Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement; Scoping Process; Request for Comments, 72951-72953 [2015-29795]
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 225 / Monday, November 23, 2015 / Notices
(SSC) will meet in San Juan, Puerto
Rico.
The meetings will be held on
December 8–10, 2015. See
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific
dates and times.
ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at
the Caribbean Fishery Management
˜
Council Headquarters, 270 Munoz
Rivera Avenue, Suite 401, San Juan,
Puerto Rico 00918.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Caribbean Fishery Management Council,
˜
270 Munoz Rivera Avenue, Suite 401,
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918–1903;
telephone: (787) 766–5926.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Caribbean Fishery Management
Council’s SSC will hold a three-day
meeting to discuss the items contained
in the following agenda:
DATES:
December 8, 2015, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Æ Call to Order
Æ Island-Based Fishery Management:
Choosing Species to be Included for
Federal Management Within Each
Island Group
• Review Draft List of Species Selected
for Management—Review
Æ Puerto Rico
Æ St. Croix
Æ St. Thomas/St. John
• Next Steps in Developing Island
Based
Æ Action 2—Species Complexes—
SERO Update
• SEDAR 46 U. S. Caribbean DataLimited Species Workshop Update
Æ Data Review—SEFSC
Æ Alternative Methods for
Establishing Reference Points
Æ Review Methods SEFSC
December 9, 2015, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
• SEDAR 46 U. S. Caribbean DataLimited Species Workshop Update
(continued)
Æ Data Review—SEFSC
Æ Alternative Methods for
Establishing Reference Points
Æ Review Methods SEFSC
• Next Steps in Developing Island
Based
Æ Action 3—Reference Points
Æ Other Needed Actions
Æ 5 year CFMC Research Plan
wgreen on DSK2VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
December 10, 2015, 9 a.m.—12 p.m.
• Finalize 5 year CFMC Research Plan
• Review average landings relative to
ACLs and proposed closures
Special Accommodations
These meetings are physically
accessible to people with disabilities.
For more information or request for sign
language interpretation and other
VerDate Sep<11>2014
14:25 Nov 20, 2015
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auxiliary aids, please contact Mr.
´
Miguel A. Rolon, Executive Director,
Caribbean Fishery Management Council,
˜
270 Munoz Rivera Avenue, Suite 401,
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00918–1903,
telephone (787) 766–5926, at least 5
days prior to the meeting date.
Dated: November 18, 2015.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015–29783 Filed 11–20–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XE308
Fisheries of the Northeastern United
States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery
Management Plan; Notice of Intent To
Prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement; Scoping Process; Request
for Comments
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement and
initiate scoping process; request for
comments.
AGENCY:
The New England Fishery
Management Council announces its
intention to prepare, in cooperation
with NMFS, an environmental impact
statement in accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act. An
environmental impact statement may be
necessary to provide analytical support
for Amendment 22 to the Northeast
Multispecies Fishery Management Plan,
which would set criteria for a limited
entry program for the small-mesh
multispecies (whiting) fishery. This
notice is to alert the interested public of
the scoping process and potential
development of a draft environmental
impact statement and to outline
opportunity for public participation in
that process.
DATES: Written and electronic scoping
comments must be received on or before
5 p.m., local time, January 7, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Written scoping comments
on Amendment 22 may be sent by any
of the following methods:
• Email to the following address:
comments@nefmc.org;
• Mail to Thomas A. Nies, Executive
Director, New England Fishery
Management Council, 50 Water Street,
Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950; or
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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72951
• Fax to (978) 465–3116.
Requests for copies of the
Amendment 22 scoping document and
other information should be directed to
Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director,
New England Fishery Management
Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2,
Newburyport, MA 01950, telephone
(978) 465–0492. The scoping document
is accessible electronically via the
Internet at https://www.nefmc.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director,
New England Fishery Management
Council, (978) 465–0492.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The New England Fishery
Management Council, working through
its public participatory committee and
meeting processes, anticipates the
development of an amendment that may
be analyzed through an environmental
impact statement (EIS), dependent on
addressing applicable criteria in the
Council on Environmental Quality
regulations and guidance for
implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Amendment 22 to the Northeast
Multispecies Fishery Management Plan
(FMP) is anticipated to consider criteria
that would restrict access to the directed
whiting fishery based on past
participation by vessels in the fishery
and possibly other factors through the
establishment of a limited entry
program. Amendment 22 would also
determine limits and fishery regulations
that would apply to qualifying and nonqualifying vessels.
