Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits, 39829-39831 [2023-13064]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 117 / Tuesday, June 20, 2023 / Notices
effectively. Segmentation allows for a
more detailed level of authorization and
access, visibility into network flows
among critical assets and infrastructure,
and control of device management, and
minimizes the potential harm from
threats by isolating them to a limited
part of the network.
In their letters of interest, responding
organizations need to acknowledge the
importance of and commit to provide:
1. Access for all participants’ project
teams to component interfaces and the
organization’s experts necessary to make
functional connections among security
platform components.
2. Support for development and
demonstration of the Cybersecurity for
the Water and Wastewater Sector: A
Practical Reference Design for
Mitigating Cyber Risk in Water and
Wastewater Systems project, which will
be conducted in a manner consistent
with the following standards and
guidance: FIPS 200, FIPS 201, SP 800–
82 and SP 800–53, the NIST
Cybersecurity Framework, and the NIST
Privacy Framework.
Additional details about the
Cybersecurity for the Water and
Wastewater Sector: A Practical
Reference Design for Mitigating Cyber
Risk in Water and Wastewater Systems
project are available at
www.nccoe.nist.gov/projects/securingwater-and-wastewater-utilities.
NIST cannot guarantee that all the
products proposed by respondents will
be used in the demonstration. Each
prospective participant will be expected
to work collaboratively with NIST staff
and other project participants under the
terms of the NCCoE consortium CRADA
in the development of the Cybersecurity
for the Water and Wastewater Sector: A
Practical Reference Design for
Mitigating Cyber Risk in Water and
Wastewater Systems project. Prospective
participants’ contribution to the
collaborative effort will include
assistance in establishing the necessary
interface functionality, connection and
set-up capabilities and procedures,
demonstration harnesses, environmental
and safety conditions for use, integrated
platform user instructions, and
demonstration plans and scripts
necessary to demonstrate the desired
capabilities. Each participant will train
NIST personnel, as necessary, to operate
its product in capability
demonstrations. Following successful
demonstrations, NIST will publish a
description of the security platform and
its performance characteristics sufficient
to permit other organizations to develop
and deploy security platforms that meet
the security objectives of the
Cybersecurity for the Water and
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Wastewater Sector: A Practical
Reference Design for Mitigating Cyber
Risk in Water and Wastewater Systems
project. These descriptions will be
public information. Under the terms of
the NCCoE consortium CRADA, NIST
will support development of interfaces
among participants’ products by
providing IT infrastructure, laboratory
facilities, office facilities, collaboration
facilities, and staff support to
component composition, security
platform documentation, and
demonstration activities.
The dates of the demonstration of
Cybersecurity for the Water and
Wastewater Sector: A Practical
Reference Design for Mitigating Cyber
Risk in Water and Wastewater Systems
project capability will be announced on
the NCCoE website at least two weeks
in advance at https://nccoe.nist.gov/.
The expected outcome will demonstrate
how the components of the
Cybersecurity for the Water and
Wastewater Sector: A Practical
Reference Design for Mitigating Cyber
Risk in Water and Wastewater Systems
project architecture can provide security
capabilities to mitigate identified risks
related to data throughout its lifecycle.
Participating organizations will gain
from the knowledge that their products
are interoperable with other
participants’ offerings.
For additional information on the
NCCoE governance, business processes,
and NCCoE operational structure, visit
the NCCoE website https://
nccoe.nist.gov/.
Alicia Chambers,
NIST Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2023–13043 Filed 6–16–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–13–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XD084]
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries
Cooperative Management Act
Provisions; General Provisions for
Domestic Fisheries; Application for
Exempted Fishing Permits
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
AGENCY:
The Assistant Regional
Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries,
SUMMARY:
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39829
Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has
made a preliminary determination that
an Exempted Fishing Permit application
contains all of the required information
and warrants further consideration. The
Exempted Fishing Permit would allow
commercial fishing vessels to fish
outside fishery regulations in support of
research conducted by the applicant.
