50112 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 208 / Monday, October 30, 2017 / Proposed Rules 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2017–23456 Filed 10–27–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–C 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 665 

[Docket No. 170120106–7999–01] 

RIN 0648–XF186 

Pacific Island Fisheries; 2017 Annual 

Catch Limits and Accountability 

Measures 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed specifications; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes annual catch 

limits (ACLs) for Pacific Island 

crustacean, precious coral, and 

territorial bottomfish fisheries, and 

accountability measures (AMs) to 

correct or mitigate any overages of catch 

limits. The proposed ACLs and AMs 

would be effective for fishing year 2017. 

The proposed ACLs and AMs support 

the long-term sustainability of fishery 

resources of the U.S. Pacific Islands. 

DATES: NMFS must receive comments 

by November 14, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2017–0012, by either of the 

following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2017- 

0012, click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Send written comments to 

Michael D. Tosatto, Regional 

Administrator, NMFS Pacific Islands 

Region (PIR), 1845 Wasp Blvd., Bldg. 

176, Honolulu, HI 96818. 

Instructions: NMFS may not consider 

comments sent by any other method, to 

any other address or individual, or 

received after the end of the comment 

period. 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 prepared environmental 

analyses that describe the potential 

impacts on the human environment that 

would result from the proposed ACLs 

and AMs. Copies of the environmental 

analyses and other supporting 

documents are available at 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sarah Ellgen, NMFS PIR Sustainable 

Fisheries, 808–725–5173. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Fisheries 

in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone 

(EEZ, or Federal waters) around the U.S. 

Pacific Islands are managed under 

archipelagic fishery ecosystem plans 

(FEPs) for American Samoa, Hawaii, the 

Pacific Remote Islands, and the Mariana 

Archipelago (Guam and the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

Islands (CNMI)). A fifth FEP covers 

pelagic fisheries. The Western Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council) 

developed the FEPs, and NMFS 

implemented them under the authority 

of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act). 

Each FEP contains a process for the 

Council and NMFS to specify ACLs and 

AMs; that process is codified at Title 50, 

Code of Federal Regulations, Section 

665.4 (50 CFR 665.4). The regulations 

require NMFS to specify, every fishing 

year, an ACL for each stock and stock 

complex of management unit species 

(MUS) in an FEP, as recommended by 

the Council and considering the best 

available scientific, commercial, and 

other information about the fishery. If a 

fishery exceeds an ACL, the regulations 

require the Council to take action, 

which may include reducing the ACL 

for the subsequent fishing year by the 

amount of the overage, or other 

appropriate action. 

NMFS proposes to specify ACLs for 

the crustacean and precious corals MUS 

in American Samoa, Guam, the CNMI, 

and Hawaii, and the bottomfish MUS in 

American Samoa, Guam, and the CNMI 

for fishing year 2017. The fishing year 

for each fishery began on January 1 and 

ends on December 31, except for 

precious coral fisheries, which began 

July 1 and ends on June 30 next year. 

In this action, NMFS is not proposing 

to specify 2017 ACLs for Hawaii Kona 

crab and non-Deep 7 bottomfish, or 

coral reef ecosystem MUS in all island 

areas. This is because NMFS has new 

information for those MUS that may 

require additional environmental 

analyses to support the Council’s 

recommendations. NMFS would 

propose those ACL specifications in a 

separate action(s). In addition, NMFS 

specified the 2017–2018 ACL and AM 

for Hawaii Deep 7 bottomfish in June 

2017 (82 FR 29778, June 30, 2017). 

NMFS based the proposed 

specifications for crustacean, precious 

coral, and territorial bottomfish MUS on 

recommendations from the Council at 

its 164th meeting held October 21–22, 

2015, its 166th meeting held June 6–10, 

2016, and its 170th meeting held June 

19–22, 2017. For this action, the Council 

recommended 36 ACLs: Seven each in 

American Samoa, Guam, and the CNMI, 

and 15 in Hawaii. The Council also 

recommended that NMFS specify multiyear ACLs and AMs in fishing years 

2015–2018. NMFS proposes to 

implement the specifications for each 

year separately, prior to each fishing 

year. NMFS previously implemented 

the 2016 specifications for bottomfish, 

crustacean, precious coral, and coral 

reef ecosystem MUS (82 FR 18716, April 

21, 2017). All of the proposed 2017 

ACLs in this action would be the same 

as those specified in 2016 (82 FR 18716, 

April 21, 2017). NMFS also proposes to 

specify the same AMs as it did in 2016. 

