46000 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 3, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 

Dated: September 7, 2017. 

Cecil Rodrigues, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III. 

40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows: 

PART 52—APPROVAL AND 

PROMULGATION OF 

IMPLEMENTATION PLANS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 52 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq. 

Subpart V—Maryland 

■ 2. In § 52.1070, the table in paragraph 

(e) is amended by adding an entry for 

‘‘2011 Base Year Inventory for the 2008 

8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air 

Quality Standard’’ at the end of the table 

to read as follows: 

§ 52.1070 Identification of plan. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

EPA APPROVED NON-REGULATORY AND QUASI-REGULATORY MATERIAL

Name of non-regulatory SIP revision Applicable geographic area State 

submittal date EPA approval date Additional explanation 

*******

2011 Base Year Emissions Inventory for 

the 2008 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard.

Baltimore, Maryland 2008 Ozone Moderate Nonattainment Area.12/30/2016 10/3/2017 [Insert 

Federal Register 

citation].

See § 52.1075(r). 

■ 3. Section 52.1075 is amended by 

adding paragraph (r) to read as follows: 

§ 52.1075 Base year emissions inventory. 

* * * * * 

(r) EPA approves as a revision to the 

Maryland state implementation plan the 

2011 base year emissions inventory for 

the Baltimore, Maryland moderate 

nonattainment area for the 2008 8-hour 

ozone national ambient air quality 

standards submitted by the Maryland 

Department of the Environment on 

December 30, 2016. The 2011 base year 

emissions inventory includes emissions 

estimates that cover the general source 

categories of stationary point, quasipoint, area (nonpoint), nonroad mobile, 

onroad mobile, and Marine-Air-Rail (M– 

A–R). The inventory includes actual 

annual emissions and typical summer 

day emissions for the months of May 

through September for the ozone 

precursors, VOC and NOX. [FR Doc. 2017–21106 Filed 10–2–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 635 

[Docket No. 150121066–5717–02] 

RIN 0648–XF724 

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; inseason 

General category bluefin tuna quota 

transfer. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is transferring 156.4 

metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna 

(BFT) quota from the Reserve category 

to the General category for the 

remainder of the 2017 fishing year, to 

account for overharvests of the January, 

June through August, and September 

subquotas. This action is intended to 

preserve the opportunity for General 

category fishermen to participate in the 

October through November and 

December General category fisheries to 

the extent that transferrable quota is 

available and is based on consideration 

of the regulatory determination criteria 

regarding inseason adjustments and 

applies to Atlantic tunas General 

category (commercial) permitted vessels 

and Highly Migratory Species (HMS) 

Charter/Headboat category permitted 

vessels when fishing commercially for 

BFT. 

DATES: The quota transfer is effective 

September 28, 2017 through December 

31, 2017. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sarah McLaughlin or Brad McHale, 

978–281–9260. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulations implemented under the 

authority of the Atlantic Tunas 

Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 et 

seq.) and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 

et seq.) governing the harvest of BFT by 

persons and vessels subject to U.S. 

jurisdiction are found at 50 CFR part 

635. Section 635.27 subdivides the U.S. 

BFT quota recommended by the 

International Commission for the 

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) 

and as implemented by the United 

States among the various domestic 

fishing categories, per the allocations 

established in the 2006 Consolidated 

Highly Migratory Species Fishery 

Management Plan (2006 Consolidated 

HMS FMP) (71 FR 58058, October 2, 

2006), as amended by Amendment 7 to 

the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP 

(Amendment 7) (79 FR 71510, December 

2, 2014). NMFS is required under ATCA 

and the Magnuson-Stevens Act to 

provide U.S. fishing vessels with a 

reasonable opportunity to harvest the 

ICCAT-recommended quota. 

The base quota for the General 

category is 466.7 mt, as established in 

the 2015 BFT quota final rule (80 FR 

52198, August 28, 2015). See 

§ 635.27(a). Each of the General category 

time periods (January, June through 

August, September, October through 

November, and December) is allocated a 

‘‘subquota’’ or portion of the annual 

General category quota. Although it is 

called the ‘‘January’’ subquota, the 

regulations allow the General category 

fishery under this quota to continue 

until the subquota is reached or March 

31, whichever comes first. The 

subquotas for each time period are as 

follows: 24.7 mt for January; 233.3 mt 

for June through August; 123.7 mt for 

September; 60.7 mt for October through 

November; and 24.3 mt for December. 