Regulations under the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act and the Atlantic
Coastal Fisheries Cooperative
Management Act require publication of
this notification to provide interested
parties the opportunity to comment on
applications for proposed Exempted
Fishing Permits.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before July 5, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written
comments by the following method:
• Email: nmfs.gar.efp@noaa.gov.
Include in the subject line ‘‘NEFSC OnDemand Gear EFP.’’
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laura Deighan, Fishery Management
Specialist, Laura.Deighan@noaa.gov,
(978) 281–9184.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science
Center submitted a complete application
for an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) to
conduct commercial fishing activities
that the regulations would otherwise
restrict to expand trials of on-demand
fishing gear that uses one or no surface
buoys and to test the ability of gear
marking systems to consistently locate
gear. This EFP would exempt the
participating vessels from the gear
marking requirements at 50 CFR
697.21(b)(2) to allow the use of trawls of
more than three traps with no more than
one surface marking and § 648.84(b) to
allow the use of gillnet gear with no
more than one surface marking.
Exempted fishing activities would take
place between August 21, 2023, and
August 20, 2024.
The project is a continuation and
expansion of the Center’s efforts to trial
on-demand fishing systems (also known
as ropeless or buoyless) aimed at
reducing entanglement risk to protected
species, mainly the North Atlantic right
whale, in trap/pot and gillnet fisheries.
The Center’s existing EFP will expire on
August 21, 2023, and authorizes gear
trials on up to 100 trap/pot vessels. As
of March 2023, the Center had collected
data from 707 hauls of on-demand gear
in Federal waters under its current EFP.
Of these, 267 hauls took place in Lobster
Management Area (LMA) 3, 164 in LMA
2, and 276 in LMA 1. The Center
reported two instances of gear loss or
gear conflict. One incident involved a
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 117 / Tuesday, June 20, 2023 / Notices
gear conflict with a mobile fishing
vessel, the second incident was related
to a malfunction of the on-demand gear
itself. The Center has increased outreach
to encourage use of the Trap Tracker
app by non-participant vessels. As of
March 2023, approximately 42 fixedgear and 5 mobile-gear vessels are using
Trap Tracker.
This project would expand trials to
allow up to 200 trap/pot vessels to
replace up to 10 of their existing trawls
(up to 2,000 trawls total) with modified
trawls, including in Atlantic Large
Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP)
Restricted Areas. It would also add the
opportunity to trial on-demand gear in
gillnet fisheries, with up to 5 of the 200
vessels fishing up to 8 (40 total)
modified gillnet strings. Modified gear
would replace one or both traditional
end lines with acoustic on-demand
systems and other alternatives to static
buoy lines (including, but not limited
to, spooled systems, buoy and stowed
rope systems, lift bag systems, and
grappling).
The ultimate goal of this project is to
enable the continuation of some of the
region’s most valuable and historically
significant fisheries while also meeting
the requirements set forth by the
ALWTRP and section 118(f) of the
Marine Mammal Protection Act,
specifically reducing the level of serious
injury and mortality of North Atlantic
right, humpback, and fin whales in
commercial fisheries. To achieve this,
the project includes objectives to test
the efficacy of fully on-demand trawls
and the adequacy of gear marking
systems that use data hubs and
visualization platforms to share ondemand gear locations. The project is
intended to address challenges and data
needs associated with on-demand gear,
including:
• Increasing availability of and
standardizing participant training;
• Reducing operational interruptions
(line snarls, gear breakage, acoustic
response issues, etc.);
• Evaluating multiple prototypes
under the range of fishing conditions;
• Evaluating retrieval times with
through-hull transducers;
• Evaluating float modifications;
• Evaluating modifications to
facilitate faster retrieval in low visibility
conditions;
• Evaluating new prototypes;
• Improving stackability on deck;
• Improving gear detection by other
fishermen and relevant stakeholders
(e.g., wind surveyors);
• Improving access to location data
(e.g., overlaying on digital charts);
• Improving the ability to upload data
(e.g., outside of cell data range);
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• Increasing data to support
regulatory analyses (e.g., costs in time
and landings; costs/savings associated
with gear conflicts); and,
• Increasing performance of ondemand gear through feedback to
manufacturers.
