[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 179 (Thursday, September 16, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 50266-50268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24198]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 990907245-9245-01; I.D. 082499B]
RIN 0648-AM86
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Herring
Fishery; Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
[[Page 50267]]
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; notice of a control date
for the Atlantic herring fishery.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that it is considering, and is seeking public
comment on, proposed rulemaking under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) to control
future access to the Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) fishery. This
notification is intended, in part, to promote awareness of potential
eligibility criteria for future access to the herring fishery so as to
discourage speculative entry into the herring fishery while the New
England Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS consider whether
and how access and effort in all or part of the herring fishery should
be controlled. The date of publication of this notification, September
16, 1999 shall be known as the ``control date'', and may be used for
establishing eligibility criteria for future access to the herring
fishery subject to Federal authority.
DATES: Comments must be received by October 18, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be directed to Patricia Kurkul, Regional
Administrator, Northeast Region, National Marine Fisheries Service, One
Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-2298.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Gouveia, Fishery Management
Specialist, 978-281-9280.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Atlantic herring is a migratory pelagic
species that supports important commercial fisheries along the Atlantic
coast of the United States and Canada. In addition, Atlantic herring is
a key forage species for seabirds, marine mammals, and other species of
fish. The Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Herring (FMP) is under
Secretarial review for approval/disapproval by October 27, 1999. The
FMP was developed by the Council to manage the fishery and prevent
overfishing. The FMP proposes measures to manage Atlantic herring as an
open access fishery that primarily controls fishing mortality through
total allowable catch (TAC) levels allocated among four different
management areas. These proposed management areas are identified as
Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine), Area 1B (offshore Gulf of Maine), Area
2 (south coastal area), and Area 3 (Georges Bank).
Based on the most recent assessment, the overall stock biomass is
estimated to be at record high levels (27th Northeast
Regional Stock Assessment Workshop). However, while overall fishing
mortality is very low, the resource is fully exploited in the Gulf of
Maine. Despite current overall stock size, there appears to be
sufficient harvesting capacity to warrant not only concern about excess
harvesting capacity entering this fishery in all proposed management
areas, but concern over the impact of increased fishing effort in
proposed Management Area 1A, where most herring catches have been taken
for the last 20 years. The FMP proposes a TAC of 45,000 metric tons
(mt) for Management Area 1A for fishing year 1999 and the Council has
proposed no change in this level for fishing year 2000. Landings in
1996 and 1997 from this area exceeded 70,000 mt. Catches in 1998 did
not exceed the proposed TAC, but clearly the capacity to exceed the TAC
exists. Subsequently, a limitation on entry into the herring fishery in
the inshore Gulf of Maine (proposed Management Area 1A) may be
implemented prior to a controlled access system being implemented for
other herring management areas.
The Council is considering development of a controlled access
system in the Atlantic herring fishery to address the principle of
matching capacity to sustainable harvest level. The Council recognizes
there may be room for an increase in fishing effort in some of the
proposed management areas but is concerned over the impact of
increasing fishing effort in the inshore Gulf of Maine proposed
Management Area 1A. Therefore, the Council may consider a system that
will control increases in fishing effort in proposed Management Area 1A
while potentially allowing some additional fishing effort in proposed
Management Areas 1B, 2 and 3, or in other management areas that may be
developed. The limitation on entry into the fishery in proposed
Management Area 1A, or any other proposed management area that may be
developed, may be based on levels of participation or other criteria
such as domestic harvest capacity. These limitations on entry may also
be implemented prior to implementation of a controlled access system
for the entire herring fishery. If a controlled access system is
implemented, fishery participants may need to preserve records that
substantiate and verify their participation in the Atlantic herring
fishery in Federal waters. This announcement, therefore, gives the
public notification that interested participants should locate and
preserve records that substantiate and verify their participation in
the Atlantic herring fishery in Federal waters.
The control date is intended to discourage speculative entry into
the Atlantic herring fishery, particularly in the inshore Gulf of
Maine, while controlled access schemes are developed by the Council.
Any scheme for controlling access may treat participants differently
based on conditions in, and criteria to be established for, different
herring management areas. Existing domestic harvesting capacity within
fisheries of the Northeast Region of the NMFS prior to the control date
may also be treated differently from new capacity. The control date
will help to distinguish established participants from speculative
entrants to the fishery. Although participants are notified that
entering the fishery after the control date will not assure them of
future access to the Atlantic herring resource on the grounds of
previous participation, additional and/or other qualifying criteria may
also be applied. The Council and NMFS may choose different and variably
weighted methods to qualify participants, based on the type and length
of participation in the fishery.
This notification establishes September 16, 1999 as the control
date for potential use in determining historical or traditional
participation in the Atlantic herring fishery. Consideration of a
control date does not commit the Council or NMFS to any particular
management scheme or criteria for entry into the Atlantic herring
fishery. This notification does not prevent any other control date for
eligibility in the fishery, or any other method of controlling access
and/or fishing effort, from being proposed and implemented. The Council
and NMFS may choose a different control date or may choose a management
scheme that does not make use of such a date. Participants who enter
the herring fishery on or after the control date may be treated
differently than those with a history in the herring fishery prior to
the control date. Fishermen are not guaranteed future participation in
the fishery, regardless of their entry date or intensity of
participation in the fishery before or after the control date. The
Council and NMFS may choose to give variably weighted consideration to
fishermen active in the fishery before and after the control date. The
Council and NMFS may also choose to take no further action to control
entry or access to the fishery, in which case the control date may be
rescinded. Any action by the Council and NMFS will be taken pursuant to
the requirements for FMP
[[Page 50268]]
development established under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
This control date notification has been determined to be not
significant under E.O. 12866.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: September 10, 1999.
Andrew A. Rosenberg,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-24198 Filed 9-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
