Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass, and Atlantic Bluefish Fisheries; 2020-2021 Specifications, 36046-36048 [2019-15845]
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36046
Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 144 / Friday, July 26, 2019 / Proposed Rules
Dated: June 27, 2019.
Chris Hladick,
Regional Administrator, EPA Region 10.
[FR Doc. 2019–15310 Filed 7–25–19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 190514453–9453–01]
RIN 0648–XH043
Fisheries of the Northeastern United
States; Summer Flounder, Scup, Black
Sea Bass, and Atlantic Bluefish
Fisheries; 2020–2021 Specifications
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for
comments.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: NMFS proposes 2020
specifications for the summer flounder,
scup, black sea bass, and bluefish
fisheries and projects 2021 summer
flounder specifications. The
implementing regulations for the
Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea
Bass Fishery Management Plan and the
Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management
Plan require us to publish specifications
for the upcoming fishing year for each
of these species and to provide an
opportunity for public comment. This
action is intended to inform the public
of the proposed specifications for the
start of the 2020 fishing year for these
four species and announces the
projected 2021 summer flounder
specifications.
Comments must be received on
or before August 26, 2019.
ADDRESSES: An environmental
assessment (EA) for the summer
flounder specifications was prepared for
this action that describes the proposed
measures and other considered
alternatives, and provides an analysis of
the impacts of the proposed measures
and alternatives. A Supplemental
Information Report (SIR) was prepared
for the scup, black sea bass, and bluefish
jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with PROPOSALS
DATES:
specifications. Copies of the EA and
SIR, are available on request from Dr.
Christopher M. Moore, Executive
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council, Suite 201, 800
North State Street, Dover, DE 19901.
The EA is also accessible via the
internet at https://www.mafmc.org/s/SF_
2020-2021_specs_EA.pdf.
You may submit comments on this
document, identified by NOAA–NMFS–
2019–0067, by either of the following
methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all
electronic public comments via the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.
1. Go to www.regulations.gov/
#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-20190067,
2. Click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon,
complete the required fields, and
3. Enter or attach your comments.
-ORMail: Submit written comments to
Michael Pentony, Regional
Administrator, National Marine
Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the
outside of the envelope, ‘‘Comments on
the Proposed Rule for the Summer
Flounder, Scup, Black Sea Bass, and
Bluefish Specifications.’’
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 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.),
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).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Emily Gilbert, Fishery Policy Analyst,
(978) 281–9244.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
General Background
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council (Council) and the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission (Commission)
cooperatively manage the summer
flounder, scup, black sea bass, and
bluefish fisheries. The Summer
Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and
Atlantic Bluefish FMP outline the
Council’s process for establishing
specifications. The FMPs require the
specification of the acceptable biological
catch (ABC), annual catch limit (ACL),
annual catch targets (ACT), commercial
quotas, recreational harvest limit, and
other management measures, for up to
three years at a time. This action
proposes summer flounder
specifications for the 2020–2021 fishing
years and also proposes interim scup,
black sea bass, and bluefish 2020
specifications that will be replaced in
early 2020 following the results of an
operational assessment for all three
species. These specifications are
consistent with the recommendations
made by the Commission and Council at
the March 2019 joint meeting.
Proposed Interim 2020 Scup, Black Sea
Bass, and Bluefish Specifications
There is no regulatory mechanism to
roll over catch and landings limits from
one year to the next in these FMPs, so
this action is required to set these limits
for the start of 2020. This action
proposes maintaining the same 2019
specifications for the start of the 2020
fishing year (Table 1), consistent with
the Council’s Scientific and Statistical
Committee (SSC) recommendations and
the recommendations of the Council
and Boards. These catch limits are
expected to be in place for the first few
months of 2020 and will be revised as
soon as possible following the results of
the forthcoming operation assessment
for all three species. The results of the
assessment will be available in
September 2019. The Council and
Boards plan on recommending revised
2020 and considering 2021
specifications for all three species at a
joint October 2019 meeting.
Prior to the start of the 2020 fishing
year, we will announce if any
adjustments need to be made to account
for any previous overages or, in the case
of bluefish, any commercial/recreational
sector transfers. The initial commercial
scup quota allocations for 2020 by quota
period are outlined in Table 2.
