Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Total Allowable Catches for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery for Fishing Year 2006, 25095-25099 [06-4059]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 82 (Friday, April 28, 2006)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 25095-25099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-4059]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 060301058-6109-02; I.D. 022306A]
RIN 0648-AU13


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast 
Multispecies Fishery; Total Allowable Catches for the Northeast 
Multispecies Fishery for Fishing Year 2006

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Temporary rule; specifications.

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SUMMARY: The following 2006 fishing year (FY) Total Allowable Catches 
(TACs) are implemented for the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP). Hard (i.e., the fishery or area closes when a 
TAC is reached) TACs for Eastern Georges Bank (GB) cod, Eastern GB 
haddock, and GB yellowtail flounder in the U.S./Canada Management Area; 
target TACs for all NE regulated multispecies; and hard Incidental 
Catch TACs for groundfish stocks of concern. The intent of this action 
is to provide for the conservation and management of groundfish 
management under the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

DATES: The U.S./Canada TACs as identified in Table 1 of this rule are 
effective May 1, 2006, through April 30, 2007. The target TACs as 
identified in Table 3 of this document and the Incidental Catch TACs as 
identified in Table 4 are effective May 1, 2006, through October 25, 
2006.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee's 
(TMGC) 2005 Guidance Document and copies of the Environmental 
Assessment (EA) of the 2006 TACs (including the Regulatory Impact 
Review and Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA)) may be 
obtained from NMFS at One Blackburn Drive Gloucester, MA 01930; 
telephone (978) 281-9315. NMFS prepared a summary of the FRFA, which is 
contained in the Classification section of this final rule.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Warren, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
(978) 281-9347, fax (978) 281-9135, e-mail Thomas.Warren@NOAA.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A proposed rule for this action was 
published on March 13, 2006, (71 FR 12665) with public comments 
accepted though April 12, 2006. A detailed description of the 
administrative process used to develop the TACs was contained in the 
preamble of the proposed rule and is not repeated here. The FMP 
specifies procedures for setting three types of TACs: (1) Annual hard 
(i.e., the fishery or area closes when a TAC is reached) TACs for 
Eastern GB cod, Eastern GB haddock, and GB yellowtail flounder; (2) 
target TACs for all regulated groundfish stocks; and (3) hard 
Incidental Catch TACs for groundfish stocks of concern.

Hard TACs

    The regulations governing the annual development of hard TACs for 
the U.S./Canada Management Area species (Sec.  648.85(a)(2)) were 
implemented through the final rule for Amendment 13 to the FMP (69 FR 
22906; April 27, 2004) in order to be consistent with the U.S./Canada 
Resource Sharing Understanding (Understanding), which is an informal 
understanding between the United States and Canada that outlines a 
process for the management of the shared GB groundfish resources. The 
Understanding specifies an allocation of TAC for these three stocks for 
each country, based on a formula that considers historical catch 
percentages and current resource distribution.
    On September 15, 2005, the Council accepted the recommendations of 
the TMGC for the FY 2006 TACs for GB cod, GB haddock, and GB yellowtail 
flounder. The recommended 2006 TACs were based upon the most recent 
stock assessments (Transboundary Resource Assessment Committee (TRAC) 
Status Reports for 2005), and the fishing mortality strategy shared by 
both the U.S. and Canada. The strategy is to maintain a low to neutral 
risk of exceeding the fishing mortality limit reference 
(Fref = 0.18, 0.26, and 0.25 for cod, haddock, and 
yellowtail flounder, respectively). That is, when stock conditions are 
poor, fishing mortality rates (F) should be further reduced to promote 
rebuilding.
    This action implements the following hard TACs for GB: 374 mt of GB 
cod, 7,480 mt of GB haddock, and 2,070 mt of GB yellowtail flounder. 
The FY 2006 haddock and yellowtail flounder TACs represent decreases 
from FY 2005 TAC levels (by 1 percent and 51 percent, respectively), 
and the FY 2006 cod TAC represents a 44-percent increase from the FY 
2005 TAC (Tables 1 and 2).