The small-mesh multispecies fishery
is managed through a set of exemptions
from the requirements of the ‘‘largemesh’’ multispecies fishery. The current
small-mesh exemptions under the FMP
were first established in Amendment 5
in 1994. Amendment 5 prevented
fishing with mesh smaller than the
established minimum size in Gulf of
Maine/Georges Bank Regulated Mesh
Areas, unless exempted fisheries could
be established that reduce the bycatch of
regulated multispecies to less than 5
percent of the total weight of fish on
board. Since that time, experimental
and exempted fisheries for small-mesh
multispecies in this area have evolved
through cooperative experimentation,
gear research, and gear technologies that
significantly reduce bycatch of nontarget species, especially regulated
multispecies.
A number of amendments and
framework adjustments revised
management of the small-mesh fishery,
including the relationships between
E:\FR\FM\23NON1.SGM
23NON1
wgreen on DSK2VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
72952
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 225 / Monday, November 23, 2015 / Notices
retention limits and net mesh size,
created and then modified a seasonal
raised footrope trawl fishery in Cape
Cod Bay, made minor modifications to
several related measures, and created a
raised footrope trawl whiting fishery in
the inshore Gulf of Maine. Using a
September 9, 1996, control date, the
Council developed and submitted
Amendment 12 to establish limited
access criteria during 1999. Due to
concerns about equity and overfishing,
the limited access criteria in this
amendment were disapproved (See the
final rule (65 FR 6766; March 29, 2000)
for Amendment 12 here: https://
www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/
sfd/multifr/65FR16765.pdf).
In 2006, the Council held new
scoping hearings for an second limited
entry amendment, which at the time
was known as Amendment 15 (https://
www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/
sfd/multifr/65FR16765.pdf) and began
development of limited access
alternatives using March 25, 2003,
control date and fishery data (dealer and
VTR) through 2005. Extensive analyses
were completed through May 2007 by
Whiting Advisors and the Small Mesh
Multispecies Committee to develop and
evaluate alternatives. Concerns were
raised, and potential solutions
generated, to address ‘‘historic’’ whiting
fisheries that had lost access in the mid2000s due to groundfish restrictions
and/or changes in availability of smallmesh multispecies. Between the 2006
scoping hearings and May 2007,
substantial progress was made to
analyze the fishery and develop
alternatives, but the Council
encountered data, enforcement, and
compliance problems that compromised
any approach that could be taken.
Because these issues could not be
resolved in a timely manner, the
Council took up higher priority issues in
2008 and work on the amendment was
discontinued. Many of the issues that
were raised at that time have not been
resolved.
Amendment 19 (https://
s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/Final_
Amendment_19.pdf) was approved and
implemented on April 4, 2013 (https://
s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/
amend19final_rule.pdf), establishing
allowable biological catch
specifications, annual catch limits, and
accountability measures individually for
northern and southern stocks of whiting
(silver and offshore hakes) and red hake.
These limits were set using a benchmark
stock assessment conducted in 2010
(https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/
publications/crd/crd1101/).
The most recent action was a
Specifications Document for Fishing
VerDate Sep<11>2014
14:25 Nov 20, 2015
Jkt 238001
Years 2015–2017 (https://
www.nefmc.org/library/2015–2017whiting-specifications), taken in
response to an operational assessment
that updated the stock status and to
make a correction to the northern red
hake accountability measure. The
operational assessment determined that
overfishing of northern red hake was
occurring in 2013 (https://
s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/SAFEReport-for-Fishing-Year-2013.pdf), a
situation that the Council addressed by
changing the ABC and reducing
northern red hake possession limits.
The assessment detected a large 2013
year class, but its size was imprecise
and it would not enter the fishery until
2015–2016. Because this large year class
could cause excessive discards with the
reduced northern red hake possession
limits, a new operational red hake
assessment was requested and presented
to the Council in September 2015. The
Council is considering adjusting the red
hake specifications based on that
update.
