[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 20, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 59076-59078]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-29604]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 622
[I.D. 101096A]
Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service, (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact
statement (SEIS); request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the intention of the South Atlantic Fishery
Management Council (Council) to prepare an SEIS for its proposed
Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper
Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP). Amendment 8 will address
overfishing and overcapitalization problems in the snapper-grouper
fishery. The SEIS will assess the environmental impacts of the proposed
and alternative management measures of Amendment 8 as well as the
impacts of the snapper-grouper fishery on the human environment
(including impacts on other fisheries and on protected species).
DATES: Written comments on the scope of the SEIS must be submitted by
December 16, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests for copies of the SEIS should
be sent to Bob Mahood, Executive Director, South Atlantic Fishery
Management Council, One Southpark Circle, Suite 306, Charleston, SC
29407-4699.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Mahood, 803-571-4366.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Council prepared the FMP and NMFS
approved and implemented it in 1983 under provisions of the Magnuson
Fishery Conservation and Management Act. A principal, initial objective
of the FMP was to prevent overfishing of thirteen species in the
snapper-grouper complex and to establish a procedure for preventing
overfishing of other FMP management unit species. Initial measures
focused on size limits for the more significantly overfished species
(e.g., red snapper, yellowtail snapper, red grouper, Nassau grouper,
black sea bass, and vermilion snapper). Subsequent to FMP
implementation, the Council developed several amendments to address
overfishing issues regarding additional single species (e.g., jewfish,
wreckfish, etc.). At the time of FMP implementation, the Council was
concerned about preventing overfishing of all FMP management unit
species even though there were limited data on the status of certain
stocks. The Council intended over the long term to amend the FMP, based
on acquiring the necessary scientific information, to provide for a
more comprehensive and appropriate means of preventing overfishing of
all managed species and stabilizing overall fishing effort.
The Council has held scoping meetings on overfishing,
overcapitalization, and other problems in the snapper-grouper fishery
to determine the scope of significant issues to be addressed in the
SEIS and associated Amendment 8. The scoping meetings were held in
conjunction with the following Council meetings: June 21, 1994, in
Marathon, FL, (59 FR 29420, June 7, 1994), August 24, 1994, in
Charleston, SC (59 FR 41275, August 11, 1994), and October 25, 1994, in
Wrightsville Beach, NC (59 FR 52136, October 14, 1994). Minutes of the
scoping meetings are available from the Council office.
As a result of the scoping process, the Council has decided to
prepare FMP Amendment 8 to address more extensively the issues of
overfishing, overcapitalization, excess harvesting capacity, and
associated economic problems in the snapper-grouper fishery. In support
of Amendment 8, the Council will prepare an SEIS.
The Council's tentative schedule calls for completion of a draft
Amendment 8, based in part on recommendations of its Snapper-Grouper
Advisory Panel and Scientific and Statistical Committee, and of a draft
SEIS this fall with release of both documents for public hearings some
time during the period December 1996 through January 1997. The Council
expects to make decisions regarding the contents of the draft amendment
and draft SEIS at its meeting of November 18-22, 1996. As required by
regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, the
draft SEIS will be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency and
made available for a 45-day public comment period. NMFS will issue a
hearing notice on behalf of the Council with specific hearing
locations, dates, and times. The Council intends to take final action
on Amendment 8 by the end of February. Shortly thereafter, the Council
will prepare a final Amendment 8 and final SEIS that will be submitted
to NMFS for review, approval, and implementation.
In preparing Amendment 8 and the SEIS, the Council is considering
[[Page 59077]]
proposed management actions and their respective alternatives as
indicated below. Note that under each action, the Council will consider
a no-action (status quo) management option in addition to other options
indicated.
Action 1--Permit qualification. This action would limit permit
holders to those who can demonstrate landings of at least 1,000 lb (454
kg) of snapper-grouper species in 2 of the 3 years (1993 through 1995).
The Council will consider a wide variety of management options, each
involving different specific criteria for permit qualification.
Action 2--Trip limits. This action would control fishing effort by
establishing trip limits for identified ``sub-unit'' groups of species
within the FMP's management unit. The sub-unit trip limits would be
implemented and enforced by requiring fishermen to have a sub-unit
endorsement on their fishing permit; without such an endorsement for a
specific sub-unit group, fishermen would be limited to 100 pounds of
fish per trip for the subject species. Qualification for a given sub-
unit group permit endorsement would require meeting the Council's
specific criteria related to demonstration of landings within recent
years (e.g., so many pounds annually in two out of three recent years).
