Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2011/03/31/2011-7622/fisheries-in-the-western-pacific-mechanism-for-specifying-annual-catch-limits-and-accountability
Timestamp: 2017-08-23 11:20:38
Document Index: 321650199

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 665', '§\u2009665', '§\u2009665', '§\u2009665', '§\u2009665', '§\u2009665']

17808-17811 (4 pages)
Docket No. 100803320-1201-01
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2011-7622 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2011-7622
Comments on this proposed rule, identified by 0648-AY93, may be sent to either of the following addresses:
Instructions: Comments must be submitted to one of the two addresses to ensure that the comments are received, documented, and considered by NMFS. Comments sent to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on http://www.regulations.gov without Start Printed Page 17809change. All personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.) submitted voluntarily by the sender may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive or protected information. 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 or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
This proposed rule would implement the recommendations of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) in Amendment 1 to the Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) for the Pacific Remote Islands Areas (PRIA), Amendment 2 to the American Samoa FEP, Amendment 2 to the Mariana Archipelago FEP, Amendment 3 to the Hawaii FEP, and Amendment 4 to the Western Pacific Pelagic FEP. The amendments establish a procedural framework (mechanism) that the Council would use to set ACLs and AMs in the western Pacific, and are consolidated into a single document. The amendments are currently under review by the Secretary of Commerce. The amendment document, which contains an environmental assessment and background information on this proposed rule, is available from http://www.regulations.gov, and from the Council, 1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 96813, tel 808-522-8220, fax 808-522-8226, http://www.wpcouncil.org.
In 2006, Congress amended the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) to include provisions to help NMFS prevent and end overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks, the objectives of National Standard 1. Specifically, the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that regional fishery management councils develop fishery management plans that include a mechanism for specifying ACLs at a level such that overfishing does not occur and that does not exceed the fishing level recommendation of a council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). AMs are also required to prevent ACLs from being exceeded, and to correct or mitigate overage of an ACL should it occur. Currently, the FEPs do not contain ACLs or AMs, nor do they contain a procedure by which to establish ACLs or AMs; the Council addressed this issue in the amendments to the FEPs, which this proposed rule would implement.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act requirements for ACLs and AMs does not apply to fisheries for stocks that are subject to international fishery agreements in which the U.S. participates, or for species with life cycles of approximately one year. These stocks are excepted either because ACLs and AMs are provided for by the international agreements (and establishing ACL mechanisms and AMs on just the U.S. portion of the fishery is unlikely to have any impact on ending overfishing and rebuilding), or because ACLs or AMs are unnecessary or impractical for short-lived species. Accordingly, this proposed rule contains these two types of exceptions. Even though they are exempt from the ACL and AM requirements, the FEPs for international stocks must identify status determination criteria and maximum sustainable yield, and for short life cycle stocks, the FEPs must identify status determination criteria, maximum sustainable yield, optimum yield, and acceptable biological catch (ABC) with a related control rule.
ACLs and AMs would also not be required for species classified in a fishery management plan as “ecosystem component species,” which this rule would define as “any western Pacific [management unit species] that the Council has identified to be, generally, a non-target species, not determined to be subject to overfishing, approaching overfished, or overfished, not likely to become subject to overfishing or overfished, and generally not retained for sale or personal use.” Because ecosystem component species are not in danger of being overfished, management measures are not necessary for them, and NMFS would exempt these species from the ACLs and AMs. While this rule would establish the procedures for the Council to use to establish the ACLs and AMs, the actual ACLs and AMs will be specified through future action.
To comply with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and National Standard 1 guidelines, this proposed rule would implement a mechanism for the Council and NMFS to specify ACLs, possibly including multi-year ACLs, and AMs in western Pacific fisheries. Briefly, the mechanism requires the Council to recommend an ACL to NMFS at least two months before the start of a fishing year. The ACL recommendation may include a downward adjustment to account for the fishery exceeding the ACL in the previous year. The Council's recommendation should be based on the SSC's recommendation of the ABC for the subject species or fishery, and it may not exceed the SSC's recommendation. At least one month before the fishing year starts, NMFS will announce the proposed ACL and request public comments. Before the start of the fishing year, NMFS will notify fishermen and the public of the final ACL specification.
