Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 2012 Atlantic Bluefish Specifications, 8776-8779 [2012-3563]
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 15, 2012 / Proposed Rules
• Electronic Submissions: Submit all
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comments via the e-Rulemaking Portal,
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• Fax: (978) 281–9135, Attn:
Comments on 2012 Proposed Bluefish
Specifications, NOAA–NMFS–2012–
0003.
• Mail and Hand Delivery: Dan
Morris, Acting Regional Administrator,
NMFS, Northeast Regional Office, 55
Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA
01930. Mark the outside of the
envelope: ‘‘Comments on 2012 Bluefish
Specifications.’’
Instructions: Comments must be
submitted by one of the above methods
to ensure that the comments are
received, documented, and considered
[FR Doc. 2012–3546 Filed 2–14–12; 8:45 am]
by NMFS. Comments sent by any other
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method, to any other address or
individual, or received after the end of
the comment period, may not be
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
considered. All comments received are
a part of the public record and will
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
generally be posted to https://
Administration
www.regulations.gov without change.
All Personal Identifying Information (for
50 CFR Part 648
example, name, address, etc.)
[Docket No. 120201086–2085–01]
voluntarily submitted by the commenter
RIN 0648–XA904
may be publicly accessible. Do not
submit Confidential Business
Fisheries of the Northeastern United
Information or otherwise sensitive or
States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 2012
protected information.
Atlantic Bluefish Specifications
NMFS will accept anonymous
comments (enter N/A in the required
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries
fields, if you wish to remain
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
anonymous). You may submit
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
attachments to electronic comments in
Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed specifications; request Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or
Adobe PDF file formats only.
for comments.
Copies of the specifications
SUMMARY: NMFS proposes specifications document, including the Environmental
for the 2012 Atlantic bluefish fishery,
Assessment and Initial Regulatory
including an annual catch limit, total
Flexibility Analysis (EA/IRFA) and
allowable landings, a commercial quota other supporting documents for the
and recreational harvest limit, and a
specifications, are available from Dr.
recreational possession limit. The intent Christopher M. Moore, Executive
of this action is to establish the
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery
allowable 2012 harvest levels and other
Management Council, Suite 201, 800 N.
management measures to achieve the
State Street, Dover, DE 19901. The
target fishing mortality rate, consistent
specifications document is also
with the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery
accessible via the Internet at: https://
Management Plan.
www.nero.noaa.gov.
DATES: Comments must be received on
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
or before March 1, 2012.
Carly Bari, Fishery Management
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by NOAA–NMFS–2012–0003, Specialist, (978) 281–9224.
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
by the Pacific Islands Regional
Administrator by fax or email no later
than six hours prior to exiting the
Eastern High Seas Special Management
Area. The notices must be submitted in
the format specified by the Pacific
Island Regional Administrator and must
include the following information:
(1) The vessel identification markings
located on the hull or superstructure of
the vessel.
(2) Date and time (in UTC) of
anticipated point of exit.
(3) Latitude and longitude, to nearest
tenth of a degree, of anticipated point of
exit.
(4) Amount of fish product on board
at the time of the notice, in kilograms,
in total and for each of the following
species or species groups: yellowfin
tuna, bigeye tuna, albacore, skipjack
tuna, swordfish, shark, other; and
(5) An indication of whether the
vessel has engaged in or will engage in
any transshipments prior to exiting the
Eastern High Seas Special Management
Area.
by any one of the following methods:
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Background
The Atlantic bluefish fishery is
managed cooperatively by the MidAtlantic Fishery Management Council
(Council) and the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission (Commission).
The management unit for bluefish
specified in the Atlantic Bluefish
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) is U.S.
waters of the western Atlantic Ocean.
Regulations implementing the FMP
appear at 50 CFR part 648, subparts A
and J. The regulations requiring annual
specifications are found at § 648.16.
The FMP requires the Council to
recommend, on an annual basis, annual
catch limit (ACL), annual catch target
(ACT), and total allowable landings
(TAL) that will control fishing mortality
(F). An estimate of annual discards is
deducted from the ACT to calculate the
TALs that can be harvested during the
year by the commercial and recreational
fishing sectors. The FMP requires that
17 percent of the ACT be allocated to
the commercial fishery, with the
remaining 83 percent allocated to the
recreational fishery. The Council may
also recommend a research set-aside
(RSA) quota, which is deducted from
the bluefish TALs (after any applicable
transfer) in an amount proportional to
the percentage of the overall TAL as
allocated to the commercial and
recreational sectors.
The annual review process for
bluefish requires that the Council’s
Bluefish Monitoring Committee and
Scientific and Statistical Committee
(SSC) review and make
recommendations based on the best
available data, including, but not
limited to, commercial and recreational
catch/landing statistics, current
estimates of fishing mortality, stock
abundance, discards for the recreational
fishery, and juvenile recruitment. Based
on the recommendations of the
Monitoring Committee and SSC, the
Council makes a recommendation to the
NMFS Northeast Regional
Administrator. Because this FMP is a
joint plan, the Commission also meets
during the annual specification process
to adopt complementary measures.
