Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Fishing Year 2014 Sector Exemption, 9438-9440 [2015-03539]
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9438
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 35 / Monday, February 23, 2015 / Notices
to broad-based applicants with
experience in coral reef conservation to
conduct activities to protect and
conserve coral reef ecosystems. The
information submitted by applicants is
used to determine if a proposed project
is consistent with the NOAA coral reef
conservation priorities and the priorities
of authorities with jurisdiction over the
area where the project will be carried
out. As part of the application, NOAA
requires a Data and Information Sharing
Plan in addition to the standard
required application materials.
Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations; not-for-profit
institutions; state, local, or tribal
government.
Frequency: Annually.
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.
Dated: February 17, 2015.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PRA Clearance Offcer.
[FR Doc. 2015–03535 Filed 2–20–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–JE–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Proposed Information Collection;
Comment Request; Aleutian Islands
Pollock Fishery
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Department of
Commerce, as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to
take this opportunity to comment on
proposed and/or continuing information
collections, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: Written comments must be
submitted on or before April 24, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments
to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental
Paperwork Clearance Officer,
Department of Commerce, Room 6616,
14th and Constitution Avenue NW.,
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection
instrument and instructions should be
directed to Patsy A. Bearden, (907) 586–
7008 or patsy.bearden@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
This request is for extension of a
currently approved information
collection.
Amendment 82 to the Fishery
Management Plan for the Groundfish
Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian
Islands Management Area (FMP)
established a framework for the
management of the Aleutian Islands
subarea (AI) directed pollock fishery.
The Aleutian Islands pollock fishery
was allocated to the Aleut Corporation,
Adak, Alaska, for the purpose of
economic development in Adak, Alaska.
The Aleut Corporation is identified in
Public Law 108–199 as a business
incorporated pursuant to the Alaska
Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C.
1601 et seq.). Regulations implementing
the FMP appear at 50 CFR part 679.
Participants are identified and
approved through a letter from the Aleut
Corporation which is approved by
National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS). This letter includes a list of
approved participants. A copy of the
letter must be on each participating
vessel.
II. Method of Collection
Mail and retention of document on
participating vessels.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
SUMMARY:
Washington, DC 20230 (or via the
Internet at JJessup@doc.gov).
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0648–0513.
Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Extension of a
currently approved information
collection.
Affected Public: Business or other forprofits organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 1.
Estimated Time per Response: Annual
AI Pollock Fishery Participant Letter, 16
hours; process, 4 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 36.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $3 in recordkeeping/reporting
costs.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
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agency’s estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the
proposed collection of information; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to
this notice will be summarized and/or
included in the request for OMB
approval of this information collection;
they also will become a matter of public
record.
Dated: February 18, 2015.
Sarah Brabson,
NOAA PIA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2015–03543 Filed 2–20–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XD775
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions;
General Provisions for Domestic
Fisheries; Application for Fishing Year
2014 Sector Exemption
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
AGENCY:
Several groundfish sectors
have requested regulatory exemptions
from two recently implemented Gulf of
Maine cod interim management
measures. The Regional Administrator,
Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has
determined that the request warrants
further consideration. We are seeking
public comment on these exemption
requests.
SUMMARY:
Comments must be received on
or before March 2, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
by the following methods:
• Email: william.whitmore@noaa.gov.
Include in the subject line ‘‘Comments
on Gulf of Maine Cod Sector Exemption
Request.’’
• Mail: John K. Bullard, Regional
Administrator, NMFS, NE Regional
Office, 55 Great Republic Drive,
Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside
of the envelope ‘‘Comments on Gulf of
Maine Cod Sector Exemption Request.’’
