National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration December 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS incorrectly published a second notice in the Federal Register on December 23, 2013, requesting comments on the proposed issuance of an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). NMFS had published the first notice in the Federal Register on October 30, 2013, requesting comments from the public for 30 days. The comment period closed on November 29, 2013. The notice that should have published in the Federal Register on December 23, 2013, was the notice of issuance of an IHA.

NMFS announces that the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council proposes to amend the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region. If approved, Amendment 7 would establish a management framework and process for specifying fishing catch and effort limits and accountability measures for pelagic fisheries in the U.S. Pacific territories (American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). The framework would authorize the government of each territory to allocate a portion of its specified catch or effort limit to a U.S. fishing vessel or vessels through a specified fishing agreement, and establish criteria, which a specified fishing agreement must satisfy. The framework also includes measures to ensure accountability for adhering to fishing catch and effort limits.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Ad Hoc SBRM Committee to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

NMFS issues this final rule to implement the Joint South Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico Generic Charter Vessel/Headboat Reporting in the South Atlantic Amendment (For-Hire Reporting Amendment). The For- Hire Reporting Amendment amends the following Fishery Management Plans (FMPs): the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region and the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery of the Atlantic, as prepared by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (South Atlantic Council); and the Coastal Migratory Pelagic (CMP) Resources of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico (Gulf), as prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Gulf Council) and the South Atlantic Council. This final rule modifies the recordkeeping and reporting requirements for headboat owners and operators who fish for species managed by the South Atlantic Council through the previously mentioned FMPs. These revisions require fishing records to be submitted electronically (via computer or internet) on a weekly basis or at intervals shorter than a week if notified by the NMFS' Southeast Fisheries Science Center (SEFSC) Science and Research Director (SRD), and prohibits headboats from continuing to fish if they are delinquent in submitting reports. The purpose of this final rule is to obtain timelier fishing information from headboats to better monitor recreational annual catch limits (ACLs), improve stock assessments, and to help obtain 100 percent compliance with reporting in South Atlantic fisheries.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a joint public meeting of its Skate Oversight Committee and Skate Advisory Panel on January 15, 2014 to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a webinar of the Socioeconomic Scientific and Statistical Committee (SESSC).

NMFS establishes funding responsibilities for an upgrade to the shrimp electronic logbook (ELB) program as described in a framework action to the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP), as prepared by the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Council). Newer and more efficient ELB units have been purchased by NMFS for the Gulf shrimp fleet and are available for installation on Gulf shrimp vessels. Therefore, NMFS establishes a cost-sharing program to fund the ELB program. NMFS will pay for the software development, data storage, effort estimation analysis, and archival activities for the new ELB units, and selected vessel permit holders in the Gulf shrimp fishery will pay for installation and maintenance of the new ELB units and for the data transmission from the ELB units to a NOAA server. The purpose of these changes is to ensure that management of the shrimp fishery is based upon the best scientific information available and that bycatch is minimized to the extent practicable.

NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 27 (Amendment 27) to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP), as prepared and submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (South Atlantic Council). Amendment 27 and this final rule extend the South Atlantic Council's management responsibility for Nassau grouper into the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) exclusive economic zone (EEZ); increase the number of allowable crew members to four on dual-permitted snapper-grouper vessels (i.e., vessels holding a South Atlantic Charter Vessel/Headboat Permit for Snapper-Grouper and a commercial South Atlantic Unlimited or a 225-Pound Trip Limit Snapper-Grouper Permit) that are fishing commercially; remove the prohibition on retaining any fish under the aggregate bag limit for grouper and tilefish or the vermilion snapper bag limit by captains and crew of federally permitted for-hire vessels; modify the snapper-grouper framework procedures to allow acceptable biological catch levels (ABCs), annual catch limits (ACLs), and annual catch targets (ACTs) to be adjusted via an abbreviated framework process; and remove blue runner from the FMP. The purposes of this final rule are to streamline management of Nassau grouper, improve vessel safety for dual-permitted vessels, implement consistent regulations regarding captains and crew retention limits for snapper- grouper species, expedite adjustments to snapper-grouper catch limits when new scientific information becomes available, and minimize socio- economic impacts to fishermen who harvest and sell blue runner.

NMFS, Southeast Region, in collaboration with the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) intends to prepare a DEIS to describe and analyze management alternatives to be included in Amendment 40 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendment 40). Amendment 40 will consider alternatives to define private and for-hire components of the recreational red snapper fishery and allocate red snapper resources between these components. The purpose of Amendment 40 is to increase the stability for the for-hire component, provide a basis for increased flexibility in future management of the recreational sector, and reduce the chance for recreational quota overruns which could affect rebuilding of the red snapper stock. The purpose of this NOI is to solicit public comments on the scope of issues to be addressed in the DEIS, as specified in this notice. The Council will continue to take comments on this action as it develops Amendment 40. The next Council meeting where public comment is scheduled will be February 3-7, 2014, at the Westin Galleria Houston, 5060 W. Alabama Street, Houston, TX 77056.