Amendment 22
The purpose of Amendment 22 is to
implement measures that would prevent
unrestrained increases in fishing effort
by new entrants to the fishery. The need
for the amendment is to reduce the
potential for a rapid escalation of the
small-mesh multispecies fishery,
possibly causing overfishing and having
a negative effect on red hake and
whiting markets. The outcome of both
would have negative effects on fishery
participants. The amendment is
intended to ensure that catches of the
small-mesh multispecies and other nontarget species will be at or below
specifications, reducing the potential for
causing accountability measures to be
triggered and resulting closure of the
directed fishery.
The Council’s Small-Mesh
Multispecies Committee and the
Council will be identifying the goals
and objectives for Amendment 22
following the scoping period and will
then develop alternatives to meet the
purpose and need of the action.
Following input from these Council
bodies and the public, the Council will
select a range of alternatives to consider
limited access criteria as well as limits
and fishing restrictions for qualifying
and non-qualifying vessels.
Public Comment
All persons affected by or otherwise
interested in small-mesh multispecies
management are invited to participate in
determining the scope and significance
of issues to be analyzed by submitting
written comments (see ADDRESSES) or by
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
attending one of the four scoping
meetings for this amendment. Scoping
consists of identifying the range of
actions, alternatives, and impacts to be
considered. At this time in the process,
the Council believes that the
alternatives considered in Amendment
22 would consider limited access
criteria based on a vessel’s history in the
fishery and possibly other factors, as
well as limits and fishing restrictions
that would apply to qualifying and nonqualifying vessels. After the scoping
process is completed, the Council will
begin development of Amendment 22
and will prepare an EIS to analyze the
impacts of the range of alternatives
under consideration.
Impacts may be direct, indirect, or
cumulative. The Council will hold
public hearings to receive comments on
the draft amendment and on the
analysis of its impacts presented in the
Draft EIS. In addition to soliciting
comment on this notice, the public will
have the opportunity to comment on the
measures and alternatives being
considered by the Council through
public meetings and public comment
periods consistent with NEPA, the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, and the
Administrative Procedure Act. The
following scoping meetings have been
scheduled. The Council will take and
discuss scoping comments on this
amendment at the following public
meetings:
1. Tuesday, December 1, 2015; 5:30
p.m.; Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring
Street, Portland, ME 04101; (207) 775–
2311.
2. Monday, December 7, 2015; 7 p.m.;
MA DMF of Marine Fisheries;
Annisquam River Marine Fisheries
Station; 30 Emerson Ave; Gloucester,
MA 01930; (978) 282–0308.
3. Monday, December 14, 2015; 7
p.m.; Fairfield Inn & Suites, 185
MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, MA
02740; (774) 634–2000.
4. Monday, December 21, 2015; 7
p.m.; Montauk Playhouse Community
Center Foundation; 240 Edgemere St.,
Montauk, New York 11954; (631) 668–
1124
5. Webinar; Thursday, December 17,
2015; 3–5 p.m.
Register to participate: https://
attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/
5272201506328155394; Call in info:
Toll: +1 (914) 614–3221; Access Code:
539–710–362.
Special Accommodations
The meetings are accessible to people
with physical disabilities. Requests for
sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aids should be directed to
E:\FR\FM\23NON1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 225 / Monday, November 23, 2015 / Notices
Thomas A. Nies (see ADDRESSES) at least
five days prior to this meeting date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: November 18, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015–29795 Filed 11–20–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
wgreen on DSK2VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will
submit to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for clearance the
following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35).
Agency: National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Title: Coastal Zone Management
Program Administration Grants,
Performance Reports, Amendments and
Routine Program Changes, Section 306A
and Section 309 Requirements, and
Section 6217 Coastal Nonpoint
Pollution Program.
OMB Control Number: 0648–0119.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular (revision
and extension of a currently approved
information collection).
Number of Respondents: 34.
Average Hours Per Response: Coastal
Zone Management Performance
Tracking, 25 hours; performance
reports: Year 1, Sections A and B, 35
hours; Year 2, Section A, 10 hours; Year
3, Section A, 5 hours; Section C, 2
hours; amendments and program change
documentation, 20 hours; Section 306a
Application Checklist and
documentation, 5 hours; Section 309
Strategy & Assessment Document
Preparation, 260 hours; Section 309
Competitive Funding—Section A Semiannual Performance Report on Project
Implementation and Section 305
Section A Semi-Annual Performance
Report, 2 hours each; Coastal Nonpoint
Pollution Control Program Document
Preparation and Section 305 Program
Development Document, 1 hour each.
