Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Halibut Abundance-Based Management of Amendment 80 Prohibited Species Catch Limit, 50331-50333 [2021-19380]
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 171 / Wednesday, September 8, 2021 / Notices
issues specifically identified in the
agenda and any issues arising after
publication of this notice that require
emergency action under Section 305(c)
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act,
provided the public has been notified of
the Council’s intent to take-action to
address the emergency.
Special Accommodations
These meetings are physically
accessible to people with disabilities.
Requests for sign language
interpretation or other auxiliary aid
should be directed to Kathy Pereira,
(813) 348–1630, at least 5 days prior to
the meeting date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: September 3, 2021.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021–19487 Filed 9–7–21; 8:45 am]
Dated: September 3, 2021.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
The meeting is physically accessible
to people with disabilities. Requests for
sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aid should be directed to
Shelley Spedden, (302) 526–5251, at
least 5 days prior to the meeting date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: September 3, 2021.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021–19484 Filed 9–7–21; 8:45 am]
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council (MAFMC); Public Meeting
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; public meeting.
AGENCY:
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council’s Surfclam and
Ocean Quahog Advisory Panel will hold
a public meeting.
DATES: The meeting will be held on
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 from 9:30
a.m. until 12:00 p.m. For agenda details,
see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held
via webinar. Webinar connection
information will be available at: https://
www.mafmc.org/council-events.
Council address: Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council, 800 N State
Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901;
telephone: (302) 674–2331;
www.mafmc.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christopher M. Moore, Ph.D., Executive
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council, telephone: (302)
526–5255.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MidAtlantic Fishery Management Council’s
Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Advisory
Panel will meet to provide input on a
SUMMARY:
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[FR Doc. 2021–19493 Filed 9–7–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XB330]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; public meeting.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council’s Spiny Dogfish
Committee will hold a public meeting.
DATES: The meeting will be held on
Friday, October 1, 2021; from 9:30 a.m.
to 1 p.m. For agenda details, see
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held
via webinar. Webinar connection
information will be available at: https://
www.mafmc.org/council-events.
Council address: Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council, 800 N State
Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901;
telephone: (302) 674–2331 or on their
website at www.mafmc.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christopher M. Moore, Ph.D., Executive
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery
Management Council, telephone: (302)
526–5255.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
purpose of the meeting is for the Spiny
Dogfish Committee to provide
recommendations regarding future
specifications, including potential
federal trip limit modifications.
SUMMARY:
Special Accommodations
The meeting is physically accessible
to people with disabilities. Requests for
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Notice of Availability of a Draft
Environmental Impact Statement for
the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
Halibut Abundance-Based
Management of Amendment 80
Prohibited Species Catch Limit
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft
environmental impact statement (DEIS);
request for comments.
AGENCY:
AGENCY:
[RTID: 0648–XB359]
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Special Accommodations
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council (MAFMC); Public Meeting
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
17:21 Sep 07, 2021
sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aid should be directed to
Shelley Spedden at (302) 526–5251, at
least 5 days prior to any meeting date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
[RTID: 0648–XB411]
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
VerDate Sep<11>2014
draft document being prepared for the
Council to address issues related to the
species separation requirements in the
Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog
fisheries.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
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This DEIS is prepared
pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) to assess the
environmental impacts from alternatives
associated with a proposed management
measure to link the Pacific halibut
(Hippoglossus stenolepis) prohibited
species catch (PSC) limit for the
Amendment 80 commercial groundfish
trawl fleet in the Bering Sea and
Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish
fisheries to halibut abundance. The
objectives of linking the PSC limit are to
minimize halibut PSC to the extent
practicable under National Standard 9
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
(MSA) and to achieve optimum yield in
the BSAI groundfish fisheries on a
continuing basis under National
Standard 1. The action would also be
expected to provide incentives for the
Amendment 80 fleet to minimize
halibut mortality at all times.