                 Table 1.--FY 2006 U.S./Canada TACs (mt) and Percentage Shares (In Parentheses)
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                                                                                                   GB Yellowtail
                                                                      GB Cod        GB Haddock       flounder
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Shared TAC................................................           1,700          22,000           3,000
U.S. TAC........................................................        374 (22)      7,480 (34)      2,070 (69)
Canada TAC......................................................      1,326 (78)     14,520 (66)        930 (31)
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                   Table 2.--2005 U.S./Canada TACs (mt) and Percentage Shares (in Parentheses)
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                                                                                                   GB Yellowtail
                                                                      GB Cod        GB Haddock       flounder
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Shared TAC................................................           1,000          23,000           6,000
U.S. TAC........................................................        260 (26)      7,590 (33)      4,260 (71)
Canada TAC......................................................        740 (74)     15,410 (67)      1,740 (29)
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[[Page 25096]]

    The regulations implementing Amendment 13, at Sec.  
648.85(a)(2)(ii), state: ``Any overages of the [U.S./Canada] GB cod, 
haddock, or yellowtail flounder TACs that occur in a given fishing year 
will be subtracted from the respective TAC in the following fishing 
year.'' Therefore, should an analysis of the catch of the shared stocks 
by U.S. vessels indicate that an overage occurred during FY 2005, the 
pertinent TACs will be adjusted downward in order to be consistent with 
the FMP and the Understanding. The analysis is expected to be complete 
on or about August 2006. If an adjustment to one of the FY 2006 TACs 
for Eastern GB cod, Eastern GB haddock, or GB yellowtail flounder is 
necessary, the public will be notified through rulemaking consistent 
with the Administrative Procedure Act and through a letter to permit 
holders.

Target TACs

    Target TACs for regulated groundfish species are implemented 
pursuant to Sec.  648.90(a)(2), which requires the Council to develop 
target TACs as part of the process used to periodically adjust 
management measures as necessary, and to develop new target TACs based 
upon the most recent scientific information. Although target TACs for 
FY 2006 were specified by Amendment 13, it is necessary to revise the 
values of the FY 2006 TACs, based upon more recent scientific 
information (Assessment of 19 Northeast Groundfish Stocks through 2004; 
Northeast Fisheries Science Center Reference Document 05-13 (GARM II, 
completed in August 2005)). The Council recently submitted to NMFS a 
management action that would make necessary management measure 
adjustments (Framework Adjustment (FW) 42) to the FMP, including 
proposed target TACs for regulated species for FY 2006, 2007, and 2008 
(with the exception of U.S./Canada TACs). However, because the Council 
could not develop FW 42 in time to implement the management measures by 
May 1, 2006, the target TACs that the framework propose for FY 2006, if 
approved, could not be implemented in time for the start of the fishing 
year. Although many of the target TACs are used only as a means of 
evaluating the effectiveness of the management measures of the FMP, a 
delay in the specification of target TACs would impact two aspects of 
the FMP in a substantive manner (i.e., the GB Cod Hook Sector (Sector) 
and the special management programs). The annual allocation of GB cod 
to the Sector (provided the Sector is approved for FY 2006) is 
calculated as a percentage of the GB cod target TAC. If specification 
of the GB cod target TAC were delayed past May 1, it would not be 
possible to specify a GB cod allocation for the Sector in a timely 
manner. Reliance upon the current FY 2005 GB cod target TAC to 
calculate the Sector's allocation would not be utilizing the best 
available information. The GB Cod Hook Sector is dependent upon the 
timely and accurate specification of the GB cod target TAC in order for 
the Sector to operate and generate revenue.
    In addition, a delay in the specification of target TACs would 
impact the specification of hard Incidental Catch TACs because 
Incidental Catch TACs are calculated as a percentage of the target TAC 
for 10 groundfish stocks of concern. If incidental TACs cannot be 
established according to best scientific information available, special 
management programs that are dependent on these incidental TACs would 
operate, if approved, without adequate restrictions on the catch of 
stocks of concern.
    Therefore, in order to avoid this management void, this action 
implements target TACs under Secretarial emergency authority, as 
permitted under sec. 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (MSA), and as consistent with the 
emergency criteria defined in 62 FR 44421 (August 21, 1997). This 
emergency action arises from ``unforeseen events or recently discovered 
circumstances'' that would present ``serious conservation or management 
problems'' if the emergency action is not implemented. Specifically, as 
more fully discussed above, this emergency action is justified on 
ecological grounds in that fishing under TACs inconsistent with the 
best scientific information available would result in harvests that 
would likely jeopardize meeting conservation objectives of the FMP. The 
target TACs being implemented were developed by the Council's 
Groundfish Plan Development Team (PDT) and are consistent with those 
proposed in the FW 42 document. The target TACs (see Table 3) are 
calculated from projections of future catches, using recent assessment 
data, and the Amendment 13 target F rates.