Burden Hours: 9,144.
Needs and Uses: This request is for
revision and extension of a currently
approved information collection.
In 1972, in response to intense
pressure on United States (U.S) coastal
resources, and because of the
importance of U.S. coastal areas, the
VerDate Sep<11>2014
14:25 Nov 20, 2015
Jkt 238001
U.S. Congress passed the Coastal Zone
Management Act of 1972 (CZMA), 16
U.S.C. 1451 et. seq. The CZMA
authorized a federal program to
encourage coastal states and territories
to develop comprehensive coastal
management programs. The CZMA has
been reauthorized on several occasions,
most recently with the enactment of the
Coastal Zone Protection Act of 1996.
(CZMA as amended). The program is
administered by the Secretary of
Commerce, who in turn has delegated
this responsibility to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) National
Ocean Services (NOS).
The coastal zone management grants
provide funds to states and territories to:
implement federally-approved coastal
management programs; complete
information for the Coastal Zone
Management Program (CZMP)
Performance Management System;
develop program assessments multi-year
strategies to enhance their programs
within priority areas under Section 309
of the CZMA; submit documentation as
described in the CZMA Section 306a on
the approved coastal zone management
programs; submit requests to update
their federally-approved programs
through amendments or program
changes; and develop and submit state
coastal nonpoint pollution control
programs (CNP) as required under
Section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act
Reauthorization Amendments.
Revision: The CZMP Performance
Measurement System has been revised
to reduce the number of measures on
which state programs are required to
report, resulting in an overall decrease
in reporting burden for the performance
measurement system. The assessment
process under CZMA Section 309 has
also been refined to rely more on readily
available existing data and allow states
to more quickly focus their assessments
on high-priority enhancement areas.
Affected Public: State, local and tribal
governments.
Frequency: Annually, semi-annually
and on occasion.
Respondent’s Obligation: Required to
obtain or retain benefits.
This information collection request
may be viewed at reginfo.gov. Follow
the instructions to view Department of
Commerce collections currently under
review by OMB.
Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to OIRA_Submission@
omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395–5806.
PO 00000
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72953
Dated: November 18, 2015.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015–29750 Filed 11–20–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–08–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XE300
Fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico;
Southeast Data, Assessment, and
Review (SEDAR); Public Meeting
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of SEDAR 45 postworkshop webinar for Gulf of Mexico
Vermilion Snapper.
AGENCY:
The SEDAR 45 assessment of
the Gulf of Mexico Vermilion Snapper
will consist of one in-person workshop
and a series of webinars. See
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
DATES: The SEDAR 45 post-workshop
webinar will be held from 1 p.m. to 3
p.m. on December 8, 2015.
ADDRESSES:
Meeting address: The meeting will be
held via webinar. The webinar is open
to members of the public. Those
interested in participating should
contact Julie A. Neer at SEDAR (see FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) to
request an invitation providing webinar
access information. Please request
webinar invitations at least 24 hours in
advance of each webinar.
SEDAR address: 4055 Faber Place
Drive, Suite 201, North Charleston, SC
29405.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie
A. Neer, SEDAR Coordinator; (843) 571–
4366; email: Julie.neer@safmc.net
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Gulf
of Mexico, South Atlantic, and
Caribbean Fishery Management
Councils, in conjunction with NOAA
Fisheries and the Atlantic and Gulf
States Marine Fisheries Commissions
have implemented the Southeast Data,
Assessment and Review (SEDAR)
process, a multi-step method for
determining the status of fish stocks in
the Southeast Region. SEDAR is a multistep process including: (1) Data/
Assessment Workshop, and (2) a series
of webinars. The product of the Data/
Assessment Workshop is a report which
compiles and evaluates potential
datasets and recommends which
datasets are appropriate for assessment
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\23NON1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 225 (Monday, November 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72951-72953]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-29795]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XE308
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast
Multispecies Fishery Management Plan; Notice of Intent To Prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement; Scoping Process; Request for Comments
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare an environmental impact statement and
initiate scoping process; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council announces its
intention to prepare, in cooperation with NMFS, an environmental impact
statement in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. An
environmental impact statement may be necessary to provide analytical
support for Amendment 22 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery
Management Plan, which would set criteria for a limited entry program
for the small-mesh multispecies (whiting) fishery. This notice is to
alert the interested public of the scoping process and potential
development of a draft environmental impact statement and to outline
opportunity for public participation in that process.
