Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bycatch Management in the Bering Sea Pollock Fishery, 897-901 [2016-150]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 897-901]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-150]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

RIN 0648-BF25


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bycatch 
Management in the Bering Sea Pollock Fishery

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of fishery management plan amendments; 
request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) 
submitted Amendment 110 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish 
of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). If 
approved, Amendment 110 would improve the management of Chinook and 
chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery by creating a 
comprehensive salmon bycatch avoidance program. This proposed action is 
necessary to minimize Chinook and chum salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea 
pollock fishery to the extent practicable while maintaining the 
potential for the full harvest of the pollock total allowable catch 
within specified prohibited species catch limits. Amendment 110 is 
intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable 
laws.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than March 8, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2015-0081, by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2015-0081, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region 
NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, 
AK 99802-1668.
    Instructions: 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 by NMFS. All comments received are a part of the 
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on 
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address), confidential business information, 
or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender 
will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter 
``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous).
    Electronic copies of Amendment 110 and the Environmental 
Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility 
Analysis prepared for this action (collectively the ``Analysis'') may 
be obtained from www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gretchen Harrington, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires that each regional 
fishery management council submit any fishery management plan amendment 
it prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial 
approval by the Secretary of Commerce. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also 
requires that NMFS, upon receiving a fishery management plan amendment, 
immediately publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing that 
the amendment is available for public review and comment. This notice 
announces that proposed Amendment 110 to the FMP is available for 
public review and comment.
    NMFS manages the pollock fishery in the exclusive economic zone of 
the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) under the FMP. The Council 
prepared this FMP under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 
U.S.C. 1801 et seq. Regulations implementing the FMP appear at 50 CFR 
part 679. General regulations governing U.S. fisheries also appear at 
50 CFR part 600.

The Bering Sea Pollock Fishery

    Amendment 110 would apply to owners and operators of catcher 
vessels, catcher/processors, motherships, inshore processors, and the 
six Western Alaska Community Development Quota

[[Page 898]]

(CDQ) Program groups participating in the pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) 
fishery in the Bering Sea subarea of the BSAI. The pollock fishery is 
the largest single species fishery, by volume, in the United States. In 
2013, the value of this fishery was more than 1.329 billion dollars, 
the most recent year of complete data on wholesale value. In 2015, the 
pollock TAC was 1,310,000 metric tons (mt).
    The pollock fishery is managed under the American Fisheries Act 
(AFA) (16 U.S.C. 1851 note). In October 1998, Congress enacted the AFA, 
which ``rationalized'' the pollock fishery by identifying the vessels 
and processors eligible to participate in the fishery and allocating 
pollock among those eligible participants. For more information on the 
AFA, please see the final rule implementing the AFA (67 FR 79692, 
December 30, 2002).
    Under the AFA, 10 percent of the pollock total allowable catch 
(TAC) is allocated to the CDQ Program. After the CDQ Program allocation 
is subtracted, an amount needed for the incidental catch of pollock in 
other groundfish fisheries is subtracted from the TAC. In 2015, the CDQ 
allocation was 131,000 mt of pollock and the incidental catch allowance 
was 47,160 mt. The allocation of pollock to the CDQ Program is further 
allocated among the six non-profit corporations (CDQ groups) that 
represent the 65 communities eligible for the CDQ Program under section 
305(i)(1)(D) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
    The ``directed fishing allowance'' is the remaining amount of 
pollock, after subtraction of the CDQ Program allocation and the 
incidental catch allowance. The directed fishing allowance is then 
allocated among the AFA inshore sector (50 percent), the AFA catcher/
processor sector (40 percent), and the AFA mothership sector (10 
percent). Annually, NMFS further apportions the pollock allocations to 
the CDQ Program and the other three AFA sectors between two seasons--40 
percent to the A season (January 20 to June 10) and 60 percent to the B 
season (June 10 to November 1) (see Sec.  679.20(a)(5)(i)(B)(1)).
    The AFA allows for the formation of fishery cooperatives within the 
non-CDQ sectors. A purpose of these AFA cooperatives is to further 
subdivide each sector's or inshore cooperative's pollock allocation 
among participants in the sector or cooperative through private 
contractual agreements. The cooperatives manage these allocations to 
ensure that individual vessels and companies do not harvest more than 
their agreed upon share. The cooperatives also facilitate transfers of 
pollock among the cooperative members, enforce contract provisions, and 
participate in an intercooperative agreement to minimize non-Chinook 
salmon bycatch as well as an incentive plan agreement to minimize 
Chinook salmon bycatch.
    The inshore sector is comprised of catcher vessels eligible to 
deliver pollock to the seven eligible AFA inshore processors. Eligible 
catcher vessels may form inshore cooperatives associated with a 
particular inshore processor. NMFS permits the inshore cooperatives, 
allocates pollock to them, and manages these allocations through a 
regulatory prohibition against an inshore cooperative exceeding its 
pollock allocation.
    The AFA catcher/processor sector is comprised of the catcher/
processors and catcher vessels eligible under the AFA to deliver to 
catcher/processors. The AFA mothership sector is made up of three 
motherships and the catcher vessels eligible under the AFA to deliver 
pollock to these motherships. These sectors have formed cooperatives; 
however, NMFS does not manage the sub-allocations of pollock among the 
cooperative members. The cooperatives control the harvest by their 
member vessels so that the pollock allocation to the sector is not 
exceeded. However, NMFS monitors pollock harvest by all members of the 
catcher/processor sector and mothership sector. NMFS retains the 
authority to close directed fishing for pollock by a sector if vessels 
in that sector continue to fish once the sector's seasonal allocation 
of pollock has been harvested.

