the number of private recreational 

anglers (state licensed) has increased, 

while the number of vessels with 

Federal charter vessels/headboat 

permits for Gulf reef fish has decreased. 

As a result, private vessel landings over 


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2380 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 11 / Friday, January 16, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

time have represented a greater 

proportion of the recreational harvest as 

a whole. 

Management Measures Contained in 

Amendment 40 

Establishing Private Angling and 

Federal For-Hire Components 

The Council has recommended 

partitioning the recreational sector that 

fishes for red snapper into two 

components. One component would be 

a Federal for-hire component including 

federally permitted for-hire operators 

and their angler clients. The other 

component would be the private angling 

component, including anglers fishing 

from private vessels and state-permitted 

for-hire vessels. 

Sunset Provision 

The Council selected a 3-year sunset 

provision for the establishment of the 

Federal for-hire and private angling 

components and associated 

management measures included in 

Amendment 40. If management 

measures from Amendment 40 are 

implemented in time for the June 1, 

2015, Federal recreational fishing 

season, the components and associated 

management measures would be 

effective through December 31, 2017. 

The Council would need to take further 

action for these components and 

management measures to extend beyond 

3 years. 

Allocation 

In determining the allocation for each 

recreational component, the Council 

considered eight alternatives that were 

based on average percentages of red 

snapper harvested by the federal for-hire 

and the private angling components 

during various time intervals between 

1986 and 2013. The Council selected the 

alternative that combined the longest 

time period of available landings (1986– 

2013) with landings from a more recent 

range of years (2006–2013). Average 

percentages from each of the two time 

periods were then equally weighted to 

determine the allocation. The Council 

selected this allocation because it 

reflects both historical changes in the 

recreational sector as well as more 

current conditions, and is an approach 

previously used by the Council in 

setting allocations for other species. The 

resultant allocation percentages for the 

Federal for-hire and private angling 

components are 42.3 and 57.7 percent, 

respectively. Given a 2015 recreational 

quota of 5.390 million lb (2.445 million 

kg), this would result in Federal for-hire 

and private angling quotas of 2,279,970 

lb (1,034,177 kg), round weight and 

3,110,030 lb (1,410,686 kg), round 

weight, respectively. 

Recreational Season Closure Provisions 

With the establishment of the two 

components, the Council selected 

separate red snapper season closure 

provisions for the Federal for-hire and 

private angling components based on 

component ACTs. By applying a 20- 

percent buffer to quotas, the Federal 

charter vessel/headboat component ACT 

would be 1.824 million lb (0.827 million 

kg), round weight, and the private 

angling ACT would be 2.488 million lb 

(1.129 million kg), round weight. Both 

components’ red snapper seasons would 

begin on June 1 and a component would 

close when its ACT is projected to be 

caught. Season lengths will be 

determined when 2014 recreational 

landings data are available and the 

results of an updated red snapper stock 

assessment are available. Amendment 

40 contains season length projections 

that estimate the Federal for-hire and 

private angling fishing seasons if sector 

separation had been implemented in 

2014. In 2014, state seasons were open 

for various times off all states when 

Federal waters were closed. Inconsistent 

state seasons reduce the length of the 

private angling component’s Federal 

season but provide fishing opportunities 

for the private angling component that 

are not available to the Federal for-hire 

component. 

Proposed Rule for Amendment 40 

A proposed rule that would 

implement Amendment 40 has been 

drafted. In accordance with the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, NMFS is 

evaluating Amendment 40 to determine 

whether it is consistent with the FMP, 

the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law. If the preliminary 

determination is affirmative, NMFS will 

publish the proposed rule in the Federal 

Register for public review and 

comment. 

Consideration of Public Comments 

The Council submitted Amendment 

40 for Secretarial review, approval, and 

implementation. Comments received by 

March 17, 2015, whether specifically 

directed to the amendment or the 

proposed rule, will be considered by 

NMFS in its decision to approve, 

partially approve, or disapprove 

Amendment 40. Comments received 

after that date will not be considered by 

NMFS in this decision. All comments 

received by NMFS on the amendment or 

the proposed rule during their 

respective comment periods will be 

addressed in the final rule. 

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

Dated: January 12, 2015. 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–00587 Filed 1–15–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


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