Data from these fisheries for fishing 

year 2016 indicate that catches from 

each fishery in 2016 did not exceed the 

fishery’s ACL, with the exception of the 

CNMI slipper lobsters. NMFS proposes 

to specify an ACL of 60 lb for CNMI 

slipper lobsters, which is the same ACL 

that NMFS implemented in 2016, even 

though the average three-year catch for 

this fishery exceeded the ACL. For 

CNMI slipper lobsters, there is no OFL 

or maximum sustainable yield (MSY) 

estimate. Prior to 2016, there were only 

three years (2007–2009) of available 

catch information for slipper lobsters in 

the CNMI. Therefore, in 2014, at its 

116th meeting, the SSC recommended a 

proxy for calculating the ACL for the 

CNMI slipper lobster stock complex. 

Using a catch-to-habitat-based proxy 

comparing data from the Hawaii slipper 

lobster fishery (the only area that has 

specifically documented harvesting of 

slipper lobster), the Council 

recommended setting an ACL for the 

CNMI slipper lobsters for 2016–2018 at 

a level equal to ABC, that is, 60 lb. 

In 2015, NOAA started a pilot 

program to improve commercial vendor 

reporting in the CNMI. The Territory 

Science Initiative was designed to 

improve the data vendors submit to 

commercial receipt books, which track, 

among other stocks, the slipper lobster 

fishery. NMFS staff trained vendors to 

complete receipt books and incorporate 

the process into their day-to-day 

business routines. The program proved 

to be effective, and in 2016, the CNMI 

commercial receipt book program 

documented 304 lb of slipper lobsters 

sold by local fishermen. In comparison, 


nlaroche on DSK9F9SC42PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 208 / Monday, October 30, 2017 / Proposed Rules 50113 

there have been no reported catches or 

sales of slipper lobster in the CNMI from 

2010–2015. 

The Council reviewed the 2016 CNMI 

slipper lobster fishery performance at its 

170th meeting held June 19–22, 2017. 

The Council noted that the 304 lb 

reported catch in 2016, combined with 

zero reported catch in the past two 

years, resulted in a three-year average 

catch of 101 lb, which exceeded the 

ACL by 41 lb. The Council determined 

that the increase in reported catch was 

due to the Territory Science Initiative 

and the associated improvements in 

catch reporting, and not due to actual 

increase in harvest. The Council also 

concluded that the overage was not 

likely to have had an impact on stock 

sustainability or result in overfishing 

based on existing stock data. Based on 

the status of the stock, the 2016 AM was 

not applied, and the Council instead 

recommended maintaining the 2017 

CNMI slipper lobster ACL at 60 lb. 

The Final Environmental Assessment 

(EA) for this action supports this 

determination. In the EA, NMFS 

concluded that the current level of catch 

of slipper lobster in the CNMI was not 

likely to result in overfishing as there 

are no clear trends indicating that 

lobster stocks in the CNMI have been 

declining. (EA Section 3.2.3). NMFS 

concluded that even if no ACL were 

specified for this fishery, the level of 

slipper lobster catch would be expected 

to remain small. NMFS also determined 

that an ACL of 60 lb, even if exceeded, 

would not result in any changes in 

fishing and would not be expected to 

have effects on the fishery different from 

if no ACL were specified. 

In this proposed rule, NMFS is not 

proposing ACLs for MUS that are 

currently subject to Federal fishing 

moratoria or prohibitions. These MUS 

include all species of gold coral (78 FR 

32181, May 29, 2013), the three Hawaii 

seamount groundfish (pelagic 

armorhead, alfonsin, and raftfish (75 FR 

69015, November 10, 2010), and 

deepwater precious corals at the 

Westpac Bed Refugia (75 FR 2198, 

January 14, 2010). The current 

prohibitions on fishing for these MUS 

serve as the functional equivalent of an 

ACL of zero. 