DATES: Written and electronic scoping comments must be received on or
before 5 p.m., local time, January 7, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Written scoping comments on Amendment 22 may be sent by any
of the following methods:
Email to the following address: comments@nefmc.org;
Mail to Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director, New England
Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA
01950; or
Fax to (978) 465-3116.
Requests for copies of the Amendment 22 scoping document and other
information should be directed to Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director,
New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2,
Newburyport, MA 01950, telephone (978) 465-0492. The scoping document
is accessible electronically via the Internet at https://www.nefmc.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas A. Nies, Executive Director,
New England Fishery Management Council, (978) 465-0492.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The New England Fishery Management Council, working through its
public participatory committee and meeting processes, anticipates the
development of an amendment that may be analyzed through an
environmental impact statement (EIS), dependent on addressing
applicable criteria in the Council on Environmental Quality regulations
and guidance for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). Amendment 22 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management
Plan (FMP) is anticipated to consider criteria that would restrict
access to the directed whiting fishery based on past participation by
vessels in the fishery and possibly other factors through the
establishment of a limited entry program. Amendment 22 would also
determine limits and fishery regulations that would apply to qualifying
and non-qualifying vessels.
The small-mesh multispecies fishery is managed through a set of
exemptions from the requirements of the ``large-mesh'' multispecies
fishery. The current small-mesh exemptions under the FMP were first
established in Amendment 5 in 1994. Amendment 5 prevented fishing with
mesh smaller than the established minimum size in Gulf of Maine/Georges
Bank Regulated Mesh Areas, unless exempted fisheries could be
established that reduce the bycatch of regulated multispecies to less
than 5 percent of the total weight of fish on board. Since that time,
experimental and exempted fisheries for small-mesh multispecies in this
area have evolved through cooperative experimentation, gear research,
and gear technologies that significantly reduce bycatch of non-target
species, especially regulated multispecies.
A number of amendments and framework adjustments revised management
of the small-mesh fishery, including the relationships between
[[Page 72952]]
retention limits and net mesh size, created and then modified a
seasonal raised footrope trawl fishery in Cape Cod Bay, made minor
modifications to several related measures, and created a raised
footrope trawl whiting fishery in the inshore Gulf of Maine. Using a
September 9, 1996, control date, the Council developed and submitted
Amendment 12 to establish limited access criteria during 1999. Due to
concerns about equity and overfishing, the limited access criteria in
this amendment were disapproved (See the final rule (65 FR 6766; March
29, 2000) for Amendment 12 here: https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/sfd/multifr/65FR16765.pdf).
In 2006, the Council held new scoping hearings for an second
limited entry amendment, which at the time was known as Amendment 15
(https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/sfd/multifr/65FR16765.pdf) and began development of limited access alternatives
using March 25, 2003, control date and fishery data (dealer and VTR)
through 2005. Extensive analyses were completed through May 2007 by
Whiting Advisors and the Small Mesh Multispecies Committee to develop
and evaluate alternatives. Concerns were raised, and potential
solutions generated, to address ``historic'' whiting fisheries that had
lost access in the mid-2000s due to groundfish restrictions and/or
changes in availability of small-mesh multispecies. Between the 2006
scoping hearings and May 2007, substantial progress was made to analyze
the fishery and develop alternatives, but the Council encountered data,
enforcement, and compliance problems that compromised any approach that
could be taken. Because these issues could not be resolved in a timely
manner, the Council took up higher priority issues in 2008 and work on
the amendment was discontinued. Many of the issues that were raised at
that time have not been resolved.
Amendment 19 (https://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/Final_Amendment_19.pdf) was approved and implemented on April 4, 2013
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/amend19final_rule.pdf), establishing
allowable biological catch specifications, annual catch limits, and
accountability measures individually for northern and southern stocks
of whiting (silver and offshore hakes) and red hake. These limits were
set using a benchmark stock assessment conducted in 2010 (https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/crd/crd1101/).