Salmon Bycatch in the Bering Sea Pollock Fishery

    Pollock is harvested with fishing vessels using trawl gear, which 
are large nets towed through the water by the vessel. Pollock can occur 
in the same locations as Chinook salmon and chum salmon. Consequently, 
Chinook salmon and chum salmon are incidentally caught in the nets as 
fishermen target pollock.
    Section 3 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act defines bycatch as fish that 
are harvested in a fishery, which are not sold or kept for personal 
use. Therefore, Chinook salmon and chum salmon caught in the pollock 
fishery are considered bycatch under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the FMP, 
and NMFS regulations at 50 CFR part 679. Bycatch of any species, 
including discard or other mortality caused by fishing, is a concern of 
the Council and NMFS. National Standard 9 and section 303(a)(11) of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act requires the Council to select, and NMFS to 
implement, conservation and management measures that, to the extent 
practicable, minimize bycatch and bycatch mortality.
    The bycatch of culturally and economically valuable species like 
Chinook salmon and chum salmon, which are fully allocated and, in some 
cases, facing conservation concerns, are categorized as prohibited 
species under the FMP and are the most regulated and closely managed 
category of bycatch. Pacific salmon, steelhead trout, Pacific halibut, 
king crab, Tanner crab, and Pacific herring are classified as 
prohibited species in the groundfish fisheries off Alaska. As a 
prohibited species, fishermen must avoid salmon bycatch and any salmon 
caught must either be donated to the Prohibited Species Donation 
Program under Sec.  679.26, or returned to Federal waters as soon as is 
practicable, with a minimum of injury, after an observer has determined 
the number of salmon and collected any scientific data or biological 
samples.

Chinook Salmon Bycatch

    The pollock fishery catches more than 95 percent of the Chinook 
salmon taken incidentally in the BSAI groundfish fisheries, based on 
data from 1992 through 2014. However, this percentage has declined in 
recent years with the decline in the amount of Chinook salmon caught in 
the pollock fishery. From 1992 through 2001, the average Chinook salmon 
bycatch in the pollock fishery was 32,482 fish per year. Bycatch 
increased substantially from 2002 through 2007, to an average of 74,067 
Chinook salmon per year. A historic high of approximately 122,000 
Chinook salmon was taken in the pollock fishery in 2007. However, since 
2007 Chinook salmon bycatch then declined substantially to an average 
of 15,500 Chinook salmon per year from 2008 to 2014. The decline is 
most likely due to a combination of factors, including changes in 
abundance and distribution of Chinook salmon and pollock, as well as 
changes in fleet behavior to avoid salmon bycatch.
    Chinook salmon taken in the pollock fishery originate from Alaska, 
the Pacific Northwest, and Canada. Estimates vary, but more than half 
of the Chinook salmon bycatch in the pollock fishery may be destined 
for western Alaska. Western Alaska includes the Bristol Bay, Kuskokwim, 
Yukon, and Norton Sound areas. Section 3.4 of the Analysis provides 
additional information about Chinook salmon biology, distribution, and 
stock

[[Page 899]]

assessments by river system or region (see ADDRESSES).