To ensure that on-demand fishing and
gear marking technologies are
adequately tested across the breadth of
regional commercial fishing conditions,
the Center requests the flexibility to test
on-demand gear across the geographic
range of the Federal American lobster
and Jonah crab fishery (LMAs 1–5 and
the Nearshore Outer Cape LMA),
including testing fully on-demand gear
(no persistent vertical lines) in ALTWRP
Restricted Areas. It also requests the
opportunity to trial on-demand gillnet
gear on federally permitted monkfish,
groundfish, spiny dogfish, and skate
vessels from Maine to Virginia. To cover
a greater area and target areas where
data is needed, the Center has requested
the flexibility to have greater than 200
participants during the one-year period
(with only 200 fishing at one time) and
would provide requested modifications
to the active participants, general
locations, and technologies to be tested
one month in advance. Priority would
be given to participants who are
seasonally excluded from fishing in
certain areas and/or participants in
offshore fisheries that have limited
entanglement mitigation options
available. The Center is also specifically
targeting increased wintertime data
collection.
This permit would only exempt
vessels from the specified Federal
regulations in Federal waters. It would
not exempt the vessels from any
requirements imposed by any state, the
Endangered Species Act, the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, or any other
applicable laws. The applicant would be
responsible for obtaining all required
state authorizations. Other than gear
markings, all trap trawls and gillnet
strings would be consistent with the
regulations of the management area
where the vessel is fishing and would be
fished in accordance with the
participating vessels’ standard
operations (number and length of trips,
soak times, trap limits, etc.).
The use of on-demand trap/pot gear in
the ALWTRP Restricted Areas is limited
to gear without any persistent vertical
lines. The Center would allow
incremental expansion of on-demand
trials in the Restricted Areas, depending
on its capacity to provide gear and
manage the activity. In recognition of
industry’s interest in grappling as a lowcost alternative to acoustic on-demand
systems, this project would also allow
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up to 25 vessels to retrieve fewer than
10 buoyless trawls via grappling,
including in ALWTRP Restricted Areas.
This would enable the Center to collect
data on the viability of grappling at a
commercial scale. This would be
consistent with what is authorized
under the existing EFP, although no
grappling trials have occurred to-date.
In the first phase of participation, staff
from the Center and the gear
manufacturers would provide training
to ensure the system is working as
intended and all participants have
sufficient experience with the gear prior
to borrowing from the gear cache
library. In the second phase,
participating vessels would rig an ondemand system to one end of a standard
trawl or string and fish it as a hybrid
(with one traditional surface marking)
for at least 10 hauls per system. In phase
three, participants would fish the gear
as part of normal fishing operations,
including fishing fully on-demand gear
and in the ALTWRP Restricted Areas. In
some cases, a scientific observer may be
on board, and/or GoPro Systems (or
equivalent) may record gear retrievals.
The Center would provide standardized
data collection sheets to all participants,
but individually-identifiable data will
only be made public with the express
permission of the vessel owner.
The Center also plans to include
targeted geolocation studies in areas
with limited trawling and/or dredging to
test new location-marking systems on
the seafloor and automated locationmarking when gear is set and retrieved.
This EFP would support efforts to
improve gear-marking and gear-conflict
avoidance technologies, including
testing the amount of effort to mark subsurface gear location in the Trap Tracker
app (vs. surface location where the gear
is deployed) and other sub-surface gear
marking technologies. This EFP would
also test the use of the EarthRanger
platform that displays gear locations
from various gear-marking technologies.
The Center would demonstrate and
continue to encourage the adoption of
these technologies with non-participant
vessels.