TABLE 1—PROPOSED INTERIM 2020 SPECIFICATIONS FOR SCUP, BLACK SEA BASS, AND BLUEFISH
Scup
million lb
Overfishing Limit (OFL) ............................
ABC ..........................................................
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:27 Jul 25, 2019
Jkt 247001
41.03
36.43
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Black Sea Bass
mt
million lb
18,612
16,525
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
Bluefish
mt
10.29
8.94
E:\FR\FM\26JYP1.SGM
million lb
4,667
4,055
26JYP1
29.97
21.81
mt
12,688
9,895
36047
Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 144 / Friday, July 26, 2019 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 1—PROPOSED INTERIM 2020 SPECIFICATIONS FOR SCUP, BLACK SEA BASS, AND BLUEFISH—Continued
Scup
million lb
ACL ..........................................................
Commercial ACL ......................................
ACT ..........................................................
Commercial Quota ...................................
Recreational ACL .....................................
Recreational ACT .....................................
Recreational Harvest Limit .......................
Black Sea Bass
mt
36.43
28.42
28.42
23.98
8.01
8.01
7.37
million lb
16,525
12,890
12,890
10,879
3,636
3,636
3,342
Bluefish
mt
8.94
4.35
4.35
3.52
4.59
4.59
3.66
million lb
4,055
1,974
1,974
1,596
2,083
2,083
1,661
mt
21.81
9,895
3.71
7.71
1,682
3,497
18.11
11.62
8,213
5,271
TABLE 2—INITIAL COMMERCIAL SCUP QUOTA ALLOCATIONS FOR 2020 BY QUOTA PERIOD
Percent
share
Quota period
lb
mt
Winter I ........................................................................................................................................
Summer .......................................................................................................................................
Winter II .......................................................................................................................................
45.11
38.95
15.94
10,820,000
9,340,986
3,822,816
4,908
4,237
1,734
Total ......................................................................................................................................
100.0
23,983,802
10,879
Note: Metric tons are as converted from lb and may not necessarily total due to rounding.
Proposed 2020–2021 Summer Flounder
Specifications
In February 2019, the final peer
review and assessment results from the
66th Stock Assessment Workshop/Stock
Assessment Review Committee (SAW/
SARC 66) became available. This
assessment incorporated revised MRIP
estimates of recreational catch, which
has an important impact on estimated
spawning stock biomass for summer
flounder. Based on the results of this
benchmark assessment, the summer
flounder stock is not overfished, and
overfishing is not occurring.
The Council’s SSC and the Summer
Flounder Monitoring Committee (MC)
met in late February 2019 to make
recommendations to the Council for
revised catch and landings limits for
2019 through 2021 based on the
assessment information. Due to the need
to implement revised 2019
specifications as soon as possible, we
published an interim final rule on May
17, 2019 (84 FR 22392), adjusting the
2019 catch limits for the remainder of
the 2019 fishing year. This proposed
rule would implement the 2020
specifications and announce the
projected 2021 specifications (Table 3).
The 2020 and 2021 specifications are
identical to what is currently in place
for 2019.
Table 4 outlines the initial 2020 stateby-state summer flounder allocations.
Prior to the start of each fishing year, we
will announce any adjustments
necessary to address any long-standing
overages or potential 2018 overages and
to provide the states with their specific
quotas.
TABLE 3—SUMMARY OF 2020–2021 SUMMER FLOUNDER FISHERY SPECIFICATIONS
[In millions of pounds]
million lb
OFL ..........................................................................................................................................................................
ABC ..........................................................................................................................................................................
Commercial ACL ......................................................................................................................................................
Commercial ACT .....................................................................................................................................................
Commercial Quota ...................................................................................................................................................
Recreational ACL .....................................................................................................................................................
Recreational ACT ....................................................................................................................................................
Recreational Harvest Limit ......................................................................................................................................
30.94 (2020)
31.67 (2021)
25.03
13.53
13.53
11.53
11.51
11.51
7.69
mt
14,034 (2020)
14,365 (2021)
11,354
6,136
6,136
5,229
5,218
5,218
3,486
TABLE 4—INITIAL 2020 SUMMER FLOUNDER STATE-BY-STATE ALLOCATIONS
jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with PROPOSALS
Initial 2020
quotas *
FMP percent
share
State
lb
ME ................................................................................................................................................
NH ................................................................................................................................................
MA ................................................................................................................................................
