Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking for Atlantic Cod, 46226-46227 [2021-17674]
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 18, 2021 / Notices
Description of Proposed Activities
section of this notice would not be
completed by the time the IHA expires
and a Renewal would allow for
completion of the activities beyond that
described in the Dates and Duration
section of this notice, provided all of the
following conditions are met:
• A request for renewal is received no
later than 60 days prior to the needed
Renewal IHA effective date (recognizing
that the Renewal IHA expiration date
cannot extend beyond one year from
expiration of the initial IHA);
• The request for renewal must
include the following:
(1) An explanation that the activities
to be conducted under the requested
Renewal IHA are identical to the
activities analyzed under the initial
IHA, are a subset of the activities, or
include changes so minor (e.g.,
reduction in pile size) that the changes
do not affect the previous analyses,
mitigation and monitoring
requirements, or take estimates (with
the exception of reducing the type or
amount of take); and
(2) A preliminary monitoring report
showing the results of the required
monitoring to date and an explanation
showing that the monitoring results do
not indicate impacts of a scale or nature
not previously analyzed or authorized;
and
Upon review of the request for
Renewal, the status of the affected
species or stocks, and any other
pertinent information, NMFS
determines that there are no more than
minor changes in the activities, the
mitigation and monitoring measures
will remain the same and appropriate,
and the findings in the initial IHA
remain valid.
Dated: August 13, 2021.
Shannon Bettridge,
Acting Director, Office of Protected Resources,
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021–17725 Filed 8–17–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
[RTID 0648–XA720]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United
States; Northeast Multispecies
Fishery; Receipt of Petition for
Rulemaking for Atlantic Cod
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
AGENCY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:34 Aug 17, 2021
Jkt 253001
Announcement of receipt of
petition for rulemaking; request for
comments.
ACTION:
NMFS announces the receipt
of a petition for rulemaking from the
Conservation Law Foundation. This
petition requests NMFS prepare a
Secretarial Amendment and take
specific emergency action to end
overfishing and rebuild Atlantic cod.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before October 4, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by NOAA–NMFS–2021–0039,
by either of the following methods:
• Electronic Submission: Submit all
electronic public comments via the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and enter
NOAA–NMFS–2021–0039 in the Search
box. Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ icon,
complete the required fields, and enter
or attach your comments.
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, etc.),
confidential business information, or
otherwise sensitive information
submitted voluntarily by the sender will
be publically accessible. NMFS will
accept anonymous comments (enter
‘‘N/A’’ in the required fields if you wish
to remain anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Peter Christopher, Supervisory Fishery
Policy Analyst, telephone 978–281–
9288, email: peter.christopher@
noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has
petitioned NMFS to implement
emergency regulations and a Secretarial
Amendment for the Northeast
multispecies fishery, and other relevant
fisheries that use gear capable of
catching more than a minimal amount
of Atlantic cod. CLF’s petition asserts
that NMFS has repeatedly approved
New England Fishery Management
Council actions that have failed to
prevent and end overfishing and rebuild
Atlantic cod stocks. CLF is petitioning
NMFS to implement conservation and
management measures it deems
necessary to end overfishing and rebuild
the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank cod
stocks.
CLF cites numerous reasons for NMFS
to take Secretarial action. CLF asserts
that NMFS has consistently approved
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
management measures that failed to
address low recruitment, neglected to
account for model errors and
uncertainty when setting catch advice,
approved uncertainty buffers that do not
account for this uncertainty, and
approved the use of an inadequate
acceptable biological catch (ABC)
control rule. In addition, CLF states that
NMFS has failed to conduct adequate
rebuilding progress reviews for both the
Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank cod
stocks as required under the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens
Act), or as required by the supplemental
rebuilding program review process
implemented in Framework Adjustment
51 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery
Management Plan (FMP). This review
process requires the Council to review
a rebuilding plan if: The total catch
limit for a stock has not been exceeded
during the rebuilding program; new
scientific information indicates that the
stock is not rebuilding according to the
program trajectory; and if the fishing
mortality associated with rebuilding
(Frebuild) drops below 75 percent of the
fishing mortality associated with
maximum sustainable yield (FMSY)).
According to CLF, the Gulf of Maine cod
stock has met all three of these criteria,
but the Council has not initiated its
required rebuilding program review.