Achievement of these objectives could
result in additional harvest
opportunities in the commercial halibut
fishery.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before October 25, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by NOAA–NMFS–2021–0074,
by any of the following methods:
SUMMARY:
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50332
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 171 / Wednesday, September 8, 2021 / Notices
• Electronic Submission: Submit all
electronic public comments via the
Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and enter
NOAA–NMFS–2021–0074 in the Search
box. Click the ‘‘Comment’’ 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:
Records Office. 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 the DEIS may be
obtained from https://
www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS
Alaska Region website at https://
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/bycatch/
bering-sea-and-aleutian-islands-bsaihalibut-abundance-based-management.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Joseph Krieger, telephone: 907–586–
7221.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
International Pacific Halibut
Commission (IPHC) and NMFS manage
Pacific halibut fisheries through
regulations established under the
authority of the Northern Pacific Halibut
Act of 1982 (Halibut Act) (16 U.S.C.
773–773k). The IPHC adopts regulations
governing the target fishery for Pacific
halibut under the Convention between
the United States of America and
Canada for the Preservation of the
Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific
Ocean and Bering Sea (Convention),
signed at Ottawa, Ontario, on March 2,
1953, as amended by a Protocol
Amending the Convention (signed at
Washington, DC, on March 29, 1979).
For the United States, regulations
governing the fishery for Pacific halibut
developed by the IPHC are subject to
acceptance by the Secretary of State
with concurrence from the Secretary of
Commerce. After acceptance by the
Secretary of State with the concurrence
of the Secretary of Commerce, NMFS
publishes the IPHC regulations in the
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:21 Sep 07, 2021
Jkt 253001
Federal Register as annual management
measures pursuant to 50 CFR 300.62.
IPHC and NMFS regulations authorize
the harvest of halibut in commercial,
personal use, sport and subsistence
fisheries by hook-and-line gear and pot
gear. In the BSAI, (which largely
coincides with IPHC Regulatory Area 4
(hereafter referred to as ‘‘Area 4’’) and
its five subsareas (ABCDE)), halibut is
harvested in all of these fisheries.
Section 5(c) of the Halibut Act also
provides the North Pacific Fisheries
Management Council (Council) with
authority to develop regulations that are
in addition to, and not in conflict with,
approved IPHC regulations. The Council
has exercised this authority in the
development of Federal regulations for
the halibut fishery such as (1)
subsistence halibut fishery management
measures, codified at 50 CFR 300.65; (2)
the limited access program for charter
vessels in the guided sport fishery,
codified at § 300.67; and (3) the
Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program
for the commercial halibut and sablefish
fisheries, codified at 50 CFR part 679,
under the authority of Section 5 of the
Halibut Act and Section 303(b) of the
MSA.
The Council manages the groundfish
fisheries of the BSAI under the authority
of the MSA and the Fishery
Management Plan for the Groundfish for
the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
(BSAI FMP). National Standard 9 of the
MSA requires that fishery conservation
and management measures shall, to the
extent practicable: (1) Minimize
bycatch; and (2) to the extent bycatch
cannot be avoided, minimize the
mortality of such bycatch.
In the BSAI FMP, the Council has
designated Pacific halibut, along with
several other fully utilized species such
as salmon, herring, and crab species, as
‘‘prohibited species’’ in the groundfish
fisheries (Section 3.6.1 of the BSAI
FMP). By regulation, the operator of any
vessel fishing for groundfish in the BSAI
must minimize the catch of prohibited
species (§ 679.21(a)(2)(i)). The Council
has also set catch limits for individual
PSC species, which are defined in BSAI
FMP Section 3.6.2.1. Under the
designation as a PSC species; their
capture is required to be avoided; and
their retention is prohibited except
when retention is required or authorized
by other applicable law. Unintended
removals of prohibited species are
separately monitored and controlled
under the BSAI FMP.
The Council does not have authority
to set catch limits for the commercial
halibut fisheries, and halibut PSC in the
groundfish fisheries is only one of the
factors that affects harvest limits for the
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
commercial halibut fisheries.
Nonetheless, halibut PSC in the
groundfish fisheries is a significant
portion of total mortality in BSAI IPHC
areas and has the potential to affect
catch limits for the commercial halibut
fisheries in Area 4 under the current
IPHC harvest policy. While the impact
of halibut PSC reductions on catch
limits for commercial halibut fisheries is
dependent on IPHC policy and
management decisions, reductions to
the current Amendment 80 halibut PSC
limit in the BSAI could provide
additional harvest opportunities in the
BSAI commercial halibut fishery.