                                     Table 3.--Target TACs (mt) for FY 2006
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                                                                    FY 2006 target
               Species                            Stock                  TACs              TAC composition
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Cod.................................  GB..........................           7,458  E *
                                      GOM.........................           5,146  C *
Haddock.............................  GB..........................          49,829  E
                                      GOM.........................           1,279  A
Yellowtail Flounder.................  GB..........................           2,070  D *
                                      SNE/MA......................             146  B *
                                      CC/GOM......................             650  B *
American plaice.....................  ............................           3,666  B *
Witch flounder......................  ............................           5,511  A *
Winter flounder.....................  GB..........................           1,424  A *
                                      GOM.........................              **  C
                                      SNE/MA......................           2,481  C *
Redfish.............................  ............................           1,946  A
White hake..........................  ............................           2,056  A *
Pollock.............................  ............................          12,005  E
Windowpane flounder.................  North.......................             389  A
                                      South.......................             173  A
Ocean pout..........................  ............................              38  A
Atlantic halibut....................  ............................              NA  NA
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A--Commercial Landings.
B--Commercial Landings and Discards.
C--Commercial Landings, Discards, and Recreational Harvest.

[[Page 25097]]

 
D--Commercial Landings and Discards (U.S. portion of U.S./Canada TAC).
E--Commercial Landings (U.S. and Canada).
* Stock of Concern for Which an Incidental Catch TAC as a Subset of the Target TAC is also proposed (Table 4).
** GARM II did not develop a TAC for GOM winter flounder because of uncertainties in the assessment.
Note: Proposed TACs for GB cod and GB haddock include Canadian landings.