Any unused General category quota 

rolls forward within the fishing year, 

which coincides with the calendar year, 

from one time period to the next, and 

is available for use in subsequent time 

periods. On December 19, 2016, NMFS 

published an inseason action 

transferring 16.3 mt of BFT quota from 

the December 2017 subquota to the 


jstallworth on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 3, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 46001 

January 2017 subquota period, resulting 

in a subquota of 41 mt for the January 

2017 period and a subquota of 8 mt for 

the December 2017 period (81 FR 

91873). For 2017, NMFS also transferred 

40 mt from the Reserve to the General 

category effective March 2, resulting in 

an adjusted General category quota of 

506.7 mt (82 FR 12747, March 7, 2017). 

The 2017 General category fishery is 

open until December 31, 2017, or until 

the General category quota is reached, 

whichever comes first. Prior to this 

action, the adjusted Reserve category 

quota was 156.4 mt, and was most 

recently adjusted in the action to 

augment the 2017 BFT Reserve category 

quota with available underharvest of the 

2016 adjusted U.S. BFT quota (82 FR 

43500, September 18, 2017). 

Quota Transfer 

Under § 635.27(a)(9), NMFS has the 

authority to transfer quota among 

fishing categories or subcategories, after 

considering regulatory determination 

criteria at § 635.27(a)(8). NMFS has 

considered all of the relevant 

determination criteria and their 

applicability to the General category 

fishery. These considerations include, 

but are not limited to, the following: 

NMFS considered the catches of the 

General category quota to date 

(including during the summer/fall and 

winter fisheries in the last several 

years), and the likelihood of closure of 

that segment of the fishery if no 

adjustment is made (§ 635.27(a)(8)(ii) 

and (ix)). Preliminary landings data as 

of September 22, 2017, indicate that the 

General category has landed 596 mt this 

year, which exceeds the overall General 

category quota of 506.7 mt. NMFS 

closed the General category fishery 

when the September subquota (123.7 

mt) was met, effective September 17, 

2017 (82 FR 43711, September 19, 

2017). Without a quota transfer at this 

time, the October through November 

and December General category 

subquotas would not be available to 

General category participants because 

the entire General category quota of 

506.7 mt has been reached and 

exceeded. Approximately 81 percent 

(717.3 mt) of the total of the BFT 

subquotas for all commercial categories 

(888.7 mt, as published in the 2015 BFT 

quota final rule) has been harvested as 

of September 22, 2017, however, and 

NMFS anticipates that some amount of 

quota may remain unused by the end of 

the year even with the transfer. Absent 

a transfer at this time, this segment of 

the fishery would have to remain closed 

if no adjustment is made, even though 

NMFS anticipates that commercial-sized 

BFT will be readily available to vessels 

fishing under the General category quota 

when the General category fishery is 

scheduled to reopen on October 1, 2017. 

Transferring 156.4 mt of BFT quota from 

the Reserve category would allow this 

segment of the fishery to continue 

fishing and would result in a total of 

663.1 mt being available to the General 

category for the 2017 General category 

fishing season. 

Regarding the projected ability of the 

vessels fishing under the particular 

category quota (here, the General 

category) to harvest the additional 

amount of BFT quota transferred before 

the end of the fishing year 

(§ 635.27(a)(8)(iii)), NMFS considered 

General category landings over the last 

several years and landings to date this 

year. Landings are highly variable and 

depend on access to commercial-sized 

BFT and fishing conditions, among 

other factors. A portion of the 

transferred quota covers overharvests in 

the category as prosecuted to date, and 

thus has already been harvested. For the 

remainder of the transferred quota, 

which make the remaining subquotas 

whole to the extent that transferrable 

quota is available, there is a high 

probability that the transferred quota 

will be harvested during the October 

through November and December time 

periods. 

NMFS also considered the estimated 

amounts by which quotas for other gear 

categories of the fishery might be 

exceeded (§ 635.27(a)(8)(iv)) and the 

ability to account for all 2017 landings 

and dead discards. In the last several 

years, total U.S. BFT landings have been 

below the total available U.S. quota 

such that the United States has carried 

forward the maximum amount of 

underharvest allowed by ICCAT from 

one year to the next. NMFS will need 

to account for 2017 landings and dead 

discards within the adjusted U.S. quota, 

consistent with ICCAT 

recommendations, and NMFS 

anticipates having sufficient quota to do 

that. 