Further, CLF asserts that NMFS has
failed to recognize or account for the
findings of a National Research Council
(NRC) Rebuilding Committee, which
identified several reasons why stocks
may not rebuild as expected under their
respective rebuilding plans. Finally,
CLF states that in NMFS’s denial of a
2015 petition for rulemaking on Gulf of
Maine cod, NMFS committed to prevent
overfishing, rebuild the stock, and
adjust management measures as needed
in response to the findings of a 2015
assessment. CLF asserts that these
commitments were not upheld, and that
NMFS did not properly balance
biological and socioeconomic impacts
in its rationale to deny the 2015
petition.
CLF’s petition also alleges that
inadequate at-sea monitoring coverage
in the sector fishery has failed to
provide sufficiently accurate and
precise data to prevent and end
overfishing or rebuild the cod stocks.
CLF asserts that inadequate monitoring
coverage targets, coupled with low
quotas, have created incentives for the
fishing industry to illegally discard and
misreport cod catch. Additionally, CLF
relies on recent analyses in the
development of Amendment 23 to the
Northeast Multispecies FMP indicating
E:\FR\FM\18AUN1.SGM
18AUN1
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 18, 2021 / Notices
that there is an observer effect in the
Northeast multispecies fishery. This
observer effect could mean observed
trips are not representative of
unobserved trips. CLF also states that,
without accurate and precise catch data,
managers cannot appropriately apply
the accountability measures that are
designed to prevent overfishing.
Last, CLF states that measures to
protect essential fish habitat, help
rebuild cod stock age structure, account
for sub-populations, and account for
climate change impacts, are critical to
cod recovery. CLF asserts that the
rebuilding plans that have been
implemented for cod do not identify
and protect critical cod spawning areas
or adequately conserve habitat for
juvenile cod. CLF also states that past
management actions have failed to
address truncated cod stock age
structures, which may contribute to
reduced recruitment and decreased
resilience to stressors. CLF asserts that
managing cod as two stocks (Gulf of
Maine and Georges Bank) fails to
account for sub-populations, and that
recent research by the Atlantic Cod
Stock Working Group suggests that at
least three sub-populations exist.
Differences in the characteristics of
these sub-populations, such as
differences in spawning seasonality, are
important for stock recovery. Finally,
CLF states that stock assessments and
management measures for Atlantic cod
must account for impacts to the stock
due to climate change, especially since
temperature and other environmental
conditions have been shown to impact
cod biology.
The CLF petition requests NMFS
implement all of the following
conservation and management
measures.
1. 100-percent at-sea monitoring on
all commercial groundfish trips.
2. Measures to prohibit directed
commercial and recreational fishing for
Atlantic cod that:
a. Implement large area closures once
a stock’s incidental limit is caught;
b. Reduce the incidental catch rate
annually, consistent with the current
ABC control rule until overfishing is
ended;
c. Prioritize the allocation of
incidental catch to groundfish vessels,
consistent with the current
methodology; and
d. Ensure that any incidental catch
history during the closure of the
directed fishery will not count towards
future potential sector contributions.
3. Area closures to protect all
identified Atlantic cod spawning
locations and favorable habitat for
juvenile and adult cod.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:34 Aug 17, 2021
Jkt 253001
4. A requirement to use modified
groundfish gear, such as haddock
separator trawl or other selective fishing
technology, throughout the U.S. range of
Atlantic cod to reduce incidental cod
catch.
5. Additional measures in the
recreational fisheries to reduce the
mortality of incidental catch of Atlantic
cod.
In a letter dated June 10, 2020, NMFS
requested the New England Fishery
Management Council consider the
petition. Because Council development
of fishery management measures is the
core of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,
NMFS wanted to ensure that the
Council considered the petition and had
the opportunity to take appropriate
action through the Council process if it
deemed that such action was necessary.
