99-13828. Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Amendment 12 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan; Measures to Address the Sustainable Fisheries Act Requirements  

  • [Federal Register Volume 64, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 1, 1999)]
    [Proposed Rules]
    [Pages 29257-29258]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 99-13828]
    
    
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    DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
    
    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
    
    50 CFR Part 648
    
    [I.D. 050399A]
    RIN 0648-AL27
    
    
    Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Amendment 12 to the 
    Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan; Measures to Address the 
    Sustainable Fisheries Act Requirements
    
    AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
    Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
    
    ACTION: Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management 
    plan; request for comments.
    
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    SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the New England Fishery Management Council 
    (Council) has submitted Amendment 12 to the Northeast Multispecies 
    Fishery Management Plan (Amendment 12) for Secretarial review and is 
    requesting comments from the public. Amendment 12 proposes to address 
    the management of silver hake (whiting), red hake, offshore hake, and 
    ocean pout through management measures, including a moratorium on 
    commercial permits to fish for these species, Cultivator Shoal Whiting 
    Fishery restrictions, differential whiting possession limits based on 
    the mesh size with which a vessel chooses to fish in areas outside of 
    the Cultivator Shoal Whiting Fishery, limitations on transfers at sea, 
    and a year 4 default measure to ensure that overfishing is ended. The 
    intended effect of this action is to reduce fishing mortality rates on 
    whiting and red hake to eliminate overfishing and rebuild the biomass 
    in order to meet the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
    Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), as amended by 
    the Sustainable Fisheries Act of October 1996 (SFA).
    
    DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 2, 1999.
    
    ADDRESSES: Comments on this amendment should be sent to Jon C. 
    Rittgers, Acting Regional Administrator, 1 Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, 
    MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope, ``Comments on Amendment 
    12.''
        Copies of Amendment 12, its regulatory impact review, initial 
    regulatory flexibility analysis, the final supplemental environmental 
    impact statement, and the supporting documents for Amendment 12 are 
    available from Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England Fishery 
    Management Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906-1036.
    
    FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Christopher, Fishery Management 
    Specialist, 978-281-9288.
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In September 1997, NMFS' report to Congress 
    on the ``Status of Fisheries of the United States'' concluded that red 
    hake and the southern stock of whiting are overfished and the northern 
    stock of whiting is approaching an overfished condition. In response, 
    the Council began the development of the Whiting Amendment (now 
    Amendment 12) to specifically address overfishing.
        Amendment 12 proposes to do the following: (1) Establish new 
    overfishing definitions for two stocks of silver hake, two stocks of 
    red hake, and offshore hake (Merluccius albidus); (2) specify optimum 
    yield (OY) for silver hake, offshore hake, and red hake; (3) identify 
    whiting, red hake, and offshore hake as small-mesh multispecies; (4) 
    identify geographic areas for potential use in management of different 
    stocks of whiting; (5) implement a moratorium on commercial permits to 
    fish for small-mesh multispecies; (6) implement an open access permit 
    category to allow an incidental catch for 100 lb (45.36 kg) combined of 
    small-mesh multispecies (whiting, red hake, offshore hake), and 
    unlimited amounts of ocean pout; (7) implement a 30,000 lb (13,608 kg) 
    whiting/offshore hake possession limit for vessels fishing in the 
    Cultivator Shoal Whiting Fishery (the current 3-inch (76 mm) minimum 
    mesh requirement will remain the same); (8) initiate management 
    measures for all areas excluding the Cultivator Shoal Whiting Fishery 
    based on mesh size/possession limit categories (vessels electing to use 
    mesh smaller than 2.5-inches (64 mm) are allowed to possess/land 
    combined whiting and offshore hake up to 3,500 lb (1,588 kg); vessels 
    electing to use a minimum 2.5-inch (64 mm) mesh are allowed to possess/
    land combined whiting and offshore hake up to 7,500 lb (3402 kg); and 
    vessels electing to use a minimum 3-inch (76 mm) mesh are allowed to 
    possess/land combined whiting and offshore hake up to 35,000 lb (13,608 
    kg); (9) add measures that may be implemented by a framework 
    adjustment, including essential fish habitat (EFH) designation measures 
    (these new framework measures would include a whiting quota for vessels 
    fishing in the northern management area with mesh smaller than the 
    minimum mesh in combination with a separator trawl/grate; modifications 
    or adjustments to whiting grate/mesh configuration requirements; 
    adjustments to whiting stock boundaries for management purposes; 
    modifications to requirements for fisheries exempt from the minimum 
    mesh requirements for small-mesh multispecies; and seasonal 
    adjustments, declarations, and participating requirements for the 
    Cultivator Shoal Whiting fishery); (10) implement codend specifications 
    and restrictions on net strengtheners (a net strengthener may not be 
    used to fish for small-mesh multispecies with either a minimum 2.5-inch 
    (64 mm) or 3-inch (76 mm) mesh, but a vessel that chooses to fish for 
    small-mesh multispecies with a mesh less than 2.5-inches (64 mm) may 
    use a net strengthener, provided the vessel complies with the net 
    strengthener provisions specified in other small-mesh fisheries); (11) 
    restrict the transfer at sea of small-mesh multispecies; (12) provide a 
    default measure to be applied on a stock specific basis, beginning in 
    year 4 of the amendment if other measures have not been implemented to 
    meet the fishing mortality objectives (this default measure would 
    establish a Regulated Mesh Area with a 3-inch (76 mm) minimum mesh 
    requirement for all fishing activities); (13) designate EFH for 
    offshore hake; and (14) establish a Whiting Monitoring Committee (WMC). 
    Ocean pout will remain an open access multispecies; none of the 
    management measures proposed in this amendment address fishing for 
    ocean pout.
        The most recent estimates indicate that fishing mortality in 
    whiting is approximately 1.79 for the northern
    
