[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 143 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40542-40544]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-19171]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Parts 600 and 648
[I.D. 063099A]
RIN 0648-AI78
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic
Herring Fishery; Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of a fishery management plan; request
for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the New England Fishery Management Council
(Council) has submitted the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan
(FMP) for Secretarial review and is requesting comments from the
public. The FMP would allow for the development of a sustainable
fishery that targets the entire U.S. Atlantic herring resource more
evenly to achieve optimum yield (OY). Overfishing would be prevented
through the use of total allowable catch (TAC) allocations for distinct
management areas. An annual scientific review of the resource would
allow for adjustments to the fishery as a result of fluctuations in
stock size. Development of the FMP was coordinated closely with the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) and Mid-
Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) in order to assure
complementary management measures in both state and Federal waters.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 27, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the Atlantic Herring FMP should be sent to
Patricia A. Kurkul, Regional Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS, One
Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-3799. Mark the outside of the
envelope, ``Comments on Herring FMP.''
Copies of the Atlantic Herring FMP, its regulatory impact review,
initial regulatory flexibility analysis, the final environmental impact
statement, the Omnibus Essential Fish Habitat Amendment, and supporting
documentation are available from Paul J. Howard, Executive Director,
New England Fishery Management Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906-
1036.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: E. Martin Jaffe, Fishery Policy
Analyst, 978-281-9272.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The FMP proposes an overfishing definition and implementation of
the following measures under authority of the the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act): (1) TAC
levels for each of the three management areas, one of which is divided
into inshore and offshore sub-areas; (2) a procedure to develop annual
specifications; (3) initial plan specifications for the 1999 fishing
year; (4) effort limits through mandatory days out of the fishery; (5)
spawning closures; (6) trip limits for incidental harvest during
spawning closures or when effort controls are in effect; (7) a vessel
monitoring system (VMS) requirement; (8) vessel size limits; (9) a
framework adjustment process; (10) permitting and reporting
requirements; (11) restrictions on transfers at sea; and (12) other
measures for administration and enforcement. The
[[Page 40543]]
FMP also discusses the reduction and monitoring of bycatch and a roe
fishery.
The purpose of the FMP is to achieve, on a continuing basis, OY
from the fishery and to prevent overfishing of the Atlantic herring
resource. In addition, the FMP will provide for the orderly development
of the offshore and inshore fisheries.
Overfishing Definition
The FMP proposes an overfishing definition for Atlantic herring
comprised of two status determination criteria. If stock biomass is
equal or greater than BMSY (the biomass level at maximum
sustainable yield), overfishing occurs when the fishing mortality rate
exceeds FMSY (the fishing mortality rate that yields
BMSY). If stock biomass is below BMSY,
overfishing occurs when the fishing mortality rate exceeds the level
that has a 50-percent probability of rebuilding stock biomass to
BMSY in 5 years (Fthreshold). The stock is in an
overfished condition when stock biomass is below \1/2\BMSY
and overfishing occurs when fishing mortality exceeds
Fthreshold. These criteria are thresholds and form the basis
for the control rule.
The control rule also specifies risk averse fishing mortality rate
targets, accounting for uncertainty in the estimate of FMSY.
If stock biomass is equal to or greater than \1/2\BMSY, the
target fishing mortality rate will be the lower limit of the 80-percent
confidence interval about FMSY. When biomass is below
BMSY, the target fishing mortality rate will be reduced
consistent with the 5-year rebuilding schedule used to determine
Fthreshold. Since the Atlantic herring stock is not listed
as ``overfished'' or ``approaching an overfished condition'' in the
Annual Report to Congress for 1998, the Council was not required to
submit a rebuilding strategy as part of the FMP at this time.
Essential Fish Habitat (EFH)
The Council submitted an omnibus EFH amendment to address EFH
provisions for several FMPs for Northeastern fisheries. The omnibus EFH
amendment document also included the EFH components of the proposed
Atlantic herring FMP, which was then still under development by the
Council. Although the Atlantic herring EFH components were included in
the omnibus EFH amendment, they were not considered during Secretarial
review of the omnibus EFH amendment. For Atlantic herring, the notice
of availability for the omnibus EFH amendment (63 FR 66110, December 1,
1998) stated that ``the omnibus amendment includes the EFH components
of the Atlantic Herring FMP that is being developed by the NEFMC. The
EFH information for Atlantic Herring will be incorporated by reference
into the Atlantic Herring FMP when that FMP is submitted for
Secretarial approval.'' Therefore, with publication of this notice of
availability for the Atlantic Herring FMP, the public is also invited
to comment on the appprovability of the herring EFH provisions in the
Council's omnibus EFH amendment. The EFH component of the omnibus EFH
amendment describes and identifies EFH for Atlantic herring, discusses
measures to address the effects of fishing and non-fishing impacts on
EFH, and identifies other actions for the conservation and enhancement
of EFH. The comment period for the EFH provisions of the Atlantic
herring FMP is the same as it is for this notice of FMP availability.