Incidental Catch TACs

    This action implements FY 2006 Incidental Catch TACs pursuant to 
the regulations at Sec.  648.85(b)(5). The regulations require that 
Incidental Catch TACs be developed as part of the process that 
periodically adjusts management measures based upon the most recent 
scientific information. FW 40-A (69 FR 67780; November 19, 2004) 
implemented Incidental Catch TACs in order to strictly limit the 
potential for the use of Category B DAS to cause excessive fishing 
mortality on groundfish stocks of concern. For the NE multispecies 
fishery, a stock of concern is defined as ``a stock that is in an 
overfished condition, or that is subject to overfishing.'' FW 40-A 
implemented Incidental Catch TACs for the following eight stocks, based 
upon the stock status data that were used in the development of 
Amendment 13: Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod, GB cod, Cape Cod (CC)/GOM 
yellowtail flounder, American plaice, white hake, Southern New England 
(SNE)/Mid-Atlantic (MA) yellowtail flounder, SNE/MA winter flounder, 
and witch flounder. FW 40-A also implemented percentage allocations of 
the Incidental Catch TACs among special programs (for the Regular B DAS 
Pilot Program; Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock Special Access Program 
(SAP); and the Eastern U.S./Canada Haddock SAP Pilot Program) and 
specified values for those Incidental Catch TACs for portions of FY 
2004. FW 40-B (70 FR 31323; June 1, 2005) and FW 41 (70 FR 54302; 
September 14, 2005) further modified the percentage allocation of the 
Incidental Catch TACs among Category B DAS programs.
    In addition to the FY 2006 target TACs proposed in FW 42, the 
Council also adopted FY 2006 Incidental Catch TACs under this same 
action. However, as with the target TACs for all regulated species, 
because the Council could not develop FW 42 in time to implement the 
management measures by May 1, 2006, the Incidental Catch TACs proposed 
by the FW 42 for FY 2006, if approved, would not be implemented in time 
for the start of the fishing year. Implementation of Incidental Catch 
TACs in a timely manner is necessary to enable Category B DAS programs 
to operate based upon the best available science. If the Incidental 
Catch TACs are not revised, the fishing mortality may be excessive. 
Therefore, this action specifies the Incidental Catch TACs, as proposed 
in FW 42, under Secretarial emergency authority, consistent with the 
Emergency Criteria and Justification defined in 62 FR 44421 (August 21, 
1997) due to recent, unforeseen events, and the need to allow the 
Category B DAS programs to operate in a timely fashion according to 
best scientific information available.
    In addition to specifying Incidental Catch TACs for the eight 
stocks noted above (as implemented by FW 40-A), this action also 
implements additional Incidental Catch TACs for GB yellowtail flounder 
and GB winter flounder, based on new information from the GARM II 
report that concluded that overfishing is occurring on these stocks. 
This action is consistent with the Council's recommendations in FW 42. 
All 10 Incidental Catch TACs were developed by the PDT and are 
consistent with those proposed in the FW 42 document. These Incidental 
Catch TACs are derived from the target TACs, and are based upon 
percentages proposed by the Council in FW 42.

              Table 4.--FY 2006 Incidental Catch TACs (mt)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              FY 2006
             Stock                 Percentage of total      incidental
                                        target TAC           catch TAC
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GB Cod.........................  Two....................           122.6
GOM cod........................  One....................            51.5
GB yellowtail flounder.........  Two....................            41.4
CC/GOM yellowtail flounder.....  One....................             6.5
SNE/MA yellowtail flounder.....  One....................             1.5
American plaice................  Five...................           183.3
Witch flounder.................  Five...................           275.6
SNE/MA winter flounder.........  One....................            24.8
GB winter flounder.............  Two....................            28.5
White hake.....................  Two....................            41.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments and Responses

    Two comments on the proposed rule were received during the comment 
period.
    Comment 1: The Council noted that the target TACs, as originally 
calculated by the PDT and listed in the proposed rule, contained errors 
for GOM cod due to the use of some incorrect data in the projection of 
this TAC.
    Response: The GOM cod target TAC and the GOM cod Incidental Catch 
TAC have been corrected. The correction resulted in a target TAC and 
Incidental Catch TAC that are slightly greater (larger by 159 mt and 
1.6 mt, respectively) than those included in the proposed rule.
    Comment 2: One individual did not support the proposed TACs due to 
the belief that allocation of TACs to a particular segment of the 
population represents a form of stealing from the American people.
    Response: The allocation of TACs to the groundfish fishery is 
consistent with the national standards and other requirements of the 
MSA, and contribute to maximizing benefits to the Nation.

Classification

    This final rule is published pursuant to 50 CFR part 648 and has 
been determined to be not significant for purposes of Executive Order 
12866.
    NMFS prepared a FRFA, which incorporates the IRFA and this final 
rule, and describes the economic impact that this action may have on 
small entities. No comments on the economic impacts of the TACs were 
received.