Additionally, NMFS is not proposing 

ACLs for bottomfish, crustacean, 

precious coral, or coral reef ecosystem 

MUS identified in the Pacific Remote 

Islands Area (PRIA) FEP. This is 

because fishing is prohibited in the EEZ 

within 12 nm of emergent land, unless 

authorized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (USFWS) (78 FR 32996, June 3, 

2013). To date, NMFS has not received 

fishery data that would support any 

such approvals. In addition, there is no 

suitable habitat for these stocks beyond 

the 12-nm no-fishing zone, except at 

Kingman Reef, where fishing for these 

resources does not occur. Therefore, the 

current prohibitions on fishing serve as 

the functional equivalent of an ACL of 

zero. However, NMFS will continue to 

monitor authorized fishing within the 

Pacific Remote Islands Monument in 

consultation with USFWS, and may 

develop additional fishing 

requirements, including monumentspecific catch limits for species that may 

require them. 

NMFS is also not proposing ACLs for 

pelagic MUS at this time, because 

NMFS previously determined that 

pelagic species are subject to 

international fishery agreements or have 

a life cycle of approximately one year 

and, therefore, are statutorily excepted 

from the ACL requirements. 

Proposed 2017 Annual Catch Limit 

Specifications 

The following four tables list the 

proposed ACL specifications for 2017. 

TABLE 1—AMERICAN SAMOA

Fishery Management unit species 

Proposed ACL 

specification 

(lb) 

Bottomfish ...................... Bottomfish multi-species stock complex ......................................................................................... 106,000 

Crustacean ..................... Deepwater shrimp ........................................................................................................................... 80,000 

Spiny lobster ................................................................................................................................... 4,845 

Slipper lobster ................................................................................................................................. 30 

Kona crab ........................................................................................................................................ 3,200 

Precious Coral ............... Black coral ....................................................................................................................................... 790 

Precious corals in the American Samoa Exploratory Area ............................................................ 2,205 

TABLE 2—MARIANA ARCHIPELAGO—GUAM

Fishery Management unit species 

Proposed ACL 

specification 

(lb) 

Bottomfish ...................... Bottomfish multi-species stock complex ......................................................................................... 66,000 

Crustaceans ................... Deepwater shrimp ........................................................................................................................... 48,488 

Spiny lobster ................................................................................................................................... 3,135 

Slipper lobster ................................................................................................................................. 20 

Kona crab ........................................................................................................................................ 1,900 

Precious Coral ............... Black coral ....................................................................................................................................... 700 

Precious corals in the Guam Exploratory Area .............................................................................. 2,205

TABLE 3—MARIANA ARCHIPELAGO—CNMI 

Fishery Management unit species 

Proposed ACL 

specification 

(lb) 

Bottomfish ...................... Bottomfish multi-species stock complex ......................................................................................... 228,000 

Crustacean ..................... Deepwater shrimp ........................................................................................................................... 275,570 

Spiny lobster ................................................................................................................................... 7,410 


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50114 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 208 / Monday, October 30, 2017 / Proposed Rules 

TABLE 3—MARIANA ARCHIPELAGO—CNMI—Continued 

Fishery Management unit species 

Proposed ACL 

specification 

(lb) 

Slipper lobster ................................................................................................................................. 60 

Kona crab ........................................................................................................................................ 6,300 

Precious Coral ............... Black coral ....................................................................................................................................... 2,100 

Precious corals in the CNMI Exploratory Area ............................................................................... 2,205 

TABLE 4—HAWAII

Fishery Management unit species 

Proposed ACL 

specification 

(lb) 

Crustacean ..................... Deepwater shrimp ........................................................................................................................... 250,773 

Spiny lobster ................................................................................................................................... 15,000 

Slipper lobster ................................................................................................................................. 280 

Precious Coral ............... Auau Channel black coral ............................................................................................................... 5,512 

Makapuu Bed—Pink coral .............................................................................................................. 2,205 

Makapuu Bed—Bamboo coral ........................................................................................................ 551 

