[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 8404-8406]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-4590]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 970211028-7028-01; I.D. 012397A]
RIN 0648-AJ34
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Framework 21 to the
Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this final rule to implement measures contained in
Framework Adjustment 21 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery
Management Plan (FMP). These regulations allow vessels with general
category scallop permits or limited access permits, if not fishing
under a days-at-sea (DAS) limitation, to fish for scallops with small
dredges (combined width not to exceed (10.5 ft (3.2 m)) within the Gulf
of Maine Small Mesh Northern Shrimp Fishery Exemption Area. The intent
of this action is to allow small scallop dredge vessels to harvest
scallops in a manner that is consistent with the bycatch reduction
objectives of the FMP.
EFFECTIVE DATE: February 20, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Copies of Amendment 7 to the FMP (Amendment 7), its
regulatory impact review and the initial regulatory flexibility
analysis, its final supplemental environmental impact statement
(FSEIS), and the supporting
[[Page 8405]]
documents for Framework Adjustment 21 are available from Christopher B.
Kellogg, Acting Executive Director, New England Fishery Management
Council, 5 Broadway, (Route 1), Saugus, MA 01906-1097.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul H. Jones, Fishery Policy Analyst,
508-281-9273.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Regulations implementing Amendment 7 became effective on July 1,
1996 (61 FR 27710, May 31, 1996). The amendment prohibited all fishing
in the Gulf of Maine small mesh exemption area unless the vessel was
fishing under a multispecies or scallop DAS allocation, or with
exempted gear, or under the handgear permit restrictions, or in an
exempted fishery (a fishery in which it has been determined to have
less than 5 percent bycatch of regulated species). Amendment 7, in
effect, eliminated fisheries that were determined to be inconsistent
with the bycatch reduction goal of the FMP. One of the fisheries
eliminated was the General Permit Category, small dredge scallop
fishery in the Gulf of Maine (GOM).
Framework Adjustment 21 provides an exemption from the multispecies
regulations to allow the conduct of a small dredge (combined width not
to exceed 10.5 ft (3.2 m)) sea scallop fishery for General Category
scallop permit holders and for limited access scallop vessels when not
fishing under a DAS. This exemption is implemented year-round in the
Gulf of Maine Small Mesh Exemption Area, except in the Mid-Coast
Closure Area, because of high aggregations of cod in that area. Vessels
fishing in this exemption program are further prohibited from landing
or possessing any species other than Atlantic sea scallops.
This framework adjustment is consistent with the bycatch reduction
goal of the FMP, based on the following information. Reports from at-
sea observation by state biologists from Maine and Massachusetts
indicate minimal or no bycatch from the small dredge scallop fishery.
NMFS weighout records of interviewed trips from the GOM during 1988-93
indicate the average bycatch of regulated species was 1.5 percent over
the 6-year period. NMFS vessel trip reports from 1994 and 1995 also
show minimal amounts of bycatch from this fishery. Based on available
information, the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) has
concluded, and NMFS agrees, that the bycatch of regulated species by
small scallop dredges in the GOM Small Mesh Exemption Area is less than
5 percent by weight of total catch and does not jeopardize fishing
mortality objectives or other goals and objectives of the FMP. The
States of Maine and Massachusetts have offered observer coverage during
the initial implementation of this framework adjustment to assure that
the bycatch of regulated species is within the 5 percent level.
The Council recommended publication of this management measure as a
final rule after considering the required factors stipulated under the
framework measures in the FMP, 50 CFR 648.90, and has provided
supporting analyses for each factor considered. The Administrator,
Northeast Region, NMFS, concurs with the Council's recommendation and
has determined that Framework Adjustment 21 should be published as a
final rule.
NMFS is amending the multispecies regulations following the
procedure for framework adjustments established by Amendment 7 and
codified in 50 CFR part 648. The Council developed and analyzed the
actions at two Council meetings held on October 2-3 (61 FR 50796,
September 27, 1996) and November 6-7, 1996 (61 FR 56213, October 31,
1996).
Comments and Responses
The October 2-3, 1996, Council meeting was the first of two
meetings that provided an opportunity for public comment on Framework
Adjustment 21. A draft document containing the proposed management
measures and their rationale was available to the public during the
last week in September 1996, and notices of the initial and final
Council meetings were mailed to approximately 1,900 people and
published in the Federal Register. The final public hearing was held on
November 6-7, 1996. Testimony provided by industry members at the
public meetings favored the framework adjustment. No other comments
were received.
Classification
This final rule has been determined to be not significant for the
purposes of E.O. 12866.
