Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; American Lobster Fishery; Control Date for Lobster Conservation Management Areas, 52871-52872 [2017-24714]
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 219 / Wednesday, November 15, 2017 / Proposed Rules
§ 25.146
[Amended]
2. In § 25.146, remove paragraph (b)
and redesignate paragraphs (c), (d), and
(e) as paragraphs (b), (c), and (d).
■ 3. In § 25.217 revise paragraph (b)(1)
to read as follows:
■
§ 25.217
Default service rules.
*
*
*
*
*
(b)(1) For all NGSO-like satellite
licenses for which the application was
filed pursuant to the procedures set
forth in § 25.157 after August 27, 2003,
authorizing operations in a frequency
band for which the Commission has not
adopted frequency band-specific service
rules at the time the license is granted,
the licensee will be required to comply
with the following technical
requirements, notwithstanding the
frequency bands specified in these rule
provisions: §§ 25.143(b)(2)(ii) (except
NGSO FSS systems), (iii) (except NGSO
FSS systems), 25.204(e), 25.210(f), (i).
*
*
*
*
*
[FR Doc. 2017–24726 Filed 11–14–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 697
[Docket No. 150401332–7999–01]
RIN 0648–BF01
Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative
Management Act Provisions; American
Lobster Fishery; Control Date for
Lobster Conservation Management
Areas
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed
rulemaking (ANPR); request for
comments.
AGENCY:
This document announces
that NMFS is considering changes to the
lobster management program and may
select a control date to restrict the
number of permits or traps an
individual or business entity may own,
with specific emphasis on Lobster
Conservation Management Areas
(LCMAs) 2 and 3. NMFS may use the
existing control date of January 27,
2014, which was published in the
Federal Register, the publication date of
this present ANPR, or another date for
this purpose, pending public comment
and further input by the Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with PROPOSALS
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:22 Nov 14, 2017
Jkt 244001
(Commission). This action may be
necessary to control effort in the
American lobster fishery and mitigate
impacts on the depleted Southern New
England (SNE) lobster stock. NMFS
intends for this document to promote
awareness of possible rulemaking and
notify the public that actions taken to
acquire lobster trap allocation and
permits after the control date may not be
recognized in the future.
DATES: We must receive written
comments on or before December 15,
2017.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
on this document, identified by
NOAA–NMFS–2013–0169 by any of
the following methods:
D Electronic Submission: Submit all
electronic public comments via the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=
NOAA-NMFS-2013-0169, click the
‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, complete the
required fields, and enter or attach your
comments.
D Mail: Submit written comments to
John K. Bullard, Regional
Administrator, National Marine
Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the
outside of the envelope, ‘‘Comments on
Lobster Control Date.’’
Instructions: Comments must be
submitted by one of the above methods
to ensure that the comments are
received, documented, and considered
by NMFS. We may not consider
comments sent by any other method, to
any other address or individual, or
received after the end of the comment
period. 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, etc.) submitted
voluntarily by the sender will 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). We accept attachments to
electronic comments only in Microsoft
Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe
PDF file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Peter Burns, Fishery Policy Analyst,
978–281–9144.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
NMFS works cooperatively with the
states to conserve the American lobster
resource within the framework of the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
52871
Commission’s Interstate Fishery
Management Plan for American Lobster
(ISFMP). Through the ISFMP, the
Commission adopts fishery conservation
and management strategies for the
American lobster resource and
coordinates the efforts of the states and
NMFS to implement these strategies.
The Commission, NMFS, and the
affected states have worked to develop
a strategy to address the declining SNE
stock and control effort in the American
lobster fishery. That strategy, which
took shape in several addenda to
Amendment 3 of the Commission’s
ISFMP, attempted to achieve this goal
while maintaining the historic character
of the lobster fishery, which has
traditionally been comprised of small
owner-operator businesses. As the
Commission’s ISFMP limited access to
the fishery, the Commission was
concerned that lobster permits might
consolidate among a concentrated
number of larger conglomerates. As a
result, the Commission’s ISFMP
introduced the concept of permit
restrictions in 2003 in Addendum IV
and again in 2005 in Addendum VII.