The most recent action was a Specifications Document for Fishing
Years 2015-2017 (https://www.nefmc.org/library/2015-2017-whiting-specifications), taken in response to an operational assessment that
updated the stock status and to make a correction to the northern red
hake accountability measure. The operational assessment determined that
overfishing of northern red hake was occurring in 2013 (https://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/SAFE-Report-for-Fishing-Year-2013.pdf), a
situation that the Council addressed by changing the ABC and reducing
northern red hake possession limits. The assessment detected a large
2013 year class, but its size was imprecise and it would not enter the
fishery until 2015-2016. Because this large year class could cause
excessive discards with the reduced northern red hake possession
limits, a new operational red hake assessment was requested and
presented to the Council in September 2015. The Council is considering
adjusting the red hake specifications based on that update.
Amendment 22
The purpose of Amendment 22 is to implement measures that would
prevent unrestrained increases in fishing effort by new entrants to the
fishery. The need for the amendment is to reduce the potential for a
rapid escalation of the small-mesh multispecies fishery, possibly
causing overfishing and having a negative effect on red hake and
whiting markets. The outcome of both would have negative effects on
fishery participants. The amendment is intended to ensure that catches
of the small-mesh multispecies and other non-target species will be at
or below specifications, reducing the potential for causing
accountability measures to be triggered and resulting closure of the
directed fishery.
The Council's Small-Mesh Multispecies Committee and the Council
will be identifying the goals and objectives for Amendment 22 following
the scoping period and will then develop alternatives to meet the
purpose and need of the action. Following input from these Council
bodies and the public, the Council will select a range of alternatives
to consider limited access criteria as well as limits and fishing
restrictions for qualifying and non-qualifying vessels.
Public Comment
All persons affected by or otherwise interested in small-mesh
multispecies management are invited to participate in determining the
scope and significance of issues to be analyzed by submitting written
comments (see ADDRESSES) or by attending one of the four scoping
meetings for this amendment. Scoping consists of identifying the range
of actions, alternatives, and impacts to be considered. At this time in
the process, the Council believes that the alternatives considered in
Amendment 22 would consider limited access criteria based on a vessel's
history in the fishery and possibly other factors, as well as limits
and fishing restrictions that would apply to qualifying and non-
qualifying vessels. After the scoping process is completed, the Council
will begin development of Amendment 22 and will prepare an EIS to
analyze the impacts of the range of alternatives under consideration.
Impacts may be direct, indirect, or cumulative. The Council will
hold public hearings to receive comments on the draft amendment and on
the analysis of its impacts presented in the Draft EIS. In addition to
soliciting comment on this notice, the public will have the opportunity
to comment on the measures and alternatives being considered by the
Council through public meetings and public comment periods consistent
with NEPA, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and the Administrative Procedure
Act. The following scoping meetings have been scheduled. The Council
will take and discuss scoping comments on this amendment at the
following public meetings:
1. Tuesday, December 1, 2015; 5:30 p.m.; Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88
Spring Street, Portland, ME 04101; (207) 775-2311.
2. Monday, December 7, 2015; 7 p.m.; MA DMF of Marine Fisheries;
Annisquam River Marine Fisheries Station; 30 Emerson Ave; Gloucester,
MA 01930; (978) 282-0308.
3. Monday, December 14, 2015; 7 p.m.; Fairfield Inn & Suites, 185
MacArthur Drive, New Bedford, MA 02740; (774) 634-2000.
4. Monday, December 21, 2015; 7 p.m.; Montauk Playhouse Community
Center Foundation; 240 Edgemere St., Montauk, New York 11954; (631)
668-1124
5. Webinar; Thursday, December 17, 2015; 3-5 p.m.
Register to participate: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5272201506328155394; Call in info: Toll: +1 (914) 614-3221; Access
Code: 539-710-362.
Special Accommodations
The meetings are accessible to people with physical disabilities.
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids
should be directed to
[[Page 72953]]
Thomas A. Nies (see ADDRESSES) at least five days prior to this meeting
date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: November 18, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-29795 Filed 11-20-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
