2023-25365. Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; White Hake Trimester Total Allowable Catch Area Closure for the Common Pool Fishery

AGENCY:

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:

Temporary rule; area closure.

SUMMARY:

This action closes the White Hake Trimester Total Allowable Catch Area to Northeast multispecies common pool vessels fishing with trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear, except Handgear A and Handgear B vessels, through December 31, 2023. The closure is required because the common pool fishery is projected to have caught 90 percent of its Trimester 2 quota for white hake. This closure is intended to prevent an overage of the common pool's quota for this stock.

DATES:

This action is effective November 13, 2023, through December 31, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Spencer Talmage, Fishery Policy Analyst, (978) 281–9232.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Federal regulations at § 648.82(n)(2)(ii) require the Regional Administrator to close a common pool Trimester Total Allowable Catch (TAC) Area for a stock when 90 percent of the Trimester TAC is projected to be caught. The closure applies to all common pool vessels fishing with gear capable of catching that stock, and remains in effect for the remainder of the trimester. During the closure, affected common pool vessels may not fish for, harvest, possess, or land regulated multispecies or ocean pout in or from the Trimester TAC Area for the stock.

The Trimester 2 TAC for white hake is 17,482 lb (pounds) (7.9 metric tons (mt)). Based on the best available data from this fishing year and the analyses described below, the common pool is estimated to have achieved 90 percent of the Trimester 2 TAC for white hake on or shortly after November 9, 2023.

NMFS closely monitors commercial fisheries landings on a weekly basis. Catch projections of white hake were run using data through November 7, 2023, which indicated that 87.7 percent (15,211.9 lb (6.9 mt)) of the Trimester 2 TAC was harvested. Given these projections and additional information, including that there have been up to four trips for which catch data are not yet available, NMFS estimates that 90 percent of the white hake Trimester 2 TAC has been harvested. As noted above, implementing regulations for the Northeast Multispecies FMP require the Regional Administrator to close an area when a trimester TAC is projected to reach the 90-percent trigger.

Effective November 13, 2023, the White Hake Trimester TAC Area is closed for the remainder of Trimester 2, through December 31, 2023. The White Hake Trimester TAC Area consists of statistical areas 513, 514, 515, 521, and 522. During the closure, common pool vessels fishing with trawl gear, sink gillnet gear, and longline/hook gear (except for Handgear A and Handgear B vessels), may not fish for, harvest, possess, or land regulated multispecies or ocean pout in or from this area. This closure of the White Hake Trimester TAC Area ends at the beginning of Trimester 3 of fishing year 2023 on January 1, 2024.

If a vessel declared its trip through the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) or the interactive voice response system, and crossed the VMS demarcation line prior to November 13, 2023, it may complete its trip within the GOM Cod Trimester TAC Area. A vessel that has set gillnet gear prior to November 13, 2023, may complete its trip by hauling such gear.

If the common pool fishery exceeds its annual sub-Allowable Catch Limit (sub-ACL) for a stock in the 2023 fishing year, the overage must be deducted from the common pool's sub-ACL for that stock for fishing year 2024.

Weekly quota monitoring reports for the common pool fishery are on our website at: https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/​ro/​fso/​reports/​h/​nemultispecies.html. We will continue to monitor common pool catch through vessel trip reports, dealer-reported landings, VMS catch reports, and other available information and, if necessary, will make additional adjustments to common pool management measures.

Classification

This action is required by 50 CFR part 648 and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.

The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, finds good cause pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to waive prior notice and the opportunity for public comment and the 30-day delayed effectiveness period because it would be impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest.

The regulations require the Regional Administrator to close a trimester TAC area to the common pool fishery when 90 percent of the Trimester TAC for a stock has been caught. Updated catch information through November 7, 2023, only recently became available indicating that the common pool fishery is projected to have caught 90 percent of its Trimester 2 TAC for white hake. The time necessary to provide for prior notice and comment, and a 30-day delay in effectiveness, would prevent the immediate closure of the White Hake Trimester TAC Area. This would be contrary to the regulatory requirement and would increase the likelihood that the common pool fishery would exceed its annual quota of white hake. Any overage of the Trimester 2 TAC is deducted from the Trimester 3 TAC, and any overage of the annual quota would be deducted from common pool's quota for the next fishing year, to the detriment of this stock. This could undermine conservation and management objectives of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Prior notice and comment and a 30-day delay in effectiveness are unnecessary because fishermen were provided ample notice and opportunity to comment on the regulations that require this immediate closure. Fishermen expect these closures to occur in a timely way to prevent overages and their payback requirements. Overages of the trimester or annual common pool quota could cause negative economic impacts to the common pool fishery as a result of overage paybacks deducted from a future trimester or fishing year.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Dated: November 13, 2023.

Kelly Denit,

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.