2024-16134. Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 2023-2024 Biennial Specifications and Management Measures; Inseason Adjustments

Table 1—Options for Sablefish Trip Limit Increases in the LEFG Sector North of 36° N lat.

Option	Trip limit	Projected landings (rd. wt. mt) under three price scenarios			Target (mt)	Attainment under three price scenarios
		Low	Average	High		Low (%)	Average (%)	High (%)
SQ	4,500 lbs. (2,041.2 kg)/week not to exceed 9,000 lbs. (4,082.3 kg)/2 months	209	237	265	a  380	55	62	70
Council Recommendation	7,000 lbs. (3,175.2 kg)/week not to exceed 14,000 lbs. (6,350.3 kg)/2 months	284	326	367		75	86	97
a  Landings target is calculated after deducting an amount of assumed discard mortality.

OA landings north of 36° N lat. for the full year are projected to be 79-90 percent of the 2024 landings target under status quo trip limits. So far this year, three OA vessels have attained more than 90 percent of the status quo bimonthly limit, indicating that at least some vessels in the fleet would benefit from a trip limit increase. Therefore, the Council recommended Option 1, which projects fleetwide landings at 88-101 percent of the 2024 landings target.

Table 2—Options for Sablefish Trip Limit Increases in the OA Sector North of 36° N Lat.

Option	Trip limit	Projected landings (rd. wt. mt) under three price scenarios			Target (mt)	Attainment under three price scenarios
		Low	Average	High		Low (%)	Average (%)	High (%)
SQ	3,000 lbs. (1,360.8 kg)/week not to exceed 6,000 lbs. (2,721.6 kg)/2 months	492	527	563	a  626	79	85	90
Council Recommendation	3,500 lbs. (1,587.6 kg)/week not to exceed 7,000 lbs. (3,175.2 kg)/2 months	551	592	632		88	95	101
a  Landings target is calculated after deducting an amount of assumed discard mortality.

Trip limit increases for sablefish are intended to increase attainment of the non-trawl HG. The proposed trip limit increases do not change projected impacts to co-occurring overfished species, compared to the impacts anticipated in the 2023-2024 harvest specifications, because the projected impacts to those species assume that the entire sablefish ACL is harvested. Therefore, the Council recommended and NMFS is implementing the proposed trip limit increases, by modifying table 2 (North) and table 2 (South) to part 660, subpart E, to reflect trip limit changes for the LEFG fishery north of 36° N lat. and increase the limits from “4,500 lb (2,041 kg) per week, not to exceed 9,000 lb (4,082 kg) per two months” to “7,000 lb (3,175 kg) per week, not to exceed 14,000 lb (6,350 kg) per two months”. NMFS is also implementing, by modifying table 3 (North) and table 3 (South) to part 660, subpart F, to reflect trip limit changes for the OA sablefish fishery north of 36° N lat. and increase the limits from “3,000 lb (1,361 kg) per week, not to exceed 6,000 lb (2,722 kg) per two months” to “3,500 lb (1,588 kg) per week, not to exceed 7,000 lb (3,175 kg) per two. These changes will be in effect until further revised.

The GMT also received a request from industry members at the June 2024 Council meeting to increase the yellowtail rockfish and widow rockfish OA and LEFG trip limits for the remainder of the year. Industry members stated that the abnormally challenging weather conditions have prevented fishing effort that would have typically already occurred this year and, therefore, an increase in trip limits could help make up for lost fishing opportunity once the weather improves.

Currently, between 42° and 40°10′ N lat., the non-trawl fleet in Federal waters is only permitted to use non-bottom contact gear within the Non-Trawl Rockfish Conservation Area (RCA) to access midwater shelf species due to actions taken in September (October 2, 2023, 88 FR 67656) and November (November 29, 2023, 88 FR 83354) of 2023 to mitigate California quillback rockfish encounters. The only current nearshore opportunity off northern California to target midwater rockfish (including yellowtail and widow rockfishes) stocks is with approved non-bottom contact hook-and-line gear configurations. As area closures and gear restrictions have required the fleet to fish offshore, where weather conditions can have a larger impact on smaller vessels typically prosecuting these trip limits, higher trip limits may allow those vessels to land larger volumes across fewer trips, thereby promoting safety at-sea and potentially reducing fuel and operational costs associated with traveling farther offshore.

Widow rockfish is managed with a coast-wide ACL. In 2024, the ACL for widow rockfish is 11,482 mt with a fishery HG of 11,243.7 mt. The fishery HG is further apportioned between the trawl and non-trawl sectors with 10,843.7 mt going to the trawl sector and 400 mt going to the non-trawl sector. Yellowtail rockfish are managed with stock-specific harvest specifications north of 40°10′ N lat. and within the Minor Shelf Rockfish complex south of 40°10′ N lat. In 2024, the ACL for yellowtail rockfish north of 40°10′ N lat. is 5,291 mt with a fishery HG of 4,263.3 mt. The fishery HG is further apportioned between the trawl and non-trawl sectors with 88 percent (3,751.7 mt) going to the trawl sector and 12 percent (511.6 mt) going to non-trawl.