The Center proposes the following
best practices and risk reduction
measures:
• All vessels would report all right
whale sightings to NMFS via
ne.rw.survey@noaa.gov or NOAA (866–
755–6622) or the U.S. Coast Guard
(Channel 16) and record sightings on
data sheets;
• All vessels would retrieve ondemand vertical lines as quickly as
possible to minimize time in the water
column;
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• All vessels would adhere to current
approach regulations—a 500-yard
(457.2-meter or 1,500-foot) buffer zone
created by a surfacing right whale—and
must depart immediately at a safe and
slow speed, in accordance with current
regulations. Hauling any lobster gear
would immediately cease (by removal)
to accommodate the regulation and be
reinitiated only after it is reasonable to
assume the whale has left the area;
• All vessels would provide
mandatory, weekly gear loss reports;
• All vessels would operate within a
10-knot speed limit when transiting
Restricted Areas or when whales are
observed;
• For fully on-demand gear without
traditional surface markings,
participants would use the Trap Tracker
or an equivalent technology for retrieval
and set positioning details, which
would be available to Federal, state, and
corresponding enforcement personnel,
as well as other fishermen;
• For fully on-demand gear without
traditional surface markings, on-demand
vertical lines would be marked with
unique yellow/black/orange marks
above the regional markings, in addition
to ALWTRP regulations (per agreement
with the NMFS Atlantic Large Whale
Take Reduction Team Coordinator);
• When fishing in ALWTRP
Restricted Areas, vessels would check
real-time right whale sightings
information (such as Right Whale
Sightings Advisories and Whale Alert
before setting any gear and avoid areas
of high right whale abundance, and all
vessels would be recommended to
follow this process when setting gear
outside the ALWTRP Restricted Areas;
• In the Restricted Areas, vessels
would fly a unique flag for enforcement
recognition;
• The Center would provide monthly
updates on any gear conflicts to the
Sustainable Fisheries Division at the
Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries
Office; and,
• Sustainable Fisheries Division staff
would be invited to recurring gear
coordination calls with time dedicated
to EFP discussion.
If approved, the applicant may
request minor modifications and
extensions to the EFP throughout the
year. EFP modifications and extensions
may be granted without further notice if
they are deemed essential to facilitate
completion of the proposed research
and have minimal impacts that do not
change the scope or impact of the
initially approved EFP request. Any
fishing activity conducted outside the
scope of the exempted fishing activity
would be prohibited.
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All comments received are a part of
the public record and will generally be
posted for public viewing at https://
www.noaa.gov/organization/
information-technology/foia-readingroom 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 ‘‘anonymous’’ as the
signature if you wish to remain
anonymous).
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: June 14, 2023.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023–13064 Filed 6–16–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XC936]
Pacific Island Fisheries; Marine
Conservation Plan for the Pacific
Insular Area for the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands; Western
Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Fund
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of agency decision.
AGENCY:
NMFS announces approval of
a Marine Conservation Plan (MCP) for
the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands (CNMI).
DATES: This agency decision is effective
from August 4, 2023, through August 3,
2026.
ADDRESSES: You may obtain a copy of
the MCP, identified by NOAA–NMFS–
2023–0058, from the Federal eRulemaking Portal, https://
www.regulations.gov/docket/NOAANMFS-2023-0058, or from the Western
Pacific Fishery Management Council
(Council), 1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400,
Honolulu, HI 96813, tel 808–522–8220,
www.wpcouncil.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Keith Kamikawa, Sustainable Fisheries,
NMFS Pacific Islands Regional Office,
808–725–5177.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section
204(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson-Stevens Act) authorizes the
Secretary of State, with the concurrence
SUMMARY:
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39831
of the Secretary of Commerce
(Secretary), and in consultation with the
Council, to negotiate and enter into a
Pacific Insular Area fishery agreement
(PIAFA). A PIAFA would allow foreign
fishing within the U.S. Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ) adjacent to
American Samoa, Guam, or the CNMI.
