[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 44 (Monday, March 7, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-5088]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: March 7, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
50 CFR Part 672
[Docket No. 920461-4061; I.D. 021594E]
Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule; technical amendment.
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SUMMARY: NMFS issues a technical amendment that updates directed
fishing standards to reflect changes in Gulf of Alaska (GOA) target
species categories. These changes resulted from the annual
specification process for GOA groundfish and must be incorporated into
the directed fishing standards to maintain the intent of these
regulations to limit bycatch amounts of certain groundfish species
closed to directed fishing.
EFFECTIVE DATE: March 7, 1994.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kaja Brix, Fisheries Management
Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 907-586-7228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulations at Sec. 672.20(a)(2) authorize
the Secretary of Commerce to split or combine target species categories
during the annual specification process for purposes of establishing
Total Allowable Catch (TAC) amounts under Sec. 672.20(c)(1). Under this
authority, the final 1991 specifications for GOA groundfish (56 FR
8723, March 1, 1991) established shortraker/rougheye rockfish and
Pacific ocean perch (POP) as two separate TAC categories when it
removed these species from the species group ``other rockfish.''
Separate TAC categories were also established for northern rockfish in
the final 1993 specifications (58 FR 16787, March 31, 1993) by removing
this species from the ``other rockfish'' category and for rex sole in
the final 1994 specifications (59 FR 7647, February 16, 1994) when this
species was removed from ``deep water flatfish.'' The new TAC
categories resulted in inadvertent changes to the directed fishing
standards, at Sec. 672.20(g), that were not consistent with the intent
of these regulations.
This technical amendment updates and clarifies the regulations
pertaining to the directed fishing standards to reflect these new
target species categories. Paragraphs Sec. 672.20(g)(1)(i)(A);
(g)(1)(ii); (g)(2); and (g)(4)((ii) are updated to add ``rex sole'' to
the same grouping as deep water flatfish; and at Sec. 672.20(g)(1)(ii)
and (g)(4)(ii), ``other rockfish'' and thornyhead rockfish are updated
to read ``other rockfish of the genera Sebastes and Sebastolobus.''
Reasons for these changes follow.
Under the existing regulations at Sec. 672.20(g)(1)(ii) and
(g)(4)(ii), the operator of a vessel is engaged in directed fishing for
demersal shelf rockfish if the operator retains at any particular time
during a trip demersal shelf rockfish in an amount equal to or greater
than 1 percent of the aggregate amount of deep water flatfish, flathead
sole, sablefish, ``other rockfish,'' and thornyhead rockfish, plus 10
percent of the amount of all other fish species retained at the same
time on the vessel during the same trip.
The intent of the existing regulations was to set a directed
fishing standard for demersal shelf rockfish at 1 percent of the
aggregate amount of deep water species, including deep water flatfish
and ``other rockfish,'' because demersal shelf rockfish are less likely
to be caught as bycatch in deep water fisheries. However, when northern
rockfish, shortraker/rougheye, and POP rockfish species were removed
from the complex of ``other rockfish'' and rex sole was removed from
the deep water flatfish complex they then, under the directed fishing
standards (Sec. 672.20(g)), became part of the ``all other fish
species'' designation against which demersal shelf rockfish can be
retained at a rate of up to 10 percent. This percentage is inconsistent
with the intent of the directed fishing standard to limit demersal
shelf rockfish bycatch to minimal amounts in the deep water fisheries.
Therefore, consistent with the intent of the original regulation, the
technical amendment would ensure that northern rockfish, shortraker/
rougheye rockfish, POP, and rex sole would remain in the category
against which demersal shelf rockfish can be retained up to 1 percent.