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
William Whitmore, Fisheries Policy
DATES:
E:\FR\FM\23FEN1.SGM
23FEN1
Rmajette on DSK2VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 35 / Monday, February 23, 2015 / Notices
Analyst, 978–281–9182,
william.whitmore@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On
November 13, 2014, NMFS published a
temporary rule to enhance protections
for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod (79 FR
67362) in response to an updated GOM
cod stock assessment that indicated the
health of the stock is worsening. The
GOM cod interim rule implemented a
GOM cod trip limit of 200 lb (90.7 kg)
for sector and common pool groundfish
vessels fishing within the GOM broad
stock area (BSA) and restricted
commercial limited access groundfish
vessels that fish in the GOM BSA to
fishing only in that BSA for the duration
of the declared trip. Additional
information on the GOM cod interim
rule can be found online at
www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/
stories/2014/GOM_cod_interim_
management_measures.html.
On February 9, 2015, we received an
exemption request from several sectors.
These sectors worked together to
assemble 30 mt of GOM cod annual
catch entitlement (ACE), which was
traded to Northeast Fishery Sector IV, a
lease-only sector with no active fishing
effort. That sector has proposed to
withhold and render unusable that
GOM cod ACE, including preventing its
use for potential carryover to the next
fishing year, if sectors are granted
regulatory exemptions from the GOM
cod trip limit and GOM BSA restriction.
The 200-lb (90.7-kg) trip limit was
intended to reduce the incentive to
target GOM cod in areas that would
remain open under the interim action to
ensure that open-area catch would not
result in excessive GOM cod fishing
mortality. The 2014 GOM Cod Interim
Rule environmental assessment (EA)
estimated that implementing the 200-lb
(90.7-kg) trip limit would likely reduce
GOM cod mortality by 20 mt. The
sectors’ request would reduce the GOM
cod catch limit by 30 mt. Economic
modeling and simulations included in
the EA suggest that there is a substantial
amount of uncertainty regarding the 20mt estimated mortality reduction. It
should also be noted that most of the
public comments submitted in response
to the GOM cod interim rule opposed
the implementation of a trip limit
because trip limits can result in high
discards of GOM cod and are counter to
the sector system, which limits the
fishery based on an annual quota. The
requesting sectors propose that a
definite 30-mt reduction in the catch
limit resulting from the sector
exemption would provide a greater
biological benefit to GOM cod than the
probable reduction in mortality from the
VerDate Sep<11>2014
14:19 Feb 20, 2015
Jkt 235001
200-lb (90.7-kg) trip limit. Removing the
trip limit, as requested by the sectors,
would provide a clear limit on overall
catch of GOM cod and should minimize
regulatory discarding.
The requested exemption would also
remove the restriction preventing
vessels from fishing both inside and
outside of the GOM BSA on the same
trip. The sectors requesting the
exemption have argued that the single
BSA restriction has severely impacted
fishing operations of vessels that
traditionally fish on Georges Bank and
in the GOM on the same trip. Although
recognizing that the single BSA
restriction impedes flexibility to fish in
multiple stock areas on a trip, we
previously determined that the shortterm benefits of this measure were
necessary to achieve the interim rule’s
objective of reducing mortality and
ensuring the effectiveness of other
measures in the interim rule.
Specifically, the single GOM BSA
restriction was intended to facilitate
more effective shore-side enforcement of
the 200-lb (90.7 kg) trip limit. It was also
intended to help reduce the opportunity
for vessels to misreport their catch to
ensure that GOM cod catch would be
properly accounted for between stock
areas.
Reducing the overall catch limit by 30
mt and removing the trip limit more
effectively achieves the interim rule’s
objective of reducing potential cod
mortality and, along with additional
reporting measures, outweighs the
short-term benefit of retaining the single
BSA restriction. If the trip limit is no
longer in effect, there is less of a need
for the GOM BSA restriction to facilitate
dockside enforcement.
In consideration of the sectors’
request to be exempt from the BSA
restriction, we are proposing to replace
this requirement with daily catch
reporting requirements should we
approve the sectors’ request. We would
still require that sector vessels that
declare their intent to fish inside and
outside of the GOM BSA on the same
trip submit daily vessel monitoring
system (VMS) catch reports. Vessels
would also be required to submit a VMS
catch report prior to moving fishing
operations from one BSA to another.