The Council intends to review periodically the EFH designations for
Atlantic herring under this FMP and, if needed, will update them. This
FMP would authorize any revision to the EFH components through the
FMP's framework process.
Management Measures of Concern
While NMFS seeks comment on all of the management issues in the
FMP, it invites specific public comment on the following measures for
the reasons stated:
Restrictions on the Size of Domestic Fishing and Processing Vessels
This measure would prohibit domestic vessels > 165 ft (50.3 m) in
length, or > 750 gross registered tons (GRT)(680.4 mt), or > 3,000
horsepower from fishing for Atlantic herring in the exclusive economic
zone (EEZ), but would allow such vessels to process herring if U.S. at-
sea processing (USAP) is specified in a given year. Foreign vessels,
regardless of size, could also process herring in the EEZ if joint
venture processing (JVP) is specified. This could create the
possibility that some foreign processing vessels would receive larger
allocations than some domestic processing vessels. For example, the
proposed 1999 specifications for USAP is zero, whereas the JVP is
specified to be 40,000 mt.
Regarding the proposed harvesting vessel size restriction, NMFS
notes discrepancies in the size, capacity and/or horsepower
restrictions between the Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel
fisheries. NMFS seeks comment on this measure because the same vessels
often participate in the herring and mackerel fisheries; the incidental
catch in the herring fishery is likely to consist of mackerel; the
incidental catch in the mackerel fishery is likely to consist of
herring; and differences in the size, capacity and/or horsepower
restrictions within similar fisheries in the same waters may prove to
be confusing, administratively burdensome, and difficult to enforce.
Proposed Scheme to Restrict Fishing to Specific Days Based on the
Proportion of the TAC Caught in a Management Area
This measure would require NMFS to determine when harvesters have
reached 40, 65, and 80 percent of the TAC in any of the four management
areas, at which time NMFS would be required to project further when the
catch would exceed 50, 75, and 90 percent of the TAC, and if the TAC
will be exceeded. If NMFS projects that the TAC will be exceeded, then
fishermen would be required to stop fishing for herring for a certain
number of days in order to prevent the TAC from being exceeded.
NMFS is concerned that this ``days out of the fishery'' measure may
be administratively burdensome. Further, considering that there is no
limited or controlled access in the fishery other than restrictions on
the size of domestic fishing and processing vessels, fishermen could
increase their participation in the fishery (through additional vessels
or hours), adjust their schedules to work around the days-out
restriction, or substitute other forms of effort (increased landings
during the days available for fishing or shift effort into other
management areas) in response to the restricted days, thereby reducing
or eliminating the conservation benefit of the ``days-out-of-the-
fishery'' measure.
Spawning Area Closures
To protect spawning concentrations of herring, the FMP would
implement five closed areas in the GOM to directed fishing for herring.
These areas would be closed on a rotating basis for specified time
periods. When an area is closed, fishing vessels could possess, land,
or transfer up to 2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of herring per calendar day or
per trip, whichever is least, from or in that area.
Allowing vessels to fish in areas designated closed during certain
times of the year for spawning herring and allowing an incidental catch
of spawning herring may be counter-productive and fail to protect
spawning herring. Further, it may pose enforcement problems.
[[Page 40544]]
Adjustment of the TAC for Management Area 1A
This measure would require the Regional Administrator to adjust the
TAC for Management Area 1A if she determines that the New Brunswick,
Canada, fixed gear fishery will not harvest 20,000 mt of Atlantic
herring by October 1. This measure may be problematic because a real-
time mechanism to monitor the Canadian catch does not exist, and
adjusting the TAC after October 1 might not provide much benefit before
the fishing year is over on December 31.
Specification of the Amount of Herring to be Used for Roe in a Roe
Fishery
This measure would require that the Regional Administrator specify
the amount of herring to be used for roe, should the amount harvested
become a concern. Even though the Regional Administrator would make the
decision based upon the recommendation of the Council (which would
first consult with the Commission), the FMP as submitted by the Council
provides no standards by which the Regional Administrator could base
her determination.
A proposed rule that would implement the FMP will be published in
the Federal Register for public comment after NMFS has evaluated it
under the procedures of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Public comments on
the proposed rule must be received by September 27, 1999, the end of
the comment period for this notice of availability on the FMP, to be
considered in the decision concerning approval or disapproval of the
management measures contained in the FMP. All comments received by
September 27, 1999, whether specifically directed to the FMP or the
proposed rule, will be considered in the approval/disapproval decision
on the FMP. Comments received after that date will not be considered in
the approval/disapproval decision on the FMP. All comments received on
the FMP or on the proposed rule will be responded to in the preamble to
the final rule.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: July 21, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-19171 Filed 7-26-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