The Governor of the Pacific Insular Area
to which the PIAFA applies must
request the PIAFA. The Secretary of
State may negotiate and enter the PIAFA
after consultation with, and concurrence
of, the applicable Governor.
Before entering into a PIAFA, the
applicable Governor, with concurrence
of the Council, must develop and
submit to the Secretary a 3-year MCP
providing details on uses for any funds
collected by the Secretary under the
PIAFA. NMFS is the designee of the
Secretary for MCP review and approval.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires
payments received under a PIAFA to be
deposited into the United States
Treasury and then conveyed to the
Treasury of the Pacific Insular Area for
which funds were collected.
In the case of violations by foreign
fishing vessels in the EEZ around any
Pacific Insular Area, amounts received
by the Secretary attributable to fines and
penalties imposed under the MagnusonStevens Act, including sums collected
from the forfeiture and disposition or
sale of property seized subject to its
authority, shall be deposited into the
Treasury of the Pacific Insular Area
adjacent to the EEZ in which the
violation occurred, after direct costs of
the enforcement action are subtracted.
The Pacific Insular Area government
may use funds deposited into the
Treasury of the Pacific Insular Area for
fisheries enforcement and for
implementation of an MCP.
Federal regulations at 50 CFR 665.819
authorize NMFS to specify catch limits
for longline-caught bigeye tuna for U.S.
territories. NMFS may also authorize
each territory to allocate a portion of
that limit to U.S. longline fishing vessels
that are permitted to fish under the
Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Pelagic
Fisheries of the Western Pacific (FEP).
Payments collected under specified
fishing agreements are deposited into
the Western Pacific Sustainable
Fisheries Fund, and any funds
attributable to a particular territory may
be used only for implementation of that
territory’s MCP. An MCP must be
consistent with the Council’s FEPs,
must identify conservation and
management objectives (including
criteria for determining when such
objectives have been met), and must
prioritize planned marine conservation
projects.
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 117 (Tuesday, June 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39829-39831]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13064]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XD084]
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act
Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for
Exempted Fishing Permits
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary
determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application contains all
of the required information and warrants further consideration. The
Exempted Fishing Permit would allow commercial fishing vessels to fish
outside fishery regulations in support of research conducted by the
applicant. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act and the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative
Management Act require publication of this notification to provide
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for
proposed Exempted Fishing Permits.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 5, 2023.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by the following method:
Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject line
``NEFSC On-Demand Gear EFP.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Deighan, Fishery Management
Specialist, [email protected], (978) 281-9184.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
submitted a complete application for an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP)
to conduct commercial fishing activities that the regulations would
otherwise restrict to expand trials of on-demand fishing gear that uses
one or no surface buoys and to test the ability of gear marking systems
to consistently locate gear. This EFP would exempt the participating
vessels from the gear marking requirements at 50 CFR 697.21(b)(2) to
allow the use of trawls of more than three traps with no more than one
surface marking and Sec. 648.84(b) to allow the use of gillnet gear
with no more than one surface marking. Exempted fishing activities
would take place between August 21, 2023, and August 20, 2024.
The project is a continuation and expansion of the Center's efforts
to trial on-demand fishing systems (also known as ropeless or buoyless)
aimed at reducing entanglement risk to protected species, mainly the
North Atlantic right whale, in trap/pot and gillnet fisheries. The
Center's existing EFP will expire on August 21, 2023, and authorizes
gear trials on up to 100 trap/pot vessels. As of March 2023, the Center
had collected data from 707 hauls of on-demand gear in Federal waters
under its current EFP. Of these, 267 hauls took place in Lobster
Management Area (LMA) 3, 164 in LMA 2, and 276 in LMA 1. The Center
reported two instances of gear loss or gear conflict. One incident
involved a
[[Page 39830]]
gear conflict with a mobile fishing vessel, the second incident was
related to a malfunction of the on-demand gear itself. The Center has
increased outreach to encourage use of the Trap Tracker app by non-
participant vessels. As of March 2023, approximately 42 fixed-gear and
5 mobile-gear vessels are using Trap Tracker.