Chum Salmon Bycatch

    The pollock fishery catches over 95 percent of the chum salmon 
taken incidentally as bycatch in the BSAI groundfish fisheries. The 
pollock fishery catches chum salmon almost exclusively in the B season 
(after June 10). The pollock fishery has caught large numbers of chum, 
with a historic high of approximately 700,000 chum salmon taken in 
2005. Since then, bycatch levels have been quite variable, ranging from 
a low of 13,280 chum salmon in 2010 to a high of 309,646 chum salmon in 
2006. Average chum salmon bycatch from 2006 to 2014 was 115,190 chum 
salmon. In 2014, the pollock fishery caught 219,428 chum salmon.
    Genetic information indicates that the majority of the chum salmon 
caught in the pollock fishery are of Asian origin (approximately 60 
percent) while a smaller percentage (approximately 21 percent) 
originate from aggregate streams in western Alaska. Chum salmon from 
elsewhere in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and Canada comprise the 
remaining percentage of the bycatch (approximately 19 percent). While 
the genetics cannot differentiate hatchery-origin fish from wild Asian 
chum salmon, given the high proportion of Pacific Rim hatchery-released 
chum from Japan, much of the Asian origin chum observed in the bycatch 
is likely to be of Asian hatchery-origin. While Alaska chum salmon runs 
have indicated a history of volatility in run sizes, chum salmon stocks 
in Alaska are generally at higher levels of abundance than historical 
periods. Section 3.4 of the Analysis provides additional information 
about chum salmon biology, distribution, and stock assessments by river 
system or region (see ADDRESSES).

Importance of Salmon in Western Alaska

    The Council and NMFS have been concerned about the potential impact 
of Chinook and chum salmon bycatch on returns to western Alaska given 
the relatively large proportion of bycatch from these river systems 
that occurs in the pollock fishery. Chinook salmon and chum salmon 
support commercial, subsistence, sport, and personal use fisheries in 
their regions of origin. The Alaska Board of Fisheries adopts 
regulations through a public process to conserve salmon and to allocate 
salmon to the various users. The State of Alaska Department of Fish and 
Game manages the salmon commercial, subsistence, sport, and personal 
use fisheries. The first management priority is to meet spawning 
escapement goals to sustain salmon resources for future generations. 
The next priority is for subsistence use under both State and Federal 
law. Salmon is a primary subsistence food in some areas. Subsistence 
fisheries management includes coordination with U.S. Federal agencies 
where Federal rules apply under the Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act.
    In recent years of low Chinook salmon returns, the in-river harvest 
of western Alaska Chinook salmon has been severely restricted and, in 
some cases, river systems have not met escapement goals. Surplus fish 
beyond escapement needs and subsistence use are made available for 
other uses. Commercial fishing for Chinook salmon may provide the only 
source of income for many people who live in remote villages. Appendix 
A-4 of the Analysis provides an overview of the importance of 
subsistence salmon harvests and commercial salmon harvests (see 
ADDRESSES).

Management of Salmon Bycatch in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

