[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 49 (Monday, March 14, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 13592-13593]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5868]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
RIN 0648-BA35
Fisheries Off West Coast States; Highly Migratory Species
Fisheries; Amendment 2
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 Pacific Fishery Management Council
(Council) has submitted Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan for
U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP) for
Secretarial review. Amendment 2 would modify the current suite of
management unit species, establish a new category of ecosystem
component species, modify the process for revising numerical estimates
of maximum sustainable yield and optimal yield, and specify status
determination criteria so that overfishing and overfished
determinations can be made for all management unit species.
DATES: Comments on Amendment 2 must be received on or before May 13,
2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the NOA identified by ``RIN 0648-
BA35'', by any of the following methods:
Federal e-Rulemaking portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Rodney R. McInnis, Regional Administrator, Southwest
Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA
90802.
Fax: (562) 980-4047.
Instructions: All comments received are part of the public record
and generally will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without
change. All personal identifying information (for example, name and
address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly
accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information. NMFS will accept
anonymous comments (if submitting comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking
portal, enter ``N/A'' in the relevant required fields if you wish to
remain anonymous). Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted
in Microsoft Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats
only. Copies of the draft EA and RIR prepared for this proposed rule
are available at http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/ or may be obtained from
Rodney R. McInnis (see ADDRESSES).
Copies of Amendment 2, which includes an Environmental Assessment/
Regulatory Impact Review, are available from Donald O. McIssac,
Executive Director, Pacific Fishery Management Council, 7700 NE
Ambassador Place, Suite 200, Portland, Oregon 97220-1384.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Craig Heberer, Sustainable Fisheries
Division, NMFS, at 760-431-9440, ext. 303 or Kit Dahl, Pacific Fishery
Management Council, at 503-820-2422.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act (MSA), 18 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., requires each
regional fishery management council to submit any amendment to an FMP
to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The
MSA also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an amendment to an FMP,
immediately publish notification in the Federal Register that the
amendment is available for public review and comment. NMFS will
consider the public comments received during the public comment period
in determining whether to approve, disapprove, or partially approve
Amendment 2.
Amendment 2 would revise the HMS FMP to ensure it is consistent
with advisory guidelines published at 50 CFR 600.310. The guidelines
describe fishery management approaches to meet the objectives of
National Standard 1 (NS1) of the MSA, Section 301. The Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (MSRA)
amended the MSA to include new requirements for annual catch limits
(ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) and other provisions regarding
preventing and ending overfishing and rebuilding fisheries. NMFS
revised NS1 Guidelines in response to these changes in the MSA. The NS1
Guidelines were published in the Federal Register on January 16, 2009.
The Guidelines are intended to meet the objectives of NS1 by providing
guidance on:
1. Specifying maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and optimal yield
(OY);
2. Specifying status determination criteria (SDC) so that
overfishing and overfished determinations can be made for stocks and
stock complexes that are part of a fishery;
3. Preventing overfishing and achieving OY, incorporation of
scientific and management uncertainty in control rules, and adaptive
management using ACLs and measures to ensure accountability (AM); and
4. Rebuilding stocks and stock complexes.
The revisions to the NS1 guidelines also dictate that fisheries
undergoing overfishing have ACLs and AMs in place to end overfishing by
2010, and all fisheries to have ACLs and AMs in place to prevent or end
overfishing by 2011, and beyond. However, a stock or stock complex may
not require an ACL and AMs if it qualifies for an MSRA-defined
exception. The most important of these with respect to highly migratory
species is the so-called ``international exception'' described at Sec.
660.310(h)(2)(ii) for stocks managed under an international agreement
to which the United States is a party. The NS1 Guidelines also have
other provisions related to classifying stocks in the FMP.
[[Page 13593]]
In November 2009 the Council reviewed the Highly Migratory Species
Management Team's (Management Team) recommendations on the range of
issues related to amending the HMS FMP and provided further guidance on
developing alternatives based on the following topics:
(1) Classification of stocks in the HMS FMP as management unit
species or ecosystem component species;
(2) Potential application of the MSRA international exception for
ACL requirements to management unit species in the HMS FMP;
(3) Determining the primary fishery management plan for managed
species covered by both the HMS FMP and the Western Pacific Fishery
Management Council's Pelagics Fishery Ecosystem Plan; and
(4) Establishing biological reference points and accountability
measures.
At their April 2010 meeting, the Council adopted a set of
alternatives for public review that were made available in the form of
a preliminary draft environmental assessment. At the June 2010 meeting
the Council took final action to adopt the preferred alternative,
addressing the four issue areas listed above in the following manner:
Bigeye thresher, Alopias superciliosus, and pelagic thresher, A.
pelagicus, would be reclassified as ecosystem component species
resulting in a total of 11 management unit species versus the current
13 management unit species under status quo. Based on these
considerations there would be eight ecosystem component species
included in the HMS FMP, including the two thresher shark species that
are currently management unit species.
The international exception to setting ACLs described at Sec.
660.310(h)(2)(ii) would be applied to all management unit species
because they are subject to management by the Inter-American Tropical
Tuna Commission, of which the U.S. is a member. The HMS FMP would be
amended to discuss the process by which NMFS would make a determination
of the primary FMP in consultation with the Western Pacific Fishery
Management Council. The determination will be based on the stock, or
portion of the stock (if stock structure is poorly understood and catch
data is limited), for which reference points will be identified. The
existing numerical estimates of MSY (or proxies), OY, and SDC,
including the overfishing limit, would be retained. Upon the receipt of
any new information based on the best available science, the Council
may periodically adjust the numerical estimates of MSY, OY, and SDC.
The adjustment would follow an established protocol whereby the HMSMT
proposes MSY and OY estimates based on the best available science,
which are included in the draft HMS Stock Assessment and Fishery
Evaluation (SAFE) document submitted to the Council in June. The
Council's Science and Statistical Committee would review the estimates
and make a recommendation on their suitability for management. The
Council would then decide whether to adopt updated numerical estimates
of MSY and OY, which would be submitted as recommendations for NMFS to
review as part of the management cycle process. This provides the
opportunity for Secretarial review of revised MSY and OY estimates. In
this process the Council would take final action in November and then
NMFS would engage in rulemaking to implement the specifications and any
management measures proposed by the Council.
The Council has submitted a proposed rule to implement Amendment 2
for Secretarial review. NMFS expects to publish and request public
comment on the proposed rule in the near future.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: March 9, 2011.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries.
[FR Doc. 2011-5868 Filed 3-11-11; 8:45 am]
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