This additional reporting requirement
would help ensure that catch is properly
accounted for. The removal of any
incentive to misreport trip catches in
relation to the trip limit along with
additional reporting requirements to
help ensure proper apportioning of
catch between BSAs replaces or
mitigates the loss of the short-term
benefits expected from the single BSA
restriction.
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
9439
When NMFS implemented the
interim rule in November 2014, it did
not take any action to reduce the GOM
cod ACL or ACE allocated to sectors.
During public discussion at the
September Council meeting at which
the Council requested the agency to
develop emergency measures for GOM
cod, it was clear that any unilateral
action to reduce the ACE available to
sectors in the middle of the fishing year
could have substantial economic
impacts to much of the industry.
However, in terms of effecting mortality
reductions, a change to the ACE
available for harvest by the sectors is
generally the most effective and direct
means to reduce total potential catch.
Instead, NMFS imposed a trip limit to
reduce the incentive to target GOM cod
within the ACE available, recognizing
that if the industry continued to
encounter GOM cod, mortality would
continue largely through regulatory
discarding, potentially up to the full
allocated ACE level. Although the
analysis supporting the interim
measures suggested the trip limit could
reduce mortality by approximately 20
mt, there was considerable uncertainty
around this estimate, primarily due to
uncertainty with the amount of
discarding that would occur.
In this request for a sector exemption,
the sectors are proposing to implement
what NMFS did not: A reduction to the
ACE available to those sectors for the
remainder of the fishing year. Because
the fishing industry will continue to fish
through the end of the fishing year, and
will continue to encounter GOM cod,
the sectors’ proposed exemption would
establish a firm upper limit on total cod
mortality and is more likely to be lower
than would otherwise be achieved
through the interim measures. In
addition to an actual reduction in the
total potential cod catch, the sectors’
proposed exemption would improve the
catch yield and reduce the uncertainty
of that cod catch.
This exemption would apply only for
the remainder of the 2014 fishing year.
It is our intent to continue reviewing
sector exemption requests included in
annual sector operations plans through
a proposed and final rulemaking
process. However, future mid-year
exemption requests, or modifications to
existing exemptions, may be considered,
and granted or denied, through a
shortened notice and comment process
similar to this action.
If we can conclude that the exemption
request is at least conversation neutral,
and if this request is granted, this
exemption will apply to all sectors who
request it, and sector operations plans
and letters of authorizations will be
E:\FR\FM\23FEN1.SGM
23FEN1
9440
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 35 / Monday, February 23, 2015 / Notices
modified to include these regulatory
exemptions. Minor sector exemption
modifications may be granted without
further notice if they are deemed
essential to facilitate these exemptions
and have minimal impacts that do not
change the scope or impact of the
initially approved sector exemption
request.
A supplemental information report
analyzing the environmental impacts of
this exemption request has been
developed and is available online for
review at https://
www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/
regs/.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 13, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015–03539 Filed 2–18–15; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XD781
Western Pacific Fishery Management
Council; Public Meetings
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meetings and
hearings.
AGENCY:
The Western Pacific Fishery
Management Council (Council) will
hold meetings of its 118th Scientific and
Statistical Committee (SSC), SSC subworking group and its 162nd Council
meeting to take actions on fishery
management issues in the Western
Pacific Region. The Council will also
convene meetings of the Pelagic and
International Standing Committee and
Executive and Budget Standing
Committee.