    Over the last 20 years, the Council and NMFS have implemented 
several management measures to limit salmon bycatch in the BSAI trawl 
fisheries. Management measures have focused on minimizing Chinook 
salmon bycatch, chum salmon bycatch, and non-Chinook salmon bycatch. 
Non-Chinook bycatch is a category that includes all salmon species 
except Chinook salmon, but is comprised predominantly by chum salmon.
    Most recently, NMFS implemented Amendment 84 to the FMP to address 
increases in Chinook salmon and non-Chinook (predominantly chum) salmon 
bycatch in the pollock fishery that were occurring despite PSC limits 
being reached and the closures of the Chinook Salmon Savings Area and 
Chum Salmon Savings Area (72 FR 61070, October 29, 2007) and Amendment 
91 to the FMP, which implemented a program to manage Chinook salmon 
bycatch that provides incentives for each vessel to avoid Chinook 
salmon at all times (75 FR 53026, August 30, 2010).
    Amendment 84 was implemented to enhance the effectiveness of salmon 
bycatch measures by exempting pollock vessels from Chinook Salmon 
Savings Area and Chum Salmon Savings Area closures if they participate 
in an intercooperative agreement (ICA) to reduce salmon bycatch. The 
ICA allowed vessels participating in the pollock fishery to use their 
internal cooperative structure to reduce Chinook salmon and non-Chinook 
salmon bycatch using a method called the voluntary rolling hotspot 
system. The ICA operates in lieu of a fixed area closure and is 
required to identify and close areas of high salmon bycatch and move 
vessels to other areas. Amendment 84 required that parties to the ICA 
include the AFA cooperatives, the six CDQ groups, at least one third 
party group, including any organizations representing western Alaskans 
who depend on salmon and have an interest in salmon bycatch reduction, 
and at least one entity retained to facilitate bycatch avoidance 
behavior and information sharing. All AFA cooperatives and CDQ groups 
participate in the ICA.
    Amendment 91 removed Chinook salmon bycatch from the Amendment 84 
program and established a separate program to manage Chinook salmon. 
Amendment 91 combined a limit on the amount of Chinook salmon that may 
be caught incidentally with a novel approach designed to minimize 
bycatch to the extent practicable in all years and prevent bycatch from 
reaching the limit in most years while providing the fleet the 
flexibility to harvest the pollock TAC.
    Amendment 91 established two PSC limits for the pollock fishery--
60,000 and 47,591 Chinook salmon. Under Amendment 91, the PSC limit is 
60,000 Chinook salmon if some or all of the pollock industry 
participates in an industry-developed contractual arrangement, called 
an incentive plan agreement (IPA) that establishes an incentive program 
to minimize bycatch at all levels of Chinook salmon abundance. 
Participation in an IPA is voluntary; however, any vessel or CDQ group 
that chooses not to participate in an IPA is subject to a restrictive 
opt-out allocation (also called a backstop cap). Since implementation, 
all AFA vessels have participated in an IPA.
    To ensure participants develop effective IPAs, participants provide 
the Council and NMFS annual reports that describe the efforts each IPA 
is taking to ensure that each vessel does its best to avoid Chinook 
salmon at all times while fishing for pollock and, that collectively, 
bycatch is minimized in each year. The IPA system is based on being 
flexible, responsive, and able to be tailored by each sector to fit its 
operational needs. The IPAs that impose rewards for avoiding Chinook 
salmon bycatch, and/or penalties for failure to avoid Chinook salmon 
bycatch at the vessel level, warrant setting the PSC limit at 60,000 
Chinook salmon. While the IPAs provide an incentive to minimize bycatch 
in all years to a level below the limit, a limit of 60,000 Chinook 
salmon

[[Page 900]]

provides the industry the flexibility to harvest the pollock TAC in 
high-abundance years when bycatch is extremely difficult to avoid.
    Under Amendment 91, the 47,591 Chinook salmon PSC limit applies 
fleet-wide if the industry does not form any IPAs. This PSC limit was 
the approximate 10-year average of Chinook salmon bycatch from 1997 to 
2006. The 47,591 PSC limit limits Chinook salmon bycatch in the pollock 
fishery if no other incentives, namely IPAs, are operating to minimize 
bycatch below this level.
    Both PSC limits are divided between the A and B seasons and 
allocated to AFA sectors, inshore cooperatives, and CDQ groups as 
transferable PSC allocations. Transferability of the PSC mitigates the 
variation in the encounter rates of salmon bycatch among sectors, 
inshore cooperatives, and CDQ groups, in a given season. It allows 
eligible participants to obtain a larger portion of the PSC allocation 
in order to harvest their pollock allocation or to transfer surplus PSC 
allocation to other entities. When a transferable PSC allocation is 
reached, the affected sector, inshore cooperative, or CDQ group must 
stop fishing for pollock for the remainder of the season even if its 
pollock allocation has not been fully harvested.
    The sector-level performance standard is an additional tool to 
ensure that the IPA is effective and that sectors do not fully harvest 
the Chinook salmon PSC allocations under the 60,000 Chinook salmon PSC 
limit in most years. For a sector to continue to receive Chinook salmon 
PSC allocations under the 60,000 Chinook salmon PSC limit, that sector 
may not exceed its annual threshold amount in any three years within 
seven consecutive years. If a sector fails this performance standard, 
it will permanently be allocated a portion of the 47,591 Chinook salmon 
PSC limit. The risk of bearing the potential adverse economic impacts 
of a reduction from the 60,000 PSC limit to the 47,591 PSC limit 
creates incentives for fishery participants to cooperate in an 
effective IPA.