[[Page 25098]]

    The specification of hard TACs for the U.S./Canada shared stocks of 
Eastern GB cod, Eastern GB haddock, and GB yellowtail flounder is 
necessary in order to ensure that the fishing mortality levels for 
these shared stocks are achieved in the U.S./Canada Management Area 
(the geographic area on GB defined to facilitate management of stocks 
of cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder that are shared with Canada). 
A full description of the objectives and legal basis for the TACs is 
contained in the preamble of the proposed rule.
    Under the Small Business Administration (SBA) size standards for 
small fishing entities ($3.5 million), all permitted and participating 
vessels in the groundfish fishery are considered to be small entities. 
Gross sales by any one entity (vessel) do not exceed this threshold. 
Therefore, this action does not have a disproportionate impact between 
large and small entities. The maximum number of small entities that 
will be affected by the TACs is approximately 1,000 vessels, i.e., 
those with limited access NE multispecies DAS permits, that have an 
allocation of Category A or B DAS. Realistically, however, the number 
of vessels that choose to fish in the U.S./Canada Management Area, and 
that therefore will be subject to the associated restrictions, 
including hard TACs, will be substantially less.
    For FY 2004 (May 2004 through April 2005), 155 individual vessels 
fished in the U.S./Canada Management Area. From May 1, 2005 through 
February 9, 2006, 156 vessels fished in the U.S./Canada Management 
Area. Although it is difficult to predict the number of vessels that 
would fish in the U.S./Canada Management Area in FY 2006, the number is 
likely to be similar to, if not smaller than, the number of vessels 
that fished in the area during FY 2004 or 2005. Furthermore, additional 
fishing effort controls are proposed for FY 2006 that are likely to 
decrease fishing effort.
    The economic impacts of the TACs are difficult to predict due to 
several factors that affect the amount of catch, as well as the price 
of the fish. Due to the newness of these regulations (May 2004; 
Amendment 13 to the FMP), there is relatively little historic data, and 
limited information about the specific fishing patterns or market 
impacts that may be caused by this hard TAC management system. In 
general, the rate at which yellowtail flounder is caught in the Eastern 
and Western U.S./Canada Area, and the rate at which cod is caught in 
the Eastern U.S./Canada Area, will determine the length of time the 
Eastern U.S./Canada Area will remain open. The length of time the 
Eastern U.S./Canada Area is open will determine the amount of haddock 
that is caught.
    The amount of GB cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder landed and 
sold will not be equal to the sum of the TACs, but will be reduced as a 
result of discards (discards are counted against the hard TAC), and may 
be further reduced by limitations on access to stocks that may result 
from the associated rules. Fishing derby behavior may result in a 
reduction to the market value of fish. The overall economic impact of 
the FY 2006 U.S./Canada TACs will likely be different from the economic 
impacts of the FY 2005 TACs due to the reduced yellowtail flounder TAC, 
and may result in reduced revenue. Although the FY 2006 cod TAC 
represents an increase from FY 2005, the FY 2006 haddock and yellowtail 
TACs represent decreases from FY 2005. For yellowtail flounder, the 
decrease is substantial. Based on the estimates in the EA, revenue from 
cod and haddock caught in the Eastern U.S./Canada Area may increase 
from FY 2005 to 2006 (up to 43 percent and 74 percent, respectively), 
and revenue from yellowtail flounder in the U.S./Canada Management Area 
may decline by 51 percent. According to the analysis, the overall 