DATES: The SSC sub-working group will
be held on Monday, March 9, between
1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The SSC meeting will
be held between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on
March 10–12, 2015. The Council’s
Pelagic and International Standing
Committee meeting will be held
between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on March 14,
2015; Executive and Budget Standing
Committee meeting will be held
between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on March 14,
2015; and the 162nd Council meeting
will be held between 8:30 a.m. and 5
p.m. on March 16–18, 2015. In addition,
the Council will host a Fishers Forum
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SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
14:19 Feb 20, 2015
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on March 17, 2015, between 6 p.m. and
9 p.m. For specific times and agendas,
see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
ADDRESSES: The SSC Sub-working group
on March 9, 2015, 118th SSC on March
10–12, 2015, Pelagic and International
Standing Committee and Executive and
Budget Standing Committee on March
14, 2015 will be held at the Council
office, 1164 Bishop Street, Suite 1400,
Honolulu, HI 96813, telephone: (808)
522–8220;
The 162nd Council meeting on March
16–18, 2015 will be held at the Laniakea
YWCA-Fuller Hall, 1040 Richards
Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, telephone:
(808) 538–7061; and
The Fishers Forum on March 17, 2015
will be held at the Harbor View Center,
Pier 38, 1129 North Nimitz Highway,
Honolulu, HI 96817, telephone: (808)
983–1200.
Background documents will be
available from, and written comments
should be sent to, Mr. Edwin Ebisui,
Chair, Western Pacific Fishery
Management Council, 1164 Bishop
Street, Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 96813,
telephone: (808) 522–8220 or fax: (808)
522–8226.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director;
telephone: (808) 522–8220.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
addition to the agenda items listed here,
the SSC and Council will hear
recommendations from Council
advisory groups. Public comment
periods will be provided throughout the
agendas. The order in which agenda
items are addressed may change. The
meetings will run as late as necessary to
complete scheduled business.
Schedule and Agenda for the SSC SubWorking Group
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Approval of the Agenda
3. Main Hawaiian Island Deep 7
Bottomfish
A. Review of the Center for
Independent Experts (CIE) review
reports
B. Current status of stock assessments
and Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC)
specification
C. ABC specification for fishing year
2015–16
5. Public Comments
6. Discussion and Recommendations
Schedule and Agenda for 118th SSC
Meeting
8:30 a.m., Tuesday, March 10, 2015
1. Introductions
2. Approval of Draft Agenda and
Assignment of Rapporteurs
3. Status of the 117th SSC Meeting
Recommendations
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Frm 00013
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
4. Report from the Pacific Islands
Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC)
Director
5. Insular Fisheries
A. Coral reef ecosystem stock
assessments
1. Hawaii kumu
2. Hawaii parrotfish
B. Report on the Main Hawaiian
Island (MHI) Deep 7 Bottomfish public
scoping meeting
C. Report on PIFSC meeting with the
Hawaii bottomfish fishermen
D. 2nd Bottomfish Research
Coordination Workshop
E. Report on the Center for
Independent Experts (CIE) review of the
2014 MHI Deep 7 Bottomfish Stock
Assessment
F. NMFS actions on the MHI
Bottomfish Annual Catch Limits (ACLs)
G. Public Comment
H. SSC Discussion and
Recommendations
6. Program Planning
A. National Standards (NS)
Guidelines Proposed Rule
B. NOAA Fisheries Draft Climate
Science Strategy
C. Report on the National SSC
Workshop V
D. Public Comment
E. SSC Discussion and
Recommendations
8:30 a.m., Wednesday, March 11, 2015
7. Pelagic Fisheries
A. Hawaii Yellowfin and Bigeye
Commercial Minimum Size Limit
1. Public Meetings
2. Socio-economic studies
3. Yield per Recruit Analyses
B. American Samoa Large Vessel
Prohibited Area (LVPA) changes (Action
Item)
C. Territorial Bigeye Specification
(Action Item)
D. American Samoa longline U.S.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
albacore catch limit (Action Item)
E. Social Capital, Ethnic Diversity,
and Economic Outcome in Hawaii’s
Longline Fishery
E. International Fisheries
1. WCPFC 11th Regular Session
F. Public Comment
G. SSC Discussion and
Recommendations
8. Protected Species
A. Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Section 7 Consultations for Coral
Species
B. Effectiveness of Management
Measures Implemented under the False
Killer Whale Take Reduction Plan
C. Draft 2014 Marine Mammal Stock
Assessment Reports
D. False Killer Whale Stock Boundary
Revision
E:\FR\FM\23FEN1.SGM
23FEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 35 (Monday, February 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9438-9440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03539]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XD775
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic
Fisheries; Application for Fishing Year 2014 Sector Exemption
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Several groundfish sectors have requested regulatory
exemptions from two recently implemented Gulf of Maine cod interim
management measures. The Regional Administrator, Greater Atlantic
Region, NMFS, has determined that the request warrants further
consideration. We are seeking public comment on these exemption
requests.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 2, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by the following methods:
Email: william.whitmore@noaa.gov. Include in the subject
line ``Comments on Gulf of Maine Cod Sector Exemption Request.''
