[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 19, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12983-12985]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-6821]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[I.D. 030797C]
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast
Multispecies Fishery; Scoping Process for Hake
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) and notice of scoping process; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) announces
its intent to prepare an amendment to the Northeast Multispecies
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to conserve silver hake (whiting,
Merluccius bilinearis) and offshore hake (Merluccius albidus) stocks,
and to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) to
analyze the impacts of any proposed management measures. The Council
also formally announces a public process to determine the scope of
issues to be addressed in the environmental impact analysis. The
purpose of this document is to alert the interested public of the
commencement of the scoping process and to provide for public
participation in compliance with environmental documentation
requirements.
DATES: Written comments on the scope of the SEIS may be submitted until
April 7, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests for copies of the SEIS should
be sent to Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England Fishery
Management Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, (617) 231-0422.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Whiting became a component of the multispecies fishery management
unit in Amendment 4 to the FMP (56 FR 24724, May 31, 1991). At that
time, a proposed 2.5-inch (6.35-cm) minimum mesh size was disapproved
because NMFS determined that it would do little to prevent overfishing.
Also, the economic analysis failed to demonstrate a net benefit over a
10-year period, and fishermen in the Mid-Atlantic area commented that
the mesh size increase
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would result in a disproportionate economic cost to them. Consequently,
besides the measures adopted for the Cultivator Shoal whiting fishery,
no regulations controlled whiting fishing following its incorporation
into the management unit.
Whiting fishing is currently allowed without restriction in times
and areas where the regulated species bycatch has been determined to be
below 5 percent. This exemption applies year-round in Southern New
England, and in two seasonal areas in the Gulf of Maine. Experimental
fisheries have been undertaken to demonstrate the efficacy of gear
modifications, such as a separator grate or a raised-footrope trawl, in
reducing regulated species bycatch to below the maximum acceptable
level.
In 1993, whiting fishermen brought concerns to the Council about
the emergence of an export market for juvenile whiting. The Council's
Groundfish Committee (Committee) formed a whiting subcommittee and
industry advisory panel that outlined some measures and objectives for
a management plan. The Committee held several scoping meetings,
including two scoping hearings in the Mid-Atlantic area in early 1994
(March 7 in Wall, NJ, and March 8 in Montauk, NY). The staff prepared a
draft public hearing document, but the Council suspended plan-
development efforts while it worked on Amendment 7 to the FMP.
The whiting subcommittee reconvened in June 1996. In the period
between 1993 and 1996, according to advisors, the juvenile whiting
fishery expanded significantly, raising concerns for the health of the
resource. On the recommendation of the advisors and the Committee, the
Council established a control date for whiting on September 9, 1996 (61
FR 47473), and announced that it is considering limiting future access
to anyone not in possession of a multispecies limited access permit as
of that date.
The advisors raised the issue of offshore hake, which they reported
was often mixed with silver hake, but that has not been separated in
landings statistics. They also asked about the impact of proposed
management measures for silver hake on offshore hake fishing. In
response, the Council obtained a scientific report from the Northeast
Fisheries Science Center in October 1996. The report summarized
available information and noted that very little is known about the
species of offshore hake.
In December 1996, the whiting subcommittee and advisors outlined a
plan for whiting management. The subcommittee agreed that, for
management purposes, the whiting resource should be divided into two
stocks, a northern stock in the Georges Bank/Gulf of Maine Regulated
Mesh Area, and a southern stock in the Southern New England and Mid-
Atlantic Regulated Mesh Areas. The subcommittee recommended that, for
management purposes, offshore hake be treated as a component of the
southern stock of silver hake and also that the Cultivator Shoal
whiting fishery be managed separately.
Status of the Stocks
The last stock assessment for whiting was presented to the Council
in February 1994. This assessment was hampered by several problems,
particularly by uncertainty about stock boundary definitions and
discarding of juveniles, and by insufficient biological sampling to
determine the length and age composition of the catch. More recently,
recognition that a separate species (offshore hake) has been mixed with
catches of silver hake compounds the difficulty of establishing an age-
based assessment.