The existing regulations at Sec. 672.20(g)(1)(i)(A) and (g)(2)
present a similar situation for rex sole. The directed fishing standard
for sablefish, at paragraph (g)(1)(i), is 15 percent of the aggregate
amount of deep water flatfish, flathead sole, and rockfish of the
genera Sebastes and Sebastolobus retained at the same time on the
vessel during the same trip, plus 5 percent of the total amount of all
other fish species retained at the same time on the vessel during the
same trip. When rex sole was removed from the category of deep water
flatfish, which formed part of the grouping against which sablefish can
be retained at an amount up to 15 percent, it then became part of the
default group against which sablefish can be retained at an amount up
to 5 percent. The intent was not for rex sole to be grouped with the
``all other fish species'' category, against which sablefish can be
retained at reduced amounts.
The same situation involving rex sole occurs in paragraph (g)(2).
The existing regulations state that an aggregate amount of rockfish of
the genera Sebastes and Sebastolobus, except demersal shelf rockfish,
can be retained at the same time on the vessel during the same trip at
up to 15 percent of the aggregate amount of deep water flatfish,
flathead sole, sablefish, and other rockfish species for which directed
fisheries are open and 5 percent of the total amount of other fish
species retained at the same time on the vessel during the same trip.
The intent of the regulation was not for rex sole to be grouped with
the ``all other fish species'' category. Therefore, consistent with the
intent of the original regulations, the new category of ``rex sole''
will be specified in the same grouping as deep water flatfish and other
deep water species.
Classification
The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, has determined,
under section 553(d)(3) of the Administrative Procedure Act, that good
cause exists for waiving the 30-day delayed effectiveness period for
this action. Because this technical amendment makes only minor, non-
substantive changes to existing regulations, notice and public comment,
thereon, and a delay in the effective date would serve no purpose. This
rule updates the directed fishing standards and does not cause a change
in any fishing practices.
This rule is not subject to review under E.O. 12866.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 672
Fisheries, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: March 1, 1994.
Samuel W. McKeen,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
For reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 672 is amended as
follows:
PART 672--GROUNDFISH OF THE GULF OF ALASKA
1. The authority citation for part 672 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
2. In Sec. 672.20, paragraphs (g)(1)(i)(A), (g)(1)(ii), (g)(2), and
(g)(4)(ii) are revised to read as follows:
Sec. 672.20 General limitations
* * * * *
(g) * * *
(1) * * *
(i) * * *
(A) 15 percent of the aggregate amount of deep water flatfish, rex
sole, flathead sole, and rockfish of the genera Sebastes and
Sebastolobus retained at the same time on the vessel during the same
trip; plus
* * * * *
(ii) Demersal shelf rockfish. The operator of a vessel is engaged
in directed fishing for demersal shelf rockfish if he retains at any
particular time during a trip demersal shelf rockfish caught using
trawl gear in an amount equal to or greater than 1 percent of the
aggregate amount of deep water flatfish, rex sole, flathead sole,
sablefish, and other rockfish of the genera Sebastes and Sebastolobus,
plus 10 percent of the amount of all other fish species retained at the
same time on the vessel during the same trip.
(2) Rockfish of the genera Sebastes and Sebastolobus, except
demersal shelf rockfish. The operator of a vessel is engaged in
directed fishing for rockfish if he retains at any particular time
during a trip an aggregate amount of rockfish species for which a
directed fishery closure applies except for demersal shelf rockfish,
that is equal to or greater than the sum of 15 percent of the aggregate
amount of deep water flatfish, rex sole, flathead sole, sablefish, and
other rockfish species for which directed fisheries are open, retained
at the same time on the vessel during the same trip, and 5 percent of
the total amount of other fish species retained at the same time on the
vessel during the same trip.
* * * * *
(4) * * *
(ii) Demersal shelf rockfish. The operator of a vessel is engaged
in directed fishing for demersal shelf rockfish if he retains at any
particular time during a trip demersal shelf rockfish caught using
hook-and-line gear in an amount equal to or greater than 1 percent of
the aggregate amount of deep water flatfish, rex sole, flathead sole,
sablefish, and other rockfish of the genera Sebastes and Sebastolobus,
plus 10 percent of the amount of all other fish species retained at the
same time on the vessel during the same trip.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 94-5088 Filed 3-4-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