RI .................................................................................................................................................
CT ................................................................................................................................................
NY ................................................................................................................................................
NJ .................................................................................................................................................
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:27 Jul 25, 2019
Jkt 247001
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
0.0476
0.0005
6.8205
15.6830
2.2571
7.6470
16.7250
E:\FR\FM\26JYP1.SGM
26JYP1
5,484
53
786,399
1,808,248
260,241
881,698
1,928,391
kg
2,487
24
356,705
820,207
118,043
399,931
874,704
36048
Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 144 / Friday, July 26, 2019 / Proposed Rules
TABLE 4—INITIAL 2020 SUMMER FLOUNDER STATE-BY-STATE ALLOCATIONS—Continued
Initial 2020
quotas *
FMP percent
share
State
lb
DE
MD
VA
NC
kg
................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
0.0178
2.0391
21.3168
27.4458
2,051
235,108
2,457,822
3,164,505
930
106,643
1,114,850
1,435,395
Total ......................................................................................................................................
100.00
11,530,000
5,229,920
* Initial quotas do not account for any previous overages.
This action makes no changes to the
current commercial management
measures, including the minimum fish
size (14-inch (36-cm) total length), gear
requirements, and possession limits.
The 2020 recreational management
measures will be considered in the late
fall of 2019.
jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with PROPOSALS
Classification
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS
Assistant Administrator has determined
that this proposed rule is consistent
with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and
Black Sea Bass FMP, Atlantic Bluefish
FMP, other provisions of the MagnusonStevens Act, and other applicable law,
subject to further consideration after
public comment.
This proposed rule has been
determined to be not significant for
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of
the Department of Commerce certified
to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the
Small Business Administration that this
proposed rule, if adopted, would not
have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council conducted an evaluation of the
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:27 Jul 25, 2019
Jkt 247001
potential socioeconomic impacts of the
proposed measures in conjunction with
an EA (summer flounder) and SIR (scup,
black sea bass, and bluefish). According
to the commercial ownership database,
1,345 affiliate firms landed summer
flounder, scup, black sea bass, and/or
bluefish during the 2015–2019 period,
with 1,335 of those business affiliates
categorized as small businesses and 10
categorized as large businesses. Summer
flounder, scup, black sea bass, and
bluefish represented approximately 74
percent of the average receipts of the
small entities and less than 1 percent for
large entities considered over this time
period.
The ownership data for the for-hire
fleet indicate that there were 389 forhire affiliate firms with summer
flounder, scup, black sea bass, and/or
bluefish permits generating revenues
from recreationally fishing, all of which
are categorized as small businesses.
Although it is not possible to derive
what proportion of the overall revenues
came from specific fishing activities,
given the popularity of these three
species as recreational targets, it is
likely that revenues generated from
these species are important for some, if
not all, of these firms.
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 9990
For all four species, the proposed
measures would maintain the
commercial quotas and recreational
harvest limits that are in place for the
2019 fishing year, resulting in similar
fishing effort and revenues. As a result,
this action is not expected to adversely
impact revenues for commercial and
recreational vessels that fish for summer
flounder, scup, black sea bass, and
bluefish. Because this rule will not have
a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities, an
initial regulatory flexibility analysis is
not required and none has been
prepared.
There are no new reporting or
recordkeeping requirements contained
in any of the alternatives considered for
this action.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648
Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping and
reporting requirements.
Dated: July 22, 2019.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for
Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2019–15845 Filed 7–25–19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
E:\FR\FM\26JYP1.SGM
26JYP1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 144 (Friday, July 26, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 36046-36048]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-15845]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 190514453-9453-01]
RIN 0648-XH043
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Summer Flounder,
Scup, Black Sea Bass, and Atlantic Bluefish Fisheries; 2020-2021
Specifications
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS proposes 2020 specifications for the summer flounder,
scup, black sea bass, and bluefish fisheries and projects 2021 summer
flounder specifications. The implementing regulations for the Summer
Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan and the
Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan require us to publish
specifications for the upcoming fishing year for each of these species
and to provide an opportunity for public comment. This action is
intended to inform the public of the proposed specifications for the
start of the 2020 fishing year for these four species and announces the
projected 2021 summer flounder specifications.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 26, 2019.