Regarding the usefulness of 

information obtained from catches in 

the particular category for biological 

sampling and monitoring of the status of 

the stock (§ 635.27(a)(8)(i)), biological 

samples collected from BFT landed by 

General category fishermen and 

provided by BFT dealers continue to 

provide NMFS with valuable data for 

ongoing scientific studies of BFT age 

and growth, migration, and reproductive 

status. Additional opportunity to land 

BFT over the longest time-period 

allowable would support the collection 

of a broad range of data for these studies 

and for stock monitoring purposes. 

This transfer would be consistent 

with the current U.S. quota, which was 

established and analyzed in the 2015 

BFT quota final rule, and with 

objectives of the 2006 Consolidated 

HMS FMP and amendments. 

(§ 635.27(a)(8)(v) and (vi)). Another 

principal consideration is the objective 

of providing opportunities to harvest the 

full annual U.S. BFT quota without 

exceeding it based on the goals of the 

2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 

Amendment 7, including to achieve 

optimum yield on a continuing basis 

and to optimize the ability of all permit 

categories to harvest their full BFT 

quota allocations (related to 

§ 635.27(a)(8)(x)). 

Based on the considerations above, 

NMFS is transferring all of the available 

156.4 mt from the Reserve category to 

the General category with the objective 

of making the remaining subquotas 

whole. Therefore, NMFS adjusts the 

General category quota to 663.1 mt for 

the 2017 General category fishing season 

(i.e., through December 31, 2017, or 

until the General category quota is 

reached, whichever comes first), and 

adjusts the Reserve category quota to 0 

mt. If necessary, NMFS will close the 

General category fishery for October 

through November and for December 

when the available subquotas for those 

time periods are reached. 

Monitoring and Reporting 

NMFS will continue to monitor the 

BFT fishery closely. Dealers are required 

to submit landing reports within 24 

hours of a dealer receiving BFT. Late 

reporting by dealers compromises 

NMFS’ ability to timely implement 

actions such as quota and retention 

limit adjustment, as well as closures, 

and may result in enforcement actions. 

General and HMS Charter/Headboat 

category vessel owners are required to 

report the catch of all BFT retained or 

discarded dead within 24 hours of the 

landing(s) or end of each trip, by 

accessing hmspermits.noaa.gov or by 

using the HMS Catch Reporting App. 

Depending on the level of fishing effort 

and catch rates of BFT, NMFS may 

determine that additional action (e.g., 

quota adjustment or closure) is 

necessary to ensure available subquotas 

are not exceeded or to enhance 

scientific data collection from, and 

fishing opportunities in, all geographic 

areas. If needed, subsequent 

adjustments will be published in the 

Federal Register. In addition, fishermen 

may call the Atlantic Tunas Information 

Line at (978) 281–9260, or access 

hmspermits.noaa.gov, for updates on 

quota monitoring and inseason 

adjustments. 


jstallworth on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with RULES
46002 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 190 / Tuesday, October 3, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 

NMFS reminds General category 

participants that when the fishery 

reopens October 1, 2017, the BFT 

General category daily retention limit 

will be one large medium or giant BFT 

(measuring 73′′ or greater) per vessel per 

day/trip. 

Classification 

The Assistant Administrator for 

NMFS (AA) finds that it is impracticable 

and contrary to the public interest to 

provide prior notice of, and an 

opportunity for public comment on, this 

action for the following reasons: 

The regulations implementing the 

2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and 

amendments provide for inseason 

retention limit adjustments to respond 

to the unpredictable nature of BFT 

availability on the fishing grounds, the 

migratory nature of this species, and the 

regional variations in the BFT fishery. 

Affording prior notice and opportunity 

for public comment to implement the 

quota transfer for the remainder of 2017 

is impracticable and contrary to the 

public interest as such a delay would 

result in continued closure of the 

General category fishery (because the 

available quota has been met) and the 

need to re-open the fishery later in the 

October through November time period, 

rather than the fishery automatically reopening on October 1. The delay would 

preclude the fishery from harvesting 

BFT that are available on the fishing 

grounds and that might otherwise 

become unavailable during a delay. 