These two addenda contemplated
limiting the aggregate number of permits
an individual or entity may own in
LCMAs 2 and 3.
Concern about fishery consolidation
and conglomeration intensified with the
advent of the Commission’s Trap
Transfer Program in 2014. The Trap
Transfer Program allows lobster
fishermen to buy or sell partial trap
allocations up to, but not exceeding, any
applicable LCMA trap cap. Attrition in
the fishery from the SNE stock decline
resulted in a relatively high amount of
latent trap effort in the SNE LCMAs.
The Commission became concerned that
businesses could cheaply purchase and
combine latent permits and then
activate them by transferring the trap
allocation onto the permit or by
activating traps that were already
associated with a permit under the trap
banking provisions of Addendum XVIII.
Accordingly, the Commission revisited
permit and effort restriction strategies in
Addendum XXI in August 2013 and
Addendum XXII in October 2013. These
addenda limit the number of traps that
any one individual or entity may own
in LCMAs 2 and 3 and are the focus of
this rulemaking action. Under these
addenda, permit holders may also
purchase traps in excess of the active
permit cap and ‘‘bank’’ them. The
banked allocation may be used in the
future to offset the economic impacts
associated with a multi-year schedule of
annual trap reductions in LCMAs 2 and
3 that were adopted in Addendum XVIII
E:\FR\FM\15NOP1.SGM
15NOP1
52872
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 219 / Wednesday, November 15, 2017 / Proposed Rules
sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with PROPOSALS
to address the continued decline in the
SNE lobster stock.
In response to the Commission’s
recommendations for Federal action in
Addenda XXI and XXII, NMFS notified
the public that we were considering
establishing a control date for the
purposes of determining the number of
traps or permits an individual or entity
may hold in LCMAs 2 and 3. The
notification, an advance notice of
proposed rulemaking (79 FR 4319;
January 27, 2014), announced that
NMFS could use that publication date,
January 27, 2014, or another date for
such purpose and that it was developing
a rulemaking action to consider the
measures set forth in Addenda XXI and
XXII.
Subsequently, the Commission
announced the results of the 2015
American Lobster Stock Assessment
that found the SNE lobster stock was
severely depleted, with record low
abundance and recruitment failure, due
to changing environmental conditions
and continued fishing mortality. The
Commission then focused its efforts on
a new addendum to the ISFMP,
Addendum XXV, to address the
deteriorating condition of the SNE
stock.
NMFS deferred action on Addenda
XXI and XXII while the Commission
developed draft Addendum XXV during
2016 and 2017, because elements of
Addendum XXV could have rendered
the measures in the prior addenda
unnecessary. In August 2017, the
Commission decided to take no further
action on Addendum XXV and
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:22 Nov 14, 2017
Jkt 244001
requested that we advance the measures
in Addenda XXI and XXII for Federal
rulemaking. In response, we stet this
advance notice of proposed rulemaking
to reconsider the use of a control date
in consideration of the measures in the
two addenda.
This document informs the public
that NMFS may select January 27, 2014,
or another date, as the control date,
depending on public comments and
input from the Commission. It also gives
the public notice that interested
participants should locate and preserve
records that substantiate and verify their
participation in the American lobster
fishery. Participation in the fishery after
the control date may not be treated the
same as participation before the control
date. Establishing a control date does
not commit NMFS to develop any
particular management regime or
criteria for participation in these
fisheries. Additionally, we may also
choose to take no further action to
control effort or consolidation in the
American lobster fishery. NMFS is
seeking specific comments on the
appropriateness of using the existing
January 27, 2014, control date. The
public may also comment on whether
another date is better suited as a control
date for the lobster fishery.