This project would expand trials to allow up to 200 trap/pot
vessels to replace up to 10 of their existing trawls (up to 2,000
trawls total) with modified trawls, including in Atlantic Large Whale
Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) Restricted Areas. It would also add the
opportunity to trial on-demand gear in gillnet fisheries, with up to 5
of the 200 vessels fishing up to 8 (40 total) modified gillnet strings.
Modified gear would replace one or both traditional end lines with
acoustic on-demand systems and other alternatives to static buoy lines
(including, but not limited to, spooled systems, buoy and stowed rope
systems, lift bag systems, and grappling).
The ultimate goal of this project is to enable the continuation of
some of the region's most valuable and historically significant
fisheries while also meeting the requirements set forth by the ALWTRP
and section 118(f) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, specifically
reducing the level of serious injury and mortality of North Atlantic
right, humpback, and fin whales in commercial fisheries. To achieve
this, the project includes objectives to test the efficacy of fully on-
demand trawls and the adequacy of gear marking systems that use data
hubs and visualization platforms to share on-demand gear locations. The
project is intended to address challenges and data needs associated
with on-demand gear, including:
Increasing availability of and standardizing participant
training;
Reducing operational interruptions (line snarls, gear
breakage, acoustic response issues, etc.);
Evaluating multiple prototypes under the range of fishing
conditions;
Evaluating retrieval times with through-hull transducers;
Evaluating float modifications;
Evaluating modifications to facilitate faster retrieval in
low visibility conditions;
Evaluating new prototypes;
Improving stackability on deck;
Improving gear detection by other fishermen and relevant
stakeholders (e.g., wind surveyors);
Improving access to location data (e.g., overlaying on
digital charts);
Improving the ability to upload data (e.g., outside of
cell data range);
Increasing data to support regulatory analyses (e.g.,
costs in time and landings; costs/savings associated with gear
conflicts); and,
Increasing performance of on-demand gear through feedback
to manufacturers.
To ensure that on-demand fishing and gear marking technologies are
adequately tested across the breadth of regional commercial fishing
conditions, the Center requests the flexibility to test on-demand gear
across the geographic range of the Federal American lobster and Jonah
crab fishery (LMAs 1-5 and the Nearshore Outer Cape LMA), including
testing fully on-demand gear (no persistent vertical lines) in ALTWRP
Restricted Areas. It also requests the opportunity to trial on-demand
gillnet gear on federally permitted monkfish, groundfish, spiny
dogfish, and skate vessels from Maine to Virginia. To cover a greater
area and target areas where data is needed, the Center has requested
the flexibility to have greater than 200 participants during the one-
year period (with only 200 fishing at one time) and would provide
requested modifications to the active participants, general locations,
and technologies to be tested one month in advance. Priority would be
given to participants who are seasonally excluded from fishing in
certain areas and/or participants in offshore fisheries that have
limited entanglement mitigation options available. The Center is also
specifically targeting increased wintertime data collection.
This permit would only exempt vessels from the specified Federal
regulations in Federal waters. It would not exempt the vessels from any
requirements imposed by any state, the Endangered Species Act, the
Marine Mammal Protection Act, or any other applicable laws. The
applicant would be responsible for obtaining all required state
authorizations. Other than gear markings, all trap trawls and gillnet
strings would be consistent with the regulations of the management area
where the vessel is fishing and would be fished in accordance with the
participating vessels' standard operations (number and length of trips,
soak times, trap limits, etc.).
The use of on-demand trap/pot gear in the ALWTRP Restricted Areas
is limited to gear without any persistent vertical lines. The Center
would allow incremental expansion of on-demand trials in the Restricted
Areas, depending on its capacity to provide gear and manage the
activity. In recognition of industry's interest in grappling as a low-
cost alternative to acoustic on-demand systems, this project would also
allow up to 25 vessels to retrieve fewer than 10 buoyless trawls via
grappling, including in ALWTRP Restricted Areas. This would enable the
Center to collect data on the viability of grappling at a commercial
scale. This would be consistent with what is authorized under the
existing EFP, although no grappling trials have occurred to-date.