The Council is considering the following sub-unit groups: (1) Deep
Shelf Complex consisting of snowy grouper, warsaw grouper, yellowedge
grouper, and golden tilefish and other deep water snapper-grouper
species. Greater amberjack would continued to be managed as a separate
unit and qualifying fishermen would receive a greater amberjack permit
endorsement allowing landings in excess of 100 lb per trip. Wreckfish
would continue being managed under the current individual transferable
quota system; (2) Temperate Mid-Shelf Complex consisting of red porgy,
vermilion snapper, red snapper, speckled hind, gag, scamp, black sea
bass, gray triggerfish, and white grunt; and (3) Tropical Complex
consisting of yellowtail snapper, mutton snapper, gray snapper, lane
snapper, black grouper, and red grouper.
The Council is considering limits on the transferability of the
sub-unit permit endorsements to immediate family members and to new
fishery entrants based on specific criteria. The Council is considering
an Application Oversight Committee whose members would make
recommendations to the NMFS Regional Administrator in resolving
fishermen's disputes over eligibility for permits and endorsements. The
Committee would be composed of the principal State officials with
marine fishery management responsibility who sit as voting members of
the Council as well as the NMFS Regional Administrator. The Committee
members would make recommendations on permit/endorsement disputes
regarding whether the criteria established by Amendment 8 for permit
eligibility and initial resource allocations were being applied
correctly. The Council is considering a number of management options
for controlling fishing effort, including a no-action alternative as
well as a variety of alternatives based on different categories and
levels of trip limits, different qualification criteria for fishery
participation, and different permit transferability restrictions.
Action 3--Refine the FMP's definitions of overfishing and optimum
yield (OY). This action would: (1) Define a snapper-grouper species
(including jewfish) as overfished when the transitional spawning
potential ratio (SPR) is below 20%; (2) establish a target level for
stock rebuilding (to the OY level) at 40% static SPR; (3) require
implementation of a stock rebuilding program for an overfished species
that makes consistent progress toward restoring the stock, within an
acceptable time frame, to the target or OY level; (4) define the act of
overfishing of a non-overfished stock (transitional SPR equal to or
greater than 20%) as a static SPR that exceeds 20% (F20%); if
overfishing is occurring, fishing mortality rates will be reduced to
allow the stock size to increase so as to reach the target or OY level;
(5) establish a threshold level for snapper-grouper species as 10%
transitional SPR; if an overfished stock falls below the threshold
level, the Council will recommend appropriate regulatory action through
the FMP's framework rulemaking procedure, including eliminating
directed fishing and bycatch mortality; (6) if there is insufficient
information to determine whether a stock is overfished, define
overfishing as a fishing mortality rate in excess of the fishing
mortality rate corresponding to a default static SPR of 30%; by this
criteria, if overfishing is occurring, a program will be instituted to
reduce fishing mortality rate to a level allowing stock recovery to the
target or OY level; and (7) retain the current time frame for recovery
of overfished stocks; for stocks not documented by Amendment 3 as
overfished, year 1 is the year in which the species is documented as
overfished. The Council is considering several management alternatives
in revising definitions of overfishing and OY, including a no-action
alternative as well as optional definitions of overfishing and target
and threshold levels.
Action 4--Red porgy minimum size and bag limits. This action would
increase the red porgy minimum size limit from 12 inches (30.5 cm)
total length (TL) to 14 inches (36 cm) TL for recreational and
commercial fishermen and establish a recreational bag limit of 2 red
porgy. Management alternatives include no action, a bag limit between 1
and 5 fish, and an increase of the recreational minimum size limit to
14 inches (36 cm) TL in conjunction with a bag limit of 3-5 porgy.
Action 5--Black sea bass minimum size. This action would increase
the black sea bass minimum size limit from 8 inches (20.3 cm) TL to 10
inches (25.4 cm) TL. Management alternatives include no-action and a
size increase to 9 inches (22.86 cm) TL.
Action 6--Black sea bass Special Management Zone (SMZ). The Council
has not identified a preferred action but is considering several
alternatives including prohibiting the use of black sea bass pots
within a range 3-18 or 3-30 miles offshore in the areas bounded by a
line due east from Frying Pan Shoals, NC (or a line following the
shoals) to a line south, extending due east of Cape Romain, SC.
Action 7--Black sea bass recreational bag limit. This action would
establish a bag limit of between 5 and 20 fish; a no-action alternative
will be considered.
Action 8--Black sea bass pot escape vents. This action would
require between 1 and 4 escape vents on black sea bass pots with vent
size meeting one of several alternatives (e.g., for rectangular vents,
the allowable size would be established between 1 inch and 1.75 inches
(2.5 - 6 cm) wide and between 5 and 6 inches (12.7 cm - 15.24 cm) long;
and for ring vents, the allowable vent opening diameter would be
established between 1.75 and 2.5 inches (4.4 cm - 5 cm)). A no-action
option will be considered.