change in revenue from FY 2005 to 2006 for the 3 species combined could 
amount to a 36 percent decline (or approximately $ 3.8 million ), 
although it is difficult to predict future fishing patterns, and there 
are factors that may mitigate the decline in overall revenue. For 
example, there could be an increase in yellowtail flounder price, as 
well as the potential for increased opportunity to harvest haddock from 
the Eastern U.S./Canada Area. If the larger GB cod TAC results in a 
longer period of time that the Eastern U.S./Canada Area is open, and if 
vessels attempt to, and are successful in avoidance of cod, the Eastern 
U.S./Canada Area may be opened for a longer period of time in FY 2006 
than it was in FY 2005, resulting in additional revenue from haddock.
    Although unlikely, a downward adjustment to the hard TACs specified 
for FY 2006 could occur after the start of the fishing year, if it is 
determined that the U.S. catch of one or more of the shared stocks 
during FY 2005 exceeded the relevant TACs specified for FY 2005.
    Three alternatives for hard TACs were considered for FY 2006: The 
hard TACs implemented by this final rule, the status quo TACs, and the 
no action alternative. No other TAC alternatives were considered 
because of the need to be consistent with the FMP and the best 
scientific information available. The process for establishing TACs is 
based on the best scientific information available designed to yield 
only one set of TACs. The TACs implemented by this action will have 
more of an economic impact than the status quo TACs. Adoption of the 
status quo TACs, however, would not be consistent with the FMP because 
the status quo TACs do not represent the best available scientific 
information. Although the no action alternative (no TACs) would not 
constrain catch in the U.S./Canada Management Area, and therefore would 
likely provide some additional fishing opportunity, the no action 
alternative is not a reasonable alternative because it is inconsistent 
with the FMP in both the short and long term. The FMP requires 
specification of hard TACs in order to limit catch of shared stocks to 
the appropriate level (i.e., consistent with the Understanding and the 
FMP). As such, the no action alternative would likely provide less 
economic benefit to the industry in the long term than the TACs 
implemented by this final rule.
    The hard TACs do not modify any collection of information, 
reporting, or recordkeeping requirements. The hard TACs do not 
duplicate, overlap, or conflict with any other Federal rules.
    Three alternatives for target TACs were considered for FY 2006: The 
target TACs implemented by this final rule, the status quo TACs, and 
the no action alternative (previously specified TACs, based on previous 
scientific information). No other target TAC alternatives were 
considered for the same reason that no other TAC alternatives were 
considered for the FY 2006 U.S./Canada Management Area TACs described 
above. The direct economic impacts of the target TACs are minimal. The 
most substantive impact on potential fishing effort will be to provide 
a larger TAC allocated to the Sector than under the Status Quo 
Alternative. The amount of cod allocated to the Sector is directly 
affected by the size of the GB cod target TAC, and therefore has the 
potential for an economic impact on the Sector. Based on the amount of 
GB cod TAC caught by the Sector in FY 2004 and 2005 (less than the 
TAC), an increase in the amount of cod allocated to the Sector is not 
likely to impact the amount of cod landed by the Sector. Factors other 
than the size of the Sector's cod allocation appear to be limiting the 
amount of catch and revenue. In FY 2004, the Sector caught 
approximately 20 percent of its allocation. During FY 2005, through 
March 2006, the Sector caught 27 percent of its allocation.
    The indirect economic impacts of the target TACs are potentially 
more