NMFS reinitiated consultation on the Northeast Multispecies,
Atlantic Sea Scallop and American Lobster FMPs, and this action was
considered as part of this comprehensive consultation. The consultation
considered new information concerning the status of the northern right
whale. As a result of the consultation, NMFS has determined that: (1)
The fishing activities carried out under the Multispecies and Lobster
FMPs are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the northern
right whale; (2) the prosecution of the multispecies, lobster, and
scallop fisheries will not adversely modify right whale critical
habitat; (3) that the current fishing practices allowed under the
Lobster FMP and the Multispecies FMP may affect but are not likely to
jeopardize the continued existence of the harbor porpoise and the
distinct population segment of Atlantic salmon stocks found in certain
Maine rivers that are both currently proposed to be listed as
threatened; and (4) no new information has become available that
changes the basis for previous determinations that the scallop FMP and
prosecution of the scallop fishery, which is provided additional
fishing opportunity as a result of this action, is not likely to
adversely affect endangered, threatened, and proposed species or
adversely modify critical habitat. The new information provided above
does not change the basis for the conclusions of the 1996 Biological
Opinion that the fishing activities carried out under the Lobster and
Multispecies FMPs may affect, but are not likely to jeopardize, the
continued existence of the other endangered and threatened whale and
sea turtle species under NMFS jurisdiction.
The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA (AA), under 5
U.S.C. 553(b)(B), finds that there is good cause to waive the
requirement to provide prior notice and opportunity for public comment
as such procedures are unnecessary. Public meetings held by the Council
to discuss the management measure implemented by this rule provided
adequate prior notice and opportunity for public comment to be heard
and considered. Further, NMFS is responding in this rule to the
comments it received during these meetings. This rule removes a
prohibition on fishing applied to certain gear types in certain areas,
thereby relieving a restriction. As such, under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1),
this rule is not subject to the 30-day delay in effectiveness.
Because a general notice of proposed rulemaking is not required to
be published for this rule by 5 U.S.C. 553 or by any other law, this
rule is exempt from the requirement to prepare an initial or final
regulatory flexibility analysis under the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
As such, none has been prepared. The primary intent for this action is
to allow small scallop dredges to harvest scallops in amounts that are
consistent with the bycatch reduction objectives of the FMP.
[[Page 8406]]
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648
Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: February 19, 1997.
Rolland A. Schmitten
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 648 is amended
to read as follows:
PART 648--FISHERIES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
1. The authority citation for part 648 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
2. In Sec. 648.80, paragraph (a)(2)(iii) is revised and paragraph
(a)(10) is added to read as follows:
Sec. 648.80 Regulated mesh areas and restrictions on gear and methods
of fishing
* * * * *
(a) * * *
(2) * * *
(iii) Other gear and mesh exemptions. The minimum mesh size for any
trawl net, sink gillnet, Scottish seine, midwater trawl, or purse seine
on a vessel or used by a vessel when fishing in the GOM/GB Regulated
Mesh Area while not under the NE multispecies DAS program, but when
under one of the exemptions specified in paragraphs (a)(3), (a)(4),
(a)(6), (a)(8), (a)(9), (d), (e), (h), and (i) of this section, is set
forth in the respective paragraph specifying the exemption. Vessels
that are not fishing under one of these exemptions, or under the small
dredge exemption specified in Sec. 648.54 and (a)(10) of this section,
under the scallop state waters exemption specified in Sec. 648.54, or
under a NE multispecies DAS, are prohibited from fishing in the GOM/GB
regulated mesh area.
* * * * *
(10) Scallop Dredge Fishery Exemption within the Gulf of Maine
(GOM) Small Mesh Northern Shrimp Fishery Exemption Area. Vessels with a
limited access scallop permit that have declared out of the DAS program
as specified in Sec. 648.10, or have used up their DAS allocations, and
vessels issued a general scallop permit may fish in the GOM Small Mesh
Northern Shrimp Fishery Exemption Area when not under a NE multispecies
DAS providing the vessel complies with the requirements specified in
paragraph (a)(10)(i) of this section. The GOM Scallop Dredge Fishery
Exemption Area is equivalent to the area defined in paragraph (a)(3) of
this section and designated as the Small Mesh Northern Shrimp Fishery
Exemption Area.
(i) Requirements. (A) A vessel fishing in the GOM Scallop Dredge
Fishery Exemption Area specified in paragraph (a)(10) of this section,
may not fish for, possess on board, or land any species of fish other
than Atlantic sea scallops.
(B) The combined dredge width in use by or in possession on board
vessels fishing in the GOM Scallop Dredge Fishery Exemption Area shall
not exceed 10.5 ft (3.2 m) measured at the widest point in the bail of
the dredge. (C) The exemption does not apply to areas closed to meet
the Mid-coast closure fishery mortality reduction targets as specified
in Sec. 648.81(g).
(ii) [Reserved]
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 97-4590 Filed 2-20-97; 2:27 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