Action 9--Degradable fasteners in sea bass pots. This action would
require the use of escape panels with degradable fasteners in sea bass
pots. A black sea bass pot that is used or possessed in the South
Atlantic EEZ north of 28 deg. 35.1 N. lat. is required to have on at
least one side, excluding top and bottom, a panel or door with an
opening equal to, or larger than, the interior end of the trap's throat
(funnel). The hinges and fasteners of each panel or door must be made
of specified degradable materials. A no-action option will be
considered.
Action 10--Amber jack sale prohibition. This action would prohibit
the sale of greater amberjack caught under the bag limit during the
greater
[[Page 59078]]
amberjack spawning season, south of Cape Canaveral, FL. The Council is
considering a wide variety of options for this action, including
expanding the 3-fish bag limit for both commercial and recreational
fisheries to extend through the month of May. The Council is also
proposing to prohibit the sale of greater amberjack during April and
May, establish special oceans areas of protection (e.g., EEZ adjacent
to Monroe County, FL) prohibit coring (removal of head and tail),
establish a commercial quota and trip limits, and reduce the
recreational bag limit.
Action 11--Vermilion snapper annual commercial quota. This action
would establish, effective January 1, 1998, an annual commercial quota
for vermilion snapper of 600,000 lb (272,155 kg) and a recreational
fishery bag limit of 5 fish and a recreational minimum size limit of 12
inches (61 cm) TL. Management options to be considered include reducing
the recreational and commercial catch 45 percent by imposing a bag
limit and quota (no size limit), or reducing the recreational and
commercial catch 43 percent by imposing a bag limit and quota (or
effort reduction) along with a minimum size limit of 10 inches (25.4
cm) TL.
Action 12--Gag harvesting restrictions. This action would increase
the gag minimum size limit from 20 inches (50.8 cm) TL to 24 inches (61
cm) TL for the commercial and recreational fisheries, and prohibit all
harvest January through March. The Council will consider a considerable
variety of management options for this action including different
combinations of seasonal harvest prohibitions, bag limits, trip limits,
total allowable catch limits, and minimum size limit changes.
Action 13--Logbooks. This action would require logbook reporting by
the 10th of the month following the month of activity. Options under
consideration include requiring that all reports submitted more than 2
months late be accompanied by landings receipts or other such
supporting documentation and allowing 30 days for submission of report
after the sale of fish.
Action 14--Transit zone. This action would establish a zone in the
South Atlantic EEZ through which vessels carrying fish traps could
transit if they have valid Gulf reef fish permits and fish trap
endorsements. Except for the transit zone, possession of fish traps in
the South Atlantic EEZ would be prohibited.
Action 15--Bottom longline restrictions. This action would restrict
vessels with bottom longline gear aboard to possessing only snowy
grouper, tilefish, yellowedge grouper and other deepwater species. A
no-action option will be considered.
Action 16--Bait net restrictions. This action would allow the use
of one bait net up to 50 ft (1,524 cm) long by 10 ft (305 cm) high with
a stretched mesh size of 1.5 inch (5.0 cm) or smaller and allow one net
per boat. Allowing possession of cast nets is an option under
consideration.
Action 17--Fishery closures. The Council is considering options for
closures of the EEZ to fishing for species in the snapper-grouper
complex, including closures during the January-April period as well as
other times, to achieve significant reductions in landings. The Council
has not identified a preferred option.
Action 18--Trip limits for temperate mid-shelf snapper grouper
species. The Council is considering options for establishing trip
limits for all temperate mid-shelf snapper grouper species, but has not
identified a preferred option. Options include a 1,000-2,500 lb trip
limit and a 200-2,000 lb trip limit depending upon vessel operating
characteristics.
Action 19--Aggregate Temperate mid-shelf species quota. The Council
is considering options for establishing an aggregate quota for
temperate mid-shelf species to achieve a 30% to 40% reduction in
landings (over the average annual landings during 1986-1995 period),
but has not identified a preferred option.
Action 20--Bahamian caught fish. This action would allow species
within the snapper-grouper complex (whether whole or fillets) caught in
Bahamian waters in accordance with Bahamian law to be possessed aboard
a vessel in the EEZ and landed in the U.S., provided the vessel is in
transit from the Bahamas and valid Bahamian fishing and cruising
permits are on board. A no-action options will be considered.
Action 21--Aggregate Recreational Bag Limit. The Council is
considering options for establishing an aggregate recreational bag
limit inclusive of all snapper-grouper species (excluding other species
and existing bag limits). The Council has not identified a preferred
option. Options include a 20-25 fish aggregate bag limit and a no-
action option.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: November 13, 1996.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-29604 Filed 11-15-96; 12:13 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