    [[Page 29258]]
    
    stock and 1.50 for the southern stock. The goal of the Amendment 12, 
    with respect to whiting, is to reduce fishing mortality to 0.36 and 
    0.34 for the northern and southern stocks, respectively, based on 
    existing overfishing definitions, translating into a 63-percent 
    reduction of exploitation on both stocks of whiting. While there would 
    be no proposed possession limits for red hake, it is expected that 
    reductions of fishing mortality on whiting and offshore hake will have 
    a corresponding reduction in fishing mortality on red hake. The 
    establishment of a WMC has been proposed to monitor annually the 
    progress of the management program and to recommend adjustments, as 
    necessary, to ensure that Amendment 12 meets its objectives.
        This amendment is intended to bring the whiting fisheries of the 
    Northeast Multispecies FMP into compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens 
    Act, as amended by the SFA. The provisions in section 108(a) of the SFA 
    require that fishery management councils either add to or revise the 
    required provisions of any fishery management plan prepared by a 
    council or the Secretary of Commerce to include the following 
    provisions: (1) Bycatch reports (standardize reporting methods to 
    assess the type and amount of bycatch in a fishery); (2) bycatch 
    measures (develop management measures to minimize bycatch and mortality 
    of bycatch); (3) commercial, recreational, and charter fishing sectors 
    (specify data for each sector); (4) EFH (describe and identify EFH, 
    minimize to the extent practicable adverse impacts from fishing, and 
    identify other actions to encourage the conservation of such habitat); 
    (5) fishing communities (assess in a fishery impact statement the 
    likely effects of measures on fishing communities); and (6) overfishing 
    definitions (specify objective and measurable criteria for identifying 
    whether a fishery is overfished, and include measures to prevent 
    overfishing). Public comment is invited on the adequacy of Amendment 12 
    in meeting the requirements of section 108(a) of the SFA.
    