The Council’s recommendations must
include supporting documentation
concerning the environmental,
economic, and social impacts of the
recommendations. NMFS is responsible
for reviewing these recommendations to
ensure that they achieve the FMP
objectives, and may modify them if they
do not. NMFS then publishes proposed
specifications in the Federal Register,
and after considering public comment,
NMFS will publish final specifications
in the Federal Register.
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 15, 2012 / Proposed Rules
Proposed Specifications
Updated Model Estimates
According to Amendment 1 to the
FMP, overfishing for bluefish occurs
when F exceeds the fishing mortality
rate that allows maximum sustainable
yield (FMSY), or the maximum F
threshold to be achieved. The stock is
considered overfished if the biomass (B)
falls below the minimum biomass
threshold, which is defined as 1⁄2 BMSY.
Amendment 1 also established that the
long-term target F is 90 percent of FMSY
(FMSY = 0.19, therefore Ftarget = 90
percent of FMSY, or 0.17), and the longterm target B is BMSY = 324 million lb
(147,052 mt).
An age-structured assessment
program (ASAP) model for bluefish was
approved by the 41st Stock Assessment
Review Committee (SARC 41) in 2005 to
estimate F and annual biomass. In June
2011, the ASAP model was updated in
order to estimate the current status of
the bluefish stock (i.e., 2010 biomass
and F estimates) and enable the
Monitoring Committee and SSC to
recommend 2012 specifications using
landings information and survey indices
through the 2010 fishing year. The
results of the assessment update were as
follows: (1) An estimated stock biomass
for 2010, B2010 = 309.301 million lb
(140,297 mt); and (2) an estimated
fishing mortality rate for 2010, F2010 =
0.14. Based on the updated 2010
estimate of bluefish stock biomass, the
bluefish stock is not considered
overfished: B2010 is slightly less than
BMSY, but well above the minimum
biomass threshold, 1⁄2 BMSY = 162
million lb (73,526 mt). Estimates of F
have declined from 0.41 in 1991 to 0.14
in 2010. The updated model results also
conclude that the Atlantic bluefish stock
is not experiencing overfishing; i.e., the
most recent F (F2010 = 0.14) is less than
the maximum F overfishing threshold
specified by SARC 41 (FMSY = 0.19).
Bluefish was declared rebuilt in 2009.
2012 Catch Limits
Following the framework
implemented by the Council’s ACL
Omnibus Amendment, the Council
recommended that ACL be set to
acceptable biological catch (ABC)
(32.044 million lb, 14,535 mt). No
deductions were recommended to
account for management uncertainty,
therefore ABC = ACL = ACT. The ACT
is initially allocated between the
recreational fishery (83 percent = 26.597
million lb, 12,064 mt) and the
commercial fishery (17 percent = 5.448
million lb, 2,471 mt). After deducting an
estimate of recreational discards
(commercial discards are considered
negligible), the recreational TAL would
be 22.247 million lb (10,091 mt) and the
commercial TAL would be 5.448
million lb (2,471 mt).
The FMP specifies that, if 17 percent
of the ACT is less than 10.5 million lb,
and recreational fishery is not projected
to land its harvest limit for the
upcoming year, the commercial fishery
may be allocated up to 10.5 million lb
as its quota, provided that the
combination of the projected
recreational landings and the
commercial quota does not exceed the
ACT. The recreational harvest limit
(RHL) would then be adjusted
downward so that the ACT would be
unchanged.
The Council postponed projections of
estimated recreational harvest for 2012
until Marine Recreational Fisheries
Statistics Survey (MRFSS) landings data
through Wave 5 of 2011 became
available. In the interim, the 3-year
average of recreational landings from
2008 through 2010 (16.216 million lb,
7,355 mt) was applied as the estimated
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recreational harvest for 2012. As such,
it was expected that a transfer of up to
5.052 million lb (2,291 mt) from the
recreational sector to the commercial
sector could be approved. This option
represents the preferred alternative
recommended by the Council in its
specifications document. The actual
transfer amount in the final rule, if any,
will depend on the 2011 recreational
landings data.
RSA
Three research projects that would
utilize bluefish RSA quota have been
preliminarily approved and forwarded
to NOAA’s Grants Management
Division. An 847,997-lb (385-mt) RSA
quota is preliminarily approved for use
by these projects during 2012.
Proportional adjustments of this amount
to the commercial and recreational
allocations would result in a final
commercial quota of 10.185 million lb
(4,620 mt) and a final RHL of 17.234
million lb (7,817 mt). NMFS staff will
update the commercial and recreational
allocations based on the final 2012 RSA
awards as part of the final rule for the
2012 specifications.
Proposed Recreational Possession Limit
The Council recommended, and
NMFS proposes, to maintain the current
recreational possession limit of up to 15
fish per person to achieve the RHL.
Proposed State Commercial Allocations
The proposed state commercial
allocations for the recommended 2012
commercial quota are shown in Table 1,
based on the percentages specified in
the FMP. These quotas do not reflect
any adjustments for quota overages that
may have occurred in some states in
2011. Any potential deductions for
states that exceeded their quota in 2011
will be accounted for in the final rule.
TABLE 1—PROPOSED BLUEFISH COMMERCIAL STATE-BY-STATE ALLOCATIONS FOR 2012
[Including RSA deductions]
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State
Percent share
ME ..............................................................................................................................
NH ..............................................................................................................................
MA ..............................................................................................................................