180 Fathom Bank—Pink coral ........................................................................................................ 489 

180 Fathom Bank—Bamboo coral .................................................................................................. 123 

Brooks Bank—Pink coral ................................................................................................................ 979 

Brooks Bank—Bamboo coral .......................................................................................................... 245 

Kaena Point Bed—Pink coral ......................................................................................................... 148 

Kaena Point Bed—Bamboo coral ................................................................................................... 37 

Keahole Bed—Pink coral ................................................................................................................ 148 

Keahole Bed—Bamboo coral .......................................................................................................... 37 

Precious corals in the Hawaii Exploratory Area ............................................................................. 2,205 

Accountability Measures 

Each year, NMFS and local resource 

management agencies in American 

Samoa, Guam, the CNMI, and Hawaii 

collect information about MUS catches 

and apply them toward the appropriate 

ACLs. Pursuant to 50 CFR 665.4, when 

the available information indicates that 

a fishery is projected to reach an ACL 

for a stock or stock complex, NMFS 

must notify permit holders that fishing 

for that stock or stock complex will be 

restricted in Federal waters on a 

specified date. The restriction serves as 

the AM to prevent an ACL from being 

exceeded, and may include closing the 

fishery, closing specific areas, changing 

bag limits, or restricting effort. 

However, local resource management 

agencies do not have the resources to 

process catch data in near-real time, so 

fisheries statistics are generally not 

available to NMFS until at least six 

months after agencies collect and 

analyze the data. Additionally, Federal 

logbook information and other reporting 

from fisheries in Federal waters is not 

sufficient to monitor and track catches 

for the evaluation of fishery 

performance against the proposed ACL 

specifications. This is because most 

fishing for bottomfish, crustacean, and 

precious coral MUS occurs in State or 

territorial waters, generally 0–3 nm from 

shore. For these reasons, NMFS 

proposes to continue to specify the 

Council’s recommended AM, which is 

to apply a three-year average catch to 

evaluate fishery performance against the 

proposed ACLs. Specifically, NMFS and 

the Council would use the average catch 

of fishing years 2015, 2016, and 2017 to 

evaluate fishery performance against the 

2017 ACL for a particular fishery. At the 

end of each fishing year, the Council 

would review catches relative to each 

ACL. If NMFS and the Council 

determine that the three-year average 

catch for any fishery exceeds the 

specified ACL, NMFS would reduce the 

ACL in the subsequent year for that 

fishery by the amount of the overage. 

Cultural Fishing in American Samoa 

On March 20, 2017, in Territory of 

American Samoa v. NMFS, et al. (16– 

cv–95, D. Haw), a Federal judge vacated 

and set aside a NMFS rule that amended 

the American Samoa Large Vessel 

Prohibited Area (LVPA) for eligible 

pelagic longliners. The Court held that 

the action was inconsistent with the 

‘‘other applicable law’’ provision of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act by not 

considering the protection and 

preservation of cultural fishing rights in 

American Samoa under the Instruments 

of Cession. The Instruments of Cession 

do not specifically mention cultural 

fishing rights, and the Court’s decision, 

although recognizing the need to protect 

those rights, does not define them. The 

Council is currently reevaluating the 

LVPA rule, including options to define 

cultural fishing rights in American 

Samoa that are subject to preservation 

and protection. NMFS specifically 

invites public comments on this 

proposed action that address the impact 

of the proposed ACL and AM 

specifications on cultural fishing rights 

in American Samoa. 

NMFS will consider public comments 

on the proposed ACLs and AMs and 

will announce the final specifications in 

the Federal Register. NMFS must 

receive any comments by the date 

provided in the DATES heading, not 

postmarked or otherwise transmitted by 

that date. Regardless of the final ACL 

specifications and AMs, all other 

management measures will continue to 

apply in the fisheries. 

Classification 

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

Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries 

has determined that these proposed 

specifications are consistent with the 

applicable FEPs, other provisions of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable laws, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 208 / Monday, October 30, 2017 / Proposed Rules 50115 

Certification of Finding of No 

Significant Impact on Substantial 

Number of Small Entities 

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration that 

these proposed specifications, if 

adopted, would not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. A description 

of the proposed action, why it is being 

considered, and the legal basis for it are 

contained in the preamble to these 

proposed specifications. 