After considering the petition at its June
Council meeting, the Council sent a
letter to NMFS on November 27, 2020,
describing its consideration and
conclusions. The Council concluded
that the petition does not have merit
based on its rejection of CLF’s assertions
underlying its claim that the Council
has failed to take measures necessary to
protect cod and declined to consider a
majority of CLF’s recommended
measures. The Council stated that it
already approved increasing monitoring
requirements in Amendment 23 to the
Northeast Multispecies FMP. Also, it is
important to note that the Council plans
to consider how new cod stock structure
information may affect development of
conservation and management measures
and is advocating for the development
of a new data-limited modeling
approach for the Eastern George Bank
cod. See ADDRESSES for the Council’s
letter and grounds for its decision.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act authorizes
regional fishery management councils to
develop fishery management measures,
and specifically provides the New
England Fishery Management Council
with the authority to manage the Gulf of
Maine and Georges Bank cod stocks. For
the reasons described above and in the
Council’s letter to NMFS, the Council
declined to take additional action on
Atlantic cod after reviewing the
contents of the petition. However, CLF
has provided sufficient information and
support in its request for Secretarial
action to warrant publication of a notice
seeking public comment.
In addition to the petition and
information provided by CLF and the
Council, NMFS will consider comments
received when determining whether to
proceed with the development of
conservation and management measures
suggested by the petition. Upon
determining whether to initiate the
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46227
rulemaking suggested by the petition,
the Assistant Administrator for
Fisheries, NOAA, will publish a notice
of the agency’s decision or action in the
Federal Register.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: August 12, 2021.
Kelly Denit,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for
Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021–17674 Filed 8–17–21; 8:45 am]
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E:\FR\FM\18AUN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 18, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46226-46227]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-17674]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XA720]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast
Multispecies Fishery; Receipt of Petition for Rulemaking for Atlantic
Cod
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Announcement of receipt of petition for rulemaking; request for
comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS announces the receipt of a petition for rulemaking from
the Conservation Law Foundation. This petition requests NMFS prepare a
Secretarial Amendment and take specific emergency action to end
overfishing and rebuild Atlantic cod.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 4, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2021-0039,
by either of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2021-0039 in the Search box.
Click on the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter
or attach your comments.
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, etc.), confidential business
information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily
by the sender will be publically accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous
comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain
anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Christopher, Supervisory Fishery
Policy Analyst, telephone 978-281-9288, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has
petitioned NMFS to implement emergency regulations and a Secretarial
Amendment for the Northeast multispecies fishery, and other relevant
fisheries that use gear capable of catching more than a minimal amount
of Atlantic cod. CLF's petition asserts that NMFS has repeatedly
approved New England Fishery Management Council actions that have
failed to prevent and end overfishing and rebuild Atlantic cod stocks.
CLF is petitioning NMFS to implement conservation and management
measures it deems necessary to end overfishing and rebuild the Gulf of
Maine and Georges Bank cod stocks.
CLF cites numerous reasons for NMFS to take Secretarial action. CLF
asserts that NMFS has consistently approved management measures that
failed to address low recruitment, neglected to account for model
errors and uncertainty when setting catch advice, approved uncertainty
buffers that do not account for this uncertainty, and approved the use
of an inadequate acceptable biological catch (ABC) control rule. In
addition, CLF states that NMFS has failed to conduct adequate
rebuilding progress reviews for both the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank
cod stocks as required under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), or as required by the
supplemental rebuilding program review process implemented in Framework
Adjustment 51 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan
(FMP). This review process requires the Council to review a rebuilding
plan if: The total catch limit for a stock has not been exceeded during
the rebuilding program; new scientific information indicates that the
stock is not rebuilding according to the program trajectory; and if the
fishing mortality associated with rebuilding (Frebuild) drops below 75
percent of the fishing mortality associated with maximum sustainable
yield (FMSY)). According to CLF, the Gulf of Maine cod stock has met
all three of these criteria, but the Council has not initiated its
required rebuilding program review. Further, CLF asserts that NMFS has
failed to recognize or account for the findings of a National Research
Council (NRC) Rebuilding Committee, which identified several reasons
why stocks may not rebuild as expected under their respective
rebuilding plans. Finally, CLF states that in NMFS's denial of a 2015
petition for rulemaking on Gulf of Maine cod, NMFS committed to prevent
overfishing, rebuild the stock, and adjust management measures as
needed in response to the findings of a 2015 assessment. CLF asserts
that these commitments were not upheld, and that NMFS did not properly
balance biological and socioeconomic impacts in its rationale to deny
the 2015 petition.