    Measure Considered for Disapproval
    
        While Amendment 12 includes a limited access permit program to 
    control effort on small-mesh multispecies, NMFS is concerned that the 
    provision may be inconsistent with national standard 4 and section 
    304(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Vessels that participated in either 
    the Gulf of Maine whiting raised footrope or separator trawl 
    experimental fisheries would qualify for the limited access program 
    with 1,000 lb (453.6 kg) of landings over 3 years, whereas other 
    vessels would qualify with 50,000 lb (22,680 kg) of landings over 18 
    years. Vessels would be subject to the same restrictions regardless of 
    how they qualified for the permit. Further, vessels may have been 
    excluded from participation in experimental fisheries because NMFS 
    imposed participation restrictions, and fishermen may have been 
    reluctant to participate in the experimental fisheries because of the 
    restrictive participation requirements. This portion of the proposed 
    limited access program may be inconsistent with national standard 4 
    because different sectors of the industry could qualify for access to 
    the fishery with different landings requirements. These issues raise 
    concerns about fairness and equity that are the subject of national 
    standard 4.
        The limited access program also proposes that 5 years from the 
    implementation date of this amendment (at the beginning of year 6), 
    unless otherwise extended, vessels would be eligible for limited access 
    small-mesh multispecies permits without having to meet the landings 
    criteria, provided the vessels possessed a valid limited access 
    multispecies permit on the date the final rule for this amendment is 
    published, as well as 5 years from the effective date for this rule. 
    There has been no analysis of the potential effects of increased effort 
    on the rebuilding schedule. Amendment 12 proposes to end overfishing in 
    year 4 and to rebuild the stocks of whiting and red hake within 10 
    years. It is not certain that the fishery could sustain additional 
    vessel participation just 1 year beyond the target date to end 
    overfishing; rebuilding goals may be compromised. This measure may be 
    inconsistent with section 304(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which 
    specifies that overfished fisheries must be rebuilt as soon as possible 
    and within a period not to exceed 10 years, unless limited exceptions 
    apply.
    
    Overfishing Definition
    
        Fishing mortality and exploitation reduction targets and the 
    management measures proposed in Amendment 12 to achieve them would be 
    based on the existing overfishing definitions, rather than on the 
    overfishing definitions proposed in the amendment. Future evaluations 
    of the status of the fishery would be based on the proposed 
    definitions, should Amendment 12 be approved.
        This amendment would introduce an overfishing definition for 
    offshore hake and would revise the overfishing definitions for northern 
    and southern stocks of whiting and red hake to bring them into accord 
    with the new national standard guidelines of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 
    as amended by the SFA. Under the revised guidelines, overfishing 
    definitions must be composed of two reference points, one for fishing 
    mortality rate and one for stock biomass. ``Overfishing'' occurs 
    whenever a stock or stock complex is subjected to a rate or level of 
    fishing mortality that jeopardizes the capacity of a stock or stock 
    complex to produce maximum sustainable yield on a continuing basis. 
    ``Overfished'' describes a stock or stock complex with a sufficiently 
    low biomass to require a change in management practices to achieve the 
    appropriate level and rate of stock rebuilding.
    
    Essential Fish Habitat
    
        The Council's omnibus EFH amendment, which included Amendment 11 to 
    the Multispecies FMP, was approved in its entirety on March 3, 1999, 
    and contained EFH designations for whiting and red hake. Offshore hake 
    would be a newly managed species under Amendment 12; therefore, 
    Amendment 12 includes an EFH designation for offshore hake. Under the 
    SFA, these designations are part of the Council's on-going work to 
    identify and describe EFH, describe non-fishing and fishing threats, 
    and suggest conservation and enhancement measures.
        A proposed rule that would implement Amendment 12 may be published 
    in the Federal Register for public comment following NMFS' evaluation 
    of the proposed rule under the procedures of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 
    Public comments on the proposed rule must be received by the end of the 
    comment period on Amendment 12 to be considered in the approval/
    disapproval decision on Amendment 12. All comments received by August 
    2, 1999, whether specifically directed to the FMP amendment or to the 
    proposed rule, will be considered in the approval/disapproval decision. 
    Comments received after that date will not be considered in the 
    approval/disapproval decision on Amendment 12.
    
        Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
    
        Dated: May 26, 1999.
    Bruce C. Morehead,
    Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
    Fisheries Service.
    [FR Doc. 99-13828 Filed 5-28-99; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
    
    
    

Document Information

Published:
06/01/1999
Department:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Entry Type:
Proposed Rule
Action:
Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management plan; request for comments.
Document Number:
99-13828
Dates:
Comments must be received on or before August 2, 1999.
Pages:
29257-29258 (2 pages)
Docket Numbers:
I.D. 050399A
RINs:
0648-AL27: Amendment 12 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery
RIN Links:
https://www.federalregister.gov/regulations/0648-AL27/amendment-12-to-the-fishery-management-plan-for-the-northeast-multispecies-fishery
PDF File:
99-13828.pdf
CFR: (1)
50 CFR 648