National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration May 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The SEDAR 70 assessment of Gulf of Mexico Greater Amberjack will consist of a series of data and assessment webinars. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

This action approves revised 2020 and projected 2021 specifications for the scup and black sea bass fisheries. Changes to the specifications are necessary to better achieve optimum yield within the fishery while controlling overfishing, consistent with recent stock assessment updates and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. This rule informs the public of the changes to the specifications for the remainder of the 2020 fishing year and announces projected 2021 specifications.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Groundfish Management Team (GMT) will hold an online meeting to discuss items on the Pacific Council's June 2020 meeting agenda. The meeting is open to the public.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Workgroup (Workgroup) will host two online meetings that are open to the public.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a half day webinar meeting of its Standing, Reef Fish, and Socioeconomic Scientific and Statistical Committees (SSC).

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committee will hold a public webinar meeting.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WPFMC) will host a virtual meeting of the Council Coordination Committee (CCC), consisting of the Regional Fishery Management Council chairs, vice chairs, and executive directors on May 27 to May 28, 2020. The intent of this meeting is to discuss issues of relevance to the Councils and NMFS, including issues related to the implementation of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act. All sessions are open to the public and time will be set aside for public comments at the end of each session.

NMFS proposes revised specifications for the 2020 Atlantic bluefish fishery and projected specifications for fishing year 2021, as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. This action is necessary to establish allowable harvest levels and other management measures to prevent overfishing, consistent with the most recent scientific information. This action also informs the public of the proposed fishery specifications and provides an opportunity for comment.

Through this final rule, NMFS establishes fishery management measures for the 2020 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California and the 2021 salmon seasons opening earlier than the effective date of the 2021 rule, which is expected to be no later than May 16, 2021, under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). Specific fishery management measures vary by fishery and by area, and establish fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, recreational fishing days and catch limits, possession and landing restrictions, and minimum lengths for salmon taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (3-200 nautical miles (nmi)) off Washington, Oregon, and California. The management measures are intended to prevent overfishing and to apportion the ocean harvest equitably among treaty Indian, non-treaty commercial, and recreational fisheries. The measures are also intended to allow a portion of the salmon runs to escape the ocean fisheries in order to provide for spawning escapement and to provide fishing opportunity for inside fisheries (fisheries occurring in state internal waters).

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scallop Advisory Panel via webinar 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 Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Policy Advisory Committee and Technical Advisory Committee (Committees) will hold an online meeting, which is open to the public.

NMFS is prohibiting retention of Pacific cod by American Fisheries Act (AFA) trawl catcher/processors in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary because the Pacific cod total allowable catch allocated to AFA trawl catcher/processors in the BSAI has been reached.

The SEDAR 68 assessment process of Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Scamp will consist of a series of data and assessment webinars, and a Review Workshop. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

NMFS received a request from Chevron Products Company (Chevron) for the Renewal of their currently active incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals incidental to the Long Wharf Maintenance and Efficiency Project (LWMEP) in San Francisco Bay, California. These activities consist of activities that are covered by the current authorization but will not be completed prior to its expiration. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, prior to issuing the currently active IHA, NMFS requested comments on both the proposed IHA and the potential for renewing the authorization if certain requirements were satisfied. The Renewal requirements have been satisfied, and NMFS is now providing an additional 15-day comment period to allow for any additional comments on the proposed Renewal not previously provided during the initial 30-day comment period.

NMFS will hold a 1-day Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel (AP) meeting via webinar in May 2020. The intent of the meeting is to consider options for the conservation and management of Atlantic HMS. The meeting is open to the public.

We are approving regulations to implement Framework Adjustment 6 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, including the 2019- 2021 fishery specifications and management measures, as recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council. This action is intended to establish the allowable 2020-2021 herring harvest levels and river herring and shad catch caps, consistent with the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan. The specifications and management measures are necessary to meet conservation objectives while providing sustainable levels of access to the fishery.

The Groundfish Subcommittee of the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council's) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and invited scientific experts will hold a meeting to review proposed length-based assessment methods followed by a workshop to explore data-moderate and data-limited assessment methods. The meeting is open to the public.

This final rule establishes annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) for deepwater shrimp, precious corals, and gray jobfish (uku) in 2019-2021, and for Kona crab in 2019. This rule supports the long-term sustainability of Pacific Island fisheries.

NMFS has determined that the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) daily retention limit that applies to vessels permitted in the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling category and the HMS Charter/Headboat category (when fishing recreationally for BFT) should be adjusted for the remainder of 2020, based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments. NMFS is adjusting the Angling category BFT daily retention limit from the default of one school, large school, or small medium BFT to two school BFT and one large school/small medium BFT per vessel per day/trip for private vessels with HMS Angling category permits; to three school BFT and one large school/small medium BFT per vessel per day/trip for charter boat vessels with HMS Charter/Headboat permits when fishing recreationally; and to six school BFT and two large school/small medium BFT per vessel per day/trip for headboat vessels with HMS Charter/ Headboat permits when fishing recreationally. These retention limits are effective in all areas, except for the Gulf of Mexico, where NMFS prohibits targeted fishing for BFT.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scallop Joint Advisory Panel and Plan Development Team 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 Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is requesting written comments to facilitate ONMS review of the nomination for Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS). NOAA is requesting relevant information as it pertains to the 11 national significance criteria and management considerations that NOAA applied to evaluate the CHNMS nomination for inclusion in the national inventory of areas that NOAA may consider for future designation as a national marine sanctuary. Particular attention will be given to new scientific information about the national significance of natural and cultural resources, as well as increases or decreases in the threats to resources originally proposed for protection, and changes to the management framework of the area. NOAA will also assess the level of community-based support for the nomination from a broad range of interests. NOAA has provided the original nominating party, the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, an opportunity to share its views on these same questions. Subsequent to the information gathering and internal analysis, the ONMS Director will make a final determination on whether or not the CHNMS nomination will remain in the inventory prior to the five-year anniversary of accepting the nomination, October 5, 2020.

This final rule implements the Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan for the International Pacific Halibut Commission's regulatory Area 2A off Washington, Oregon, and California. In addition, this final rule implements management measures that are not implemented through the International Pacific Halibut Commission. These measures include the recreational fishery seasons and allocations, and other management measures for Area 2A, including some season dates that are different than proposed. This rule also announces that it may be necessary to further modify the opening dates or other fishing days for some subareas shortly after the publication of this final rule, in response to changes in state measures related to the spread of COVID-19. These actions are intended to conserve Pacific halibut and provide angler opportunity where available.