LEFG and OA vessels currently land less than 0.1 percent of the non-trawl allocations of yellowtail and widow rockfishes. The trip limit increases may help facilitate the attainment of the National Standard 1 objective to attain but not exceed optimum yield, while posing very limited risk to co-occurring stocks. For example, canary rockfish are a co-occurring species of concern but are being attained well under their non-trawl commercial allocation. Therefore, the increase of yellowtail and widow rockfish trip limits would unlikely jeopardize their allocation nor create regulatory discards.

Table 3 below shows status quo and new Council recommend trip limits for widow rockfish north of 40°10′ N lat., and table 4 shows the GMT projected landings for 2024 under those limits. To date, fewer than three vessels operating in the LEFG sector have landed widow rockfish north of 40°10′ N lat. in 2024. None of these vessels have come within 50 percent of the trip limit in 2024. Therefore, the projection for the LEFG sector in table 4 does not change under status quo or the Council Recommendation. In the OA sector, there are 12 vessels operating that have landed widow rockfish to date in 2024. Fewer than 3 of these vessels have come within 50 percent of the trip limit.

There would be no conservation risk to the stock if the trip limits increase since it is expected that not many fishery participants would take advantage of the Council's recommended higher trip limits and under both options the sectors would remain well under one percent of the non-trawl allocation of 400 mt. Therefore, the Council recommended and NMFS is implementing higher trip limits, by modifying table 2 (North) to part 660, subpart E, and table 3 (North) to part 660, subpart F, for LEFG and OA widow rockfish north of 40°10′ N lat. as shown in table 3 below. This will allow fishery participants an opportunity to harvest a greater amount in fewer trips, when the weather permits, so as to promote safety at sea and improve attainment of the stock in the non-trawl fishery. These changes will be in effect until further revised.

Table 3—Status Quo and Council Recommended Trip Limits for LEFG/OA Widow Rockfish North of 40°10′ N Lat.

Option	Sector	Area	Jan-Feb	Mar-Apr	May-Jun	Jul-Aug	Sep-Oct	Nov-Dec
Status Quo	LE	N of 40°10′ N lat	4,000 lbs. (1,814.4 kg)/2 months.
	OA	N of 40°10′ N lat	2,000 lbs. (907.2 kg)/2 months.
Council Recommendation	LE	N of 40°10′ N lat	4,000 lbs. (1,814.4 kg)/2 months.			6,000 lbs. (2,721.6 kg)/2 months.
	OA	N of 40°10′ N lat	2,000 lbs. (907.2 kg)/2 months.			3,000 lbs. (1,360.8 kg)/2 months.

Table 4—GMT Projected Coastwide Widow Rockfish Landings for 2024

Option	Sector	Projected landings (mt) N of 40°10′ N lat.	Projected landings (mt) S of 40°10′ N lat.	Coastwide non-trawl allocation (mt)	% Attainment
Status Quo	LE OA	1.0 5.2	0.1 1.5	400	<0.1
Council Recommendation	LE OA	1.0 7.1	0.1 1.5	400	<0.1

Table 5 below shows status quo and new Council recommended trip limits for yellowtail rockfish north of 40°10′ N lat. and table 6 shows the projected landings under those limits. To date in 2024, only three vessels operating in the LEFG sector have landed yellowtail rockfish north of 40°10′ N lat. None of these vessels have come within 50 percent of the trip limit. Therefore, the projection of 2.3 mt in landings in the LEFG in 2024 does not change. In the OA sector, there are 44 vessels operating that have landed yellowtail rockfish to date in 2024, but similarly, none of the vessels have come within 50 percent of the trip limit. Therefore, it is not expected they would attain the limit, as they are still projected at 2.0 mt. regardless of the increase in trip limits.

In 2023, fewer than three vessels reached or exceeded their trip limits. There would be no conservation risk to the stock if trip limits increase since it is expected that both sectors would remain under one percent of the non-trawl allocation. Therefore, the Council recommended and NMFS is implementing, higher trip limits by modifying table 2 (North) to part 660, subpart E, and table 3 (North) to part 660, subpart F, to reflect trip limit changes for LEFG and OA yellowtail rockfish north of 40°10′ N lat., as shown in table 5 below, in order to promote safety at sea and increase opportunity for the fishery to achieve its 2024 catch limits. These changes will be in effect until further revised.

Table 5—Status Quo and Alternative Trip Limit Options for LE/OA Yellowtail Rockfish North of 40°10′ N Lat.

Option	Sector	Area	Jan-Feb	Mar-Apr	May-Jun	Jul-Aug	Sep-Oct	Nov-Dec
Status Quo	LE	N of 40°10′ N lat	3,000 lbs. (1,360.8 kg)/month.
	OA	N of 40°10′ N lat	1,500 lbs. (680.4 kg)/month.
Council Recommendation	LE	N of 40°10′ N lat	3,000 lbs. (1,360.8 kg)/month.			4,500 lbs. (2,041.2 kg)/month.
	OA	N of 40°10′ N lat	1,500 lbs. (680.4 kg)/month.			2,500 lbs. (1,134 kg)/month.

Table 6—Projected Yellowtail Rockfish North of 40°10′ N Lat. Landings for 2024

Option	Sector	Projected landings (mt)	Non-trawl allocation (mt)	% Attainment
Status Quo	LE OA	2.3 2.0	512	<0.1
Council Recommendation	LE OA	2.3 2.0	512	<0.1