RI ...............................................................................................................................
CT ..............................................................................................................................
NY ..............................................................................................................................
NJ ...............................................................................................................................
DE ..............................................................................................................................
MD .............................................................................................................................
VA ..............................................................................................................................
NC ..............................................................................................................................
SC ..............................................................................................................................
GA ..............................................................................................................................
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2012 Council-proposed commercial
quota (lb)
2012 Council-proposed commercial
quota (kg)
68,087
42,217
684,096
693,405
128,973
1,057,722
1,509,030
191,295
305,733
1,209,927
3,265,392
3,585
968
30,884
19,149
310,301
314,523
58,501
479,775
684,485
86,770
138,678
548,814
1,481,158
1,626
439
0.6685
0.4145
6.7167
6.8081
1.2663
10.3851
14.8162
1.8782
3.0018
11.8795
32.0608
0.0352
0.0095
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 15, 2012 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 1—PROPOSED BLUEFISH COMMERCIAL STATE-BY-STATE ALLOCATIONS FOR 2012—Continued
[Including RSA deductions]
State
Percent share
2012 Council-proposed commercial
quota (lb)
2012 Council-proposed commercial
quota (kg)
10.0597
1,024,580
464,742
Total ....................................................................................................................
tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
FL ...............................................................................................................................
100.0001
10,185,000
4,619,840
Classification
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson-Stevens Act), the NMFS
Assistant Administrator has determined
that this proposed rule is consistent
with the Atlantic Bluefish FMP, other
provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens
Act, and other applicable law, subject to
further consideration after public
comment.
These proposed specifications are
exempt from review under Executive
Order 12866.
An IRFA was prepared, as required by
section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (RFA), which describes the
economic impact this proposed rule, if
adopted, would have on small entities.
A description of the action, why it is
being considered, and the legal basis for
this action are contained at the
beginning of this preamble and in the
SUMMARY. A summary of the analysis
follows. A copy of this analysis is
available from the Council (see
ADDRESSES).
Small businesses operating in
commercial and recreational (i.e., party
and charter vessel operations) fisheries
have been defined by the Small
Business Administration as firms with
gross revenues of up to $4.0 and $6.5
million, respectively. The categories of
small entities likely to be affected by
this action include commercial and
charter/party vessel owners holding an
active Federal permit for Atlantic
bluefish, as well as owners of vessels
that fish for Atlantic bluefish in state
waters. All federally permitted vessels
fall into the definition of small
businesses; thus, there would be no
disproportionate impacts between large
and small entities as a result of the
proposed rule.
An active participant in the
commercial sector was defined as any
vessel that reported having landed 1 or
more lb (0.45 kg) in the Atlantic bluefish
fishery in 2010 (the most recent year for
which there are complete data). The
active participants in the commercial
sector were defined using two sets of
data. The Northeast seafood dealer
reports were used to identify 718 vessels
that landed bluefish in states from
Maine through North Carolina in 2010.
However, the Northeast dealer database
does not provide information about
fishery participation in South Carolina,
Georgia, or Florida. South Atlantic Trip
Ticket reports were used to identify 732
vessels 1 that landed bluefish in North
Carolina and 827 vessels that landed
bluefish on Florida’s east coast. Bluefish
landings in South Carolina and Georgia
were near zero in 2010, representing a
negligible proportion of the total
bluefish landings along the Atlantic
Coast. Therefore, this analysis assumed
that no vessel activity for these two
states took place in 2010. In recent
years, approximately 2,063 party/charter
vessels may have been active in the
bluefish fishery and/or have caught
bluefish.
There are no new reporting or
recordkeeping requirements contained
in any of the alternatives considered for
this action. In addition, NMFS is not
aware of any relevant Federal rules that
may duplicate, overlap, or conflict with
this proposed rule.
The IRFA in the Draft EA addressed
three alternatives (including a no
action/status quo alternative) for the
2012 Atlantic bluefish fishery. All quota
alternatives considered in this analysis
are based on various commercial harvest
levels for bluefish (a low, medium, and
high level of harvest). For analysis of
impacts of Alternatives 1 and 2, the
maximum potential RSA quota of 3
percent of the TAL (847,997 lb, 384 mt)
was used. For analysis of impacts of
Alternative 3, the status quo RSA quota
of 105,000 lb (48 mt) was used. For
analysis of impacts of Alternative 1, the
recommended transfer of 5.052 million
lb (2,291 mt) from the recreational
sector to the commercial sector was
used. For analysis of impacts of
Alternative 3, the transfer of 4.770
million lb (2,164 mt) from the
recreational sector to the commercial
sector was used, which is the same as
the 2011 transfer amount. Under
Alternative 2, no transfer of bluefish
would be made from the recreational
sector to the commercial sector, and the
allocation of the TAL would be based
strictly on the percentages specified in
the FMP (17 percent commercial, 83
percent recreational).