[[Page 25099]]

significant than the direct impact because they are used to set the 
Incidental Catch TACs, which may cause the closure of a SAP or 
prohibition on the use of Regular B DAS in particular stock areas in 
the Regular B DAS Program. The harvest of Incidental Catch TACs curtail 
the opportunities to use Category B DAS. Six of the 10 Incidental Catch 
TACs will decrease in FY 2006, compared to the FY 2005, Status Quo 
TACs. The small size of some of the Incidental Catch TACs may have a 
negative economic impact. Most of the Incidental Catch TACs under the 
Status Quo and No Action Alternatives would have less of a negative 
economic impact because they are larger and would be less constraining 
to the fishery. Based on the proposed FY 2006 Incidental Catch TACs and 
the FY 2004 catch (Quarter 1) in the Regular B DAS Pilot Program, it is 
likely that five of the quarterly Incidental Catch TACs will be 
reached, causing a closure of the program prior to the end of the 
quarter. During FY 2005, the catch under the Regular B DAS Pilot 
Program represented substantial percentages of the amount of cod, 
haddock, and yellowtail flounder caught in the U.S./Canada Management 
Area. It is difficult to determine whether the changes in Incidental 
Catch TACs will result in reduced revenue or whether vessels will be 
able to compensate for such changes by modifying their fishing 
strategies. It is possible that the FY 2006 Incidental Catch TACs may 
result in a decline in revenue by reducing fishing opportunity. 
However, it is possible that vessels that participate in the Regular B 
DAS Pilot Program would make up for any losses in fishing opportunity 
in the Regular B DAS Pilot Program by instead fishing under a Category 
A DAS. Vessels that historically do not use their full allocation of 
Category A DAS could increase the relative percentage of DAS used, or 
lease additional DAS.
    There is good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), to waive the 30-day 
delay in effective date because doing otherwise may compromise full and 
effective management of the FMP. If the 30-day delay in effective day 
is not waived, the hard TACs, target TACs, and Incidental Catch TACs 
would not be in effect at the beginning of the fishing year (May 1, 
2006). Such a delay in implementation would impact the fishery in 
several different ways, depending upon the type of TAC under 
consideration.
    Implementation of the hard TAC after the beginning of the fishing 
year would prevent NMFS from being able to prevent the possible 
overharvest of some or all of the stocks managed by a hard TAC. Most 
notably, in the case of Eastern GB cod, because the size of the TAC is 
relatively small, and the possibility that the catch rate of cod could 
be high during the month of May, it is likely that the TAC could be 
reached and exceeded during the 30-day delay in effectiveness period. 
If no Eastern GB cod TAC is in place, the Regional Administrator would 
be unable to take action to stop fishing on this stock. Failure to stop 
fishing on this stock when the TAC is caught would undermine the GB cod 
rebuilding schedule of the FMP. Furthermore, any resulting TAC overages 
must be deducted from the following year's TAC, which would result in a 
negative economic impact to the fishery for FY 2007.
    Implementation of the target TAC after the beginning of the fishing 
year would also have an impact on the Sector, if that Sector is 
approved for FY 2006. The Sector must be allocated a hard cod TAC in 
order to for its members to fish. Because the Sector's cod TAC is 
calculated as a percentage of the target TAC for GB cod for the fishery 
as a whole, a delay in the implementation of the target TAC for GB cod 
would delay the potential allocation of cod to the Sector. Members of 
the Sector would not be able to fish until the GB cod target TAC is 
specified, and would lose fishing opportunity and income.
    A delay in the implementation of the Incidental Catch TACs after 
the beginning of the fishing year would affect the Regular B DAS 
Program in a similar way. Incidental Catch TACs are calculated as a 
percentage of the target TACs for stocks of concern. The Incidental 
Catch TACs for stocks of concern represent a maximum amount that may be 
caught by vessels fishing in the Regular B DAS Program under a Regular 
B DAS. The Incidental Catch TACs are critical to the limiting the 
maximum amount of fishing mortality that could occur on stocks of 
concern by vessels fishing in the Regular B DAS Program. If the 
specification of the Incidental Catch TACs were delayed, the Regional 
Administrator would be required to close the Regular B DAS Program 
until such TACs are specified. The closure of that program would result 
in the loss of fishing opportunity and income for the industry.
    Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act of 1996 states that, for each rule or group of related rules for 
which an agency is required to prepare a FRFA, the agency shall publish 
one or more guides to assist small entities in complying with the rule, 
and shall designate such publications as ``small entity compliance 
guides.'' The agency shall explain the actions a small entity is 
required to take to comply with a rule or group of rules. As part of 
this rulemaking process, a letter to permit holders that also serves as 
small entity compliance guide (the guide) was prepared. Copies of this 
final rule are available from the Northeast Regional Office, and the 
guide will be sent to all holders of limited access DAS permits for the 
NE multispecies fishery. The guide and this final rule will be posted 
on the NMFS NE Regional Office Web site at https://www.nero.noaa.gov and 
will also be available upon request.

    Dated: April 26, 2006.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 06-4059 Filed 4-26-06; 11:24 am]
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