title: Supplemental Environmental Assessment for a Rule to Implement Decision of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission For: Changes to Bigeye Tuna Catch Limits in Longline Fisheries
Creators: name: NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Pacific Islands Regional Office
Publisher: name: NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Pacific Islands Regional Office
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/02bypky31
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: This supplemental environmental assessment (SEA) applies the CEQ’s 2020 NEPA Regulations, as modified by the Phase 1 revisions. because review of the proposed action began on June 14, 2024 which preceded the effective date of CEQ’s Phase 2 NEPA regulations (July 1, 2024). The proposed action analyzed in this SEA is a rule, as described below. NMFS prepared this SEA according to the requirements of NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) Section 216-6A, “Compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, Executive Orders 12114, Environmental Effects Abroad of Major Federal Actions; 11988 and 13690, Floodplain Management; and 11990, Protection of Wetlands” and the associated Companion Manual. NAO 216-6A requires review under NEPA, CEQ regulations, and other related authorities including review of environmental consequences on the human environment prior to making a decision. This rule would implement a recent decision adopted by the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC or Commission). The Commission’s decision changes the WCPFC bigeye tuna catch limit for U.S. longline fishing vessels from 3,554 metric tons (mt) to 6,554 mt. This action is necessary for the United States to satisfy the obligations of the United States under the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention), to which it is a Contracting Party. The rule is part of an ongoing management action NMFS described in a programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) prepared in 2015 (NMFS 2015) and a supplemental environmental assessments (SEA) prepared in 2021 (NMFS 2021a). The PEA and SEA analyzed NMFS’ domestic implementation of the conservation and management measures on tropical tunas in the western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO), adopted by the Commission, pursuant to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act (WCPFCIA; 16 USC 6901 et seq.). Refer to Chapter 3 for a summary of the sections of the 2015 PEA and 2021 SEA that are incorporated by reference in this document and updates to those sections for the purposes of this SEA. NMFS is required to prepare a supplemental NEPA analysis if there are substantial changes in the proposed action or there are significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action or its impacts. The proposed action is generally within the range of alternatives considered in the 2021 SEA, but not specifically considered in the 2021 SEA. The following is new information available since publication of the 2021 SEA, including the sections of this SEA where the information is addressed.