Alternatives 1 and 2 would
implement a TAL of 27.694 million lb
(12,562 mt). Alternative 3 would
implement status quo management
measures for 2012, which would result
in a TAL identical to the 2011 TAL, or
27.293 million lb (12,380 mt). The
proposed 2012 Atlantic bluefish
specification alternatives are shown in
Table 2, along with the resulting
commercial quota and RHL after any
applicable transfer described earlier in
the preamble and after deduction of the
RSA quota. Alternative 1 (Council’s
preferred) would allocate 10.185 million
lb (4,620 mt) to the commercial sector
and 17.234 million lb (7,817 mt) to the
recreational sector. Alternative 2 would
result in the most restrictive commercial
quota and would allocate 5.284 million
lb (2,397 mt) to the commercial sector
and leave 22.134 million lb (10,040 mt)
available to the recreational sector.
Alternative 3 (status quo) would allocate
9.375 million lb (4,252 mt) to the
commercial sector and 17.813 million lb
(8,080 mt) to the recreational sector.
This alternative would also implement
the status quo RSA level, which is
currently approved for 105,000 lb (48
mt).
1 Some of these vessels were also identified in the
Northeast dealer data; therefore, double counting is
possible.
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 31 / Wednesday, February 15, 2012 / Proposed Rules
8779
TABLE 2—PROPOSED 2012 ATLANTIC BLUEFISH SPECIFICATION ALTERNATIVES FOR TAL, COMMERCIAL QUOTA, AND RHL
(MILLION LB)
TAL
Alternative 1 ...................................
Alternative 2 ...................................
Alternative 3 ...................................
Commercial quota
27.694 (12,562 mt) .......................
27.694 (12,562 mt) .......................
27.293 (12,380 mt) .......................
10.185 (4,620 mt) .........................
5.284 (2,397 mt) ...........................
9.375 (4,252 mt) ...........................
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Commercial Fishery Impacts
To assess the impact of the
alternatives on commercial fisheries, the
Council conducted a threshold analysis
and analysis of potential changes in exvessel gross revenue that would result
from each alternative, using Northeast
dealer reports and South Atlantic Trip
Ticket reports.
Under Alternative 1, the
recommended commercial quota for
2012 is approximately 40 percent higher
than 2010 commercial landings. When
this commercial quota is distributed to
the states from Maine to Florida (based
on the percentages specified in the
FMP), each state’s 2012 quota is higher
than its 2010 landings. Results of the
threshold analysis from dealer data
estimated that there would be no
revenue change relative to 2010 for
vessels that reported landings of
bluefish in 2010. If commercial quota is
transferred from a state or states that do
not land their entire bluefish quota for
2012, as was done in 2011 and
frequently in previous years, the
number of affected entities could
change, thus changing the adverse
economic impact on vessels landing in
the state(s) receiving quota transfers.
Alternative 2 would result in a
commercial quota 28 percent below the
2010 commercial landings. Although
the overall commercial quota is lower
than 2010 commercial landings, when
distributed to the states, each state’s
2012 quota is higher than its 2010
landings, except for Massachusetts, New
York, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
For these states, 2012 commercial
landings would be constrained by the
2012 commercial quota under
Alternative 2. The threshold analysis
projected that 464 vessels could incur
revenue losses of less than 5 percent
and 62 vessels could incur revenue
losses of 5 percent or more. Of the
vessels likely to be impacted with
revenue reductions of 5 percent or more,
34 percent had gross sales of $1,000 or
less and 55 percent had gross sales of
$10,000 or less, which may indicate that
the dependence on fishing for some of
these vessels is small.
Under Alternative 3, the 2011
commercial quota is approximately 29
percent higher than the 2010
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commercial landings. Most states show
a similar increase in fishing
opportunities under this alternative;
however, North Carolina’s 2012
commercial quota would be lower than
its 2010 commercial landings. Analysis
of Alternative 3 concluded that 644
vessels would likely have no change in
revenue relative to 2010, and 74 vessels
were projected to incur revenue losses
of less than 5 percent. No revenue
reduction would be expected for vessels
that land bluefish in North Carolina or
Florida under Alternative 3. If
commercial quota is transferred from a
state or states that do not land their
entire bluefish quota for 2012, as was
done in 2011 and frequently in previous
years, the number of affected entities
described above could decrease, thus
decreasing the adverse economic impact
on vessels landing in the state(s)
receiving quota transfers.
Recreational Fishery Impacts
For Alternative 1, the recommended
RHL for the recreational sector (17.234
million lb, 7,817 mt) is approximately 7
percent above the recreational landings
for 2010 (16.166 million lb, 7,333 mt)
and 3 percent below the RHL
implemented for 2011 (17.813 million
lb, 8,080 mt). It is not anticipated that
the recommend RHL will result in
decreased in the demand for party/
charter boat trips or affect angler
participation in a negative manner. At
the present time, there are neither
behavioral or demand data available to
estimate how sensitive party/charter
boat anglers might be to proposed
fishing regulations. However, given the
level of the adjusted recreational harvest
limit for 2012 and recreational landings
in recent years, it is possible that given
the proposed recreational harvest limits
under Alternative 1, the demand for
party/charter boat trips may not be
negatively impacted. The impacts under
Alternative 2 and 3 are expected to be
similar to the recreational impacts
under Alternative 1. The IRFA analyzed
the maximum transfer amount from the
recreational sector to the commercial
sector, but future updates of recreational
harvest projections could result in a
smaller transfer amount, resulting in a
high RHL.
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RHL
17.234 (7,817 mt).
22.134 (10,040 mt).
17.813 (8,080 mt).