A Notice of Intent to prepare this
DEIS was published in the Federal
Register on December 12, 2017 (82 FR
58374). This DEIS analyzes alternative
management measures to link the
Pacific halibut PSC limit for the
Amendment 80 commercial groundfish
trawl fleet in the BSAI groundfish
fisheries to halibut abundance. The
Council is considering a program that
provides incentives for the fleet to
minimize halibut mortality at all times,
that could promote conservation of the
halibut stock, and may provide
additional opportunities for the directed
halibut fishery.
Pacific halibut is targeted in Alaska in
commercial, personal use, recreational
(sport), and subsistence halibut
fisheries. Halibut has significant social,
cultural, and economic importance to
fishery participants and communities
throughout the geographic range of the
resource. Halibut is also incidentally
taken as bycatch in commercial
groundfish fisheries.
The Council is examining abundancebased approaches to set the halibut PSC
limit for the Amendment 80 sector in
the BSAI. Currently halibut PSC limits
for groundfish fishery sectors are set in
the BSAI FMP at a fixed amount of
halibut mortality in metric tons. When
halibut abundance declines, halibut PSC
becomes a larger proportion of total
halibut removals and can result in lower
catch limits for directed halibut
fisheries. This action is limited to the
Amendment 80 sector because that
sector is responsible for the majority of
BSAI halibut mortality in the groundfish
fisheries. In light of the continued
decline of the halibut stock, both the
Council and the IPHC have expressed
concern about impacts on directed
halibut fisheries under the status quo
and identified abundance-based halibut
PSC limits as a potential management
approach to address these concerns.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 171 / Wednesday, September 8, 2021 / Notices
Dated: September 2, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021–19380 Filed 9–7–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
of business as necessary. The agenda is
subject to change, and the latest version
will be posted at https://
meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details/
2500 prior to the meeting, along with
meeting materials.
Connection Information
You can attend the meeting online
using a computer, tablet, or smart
phone; or by phone only. Connection
information will be posted online at:
https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/
Details/2500.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XB402]
North Pacific Fishery Management
Council; Public Meeting
Public Comment
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of web conference.
AGENCY:
The North Pacific Fishery
Management Council (Council) Halibut
and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota
Committee (IFQ Committee) will meet.
DATES: The meeting will be held on
Monday, September 27, 2021, from 9
a.m. to 4 p.m., Alaska Time.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be a web
conference. Join online through the link
at https://meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/
Details/2500.
Council address: North Pacific
Fishery Management Council, 1007 W
3rd Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501–2252;
telephone: (907) 271–2809. Instructions
for attending the meeting via video
conference are given under
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sarah Marrinan, Council staff; phone;
(907) 271–2809; email: sarah.marrinan@
noaa.gov. For technical support please
contact our admin Council staff, email:
npfmc.admin@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
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Agenda
Monday, September 27, 2021
The IFQ Committee agenda will
include the review of the Initial Review
Analysis of an Omnibus IFQ
amendment package. Under
consideration in this package are
proposed changes to regulations
regarding the sablefish pot fishery:
Including gear specifications, buoy
requirements, pot limits, and gear
retrieval. Additionally, this package
considers authorizing jig gear as a legal
gear type to harvest sablefish IFQ and
temporarily removing the Adak CQE
residency requirement. There will be
time scheduled on the agenda for NMFS
update on IFQ related issues and the
Committee may also address other items
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:21 Sep 07, 2021
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Public comment letters will be
accepted and should be submitted
electronically to https://
meetings.npfmc.org/Meeting/Details/
2500.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: September 3, 2021.
Tracey L. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021–19486 Filed 9–7–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
[Docket ID: DoD–2021–OS–0077]
Notice of Request for Comments on
Barriers Facing Small Businesses in
Contracting With the Department of
Defense
Office of Small Business
Programs, Office of the Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense (Industrial Policy),
Department of Defense (DoD).
ACTION: Notice of request for public
comments.
AGENCY:
The participation of dynamic,
resilient, and innovative small
businesses in the defense industrial base
is critical to the United States’ efforts to
maintain its technological superiority,
military readiness, and warfighting
advantage. In furtherance of its efforts to
maximize opportunities for small
businesses to contribute to national
security, the Department seeks public
input on the barriers that small
businesses face in working with the
Department. This input will be used to
update the Department’s Small Business
Strategy led by the DoD Office of Small
Business Programs.