ADDRESSES: An environmental assessment (EA) for the summer flounder
specifications was prepared for this action that describes the proposed
measures and other considered alternatives, and provides an analysis of
the impacts of the proposed measures and alternatives. A Supplemental
Information Report (SIR) was prepared for the scup, black sea bass, and
bluefish specifications. Copies of the EA and SIR, are available on
request from Dr. Christopher M. Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic
Fishery Management Council, Suite 201, 800 North State Street, Dover,
DE 19901. The EA is also accessible via the internet at https://www.mafmc.org/s/SF_2020-2021_specs_EA.pdf.
You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-
2019-0067, by either of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.
1. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2019-0067,
2. Click the ``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields,
and
3. Enter or attach your comments.
-OR-
Mail: Submit written comments to Michael Pentony, Regional
Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope,
``Comments on the Proposed Rule for the Summer Flounder, Scup, Black
Sea Bass, and Bluefish Specifications.''
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 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.), 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).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily Gilbert, Fishery Policy Analyst,
(978) 281-9244.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
General Background
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) cooperatively
manage the summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish
fisheries. The Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery
Management Plan (FMP) and Atlantic Bluefish FMP outline the Council's
process for establishing specifications. The FMPs require the
specification of the acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual catch
limit (ACL), annual catch targets (ACT), commercial quotas,
recreational harvest limit, and other management measures, for up to
three years at a time. This action proposes summer flounder
specifications for the 2020-2021 fishing years and also proposes
interim scup, black sea bass, and bluefish 2020 specifications that
will be replaced in early 2020 following the results of an operational
assessment for all three species. These specifications are consistent
with the recommendations made by the Commission and Council at the
March 2019 joint meeting.
Proposed Interim 2020 Scup, Black Sea Bass, and Bluefish Specifications
There is no regulatory mechanism to roll over catch and landings
limits from one year to the next in these FMPs, so this action is
required to set these limits for the start of 2020. This action
proposes maintaining the same 2019 specifications for the start of the
2020 fishing year (Table 1), consistent with the Council's Scientific
and Statistical Committee (SSC) recommendations and the recommendations
of the Council and Boards. These catch limits are expected to be in
place for the first few months of 2020 and will be revised as soon as
possible following the results of the forthcoming operation assessment
for all three species. The results of the assessment will be available
in September 2019. The Council and Boards plan on recommending revised
2020 and considering 2021 specifications for all three species at a
joint October 2019 meeting.
Prior to the start of the 2020 fishing year, we will announce if
any adjustments need to be made to account for any previous overages
or, in the case of bluefish, any commercial/recreational sector
transfers. The initial commercial scup quota allocations for 2020 by
quota period are outlined in Table 2.
Table 1--Proposed Interim 2020 Specifications for Scup, Black Sea Bass, and Bluefish
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scup Black Sea Bass Bluefish
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
million lb mt million lb mt million lb mt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overfishing Limit (OFL)................................. 41.03 18,612 10.29 4,667 29.97 12,688
ABC..................................................... 36.43 16,525 8.94 4,055 21.81 9,895
[[Page 36047]]
ACL..................................................... 36.43 16,525 8.94 4,055 21.81 9,895
Commercial ACL.......................................... 28.42 12,890 4.35 1,974
ACT..................................................... 28.42 12,890 4.35 1,974 3.71 1,682
Commercial Quota........................................ 23.98 10,879 3.52 1,596 7.71 3,497
Recreational ACL........................................ 8.01 3,636 4.59 2,083
Recreational ACT........................................ 8.01 3,636 4.59 2,083 18.11 8,213
Recreational Harvest Limit.............................. 7.37 3,342 3.66 1,661 11.62 5,271
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2--Initial Commercial Scup Quota Allocations for 2020 by Quota Period
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quota period Percent share lb mt
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winter I........................................................ 45.11 10,820,000 4,908
Summer.......................................................... 38.95 9,340,986 4,237
Winter II....................................................... 15.94 3,822,816 1,734
-----------------------------------------------
Total....................................................... 100.0 23,983,802 10,879
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Metric tons are as converted from lb and may not necessarily total due to rounding.
Proposed 2020-2021 Summer Flounder Specifications
In February 2019, the final peer review and assessment results from
the 66th Stock Assessment Workshop/Stock Assessment Review Committee
(SAW/SARC 66) became available. This assessment incorporated revised
MRIP estimates of recreational catch, which has an important impact on
estimated spawning stock biomass for summer flounder. Based on the
results of this benchmark assessment, the summer flounder stock is not
overfished, and overfishing is not occurring.