The 2012 RHL under Alternative 2
would be 37 percent higher than the
recreational landings in 2010 and 49
percent higher than the 2011 RHL.
Under Alternative 3, the 2012 RHL
would be 37 percent higher than 2010
recreational landings and less than 1
percent lower than the 2011 RHL. Thus,
Alternatives 2 and 3 are not expected to
have any negative effects on recreational
fishermen or the demand for party/
charter boat trips. In addition, neither of
these alternatives are expected to result
in recreational landings in excess of the
RHL.
RSA Quota Impacts
For analysis of each alternative, the
maximum RSA quota amount (3 percent
of the TAL) was deducted from the
initial overall TAL for 2012 to derive the
adjusted 2012 commercial quota and
RHL under each alternative. Thus, the
threshold analyses for each alternative
accounted for overall reductions in
fishing opportunities due to RSA.
Specification of RSA quota for 2012 is
expected to benefit all participants in
the fishery as a result of improved data
and information for management or
stock assessment purposes.
Summary
The Council recommended
Alternative 1 over Alternatives 2 and 3
because it is projected to achieve the
target F in 2012, while providing the
second least restrictive commercial
quota among the alternatives analyzed.
Alternative 2 was not recommended by
the Council because it would yield the
lowest commercial fishing opportunities
among the alternatives due to an
absence of a quota transfer under this
alternative. Alternative 3 was not
selected because it would more
restrictive than necessary given the
advice of the SSC and Monitoring
Committee.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 9, 2012.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for
Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2012–3563 Filed 2–14–12; 8:45 am]
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 31 (Wednesday, February 15, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 8776-8779]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-3563]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 120201086-2085-01]
RIN 0648-XA904
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish
Fishery; 2012 Atlantic Bluefish Specifications
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed specifications; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS proposes specifications for the 2012 Atlantic bluefish
fishery, including an annual catch limit, total allowable landings, a
commercial quota and recreational harvest limit, and a recreational
possession limit. The intent of this action is to establish the
allowable 2012 harvest levels and other management measures to achieve
the target fishing mortality rate, consistent with the Atlantic
Bluefish Fishery Management Plan.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 1, 2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2012-0003,
by any one of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking portal: https://www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the e-Rulemaking Portal,
first click the ``Submit a Comment'' icon, then enter NOAA-NMFS-2012-
0003 in the keyword search. Locate the document you wish to comment on
from the resulting list and click on the ``Submit a Comment'' icon on
the right of that line.
Fax: (978) 281-9135, Attn: Comments on 2012 Proposed
Bluefish Specifications, NOAA-NMFS-2012-0003.
Mail and Hand Delivery: Dan Morris, Acting Regional
Administrator, NMFS, Northeast Regional Office, 55 Great Republic
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope:
``Comments on 2012 Bluefish Specifications.''
Instructions: Comments must be submitted by one of the above
methods to ensure that the comments are received, documented, and
considered by NMFS. Comments sent by any other method, 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 to https://www.regulations.gov
without change. All Personal Identifying Information (for example,
name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter 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). You may submit attachments to
electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF
file formats only.
Copies of the specifications document, including the Environmental
Assessment and Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (EA/IRFA) and
other supporting documents for the specifications, are available from
Dr. Christopher M. Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council, Suite 201, 800 N. State Street, Dover, DE 19901.
The specifications document is also accessible via the Internet at:
https://www.nero.noaa.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carly Bari, Fishery Management
Specialist, (978) 281-9224.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Atlantic bluefish fishery is managed cooperatively by the Mid-
Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission). The management unit for
bluefish specified in the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan
(FMP) is U.S. waters of the western Atlantic Ocean. Regulations
implementing the FMP appear at 50 CFR part 648, subparts A and J. The
regulations requiring annual specifications are found at Sec. 648.16.
The FMP requires the Council to recommend, on an annual basis,
annual catch limit (ACL), annual catch target (ACT), and total
allowable landings (TAL) that will control fishing mortality (F). An
estimate of annual discards is deducted from the ACT to calculate the
TALs that can be harvested during the year by the commercial and
recreational fishing sectors. The FMP requires that 17 percent of the
ACT be allocated to the commercial fishery, with the remaining 83
percent allocated to the recreational fishery. The Council may also
recommend a research set-aside (RSA) quota, which is deducted from the
bluefish TALs (after any applicable transfer) in an amount proportional
to the percentage of the overall TAL as allocated to the commercial and
recreational sectors.
The annual review process for bluefish requires that the Council's
Bluefish Monitoring Committee and Scientific and Statistical Committee
(SSC) review and make recommendations based on the best available data,
including, but not limited to, commercial and recreational catch/
landing statistics, current estimates of fishing mortality, stock
abundance, discards for the recreational fishery, and juvenile
recruitment. Based on the recommendations of the Monitoring Committee
and SSC, the Council makes a recommendation to the NMFS Northeast
Regional Administrator. Because this FMP is a joint plan, the
Commission also meets during the annual specification process to adopt
complementary measures.
The Council's recommendations must include supporting documentation
concerning the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the
recommendations. NMFS is responsible for reviewing these
recommendations to ensure that they achieve the FMP objectives, and may
modify them if they do not. NMFS then publishes proposed specifications
in the Federal Register, and after considering public comment, NMFS
will publish final specifications in the Federal Register.