NMFS monitors the fishery on an ongoing basis throughout the fishing year. When an ACL is projected to be reached during the year, NMFS will notify fishermen and the public that fishing for the regulated stock will be restricted through one or more inseason accountability measures to ensure that the ACL is not exceeded. Restrictions may include, but are not limited to, closing the fishery, closing specific areas, changing bag limits, or otherwise restricting effort or catch. Any inseason restriction will generally remain in effect until the end of the fishing year. If inseason monitoring or subsequent data analyses indicate that an ACL was exceeded in the previous fishing year, the Council may recommend that NMFS reduce the ACL for the subsequent year by the amount of the overage. In determining whether an overage adjustment is necessary, the Council would consider the magnitude of the overage and its impact on the affected stock's status. Additionally, if an ACL is exceeded more than once in a four-year period, the Council will re-evaluate the mechanism of ACLs and AMs, and adjust the system, as necessary, to improve its performance and effectiveness.
As described in the amendment, the Council's SSC would use a tier of control rules, based on the availability and quality of data about the stocks, to determine the appropriate ABC, which the Council would, in turn, use to identify appropriate ACLs and AMs. For example, if it has supporting data, the mechanism would allow the SSC to base ABC on a probability of overfishing that is less than 50 percent when biological reference points (e.g., biomass, maximum sustainable yield, etc.) are directly available from statistical-based stock assessments. The amendment also includes a qualitative approach for determining the appropriate probability of overfishing. Other control rules would estimate fishing mortality for stocks where information is insufficient to use model-based assessment tools, and would set ABC as a reduced proportion of the maximum sustainable yield or recent harvests. Details of the tiers and control rules are found in the amendment [see ADDRESSES].
The Council and NMFS would use the mechanism implemented through this proposed rule to specify ACLs and AMs Start Printed Page 17810starting in 2011, and would provide the public with opportunities to review and comment on the specific ACLs and AMs at the time they are specified.
To be considered, comments on this proposed rule must be received by May 16, 2011, not postmarked or otherwise transmitted by that date.
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is consistent with the FEPs for American Samoa, Hawaii, the Marianas, PRIA, and western Pacific pelagic fisheries, other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable laws, subject to further consideration after public comment.
The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council proposes to amend its fishery ecosystem plans to establish a mechanism for specifying annual catch limits (ACL), and accountability measures (AM) to prevent an ACL from being exceeded, and correct or mitigate any overages of ACLs. The proposed rule would codify the ACL and AM mechanism, including the procedures for, and timing of, specifications, and exceptions to ACL and AM requirements. The proposed rule does not specify any ACL or AM for western Pacific fisheries. Rather, the rule is purely administrative in nature, and only applies to NMFS' and the Council's internal procedures to determine appropriate ACLs and AMs. If adopted, the rule would not add, remove or modify any existing rights or obligations of any parties, including business entities of any size. A description of the action, why it is being considered, and the legal basis for this action are contained in the preamble to this proposed rule.
The proposed rule does not duplicate, overlap, or conflict with other Federal rules and is not expected to have any impact on small entities, organizations or government jurisdictions as the action is primarily administrative in nature and would only establish a mechanism for specifying ACLs and AMs for Federal fisheries.
NMFS will begin specifying ACLs and AMs for each fishery that requires them using the proposed notice-and-comment mechanism starting in fishing year 2011. When fishery-specific ACLs and AMs are proposed through subsequent rulemaking, NMFS will assess each proposed specification for compliance with all applicable laws, including any relevant impacts on small businesses, organizations and small government jurisdictions, and will prepare an initial regulatory flexibility analysis for that action, if warranted.
For these reasons, an initial regulatory flexibility analysis is not required and none has been prepared.
2. In part 665, add a new § 665.4 to read as follows:
(a) General. For each fishing year, the Regional Administrator shall specify an annual catch limit, including any overage adjustments, for each stock or stock complex of management unit species defined in subparts B through F of this part, as recommended by the Council, and considering the best available scientific, commercial, and other information about the fishery for that stock or stock complex. The annual catch limit shall serve as the basis for invoking accountability measures in paragraph (f) of this section
(1) The notice will include an advisement that fishing for that stock or stock complex will be restricted beginning on a specified date, which shall not be earlier than 7 days after the date of filing the notice for public inspection at the Office of the Federal Register. The restriction may include, but is not limited to, closure of the fishery, closure of specific areas, changes to bag limits, or restrictions in effort. The restriction will remain in Start Printed Page 17811effect until the end of the fishing year, except that the Regional Administrator may, based on a recommendation from the Council, remove or modify the restriction before the end of the fishing year.
3. In § 665.12 add the definitions of “Ecosystem component species” and “SSC” in alphabetical order to read as follows:
4. In § 665.15 add a new paragraph (u) to read as follows:
(u) Fail to comply with the restrictions specified in the notification issued pursuant to § 665.4(f)(1), in violation of § 665.15(f)(2).