NMFS is also considering several
clarifications to existing regulations:
• Due to enforcement concerns, we
are considering modifications to the
gear marking requirement for lobster
trap trawls with more than three traps
to be more consistent with industry
practices;
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 9990
• The Trap Transfer Program
currently requires that trap transfers
occur in increments of 10. We intend to
remove this restriction to allow permit
holders to transfer traps in any
increment up to the permit cap for the
fishing year to allow permit holders to
take full advantage of the program;
• NMFS is also considering adding a
provision to allow a substitute vessel to
haul and fish the traps of a federallypermitted lobster vessel that is
inoperable or mechanically impaired.
The intent is to allow a Federal permit
holder to maintain his or her revenue
from lobster fishing while the vessel is
repaired or replaced. Currently, the
regulations only allow a substitute
vessel to bring the trap gear ashore;
however, some states already permit the
use of a substitute vessel to haul and
fish traps under specific circumstances.
Any future action taken by NMFS will
be pursuant to the Atlantic Coastal
Fisheries Cooperative Management Act
and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act.
This notification and control date do
not impose any legal obligations,
requirements, or expectation.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; 16 U.S.C.
5101 et seq.
Dated: November 8, 2017.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for
Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017–24714 Filed 11–14–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
E:\FR\FM\15NOP1.SGM
15NOP1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 219 (Wednesday, November 15, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 52871-52872]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-24714]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 697
[Docket No. 150401332-7999-01]
RIN 0648-BF01
Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions;
American Lobster Fishery; Control Date for Lobster Conservation
Management Areas
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR); request for
comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This document announces that NMFS is considering changes to
the lobster management program and may select a control date to
restrict the number of permits or traps an individual or business
entity may own, with specific emphasis on Lobster Conservation
Management Areas (LCMAs) 2 and 3. NMFS may use the existing control
date of January 27, 2014, which was published in the Federal Register,
the publication date of this present ANPR, or another date for this
purpose, pending public comment and further input by the Atlantic
States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission). This action may be
necessary to control effort in the American lobster fishery and
mitigate impacts on the depleted Southern New England (SNE) lobster
stock. NMFS intends for this document to promote awareness of possible
rulemaking and notify the public that actions taken to acquire lobster
trap allocation and permits after the control date may not be
recognized in the future.
DATES: We must receive written comments on or before December 15, 2017.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by
NOAA-NMFS-2013-0169 by any of the following methods:
[ssquf] Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2013-0169, click the
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or
attach your comments.
[ssquf] Mail: Submit written comments to John K. Bullard, Regional
Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope,
``Comments on Lobster Control Date.''
Instructions: Comments must be submitted by one of the above
methods to ensure that the comments are received, documented, and
considered by NMFS. We may not consider comments sent by any other
method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end
of the comment period. 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, etc.) submitted voluntarily by the
sender will 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). We accept attachments to electronic comments
only in Microsoft Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file
formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Burns, Fishery Policy Analyst,
978-281-9144.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
NMFS works cooperatively with the states to conserve the American
lobster resource within the framework of the Atlantic States Marine
Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American
Lobster (ISFMP). Through the ISFMP, the Commission adopts fishery
conservation and management strategies for the American lobster
resource and coordinates the efforts of the states and NMFS to
implement these strategies.
The Commission, NMFS, and the affected states have worked to
develop a strategy to address the declining SNE stock and control
effort in the American lobster fishery. That strategy, which took shape
in several addenda to Amendment 3 of the Commission's ISFMP, attempted
to achieve this goal while maintaining the historic character of the
lobster fishery, which has traditionally been comprised of small owner-
operator businesses. As the Commission's ISFMP limited access to the
fishery, the Commission was concerned that lobster permits might
consolidate among a concentrated number of larger conglomerates. As a
result, the Commission's ISFMP introduced the concept of permit
restrictions in 2003 in Addendum IV and again in 2005 in Addendum VII.
These two addenda contemplated limiting the aggregate number of permits
an individual or entity may own in LCMAs 2 and 3.