[[Page 8777]]
Proposed Specifications
Updated Model Estimates
According to Amendment 1 to the FMP, overfishing for bluefish
occurs when F exceeds the fishing mortality rate that allows maximum
sustainable yield (FMSY), or the maximum F threshold to be
achieved. The stock is considered overfished if the biomass (B) falls
below the minimum biomass threshold, which is defined as \1/2\
BMSY. Amendment 1 also established that the long-term target
F is 90 percent of FMSY (FMSY = 0.19, therefore
Ftarget = 90 percent of FMSY, or 0.17), and the
long-term target B is BMSY = 324 million lb (147,052 mt).
An age-structured assessment program (ASAP) model for bluefish was
approved by the 41st Stock Assessment Review Committee (SARC 41) in
2005 to estimate F and annual biomass. In June 2011, the ASAP model was
updated in order to estimate the current status of the bluefish stock
(i.e., 2010 biomass and F estimates) and enable the Monitoring
Committee and SSC to recommend 2012 specifications using landings
information and survey indices through the 2010 fishing year. The
results of the assessment update were as follows: (1) An estimated
stock biomass for 2010, B2010 = 309.301 million lb (140,297
mt); and (2) an estimated fishing mortality rate for 2010,
F2010 = 0.14. Based on the updated 2010 estimate of bluefish
stock biomass, the bluefish stock is not considered overfished:
B2010 is slightly less than BMSY, but well above
the minimum biomass threshold, \1/2\ BMSY = 162 million lb
(73,526 mt). Estimates of F have declined from 0.41 in 1991 to 0.14 in
2010. The updated model results also conclude that the Atlantic
bluefish stock is not experiencing overfishing; i.e., the most recent F
(F2010 = 0.14) is less than the maximum F overfishing
threshold specified by SARC 41 (FMSY = 0.19). Bluefish was
declared rebuilt in 2009.
2012 Catch Limits
Following the framework implemented by the Council's ACL Omnibus
Amendment, the Council recommended that ACL be set to acceptable
biological catch (ABC) (32.044 million lb, 14,535 mt). No deductions
were recommended to account for management uncertainty, therefore ABC =
ACL = ACT. The ACT is initially allocated between the recreational
fishery (83 percent = 26.597 million lb, 12,064 mt) and the commercial
fishery (17 percent = 5.448 million lb, 2,471 mt). After deducting an
estimate of recreational discards (commercial discards are considered
negligible), the recreational TAL would be 22.247 million lb (10,091
mt) and the commercial TAL would be 5.448 million lb (2,471 mt).
The FMP specifies that, if 17 percent of the ACT is less than 10.5
million lb, and recreational fishery is not projected to land its
harvest limit for the upcoming year, the commercial fishery may be
allocated up to 10.5 million lb as its quota, provided that the
combination of the projected recreational landings and the commercial
quota does not exceed the ACT. The recreational harvest limit (RHL)
would then be adjusted downward so that the ACT would be unchanged.
The Council postponed projections of estimated recreational harvest
for 2012 until Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS)
landings data through Wave 5 of 2011 became available. In the interim,
the 3-year average of recreational landings from 2008 through 2010
(16.216 million lb, 7,355 mt) was applied as the estimated recreational
harvest for 2012. As such, it was expected that a transfer of up to
5.052 million lb (2,291 mt) from the recreational sector to the
commercial sector could be approved. This option represents the
preferred alternative recommended by the Council in its specifications
document. The actual transfer amount in the final rule, if any, will
depend on the 2011 recreational landings data.
RSA
Three research projects that would utilize bluefish RSA quota have
been preliminarily approved and forwarded to NOAA's Grants Management
Division. An 847,997-lb (385-mt) RSA quota is preliminarily approved
for use by these projects during 2012. Proportional adjustments of this
amount to the commercial and recreational allocations would result in a
final commercial quota of 10.185 million lb (4,620 mt) and a final RHL
of 17.234 million lb (7,817 mt). NMFS staff will update the commercial
and recreational allocations based on the final 2012 RSA awards as part
of the final rule for the 2012 specifications.
Proposed Recreational Possession Limit
The Council recommended, and NMFS proposes, to maintain the current
recreational possession limit of up to 15 fish per person to achieve
the RHL.
Proposed State Commercial Allocations
The proposed state commercial allocations for the recommended 2012
commercial quota are shown in Table 1, based on the percentages
specified in the FMP. These quotas do not reflect any adjustments for
quota overages that may have occurred in some states in 2011. Any
potential deductions for states that exceeded their quota in 2011 will
be accounted for in the final rule.
Table 1--Proposed Bluefish Commercial State-by-State Allocations for 2012
[Including RSA deductions]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012 Council- 2012 Council-
proposed proposed
State Percent share commercial quota commercial quota
(lb) (kg)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ME..................................................... 0.6685 68,087 30,884
NH..................................................... 0.4145 42,217 19,149
MA..................................................... 6.7167 684,096 310,301
RI..................................................... 6.8081 693,405 314,523
CT..................................................... 1.2663 128,973 58,501
NY..................................................... 10.3851 1,057,722 479,775
NJ..................................................... 14.8162 1,509,030 684,485
DE..................................................... 1.8782 191,295 86,770
MD..................................................... 3.0018 305,733 138,678
VA..................................................... 11.8795 1,209,927 548,814
NC..................................................... 32.0608 3,265,392 1,481,158
SC..................................................... 0.0352 3,585 1,626
GA..................................................... 0.0095 968 439
[[Page 8778]]
FL..................................................... 10.0597 1,024,580 464,742
--------------------------------------------------------
Total.............................................. 100.0001 10,185,000 4,619,840
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Classification
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the NMFS
Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is
consistent with the Atlantic Bluefish FMP, other provisions of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law, subject to further
consideration after public comment.