Mail: John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, NMFS, NE
Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark
the outside of the envelope ``Comments on Gulf of Maine Cod Sector
Exemption Request.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Whitmore, Fisheries Policy
[[Page 9439]]
Analyst, 978-281-9182, william.whitmore@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 13, 2014, NMFS published a
temporary rule to enhance protections for Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod (79
FR 67362) in response to an updated GOM cod stock assessment that
indicated the health of the stock is worsening. The GOM cod interim
rule implemented a GOM cod trip limit of 200 lb (90.7 kg) for sector
and common pool groundfish vessels fishing within the GOM broad stock
area (BSA) and restricted commercial limited access groundfish vessels
that fish in the GOM BSA to fishing only in that BSA for the duration
of the declared trip. Additional information on the GOM cod interim
rule can be found online at www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/GOM_cod_interim_management_measures.html.
On February 9, 2015, we received an exemption request from several
sectors. These sectors worked together to assemble 30 mt of GOM cod
annual catch entitlement (ACE), which was traded to Northeast Fishery
Sector IV, a lease-only sector with no active fishing effort. That
sector has proposed to withhold and render unusable that GOM cod ACE,
including preventing its use for potential carryover to the next
fishing year, if sectors are granted regulatory exemptions from the GOM
cod trip limit and GOM BSA restriction.
The 200-lb (90.7-kg) trip limit was intended to reduce the
incentive to target GOM cod in areas that would remain open under the
interim action to ensure that open-area catch would not result in
excessive GOM cod fishing mortality. The 2014 GOM Cod Interim Rule
environmental assessment (EA) estimated that implementing the 200-lb
(90.7-kg) trip limit would likely reduce GOM cod mortality by 20 mt.
The sectors' request would reduce the GOM cod catch limit by 30 mt.
Economic modeling and simulations included in the EA suggest that there
is a substantial amount of uncertainty regarding the 20-mt estimated
mortality reduction. It should also be noted that most of the public
comments submitted in response to the GOM cod interim rule opposed the
implementation of a trip limit because trip limits can result in high
discards of GOM cod and are counter to the sector system, which limits
the fishery based on an annual quota. The requesting sectors propose
that a definite 30-mt reduction in the catch limit resulting from the
sector exemption would provide a greater biological benefit to GOM cod
than the probable reduction in mortality from the 200-lb (90.7-kg) trip
limit. Removing the trip limit, as requested by the sectors, would
provide a clear limit on overall catch of GOM cod and should minimize
regulatory discarding.
The requested exemption would also remove the restriction
preventing vessels from fishing both inside and outside of the GOM BSA
on the same trip. The sectors requesting the exemption have argued that
the single BSA restriction has severely impacted fishing operations of
vessels that traditionally fish on Georges Bank and in the GOM on the
same trip. Although recognizing that the single BSA restriction impedes
flexibility to fish in multiple stock areas on a trip, we previously
determined that the short-term benefits of this measure were necessary
to achieve the interim rule's objective of reducing mortality and
ensuring the effectiveness of other measures in the interim rule.