The Council's SSC and the Summer Flounder Monitoring Committee (MC)
met in late February 2019 to make recommendations to the Council for
revised catch and landings limits for 2019 through 2021 based on the
assessment information. Due to the need to implement revised 2019
specifications as soon as possible, we published an interim final rule
on May 17, 2019 (84 FR 22392), adjusting the 2019 catch limits for the
remainder of the 2019 fishing year. This proposed rule would implement
the 2020 specifications and announce the projected 2021 specifications
(Table 3). The 2020 and 2021 specifications are identical to what is
currently in place for 2019.
Table 4 outlines the initial 2020 state-by-state summer flounder
allocations. Prior to the start of each fishing year, we will announce
any adjustments necessary to address any long-standing overages or
potential 2018 overages and to provide the states with their specific
quotas.
Table 3--Summary of 2020-2021 Summer Flounder Fishery Specifications
[In millions of pounds]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
million lb mt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFL..................................... 30.94 (2020) 14,034 (2020)
31.67 (2021) 14,365 (2021)
ABC..................................... 25.03 11,354
Commercial ACL.......................... 13.53 6,136
Commercial ACT.......................... 13.53 6,136
Commercial Quota........................ 11.53 5,229
Recreational ACL........................ 11.51 5,218
Recreational ACT........................ 11.51 5,218
Recreational Harvest Limit.............. 7.69 3,486
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 4--Initial 2020 Summer Flounder State-by-State Allocations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initial 2020 quotas *
State FMP percent -------------------------------
share lb kg
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ME.............................................................. 0.0476 5,484 2,487
NH.............................................................. 0.0005 53 24
MA.............................................................. 6.8205 786,399 356,705
RI.............................................................. 15.6830 1,808,248 820,207
CT.............................................................. 2.2571 260,241 118,043
NY.............................................................. 7.6470 881,698 399,931
NJ.............................................................. 16.7250 1,928,391 874,704
[[Page 36048]]
DE.............................................................. 0.0178 2,051 930
MD.............................................................. 2.0391 235,108 106,643
VA.............................................................. 21.3168 2,457,822 1,114,850
NC.............................................................. 27.4458 3,164,505 1,435,395
-----------------------------------------------
Total....................................................... 100.00 11,530,000 5,229,920
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Initial quotas do not account for any previous overages.
This action makes no changes to the current commercial management
measures, including the minimum fish size (14-inch (36-cm) total
length), gear requirements, and possession limits. The 2020
recreational management measures will be considered in the late fall of
2019.
Classification
Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the
NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is
consistent with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass FMP,
Atlantic Bluefish FMP, other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,
and other applicable law, subject to further consideration after public
comment.
This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council conducted an evaluation of
the potential socioeconomic impacts of the proposed measures in
conjunction with an EA (summer flounder) and SIR (scup, black sea bass,
and bluefish). According to the commercial ownership database, 1,345
affiliate firms landed summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and/or
bluefish during the 2015-2019 period, with 1,335 of those business
affiliates categorized as small businesses and 10 categorized as large
businesses. Summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish
represented approximately 74 percent of the average receipts of the
small entities and less than 1 percent for large entities considered
over this time period.
The ownership data for the for-hire fleet indicate that there were
389 for-hire affiliate firms with summer flounder, scup, black sea
bass, and/or bluefish permits generating revenues from recreationally
fishing, all of which are categorized as small businesses. Although it
is not possible to derive what proportion of the overall revenues came
from specific fishing activities, given the popularity of these three
species as recreational targets, it is likely that revenues generated
from these species are important for some, if not all, of these firms.
For all four species, the proposed measures would maintain the
commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits that are in place for
the 2019 fishing year, resulting in similar fishing effort and
revenues. As a result, this action is not expected to adversely impact
revenues for commercial and recreational vessels that fish for summer
flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish. Because this rule will
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities, an initial regulatory flexibility analysis is not required
and none has been prepared.
There are no new reporting or recordkeeping requirements contained
in any of the alternatives considered for this action.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648
Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.
Dated: July 22, 2019.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-15845 Filed 7-25-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