DATES: The due date for submitting
comments is October 25, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by docket number and title,
by any of the following methods:
SUMMARY:
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50333
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: DoD cannot receive written
comments at this time due to the
COVID–19 pandemic. Comments should
be sent electronically to the docket
listed above.
Instructions: All submissions received
must include the agency name, docket
number and title for this Federal
Register document. The general policy
for comments and other submissions
from members of the public is to make
these submissions available as they are
received, without change, including any
personal identifiers or contact
information for public viewing on the
internet at https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Victoria Mundt, Associate Director, of
the Office of Small Business Programs,
at (703) 697–0051 or
osd.business.defense@mail.mil.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
President Biden issued Executive
Order (E.O.) 14017, ‘‘America’s Supply
Chains’’; E.O. 13985, ‘‘Advancing Racial
Equity and Support for Underserved
Communities Through the Federal
Government’’; and E.O. 14036,
‘‘Promoting Competition in the
American Economy.’’ E.O. 14017
focuses on the need for resilient,
diverse, and secure supply chains to
ensure U.S. economic prosperity and
national security. E.O. 13985 focuses on
identifying potential barriers that
underserved communities and
individuals may face in taking
advantage of agency procurement and
contracting opportunities. E.O. 14036
focuses on reviewing the state of
competition within the defense
industrial base, including areas where a
lack of competition may be of concern.
In support of E.O.s and through DoD’s
Small Business Strategy, DoD is
focusing on reducing barriers to entry
that can reduce critical manufacturing
capacity, competition and the
availability and integrity of vital goods,
products, and services.
Small businesses play a major role in
the DoD’s supply chains, and they allow
the U.S. to maintain its technological
superiority, military readiness, and
warfighting advantages. These
companies also play a crucial role in
ensuring supply chain resilience. Last
year, the Department awarded a record
$80 billion dollars to small businesses
through prime contracts, of which over
$30 billion dollars was awarded to small
disadvantaged businesses.
Still, over the last decade small
businesses in the defense industrial base
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50331-50333]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19380]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XB330]
Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement
for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Halibut Abundance-Based
Management of Amendment 80 Prohibited Species Catch Limit
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft environmental impact
statement (DEIS); request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This DEIS is prepared pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) to assess the environmental impacts from alternatives
associated with a proposed management measure to link the Pacific
halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) prohibited species catch (PSC) limit
for the Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl fleet in the Bering
Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) groundfish fisheries to halibut
abundance. The objectives of linking the PSC limit are to minimize
halibut PSC to the extent practicable under National Standard 9 of the
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and to
achieve optimum yield in the BSAI groundfish fisheries on a continuing
basis under National Standard 1. The action would also be expected to
provide incentives for the Amendment 80 fleet to minimize halibut
mortality at all times. Achievement of these objectives could result in
additional harvest opportunities in the commercial halibut fishery.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 25, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2021-0074,
by any of the following methods:
[[Page 50332]]
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2021-0074 in the Search box.
Click the ``Comment'' 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: Records Office. 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 the DEIS may be obtained from https://www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS Alaska Region website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/bycatch/bering-sea-and-aleutian-islands-bsai-halibut-abundance-based-management.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph Krieger, telephone: 907-586-
7221.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The International Pacific Halibut Commission
(IPHC) and NMFS manage Pacific halibut fisheries through regulations
established under the authority of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of
1982 (Halibut Act) (16 U.S.C. 773-773k). The IPHC adopts regulations
governing the target fishery for Pacific halibut under the Convention
between the United States of America and Canada for the Preservation of
the Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea
(Convention), signed at Ottawa, Ontario, on March 2, 1953, as amended
by a Protocol Amending the Convention (signed at Washington, DC, on
March 29, 1979). For the United States, regulations governing the
fishery for Pacific halibut developed by the IPHC are subject to
acceptance by the Secretary of State with concurrence from the
Secretary of Commerce. After acceptance by the Secretary of State with
the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce, NMFS publishes the IPHC
regulations in the Federal Register as annual management measures
pursuant to 50 CFR 300.62. IPHC and NMFS regulations authorize the
harvest of halibut in commercial, personal use, sport and subsistence
fisheries by hook-and-line gear and pot gear. In the BSAI, (which
largely coincides with IPHC Regulatory Area 4 (hereafter referred to as
``Area 4'') and its five subsareas (ABCDE)), halibut is harvested in
all of these fisheries.