Specifically, the single GOM BSA restriction was intended to facilitate
more effective shore-side enforcement of the 200-lb (90.7 kg) trip
limit. It was also intended to help reduce the opportunity for vessels
to misreport their catch to ensure that GOM cod catch would be properly
accounted for between stock areas.
Reducing the overall catch limit by 30 mt and removing the trip
limit more effectively achieves the interim rule's objective of
reducing potential cod mortality and, along with additional reporting
measures, outweighs the short-term benefit of retaining the single BSA
restriction. If the trip limit is no longer in effect, there is less of
a need for the GOM BSA restriction to facilitate dockside enforcement.
In consideration of the sectors' request to be exempt from the BSA
restriction, we are proposing to replace this requirement with daily
catch reporting requirements should we approve the sectors' request. We
would still require that sector vessels that declare their intent to
fish inside and outside of the GOM BSA on the same trip submit daily
vessel monitoring system (VMS) catch reports. Vessels would also be
required to submit a VMS catch report prior to moving fishing
operations from one BSA to another. This additional reporting
requirement would help ensure that catch is properly accounted for. The
removal of any incentive to misreport trip catches in relation to the
trip limit along with additional reporting requirements to help ensure
proper apportioning of catch between BSAs replaces or mitigates the
loss of the short-term benefits expected from the single BSA
restriction.
When NMFS implemented the interim rule in November 2014, it did not
take any action to reduce the GOM cod ACL or ACE allocated to sectors.
During public discussion at the September Council meeting at which the
Council requested the agency to develop emergency measures for GOM cod,
it was clear that any unilateral action to reduce the ACE available to
sectors in the middle of the fishing year could have substantial
economic impacts to much of the industry. However, in terms of
effecting mortality reductions, a change to the ACE available for
harvest by the sectors is generally the most effective and direct means
to reduce total potential catch. Instead, NMFS imposed a trip limit to
reduce the incentive to target GOM cod within the ACE available,
recognizing that if the industry continued to encounter GOM cod,
mortality would continue largely through regulatory discarding,
potentially up to the full allocated ACE level. Although the analysis
supporting the interim measures suggested the trip limit could reduce
mortality by approximately 20 mt, there was considerable uncertainty
around this estimate, primarily due to uncertainty with the amount of
discarding that would occur.
In this request for a sector exemption, the sectors are proposing
to implement what NMFS did not: A reduction to the ACE available to
those sectors for the remainder of the fishing year. Because the
fishing industry will continue to fish through the end of the fishing
year, and will continue to encounter GOM cod, the sectors' proposed
exemption would establish a firm upper limit on total cod mortality and
is more likely to be lower than would otherwise be achieved through the
interim measures. In addition to an actual reduction in the total
potential cod catch, the sectors' proposed exemption would improve the
catch yield and reduce the uncertainty of that cod catch.
This exemption would apply only for the remainder of the 2014
fishing year. It is our intent to continue reviewing sector exemption
requests included in annual sector operations plans through a proposed
and final rulemaking process. However, future mid-year exemption
requests, or modifications to existing exemptions, may be considered,
and granted or denied, through a shortened notice and comment process
similar to this action.
If we can conclude that the exemption request is at least
conversation neutral, and if this request is granted, this exemption
will apply to all sectors who request it, and sector operations plans
and letters of authorizations will be
[[Page 9440]]
modified to include these regulatory exemptions. Minor sector exemption
modifications may be granted without further notice if they are deemed
essential to facilitate these exemptions and have minimal impacts that
do not change the scope or impact of the initially approved sector
exemption request.
A supplemental information report analyzing the environmental
impacts of this exemption request has been developed and is available
online for review at https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/regs/.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 13, 2015.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-03539 Filed 2-18-15; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