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has issued Permit 16344 to Dr. Jerri Bartholomew, Oregon State University, Corvalis Oregon.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Highly Migratory Species Management Team (HMSMT) will hold a meeting, which is open to the public.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is providing notification that the agency will not identify additional fisheries to observe on the Annual Determination (AD) for 2014, pursuant to its authority under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Through an AD, NMFS identifies U.S. fisheries operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific Ocean that will be required to take observers upon NMFS' request. The purpose of observing identified fisheries is to learn more about sea turtle interactions in a given fishery, evaluate existing measures to prevent or reduce prohibited sea turtle takes, and to determine whether additional measures to implement the prohibition against sea turtle takes may be necessary. Fisheries identified in the 2010 AD (see Table 1) remain on the AD for a five year period and are therefore required to carry observers upon NMFS' request until December 31, 2014.

Each year, NMFS implements regulations that set the annual quota and management measures for the Pacific sardine fishing year. NMFS proposes to change the starting date of the annual Pacific sardine fishery from January 1 to July 1. This would change the fishing season from one based on the calendar year to one based on a July 1 through the following June 30th schedule. No other changes to the annual allocation structure are being made and the existing seasonal allocation percentages will remain as specified in the FMP; as would the current quota roll-over provisions. The purpose of this change is to better align the timing of the research and science that is used in the annual stock assessments with the annual management schedule. To enable this transition in fishing years, this action also would establish a one-time interim harvest period for the 6 months from January 1, 2014, through June 30, 2014.

NMFS has received an application from the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Study of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) at the University of California (UC) Santa Cruz for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to rocky intertidal monitoring surveys. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to PISCO to incidentally take, by Level B harassment only, marine mammals during the specified activity.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a series of recreational angler participation sessions around the Gulf coast.

NMFS proposes annual catch limits for 2014 Pacific Island bottomfish, crustacean, precious coral, and coral reef ecosystem fisheries, and accountability measures to correct or mitigate any overages of catch limits. The proposed catch limits and accountability measures support the long-term sustainability of fishery resources of the U.S. Pacific Islands.

NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of North Carolina are both transferring a portion of their 2013 commercial summer flounder quotas to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. NMFS is adjusting the quotas and announcing the revised commercial quota for each state involved.

NMFS announces that the 2013 summer flounder commercial quota allocated to the State of New Jersey has been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in New Jersey for the remainder of calendar year 2013, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer from another state. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication of this notification to advise New Jersey that the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel permit holders and dealer permit holders that no Federal commercial quota is available for landing summer flounder in New Jersey.

The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (Councils) have submitted a Generic Amendment to the Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) in the Gulf and South Atlantic Regions (Generic Dealer Amendment) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. The Generic Dealer Amendment amends the following FMPs: Reef Fish Resources and the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf; the Snapper-Grouper Fishery (including wreckfish), the Golden Crab Fishery, and the Shrimp Fishery (excluding penaeid shrimp) of the South Atlantic Region; the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery of the Atlantic; and Coastal Migratory Pelagic (CMP) Resources and the Spiny Lobster Fishery of the Gulf and South Atlantic. The Generic Dealer Amendment would modify the permitting and reporting requirements for seafood dealers who first receive species managed by the Councils through the previously mentioned FMPs. These revisions would create a single dealer permit for dealers who first receive fish managed by the Councils, require both purchase and non-purchase reports to be submitted online on a weekly basis, not authorizing dealers to purchase fish from federally-permitted vessels if they are delinquent in submitting reports, and modify the sale and purchase provisions based on the new dealer permitting requirements. The intent of the amendment is to obtain timelier purchase information from dealers to help reduce annual catch limit (ACL) underages and overages, and achieve optimum yield in accordance with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

This action closes the Gulf of Maine (GOM) haddock Trimester Total Allowable Catch (TAC) Area for Trimester 3, from January 1, 2014, through April 30, 2014, to common pool vessels, because the Trimester 3 TAC for GOM haddock has already been exceeded due to an overage in Trimester 1. This action is intended to prevent the overharvest of the common pool's allocation of GOM haddock.

The SEDAR assessment of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic King Mackerel will consist of several workshops and a series of webinars. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Greenland turbot in the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2013 Greenland turbot initial total allowable catch (ITAC) in the Bering Sea subarea of the BSAI.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This rule allows fishing access for Northeast multispecies sectors to two portions of the Southern New England Nantucket Lightship Closed Area for the remainder of the 2013 fishing year under specified conditions. Although NMFS considered and proposed exemption requests that would allow sector vessels access to portions of Georges Bank Closed Areas I and II, NMFS is not granting access to those areas at this time. The intent of this rule is to allow sector vessels increased opportunities to harvest non-groundfish stocks such as monkfish, dogfish, and skates while minimizing impacts to overfished groundfish stock such as Georges Bank cod and yellowtail flounder.