Concern about fishery consolidation and conglomeration intensified
with the advent of the Commission's Trap Transfer Program in 2014. The
Trap Transfer Program allows lobster fishermen to buy or sell partial
trap allocations up to, but not exceeding, any applicable LCMA trap
cap. Attrition in the fishery from the SNE stock decline resulted in a
relatively high amount of latent trap effort in the SNE LCMAs. The
Commission became concerned that businesses could cheaply purchase and
combine latent permits and then activate them by transferring the trap
allocation onto the permit or by activating traps that were already
associated with a permit under the trap banking provisions of Addendum
XVIII. Accordingly, the Commission revisited permit and effort
restriction strategies in Addendum XXI in August 2013 and Addendum XXII
in October 2013. These addenda limit the number of traps that any one
individual or entity may own in LCMAs 2 and 3 and are the focus of this
rulemaking action. Under these addenda, permit holders may also
purchase traps in excess of the active permit cap and ``bank'' them.
The banked allocation may be used in the future to offset the economic
impacts associated with a multi-year schedule of annual trap reductions
in LCMAs 2 and 3 that were adopted in Addendum XVIII
[[Page 52872]]
to address the continued decline in the SNE lobster stock.
In response to the Commission's recommendations for Federal action
in Addenda XXI and XXII, NMFS notified the public that we were
considering establishing a control date for the purposes of determining
the number of traps or permits an individual or entity may hold in
LCMAs 2 and 3. The notification, an advance notice of proposed
rulemaking (79 FR 4319; January 27, 2014), announced that NMFS could
use that publication date, January 27, 2014, or another date for such
purpose and that it was developing a rulemaking action to consider the
measures set forth in Addenda XXI and XXII.
Subsequently, the Commission announced the results of the 2015
American Lobster Stock Assessment that found the SNE lobster stock was
severely depleted, with record low abundance and recruitment failure,
due to changing environmental conditions and continued fishing
mortality. The Commission then focused its efforts on a new addendum to
the ISFMP, Addendum XXV, to address the deteriorating condition of the
SNE stock.
NMFS deferred action on Addenda XXI and XXII while the Commission
developed draft Addendum XXV during 2016 and 2017, because elements of
Addendum XXV could have rendered the measures in the prior addenda
unnecessary. In August 2017, the Commission decided to take no further
action on Addendum XXV and requested that we advance the measures in
Addenda XXI and XXII for Federal rulemaking. In response, we stet this
advance notice of proposed rulemaking to reconsider the use of a
control date in consideration of the measures in the two addenda.
This document informs the public that NMFS may select January 27,
2014, or another date, as the control date, depending on public
comments and input from the Commission. It also gives the public notice
that interested participants should locate and preserve records that
substantiate and verify their participation in the American lobster
fishery. Participation in the fishery after the control date may not be
treated the same as participation before the control date. Establishing
a control date does not commit NMFS to develop any particular
management regime or criteria for participation in these fisheries.
Additionally, we may also choose to take no further action to control
effort or consolidation in the American lobster fishery. NMFS is
seeking specific comments on the appropriateness of using the existing
January 27, 2014, control date. The public may also comment on whether
another date is better suited as a control date for the lobster
fishery.
NMFS is also considering several clarifications to existing
regulations:
Due to enforcement concerns, we are considering
modifications to the gear marking requirement for lobster trap trawls
with more than three traps to be more consistent with industry
practices;
The Trap Transfer Program currently requires that trap
transfers occur in increments of 10. We intend to remove this
restriction to allow permit holders to transfer traps in any increment
up to the permit cap for the fishing year to allow permit holders to
take full advantage of the program;
NMFS is also considering adding a provision to allow a
substitute vessel to haul and fish the traps of a federally-permitted
lobster vessel that is inoperable or mechanically impaired. The intent
is to allow a Federal permit holder to maintain his or her revenue from
lobster fishing while the vessel is repaired or replaced. Currently,
the regulations only allow a substitute vessel to bring the trap gear
ashore; however, some states already permit the use of a substitute
vessel to haul and fish traps under specific circumstances.
Any future action taken by NMFS will be pursuant to the Atlantic
Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act and the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act.
This notification and control date do not impose any legal
obligations, requirements, or expectation.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.
Dated: November 8, 2017.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-24714 Filed 11-14-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