Amendment 110 Management Measures

    In April 2015, the Council recommended Amendment 110 to the FMP to 
create a comprehensive salmon bycatch avoidance program for the pollock 
fishery that works more effectively than the current salmon bycatch 
programs to avoid Chinook salmon bycatch and Alaska-origin chum salmon 
bycatch. Amendment 110 would modify the existing Chinook salmon bycatch 
program to make it more effective at avoiding Chinook salmon and 
incorporate measures to avoid chum salmon into the IPAs. In particular, 
the Council expressed that it remains extremely important to ensure 
that the Chinook salmon bycatch program is working as intended and to 
evaluate whether the incentives are strong in times of historically low 
Chinook salmon abundance. Thus the management measures included in 
Amendment 110 focus on retaining the incentives to avoid Chinook salmon 
bycatch at all levels of abundance as intended by Amendment 91.
    The Council also expressed that it remains extremely important to 
provide the incentives to avoid Alaska-origin chum salmon while 
maintaining the flexibility to avoid Chinook salmon. The Council's 
action is designed to consider the importance of continued production 
of critical chum salmon runs in western Alaska by focusing on bycatch 
avoidance of Alaskan chum salmon runs. These runs have indicated a 
history of volatility in run sizes and an historic importance in the 
subsistence lifestyle of Alaskans. Additional protections to other chum 
stocks outside of Alaska are embedded in the Council's objective to 
avoid the high bycatch of chum salmon overall, recognizing that most 
non-Alaska chum salmon are likely from Asian hatcheries.
    Amendment 110, if approved, would--
     Incorporate chum salmon avoidance into the IPAs 
established under Amendment 91 to the FMP and remove the non-Chinook 
salmon bycatch reduction ICA program previously established under 
Amendment 84 to the FMP;
     modify the requirements for the content of the IPAs to 
increase the incentives for fishermen to avoid Chinook salmon; and
     reduce the Chinook salmon PSC limit and performance 
standard in years with low Chinook salmon abundance.

Incorporate Chum Salmon Avoidance Into the Incentive Plan Agreements

    Currently, Chinook salmon and chum salmon bycatch are managed under 
two different programs (Amendment 84 and Amendment 91). This has 
created inefficiencies and does not allow participants in the pollock 
fishery the flexibility to modify their harvest patterns and practices 
to effectively minimize both Chinook salmon and chum salmon bycatch. 
Adding chum salmon measures to the IPAs would make salmon bycatch 
management more effective, comprehensive, and efficient by increasing 
flexibility to respond to changing conditions and providing greater 
incentives to reduce bycatch of both salmon species. The chum salmon 
specific requirements in the implementing regulations for Amendment 84 
sometimes prevent fishery participants from making decisions to avoid 
Chinook salmon when the vessels are encountering both chum salmon and 
Chinook salmon.
    Amendment 110 would incorporate chum salmon avoidance into the IPAs 
established under Amendment 91. Chum salmon would no longer be managed 
under Amendment 84. However, Amendment 110 would maintain the current 
non-Chinook salmon PSC limit of 42,000 fish and the closure of the Chum 
Salmon Savings Area to pollock fishing when the PSC limit has been 
reached. Vessels that participate in an IPA would be exempt from the 
Chum Salmon Savings Area closure. The purpose of maintaining the non-
Chinook salmon PSC limit and the Chum Salmon Savings Area closure is to 
provide additional incentives for vessels to join an IPA and as back-
stop chum salmon measures for those vessels that choose not to 
participate in an IPA. Incorporating chum salmon into the IPAs meets 
the purpose and need for this action by providing measures to prevent 
high chum salmon bycatch, while allowing for participants in the 
pollock fishery the flexibility to avoid Alaska chum stocks and to 
adapt quickly to changing conditions through their coordinated 
management under the IPAs. In doing so, the Council intended to strike 
an appropriate balance between regulatory requirements and adaptive 
management for chum salmon bycatch.