The proposed action would specify 

annual catch limits (ACLs) and 

accountability measures (AMs) for 

Pacific Island crustaceans, precious 

coral, and territorial bottomfish fisheries 

in American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, and 

the CNMI for 2017. The proposed 2017 

ACLs for MUS covered in this proposed 

action are identical to those specified in 

2016 (82 18716, April 21, 2017). NMFS 

is not proposing to specify 2017 ACLs 

for Kona crab or non-Deep 7 bottomfish 

in Hawaii or coral reef ecosystem MUS 

in any island area because NMFS has 

obtained new information for those 

MUS that may require the agency to 

conduct additional environmental 

analyses to support the Council’s 

recommendations. NMFS will propose 

those ACL specifications in a separate 

action(s). 

The vessels affected by this action are 

federally permitted to fish under the 

Fishery Ecosystem Plans for American 

Samoa, the Marianas Archipelago 

(Guam and the CNMI), and Hawaii. The 

numbers of vessels permitted under 

these Fishery Ecosystem Plans 

permitted by this action are as follows: 

American Samoa (0), Marianas 

Archipelago (16), and Hawaii (9). For 

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

purposes only, NMFS has established a 

small business size standard for 

businesses, including their affiliates, 

whose primary industry is commercial 

fishing (see 50 CFR 200.2). A business 

primarily engaged in commercial fishing 

(NAICS code 11411) is classified as a 

small business if it is independently 

owned and operated, is not dominant in 

its field of operation (including its 

affiliates), and has combined annual 

receipts not in excess of $11 million for 

all its affiliated operations worldwide. 

Based on available information, NMFS 

has determined that all affected entities 

are small entities under the SBA 

definition of a small entity, i.e., they are 

engaged in the business of fish 

harvesting, are independently owned or 

operated, are not dominant in their field 

of operation, and have annual gross 

receipts not in excess of $11 million. 

Therefore, there would be no 

disproportionate economic impacts 

between large and small entities. 

Furthermore, there would be no 

disproportionate economic impacts 

among the universe of vessels based on 

gear, home port, or vessel length. 

Even though this proposed action 

would apply to a substantial number of 

vessels, this action should not result in 

significant adverse economic impact to 

individual vessels. NMFS and the 

Council are not considering in-season 

closures in any of the fisheries to which 

these ACLs apply because fishery 

management agencies are not able to 

track catch relative to the ACLs during 

the fishing year. As a result, fishermen 

would be able to fish throughout the 

entire year. In addition, the ACLs, as 

proposed, would not change the gear 

types, areas fished, effort, or 

participation of the fishery during the 

2017 fishing year. A post-season review 

of the catch data would be required to 

determine whether any fishery exceeded 

its ACL by comparing the ACL to the 

most recent three-year average catch for 

which data is available. If an ACL is 

exceeded, the Council and NMFS would 

take action in future fishing years to 

correct the operational issue that caused 

the ACL overage. NMFS and the Council 

would evaluate the environmental, 

social, and economic impacts of future 

actions, such as changes to future ACLs 

or AMs, after the required data are 

available. Specifically, if NMFS and the 

Council determine that the three-year 

average catch for a fishery exceeds the 

specified ACL, NMFS would reduce the 

ACL for that fishery by the amount of 

the overage in the subsequent year. 

The proposed action does not 

duplicate, overlap, or conflict with other 

Federal rules and is not expected to 

have significant impact on small entities 

(as discussed above), organizations, or 

government jurisdictions. The proposed 

action also will not place a substantial 

number of small entities, or any segment 

of small entities, at a significant 

competitive disadvantage to large 

entities. For the reasons above, NMFS 

does not expect the proposed action to 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

As such, an initial regulatory flexibility 

analysis is not required and none has 

been prepared. 

This proposed action is exempt from 

review under E.O. 12866. 

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

Dated: October 23, 2017. 

Samuel D. Rauch III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23457 Filed 10–27–17; 8:45 am] 

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