Therefore, the AA finds good cause 

under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to waive prior 

notice and the opportunity for public 

comment. For these reasons, there also 

is good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(d) to 

waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness. 

This action is being taken under 

§ 635.27(a)(9) (Inseason adjustments) 

and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq. and 1801 

et seq. 

Dated: September 28, 2017. 

Emily Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–21209 Filed 9–28–17; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 151211999–6343–02] 

RIN 0648–XF713 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Northeast Multispecies 

Fishery; Georges Bank Cod 

Possession and Trip Limit Adjustment 

for the Common Pool Fishery 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; inseason 

adjustment. 

SUMMARY: This action decreases the 

possession and trip limits for Georges 

Bank cod for Northeast multispecies 

common pool vessels for the remainder 

of the 2017 fishing year, through April 

30, 2018. Recent catch data reported 

through September 19, 2017, indicates 

that the common pool fishery has 

already caught 2.4 metric tons, or 65.7 

percent, of the Trimester 2 Georges Bank 

cod Total Allowable Catch since the 

second trimester began on September 1, 

2017. We project that, at its current 

trajectory, the common pool will catch 

its Trimester 2 TAC well before the end 

of the second trimester, and is also at 

risk of exceeding its annual 2017 quota. 

This possession and trip limit decrease 

is intended to prevent the common pool 

fishery from exceeding its allocation for 

this stock prior to the end of the fishing 

year. 

DATES: This possession and trip limit 

decrease is effective September 28, 

2017, through April 30, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Claire Fitz-Gerald, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9255. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

regulations at § 648.86(o) authorize the 

Regional Administrator to adjust the 

possession and trip limits for common 

pool vessels in order to help prevent the 

overharvest or underharvest of the 

common pool quotas. 

Recent catch data reported through 

September 19, 2017, indicates that the 

common pool fishery has already caught 

2.4 metric tons, or 65.7 percent, of the 

Trimester 2 Georges Bank (GB) cod 

Total Allowable Catch (TAC) since the 

second trimester began on September 1, 

2017. The current GB cod possession 

and trip limit for GB cod is 250 pounds 

per DAS, and up to 500 pounds per trip. 

Under these possession limits, the 

common pool fishery caught its 

Trimester 1 TAC and triggered an area 

closure for GB cod on July 27, 2017. We 

project that, at its current trajectory, the 

common pool will catch its Trimester 2 

TAC well before the end of the second 

trimester, and is also at risk of 

exceeding its annual 2017 quota. In the 

event that the common pool exceeds its 

2017 quota, regulations require that the 

overage must be deducted from the 

following year’s quota, which would 

have a negative economic impact on 

common pool vessels. Therefore, a 

decrease to the possession and trip 

limits is being implemented to help 

prevent the common pool fishery from 

exceeding its quota for the 2017 fishing 

year. 

Effective September 28, 2017, the GB 

cod possession and trip limits are 

decreased to 25 lb (11.3 kg) per day and 

50 lb (22.7 kg) per trip, as summarized 

in the table below. Common pool 

groundfish vessels that have declared 

their trip through the vessel monitoring 

system (VMS) or interactive voice 

response system, and crossed the VMS 

demarcation line prior to September 28, 

2017, are not subject to the new 

possession and trip limits for that trip. 

TABLE 1—NEW POSSESSION AND TRIP LIMITS FOR GB COD

Permit type Current possession/trip limits New possession/trip limits 

Days-At-Sea (A DAS) .......................... 250 lb (113.4 kg) per DAS, up to 500 lb (226.8 kg) 

per trip.

25 lb (11.3 kg) per DAS, up to 50 lb (22.6 kg) per 

trip. 

Handgear A .......................................... 250 lb (113.4 kg) per trip ........................................ 25 lb (11.3 kg) per trip. 

Handgear B .......................................... 25 lb (11.3 kg) per trip ............................................ Unchanged. 

Small Vessel Category ......................... 25 lb (11.3 kg) per trip, within combined 300 lb 

(136.1 kg) trip limit for cod, haddock, and 

yellowtail flounder.

Unchanged. 


jstallworth on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with RULES