These proposed specifications are exempt from review under
Executive Order 12866.
An IRFA was prepared, as required by section 603 of the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (RFA), which describes the economic impact this
proposed rule, if adopted, would have on small entities. A description
of the action, why it is being considered, and the legal basis for this
action are contained at the beginning of this preamble and in the
SUMMARY. A summary of the analysis follows. A copy of this analysis is
available from the Council (see ADDRESSES).
Small businesses operating in commercial and recreational (i.e.,
party and charter vessel operations) fisheries have been defined by the
Small Business Administration as firms with gross revenues of up to
$4.0 and $6.5 million, respectively. The categories of small entities
likely to be affected by this action include commercial and charter/
party vessel owners holding an active Federal permit for Atlantic
bluefish, as well as owners of vessels that fish for Atlantic bluefish
in state waters. All federally permitted vessels fall into the
definition of small businesses; thus, there would be no
disproportionate impacts between large and small entities as a result
of the proposed rule.
An active participant in the commercial sector was defined as any
vessel that reported having landed 1 or more lb (0.45 kg) in the
Atlantic bluefish fishery in 2010 (the most recent year for which there
are complete data). The active participants in the commercial sector
were defined using two sets of data. The Northeast seafood dealer
reports were used to identify 718 vessels that landed bluefish in
states from Maine through North Carolina in 2010. However, the
Northeast dealer database does not provide information about fishery
participation in South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida. South Atlantic
Trip Ticket reports were used to identify 732 vessels \1\ that landed
bluefish in North Carolina and 827 vessels that landed bluefish on
Florida's east coast. Bluefish landings in South Carolina and Georgia
were near zero in 2010, representing a negligible proportion of the
total bluefish landings along the Atlantic Coast. Therefore, this
analysis assumed that no vessel activity for these two states took
place in 2010. In recent years, approximately 2,063 party/charter
vessels may have been active in the bluefish fishery and/or have caught
bluefish.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Some of these vessels were also identified in the Northeast
dealer data; therefore, double counting is possible.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are no new reporting or recordkeeping requirements contained
in any of the alternatives considered for this action. In addition,
NMFS is not aware of any relevant Federal rules that may duplicate,
overlap, or conflict with this proposed rule.
The IRFA in the Draft EA addressed three alternatives (including a
no action/status quo alternative) for the 2012 Atlantic bluefish
fishery. All quota alternatives considered in this analysis are based
on various commercial harvest levels for bluefish (a low, medium, and
high level of harvest). For analysis of impacts of Alternatives 1 and
2, the maximum potential RSA quota of 3 percent of the TAL (847,997 lb,
384 mt) was used. For analysis of impacts of Alternative 3, the status
quo RSA quota of 105,000 lb (48 mt) was used. For analysis of impacts
of Alternative 1, the recommended transfer of 5.052 million lb (2,291
mt) from the recreational sector to the commercial sector was used. For
analysis of impacts of Alternative 3, the transfer of 4.770 million lb
(2,164 mt) from the recreational sector to the commercial sector was
used, which is the same as the 2011 transfer amount. Under Alternative
2, no transfer of bluefish would be made from the recreational sector
to the commercial sector, and the allocation of the TAL would be based
strictly on the percentages specified in the FMP (17 percent
commercial, 83 percent recreational).
Alternatives 1 and 2 would implement a TAL of 27.694 million lb
(12,562 mt). Alternative 3 would implement status quo management
measures for 2012, which would result in a TAL identical to the 2011
TAL, or 27.293 million lb (12,380 mt). The proposed 2012 Atlantic
bluefish specification alternatives are shown in Table 2, along with
the resulting commercial quota and RHL after any applicable transfer
described earlier in the preamble and after deduction of the RSA quota.
Alternative 1 (Council's preferred) would allocate 10.185 million lb
(4,620 mt) to the commercial sector and 17.234 million lb (7,817 mt) to
the recreational sector. Alternative 2 would result in the most
restrictive commercial quota and would allocate 5.284 million lb (2,397
mt) to the commercial sector and leave 22.134 million lb (10,040 mt)
available to the recreational sector. Alternative 3 (status quo) would
allocate 9.375 million lb (4,252 mt) to the commercial sector and
17.813 million lb (8,080 mt) to the recreational sector. This
alternative would also implement the status quo RSA level, which is
currently approved for 105,000 lb (48 mt).
[[Page 8779]]
Table 2--Proposed 2012 Atlantic Bluefish Specification Alternatives for TAL, Commercial Quota, and RHL (Million
lb)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TAL Commercial quota RHL
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alternative 1........................ 27.694 (12,562 mt)..... 10.185 (4,620 mt)...... 17.234 (7,817 mt).
