Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits, 13149-13150 [2025-04801]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 53 (Thursday, March 20, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13149-13150]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04801]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XE736]


Magnuson-Stevens 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.

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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary 
determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application 
contains all of the required information and warrants further 
consideration. The EFP would allow federally permitted fishing vessels 
to fish outside fishery regulations in support of exempted fishing 
activities proposed by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries 
(MA DMF). Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide 
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for 
proposed EFPs.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 4, 2025.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by the following method:
     Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject line 
``MA DMF herring genomics EFP''.
    All comments received are a part of the public record and may be 
posted for public viewing 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).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Trudeau, Fishery Resource 
Management Specialist, [email protected], 978-281-9252.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The applicant submitted a complete 
application for an EFP to conduct commercial fishing activities that 
the regulations would otherwise restrict. This EFP would exempt the 
participating vessels from the following Federal regulations:

                      Table 1--Requested Exemptions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
         CFR citation               Regulation       Need for exemption
------------------------------------------------------------------------
50 CFR 648.201(d)(1)..........  No harvest in      To allow harvest in
                                 Area 1A during     Area 1A during April
                                 January-May.       and May.
Sec.   648.202(a)(1)..........  Restriction on     To allow use of
                                 midwater           midwater trawl in
                                 trawling from      Area 1A during June-
                                 June 1 to          September.
                                 September 30 in
                                 Area 1A.
Sec.   648.80(a)(3)(vi).......  Restrictions on    To allow use of small
                                 fishing in Gulf    mesh bottom trawl in
                                 of Maine (GOM)     GOM and GB Regulated
                                 and Georges Bank   Mesh Areas.
                                 (GB) Exemption
                                 Areas.
Sec.   648.81(d)(1)...........  Seasonal gear      To allow use of small
                                 restrictions in    mesh bottom trawl
                                 GOM Cod            during April-
                                 Protection         November in GOM Cod
                                 Closures.          Protection Closure
                                                    Areas, excluding
                                                    year-round
                                                    groundfish closed
                                                    areas.

[[Page 13150]]

 
Sec.   648.11, but not to       Monitoring         Sampling trips will
 include 648.11(m)(2).           coverage.          be non-
                                                    representative of
                                                    the herring fishery
                                                    and could negatively
                                                    affect NEFOP data
                                                    quality. As stated
                                                    in 648.11(m)(2), the
                                                    participating
                                                    vessels are still
                                                    required to submit
                                                    pre-trip
                                                    notifications.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Project Narrative

    The MA DMF is requesting an EFP in support of a study developing a 
genomic tool to evaluate the genomic population structure of Atlantic 
herring. The current system of herring management sets area-specific 
annual catch limits (ACL) based on estimates of spawning component 
abundance and seasonal mixing rates. These estimates have not been 
updated since implementation of the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management 
Plan in 2000. This study is intended to improve scientific 
understanding of the contributions of genetically distinct sub-
populations to herring stocks in U.S. waters and, therefore, may allow 
fisheries managers to update area-specific ACLs to reflect their 
spawning components.
    Sampling for this study would begin upon approval and end by 
December 31, 2025. This EFP would authorize 3 fishing vessels to retain 
a total of 3,000 adult herring (approximately 970 pounds (lb); 440 
kilograms (kg)) during the spring and fall spawning seasons from 5 
spawning grounds: Eastern Gulf of Maine; Western Gulf of Maine; 
Jeffreys Ledge; the Great South Channel; and Georges Bank. The vessel 
sampling the Eastern Gulf of Maine and Western Gulf of Maine areas 
would primarily use midwater trawl gear with the option of switching to 
purse seine. The two vessels fishing Jeffreys Ledge, the Great South 
Channel, and Georges Bank would use small-mesh bottom trawl gear. These 
vessels are expected to spend approximately 20 days on the water to 
conduct sampling in 5 areas twice in both the fall and spring seasons. 
Spring sampling would take place in April and May, and fall sampling 
would occur from August to November. During each trip, the project team 
plans to conduct short, 5-60-minute tows to catch and retain 150 adult 
herring from each area sampled. If more than 150 herring are captured, 
the crew would continue to retain herring until they have no more space 
in their insulated cooler. The cooler would hold a maximum of 
approximately 300 herring, and any further captures would then be 
discarded.
    After sampling, the research team would use low-coverage, whole-
genome sequencing to identify a panel of small genetic differences that 
can reliably differentiate between herring sub-populations. Through 
peer-reviewed publication on their genomic tool and their findings 
regarding Atlantic herring genomic population structure, the research 
team may enable fishery managers to update area-specific ACLs to 
support the sustainable harvest of each spawning component.
    Genomic tools require relatively small sample sizes. The project 
team proposes to harvest a total of 970 lb (440 kg) of Atlantic herring 
over no more than 20 sampling trips, which is 15 percent of the 6,600-
lb (2,993-kg) possession limit associated with an Open Access Category 
D Permit. Because the project requires sampling spawning herring, 
vessels would sample during the areas' fall spawning closures. Although 
MA DMF plans to conduct tows between 30 and 60 minutes, vessel 
operators would plan to capture sufficient samples with the least 
amount of fishing effort possible, including tows as short as 5 
minutes. Technologies such as net-mounted echosounders, for example, 
would be used to identify herring entering the net and, therefore, 
signal operators to end the tow early. Because of the low amount of 
fishing effort that this sampling would require, discards of 
incidentally captured species are expected to be relatively low, around 
10,000 lb (4,536 kg) total over 20 trips. Based on observer data from 
the same areas and gears, the highest volume of bycatch is expected to 
be of silver hake, with expected discards of around 7,000 lb (3,176 
kg).
    The applicants state that the exemption allowing vessels to fish in 
GOM Cod Protection Closure Areas is necessary for sampling herring in 
the Jeffreys Ledge spawning area. Based on existing observer data and 
the project team's knowledge of herring spawning locations, they are 
expecting to cause nearly-zero Atlantic cod bycatch mortality during 
their sampling. Based on observer data collected from vessels fishing 
in the same statistical areas using the same gear, the research team 
expects this sampling to catch a total of 4.4 lb (2.0 kg) cod. In 
addition, the research team expects to catch herring in deeper water 
and softer substrate than where cod are abundant and/or spawning. 
Finally, the research team has previously measured a 93-percent 
survival rate for cod captured using short tows with bottom trawl gear 
(Zemeckis et al., 2019). Therefore, although a very small amount of cod 
catch is possible, the research application suggests that cod would be 
returned to the water as soon as possible and would be very likely to 
survive.
    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.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: March 17, 2025.
Karen H. Abrams,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-04801 Filed 3-19-25; 8:45 am]
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