Section 5(c) of the Halibut Act also provides the North Pacific
Fisheries Management Council (Council) with authority to develop
regulations that are in addition to, and not in conflict with, approved
IPHC regulations. The Council has exercised this authority in the
development of Federal regulations for the halibut fishery such as (1)
subsistence halibut fishery management measures, codified at 50 CFR
300.65; (2) the limited access program for charter vessels in the
guided sport fishery, codified at Sec. 300.67; and (3) the Individual
Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program for the commercial halibut and sablefish
fisheries, codified at 50 CFR part 679, under the authority of Section
5 of the Halibut Act and Section 303(b) of the MSA.
The Council manages the groundfish fisheries of the BSAI under the
authority of the MSA and the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish
for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI FMP). National Standard 9
of the MSA requires that fishery conservation and management measures
shall, to the extent practicable: (1) Minimize bycatch; and (2) to the
extent bycatch cannot be avoided, minimize the mortality of such
bycatch.
In the BSAI FMP, the Council has designated Pacific halibut, along
with several other fully utilized species such as salmon, herring, and
crab species, as ``prohibited species'' in the groundfish fisheries
(Section 3.6.1 of the BSAI FMP). By regulation, the operator of any
vessel fishing for groundfish in the BSAI must minimize the catch of
prohibited species (Sec. 679.21(a)(2)(i)). The Council has also set
catch limits for individual PSC species, which are defined in BSAI FMP
Section 3.6.2.1. Under the designation as a PSC species; their capture
is required to be avoided; and their retention is prohibited except
when retention is required or authorized by other applicable law.
Unintended removals of prohibited species are separately monitored and
controlled under the BSAI FMP.
The Council does not have authority to set catch limits for the
commercial halibut fisheries, and halibut PSC in the groundfish
fisheries is only one of the factors that affects harvest limits for
the commercial halibut fisheries. Nonetheless, halibut PSC in the
groundfish fisheries is a significant portion of total mortality in
BSAI IPHC areas and has the potential to affect catch limits for the
commercial halibut fisheries in Area 4 under the current IPHC harvest
policy. While the impact of halibut PSC reductions on catch limits for
commercial halibut fisheries is dependent on IPHC policy and management
decisions, reductions to the current Amendment 80 halibut PSC limit in
the BSAI could provide additional harvest opportunities in the BSAI
commercial halibut fishery.
A Notice of Intent to prepare this DEIS was published in the
Federal Register on December 12, 2017 (82 FR 58374). This DEIS analyzes
alternative management measures to link the Pacific halibut PSC limit
for the Amendment 80 commercial groundfish trawl fleet in the BSAI
groundfish fisheries to halibut abundance. The Council is considering a
program that provides incentives for the fleet to minimize halibut
mortality at all times, that could promote conservation of the halibut
stock, and may provide additional opportunities for the directed
halibut fishery.
Pacific halibut is targeted in Alaska in commercial, personal use,
recreational (sport), and subsistence halibut fisheries. Halibut has
significant social, cultural, and economic importance to fishery
participants and communities throughout the geographic range of the
resource. Halibut is also incidentally taken as bycatch in commercial
groundfish fisheries.
The Council is examining abundance-based approaches to set the
halibut PSC limit for the Amendment 80 sector in the BSAI. Currently
halibut PSC limits for groundfish fishery sectors are set in the BSAI
FMP at a fixed amount of halibut mortality in metric tons. When halibut
abundance declines, halibut PSC becomes a larger proportion of total
halibut removals and can result in lower catch limits for directed
halibut fisheries. This action is limited to the Amendment 80 sector
because that sector is responsible for the majority of BSAI halibut
mortality in the groundfish fisheries. In light of the continued
decline of the halibut stock, both the Council and the IPHC have
expressed concern about impacts on directed halibut fisheries under the
status quo and identified abundance-based halibut PSC limits as a
potential management approach to address these concerns.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
[[Page 50333]]
Dated: September 2, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-19380 Filed 9-7-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P