Alternative 2........................ 27.694 (12,562 mt)..... 5.284 (2,397 mt)....... 22.134 (10,040 mt).
Alternative 3........................ 27.293 (12,380 mt)..... 9.375 (4,252 mt)....... 17.813 (8,080 mt).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commercial Fishery Impacts
To assess the impact of the alternatives on commercial fisheries,
the Council conducted a threshold analysis and analysis of potential
changes in ex-vessel gross revenue that would result from each
alternative, using Northeast dealer reports and South Atlantic Trip
Ticket reports.
Under Alternative 1, the recommended commercial quota for 2012 is
approximately 40 percent higher than 2010 commercial landings. When
this commercial quota is distributed to the states from Maine to
Florida (based on the percentages specified in the FMP), each state's
2012 quota is higher than its 2010 landings. Results of the threshold
analysis from dealer data estimated that there would be no revenue
change relative to 2010 for vessels that reported landings of bluefish
in 2010. If commercial quota is transferred from a state or states that
do not land their entire bluefish quota for 2012, as was done in 2011
and frequently in previous years, the number of affected entities could
change, thus changing the adverse economic impact on vessels landing in
the state(s) receiving quota transfers.
Alternative 2 would result in a commercial quota 28 percent below
the 2010 commercial landings. Although the overall commercial quota is
lower than 2010 commercial landings, when distributed to the states,
each state's 2012 quota is higher than its 2010 landings, except for
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina. For these
states, 2012 commercial landings would be constrained by the 2012
commercial quota under Alternative 2. The threshold analysis projected
that 464 vessels could incur revenue losses of less than 5 percent and
62 vessels could incur revenue losses of 5 percent or more. Of the
vessels likely to be impacted with revenue reductions of 5 percent or
more, 34 percent had gross sales of $1,000 or less and 55 percent had
gross sales of $10,000 or less, which may indicate that the dependence
on fishing for some of these vessels is small.
Under Alternative 3, the 2011 commercial quota is approximately 29
percent higher than the 2010 commercial landings. Most states show a
similar increase in fishing opportunities under this alternative;
however, North Carolina's 2012 commercial quota would be lower than its
2010 commercial landings. Analysis of Alternative 3 concluded that 644
vessels would likely have no change in revenue relative to 2010, and 74
vessels were projected to incur revenue losses of less than 5 percent.
No revenue reduction would be expected for vessels that land bluefish
in North Carolina or Florida under Alternative 3. If commercial quota
is transferred from a state or states that do not land their entire
bluefish quota for 2012, as was done in 2011 and frequently in previous
years, the number of affected entities described above could decrease,
thus decreasing the adverse economic impact on vessels landing in the
state(s) receiving quota transfers.
Recreational Fishery Impacts
For Alternative 1, the recommended RHL for the recreational sector
(17.234 million lb, 7,817 mt) is approximately 7 percent above the
recreational landings for 2010 (16.166 million lb, 7,333 mt) and 3
percent below the RHL implemented for 2011 (17.813 million lb, 8,080
mt). It is not anticipated that the recommend RHL will result in
decreased in the demand for party/charter boat trips or affect angler
participation in a negative manner. At the present time, there are
neither behavioral or demand data available to estimate how sensitive
party/charter boat anglers might be to proposed fishing regulations.
However, given the level of the adjusted recreational harvest limit for
2012 and recreational landings in recent years, it is possible that
given the proposed recreational harvest limits under Alternative 1, the
demand for party/charter boat trips may not be negatively impacted. The
impacts under Alternative 2 and 3 are expected to be similar to the
recreational impacts under Alternative 1. The IRFA analyzed the maximum
transfer amount from the recreational sector to the commercial sector,
but future updates of recreational harvest projections could result in
a smaller transfer amount, resulting in a high RHL.
The 2012 RHL under Alternative 2 would be 37 percent higher than
the recreational landings in 2010 and 49 percent higher than the 2011
RHL. Under Alternative 3, the 2012 RHL would be 37 percent higher than
2010 recreational landings and less than 1 percent lower than the 2011
RHL. Thus, Alternatives 2 and 3 are not expected to have any negative
effects on recreational fishermen or the demand for party/charter boat
trips. In addition, neither of these alternatives are expected to
result in recreational landings in excess of the RHL.
RSA Quota Impacts
For analysis of each alternative, the maximum RSA quota amount (3
percent of the TAL) was deducted from the initial overall TAL for 2012
to derive the adjusted 2012 commercial quota and RHL under each
alternative. Thus, the threshold analyses for each alternative
accounted for overall reductions in fishing opportunities due to RSA.
Specification of RSA quota for 2012 is expected to benefit all
participants in the fishery as a result of improved data and
information for management or stock assessment purposes.
Summary
The Council recommended Alternative 1 over Alternatives 2 and 3
because it is projected to achieve the target F in 2012, while
providing the second least restrictive commercial quota among the
alternatives analyzed. Alternative 2 was not recommended by the Council
because it would yield the lowest commercial fishing opportunities
among the alternatives due to an absence of a quota transfer under this
alternative. Alternative 3 was not selected because it would more
restrictive than necessary given the advice of the SSC and Monitoring
Committee.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 9, 2012.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-3563 Filed 2-14-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