CLF's petition also alleges that inadequate at-sea monitoring
coverage in the sector fishery has failed to provide sufficiently
accurate and precise data to prevent and end overfishing or rebuild the
cod stocks. CLF asserts that inadequate monitoring coverage targets,
coupled with low quotas, have created incentives for the fishing
industry to illegally discard and misreport cod catch. Additionally,
CLF relies on recent analyses in the development of Amendment 23 to the
Northeast Multispecies FMP indicating
[[Page 46227]]
that there is an observer effect in the Northeast multispecies fishery.
This observer effect could mean observed trips are not representative
of unobserved trips. CLF also states that, without accurate and precise
catch data, managers cannot appropriately apply the accountability
measures that are designed to prevent overfishing.
Last, CLF states that measures to protect essential fish habitat,
help rebuild cod stock age structure, account for sub-populations, and
account for climate change impacts, are critical to cod recovery. CLF
asserts that the rebuilding plans that have been implemented for cod do
not identify and protect critical cod spawning areas or adequately
conserve habitat for juvenile cod. CLF also states that past management
actions have failed to address truncated cod stock age structures,
which may contribute to reduced recruitment and decreased resilience to
stressors. CLF asserts that managing cod as two stocks (Gulf of Maine
and Georges Bank) fails to account for sub-populations, and that recent
research by the Atlantic Cod Stock Working Group suggests that at least
three sub-populations exist. Differences in the characteristics of
these sub-populations, such as differences in spawning seasonality, are
important for stock recovery. Finally, CLF states that stock
assessments and management measures for Atlantic cod must account for
impacts to the stock due to climate change, especially since
temperature and other environmental conditions have been shown to
impact cod biology.
The CLF petition requests NMFS implement all of the following
conservation and management measures.
1. 100-percent at-sea monitoring on all commercial groundfish
trips.
2. Measures to prohibit directed commercial and recreational
fishing for Atlantic cod that:
a. Implement large area closures once a stock's incidental limit is
caught;
b. Reduce the incidental catch rate annually, consistent with the
current ABC control rule until overfishing is ended;
c. Prioritize the allocation of incidental catch to groundfish
vessels, consistent with the current methodology; and
d. Ensure that any incidental catch history during the closure of
the directed fishery will not count towards future potential sector
contributions.
3. Area closures to protect all identified Atlantic cod spawning
locations and favorable habitat for juvenile and adult cod.
4. A requirement to use modified groundfish gear, such as haddock
separator trawl or other selective fishing technology, throughout the
U.S. range of Atlantic cod to reduce incidental cod catch.
5. Additional measures in the recreational fisheries to reduce the
mortality of incidental catch of Atlantic cod.
In a letter dated June 10, 2020, NMFS requested the New England
Fishery Management Council consider the petition. Because Council
development of fishery management measures is the core of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, NMFS wanted to ensure that the Council considered the
petition and had the opportunity to take appropriate action through the
Council process if it deemed that such action was necessary. After
considering the petition at its June Council meeting, the Council sent
a letter to NMFS on November 27, 2020, describing its consideration and
conclusions. The Council concluded that the petition does not have
merit based on its rejection of CLF's assertions underlying its claim
that the Council has failed to take measures necessary to protect cod
and declined to consider a majority of CLF's recommended measures. The
Council stated that it already approved increasing monitoring
requirements in Amendment 23 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP. Also,
it is important to note that the Council plans to consider how new cod
stock structure information may affect development of conservation and
management measures and is advocating for the development of a new
data-limited modeling approach for the Eastern George Bank cod. See
ADDRESSES for the Council's letter and grounds for its decision.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act authorizes regional fishery management
councils to develop fishery management measures, and specifically
provides the New England Fishery Management Council with the authority
to manage the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank cod stocks. For the
reasons described above and in the Council's letter to NMFS, the
Council declined to take additional action on Atlantic cod after
reviewing the contents of the petition. However, CLF has provided
sufficient information and support in its request for Secretarial
action to warrant publication of a notice seeking public comment.
In addition to the petition and information provided by CLF and the
Council, NMFS will consider comments received when determining whether
to proceed with the development of conservation and management measures
suggested by the petition. Upon determining whether to initiate the
rulemaking suggested by the petition, the Assistant Administrator for
Fisheries, NOAA, will publish a notice of the agency's decision or
action in the Federal Register.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: August 12, 2021.
Kelly Denit,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-17674 Filed 8-17-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
