Department of Commerce February 13, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule implements approved measures in Amendment 5 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Amendment 5 was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) to: Improve the collection of real-time, accurate catch information; enhance the monitoring and sampling of catch at-sea; and address bycatch issues through responsible management. The approved measures include: Revising fishery management program provisions (permitting provisions, vessel notification requirements, measures to address herring carrier vessels, regulatory definitions, and requirements for vessel monitoring systems); expanding vessel requirements to maximize observers' ability to sample catch at-sea; minimizing the discarding of unsampled catch (commonly known as slippage); addressing the incidental catch and bycatch of river herring; and revising the criteria for midwater trawl vessels' access to Northeast multispecies (groundfish) closed areas. NMFS disapproved three measures in Amendment 5. These measures included: A dealer reporting requirement; a cap that, if achieved, would require vessels discarding catch before it had been sampled by observers (known as slippage) to return to port; and a requirement for 100-percent observer coverage on Category A and B vessels, coupled with an industry contribution of $325 per day toward observer costs. NMFS disapproved these three measures because it believes they are inconsistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and other applicable law. Therefore, these three measures are not implemented in this action.

In addition to a meeting of the Law Enforcement Advisory Panel (AP), the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a joint meeting of the Law Enforcement Committee and Law Enforcement AP as well as a joint committee meeting of the Habitat & Environmental Protection Committee and Ecosystem-Based Management Committee. The Council will also hold meetings of the: Southeast Data, Assessment and Review Committee (partially Closed Session); Protected Resources Committee; Snapper Grouper Committee; King & Spanish Mackerel Committee; Executive Finance Committee; Dolphin Wahoo Committee; Data Collection Committee; and a meeting of the Full Council. The Council will take action as necessary. The Council will also hold an informal public question and answer session regarding agenda items and a formal public comment session.