Based on analysis of landings and trawl survey data, the assessment
concluded that the Gulf of Maine/Northern Georges Bank stock was fully-
exploited and at a low level of abundance, although abundance appeared
to be increasing. The assessment also concluded that the Southern
Georges Bank/Middle Atlantic stock is over-exploited and at a low level
of abundance and that abundance continues to decline.
The impact of the juvenile (silver hake) fishery over the past 5
years on stock status has not yet been measured. Given the truncated
age-structure of the population of both stocks, this fishery may be
detrimental to the resource. On the other hand, discards of juvenile
fish have historically been substantial, and increased landings of
juvenile whiting do not necessarily represent an increase in
exploitation rates.
Purpose
The purpose of the proposed amendment is to provide basic
protection for whiting, pending the development of scientific
information pertaining to potential overfishing and biological
characteristics, and to allow for a balanced, sustainable fishery
maximizing economic benefit.
Management Options
A. Moratorium on Permits--Limited Access
The Committee recommends that, to land whiting, a vessel without a
current limited-access multispecies permit meet the following
qualification criteria: (1) That it held an open-access, non-regulated
multispecies permit as of the control date (September 9, 1996), and (2)
that it had landed at least one pound of whiting prior to the control
date. All vessels with a current limited-access multispecies permit
would retain access to the whiting fishery.
B. Southern Stock
Management of the southern stock is complicated by the diversity of
fisheries where whiting is caught; specifically, the squid/whiting
fishery uses a 1.75-inch (4.44-cm) mesh, and other mixed-trawl
fisheries use meshes of 2-2.5 inches (5-6.35 cm). The Council is
considering requiring a vessel retaining whiting to use a codend of 2.5
inches (6.35 cm) or larger, and to prohibit the retention of whiting on
vessels using smaller mesh. During the spawning season from May through
August, vessels would be limited to 500 lb (0.227 mt) of whiting per
registered length overall per trip. For example, a 50-ft vessel could
retain 25,000 lb (11.340 mt) of whiting.
C. Northern Stock
Scientific information indicates that the northern stock may be
able to sustain a fishery utilizing both small and large whiting,
provided the catch is limited or controlled. The Committee intends to
consider results from experimental fisheries that have evaluated grate/
mesh size management strategy. The Committee recommends requiring a
vessel retaining whiting to use a codend of 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) or
larger if the vessel is not in an approved fishery requiring a
separator grate. As in the southern stock area during the spawning
season from May through August, vessels would be limited to 500 lb
(0.227 mt) of whiting per foot of registered length overall per trip.
D. Other Measures Under Consideration
The Council is also considering, and will take comments on other
management options, including: (1) A minimum fish size of 11 inches
(29.74 cm) with a 20-percent tolerance for undersized fish, with or
without a minimum mesh size; (2) minimum mesh sizes up to 3 inches
(7.62 cm), with or without a minimum fish size; (3) a square-mesh panel
in the net and other gear modifications; and (4) a raised-footrope
trawl design.
Other Issues to be Addressed
The Council seeks comments on two other issues identified by the
Committee: (1) Whiting permits for non-
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federally permitted shrimp boats, and (2) the impact of eliminating the
possession-limit-only permit (established by Amendment 7 to the FMP) on
vessels in the Southern New England and Mid-Atlantic area.
Scoping Process
The Council discussed and took scoping comments at its meeting on
March 12-13, 1997. Additional scoping meetings may be scheduled later
as needed. All persons affected by or otherwise interested in whiting
fisheries management are invited to participate in determining the
scope and significance of issues to be analyzed by submitting written
comments (see ADDRESSES). Scope consists of the range of actions,
alternatives and impacts to be considered. Alternatives include not
developing a management plan, developing amendments to existing plans
or other reasonable courses of action. Impacts may be direct, indirect,
individual or cumulative. The scoping process also will identify and
eliminate from detailed study issues that are not significant. Once a
draft FMP amendment and an Environmental Impact Statement or
Environmental Assessment is developed, the Council will hold public
hearings to receive comments.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: March 13, 1997.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-6821 Filed 3-18-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