In the first phase of participation, staff from the Center and the
gear manufacturers would provide training to ensure the system is
working as intended and all participants have sufficient experience
with the gear prior to borrowing from the gear cache library. In the
second phase, participating vessels would rig an on-demand system to
one end of a standard trawl or string and fish it as a hybrid (with one
traditional surface marking) for at least 10 hauls per system. In phase
three, participants would fish the gear as part of normal fishing
operations, including fishing fully on-demand gear and in the ALTWRP
Restricted Areas. In some cases, a scientific observer may be on board,
and/or GoPro Systems (or equivalent) may record gear retrievals. The
Center would provide standardized data collection sheets to all
participants, but individually-identifiable data will only be made
public with the express permission of the vessel owner.
The Center also plans to include targeted geolocation studies in
areas with limited trawling and/or dredging to test new location-
marking systems on the seafloor and automated location-marking when
gear is set and retrieved. This EFP would support efforts to improve
gear-marking and gear-conflict avoidance technologies, including
testing the amount of effort to mark sub-surface gear location in the
Trap Tracker app (vs. surface location where the gear is deployed) and
other sub-surface gear marking technologies. This EFP would also test
the use of the EarthRanger platform that displays gear locations from
various gear-marking technologies. The Center would demonstrate and
continue to encourage the adoption of these technologies with non-
participant vessels.
The Center proposes the following best practices and risk reduction
measures:
All vessels would report all right whale sightings to NMFS
via [email protected] or NOAA (866-755-6622) or the U.S. Coast
Guard (Channel 16) and record sightings on data sheets;
All vessels would retrieve on-demand vertical lines as
quickly as possible to minimize time in the water column;
[[Page 39831]]
All vessels would adhere to current approach regulations--
a 500-yard (457.2-meter or 1,500-foot) buffer zone created by a
surfacing right whale--and must depart immediately at a safe and slow
speed, in accordance with current regulations. Hauling any lobster gear
would immediately cease (by removal) to accommodate the regulation and
be reinitiated only after it is reasonable to assume the whale has left
the area;
All vessels would provide mandatory, weekly gear loss
reports;
All vessels would operate within a 10-knot speed limit
when transiting Restricted Areas or when whales are observed;
For fully on-demand gear without traditional surface
markings, participants would use the Trap Tracker or an equivalent
technology for retrieval and set positioning details, which would be
available to Federal, state, and corresponding enforcement personnel,
as well as other fishermen;
For fully on-demand gear without traditional surface
markings, on-demand vertical lines would be marked with unique yellow/
black/orange marks above the regional markings, in addition to ALWTRP
regulations (per agreement with the NMFS Atlantic Large Whale Take
Reduction Team Coordinator);
When fishing in ALWTRP Restricted Areas, vessels would
check real-time right whale sightings information (such as Right Whale
Sightings Advisories and Whale Alert before setting any gear and avoid
areas of high right whale abundance, and all vessels would be
recommended to follow this process when setting gear outside the ALWTRP
Restricted Areas;
In the Restricted Areas, vessels would fly a unique flag
for enforcement recognition;
The Center would provide monthly updates on any gear
conflicts to the Sustainable Fisheries Division at the Greater Atlantic
Regional Fisheries Office; and,
Sustainable Fisheries Division staff would be invited to
recurring gear coordination calls with time dedicated to EFP
discussion.
If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and
extensions to the EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and
extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed
essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and have
minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the initially
approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope
of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.
All comments received are a part of the public record and will
generally be posted for public viewing at https://www.noaa.gov/organization/information-technology/foia-reading-room 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 ``anonymous'' as the signature if
you wish to remain anonymous).
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: June 14, 2023.
Jennifer M. Wallace,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-13064 Filed 6-16-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