Modify the IPAs To Increase the Incentives To Avoid Chinook Salmon

    Amendment 110 would modify the IPAs to increase the incentives for 
fishermen to avoid Chinook salmon. The Council and NMFS recognize that 
the IPAs were effective at providing incentives for each vessel to 
avoid Chinook salmon, but that additional measures are necessary to 
address higher Chinook salmon PSC rates observed during October (the 
last month when the pollock fishery is authorized to operate) and to 
address concerns with individual vessels that consistently have 
significantly higher Chinook salmon PSC rates relative to other vessels 
fishing at the same time. The Council and NMFS wanted to ensure the use 
of salmon excluder devices (i.e., gear modifications that are designed 
to exclude salmon bycatch while retaining pollock) and a rolling 
hotspot program. The new provisions described below are intended to 
provide an opportunity for IPAs to increase their responsiveness in

[[Page 901]]

October, and improve performance of individual vessels.

Reduce the Chinook Salmon Performance Standard and PSC Limit in Years 
of Low Chinook Salmon Abundance

    Amendment 110 would add a new lower Chinook salmon PSC limit and 
performance standard for the pollock fishery in years of low Chinook 
salmon abundance. The Council and NMFS considered a lower performance 
standard and PSC limit would be appropriate at low levels of Chinook 
salmon abundance in western Alaska to accommodate the fact that most of 
the Chinook salmon bycatch comes from western Alaska. These provisions 
work in conjunction with the change to the IPA requirements to ensure 
that Chinook salmon bycatch is avoided at all times, particularly at 
low abundance levels.
    Each year NMFS would determine whether Chinook salmon abundance was 
low based on information provided by the State of Alaska. Annually, the 
State would provide an index of abundance based on the post-season in-
river Chinook salmon run size for the Kuskokwim, Unalakleet, and Upper 
Yukon aggregate stock grouping. When this index is less than or equal 
to 250,000 Chinook salmon, then the new lower performance standard and 
low PSC limit would apply.
    In low Chinook salmon abundance years, NMFS would set the 
performance standard at 33,318 Chinook salmon and the PSC limit at 
45,000 Chinook salmon. NMFS would publish the lower PSC limit and 
performance standard in the annual harvest specifications. In years 
when abundance is above 250,000 Chinook salmon, NMFS would manage under 
the current 47,591 Chinook salmon performance standard and 60,000 
Chinook salmon PSC limit established under Amendment 91.
    The inclusion of a lower PSC limit and performance standard is 
based on the need for additional incentives to reduce bycatch when 
Chinook salmon stocks are critically low in order to minimize the 
impact of the pollock fishery on the salmon stocks. Any additional fish 
returning to Alaska rivers improves the ability to meet the escapement 
goals, which is necessary for long-term sustainability of Chinook 
salmon and the people reliant on salmon fisheries. While the 
performance standard is the operational limit in the IPAs, reducing the 
60,000 PSC limit is also appropriate given the potential for decreased 
bycatch reduction incentives should a sector exceed its performance 
standard before the PSC limit is reached. The reduced PSC limit is 
intended to encourage vessels to avoid bycatch in years of low 
abundance and to set a maximum permissible PSC limit that reduces the 
risk of adverse impact on stocks in western Alaska during periods of 
low abundance.
    NMFS is soliciting public comments on proposed Amendment 110 
through the end of the comment period (see DATES). NMFS intends to 
publish in the Federal Register and seek public comment on a proposed 
rule that would implement Amendment 110, following NMFS' evaluation of 
the proposed rule under the Magnuson-Stevens Act. All comments received 
by the end of the comment period on Amendment 110, whether specifically 
directed to the FMP amendment or the proposed rule, will be considered 
in the approval/disapproval decision on Amendment 110. Comments 
received after that date will not be considered in the approval/
disapproval decision on Amendment 110. To be considered, comments must 
be received, not just postmarked or otherwise transmitted, by the last 
day of the comment period.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: January 5, 2016.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-150 Filed 1-7-16; 8:45 am]
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