Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 2013 Atlantic Shark Commercial Fishing Season
Federal Register, Volume 77 Issue 196 (Wednesday, October 10, 2012)
Federal Register Volume 77, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 10, 2012)
Proposed Rules
Pages 61562-61568
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office www.gpo.gov
FR Doc No: 2012-24936
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 635
Docket No. 120706221-2481-01
RIN 0648-XC106
Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 2013 Atlantic Shark Commercial Fishing Season
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This proposed rule would establish opening dates and adjust quotas for the 2013 fishing season for the Atlantic commercial shark fisheries. Quotas would be adjusted as allowable based on any over- and/or underharvests experienced during the 2011 and 2012 Atlantic commercial shark fishing seasons. We propose to keep the porbeagle shark fishery closed in 2013 due to the small quota and
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difficulties in accurately monitoring such a small quota. In addition, NMFS proposes season openings based on previously implemented adaptive management measures to provide, to the extent practicable, fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in all regions and areas. The proposed measures could affect fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in the northwestern Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.
DATES: Written comments will be accepted until October 28, 2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2012-0175, by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the e-Rulemaking Portal, first click the ``submit a comment'' icon, then enter NOAA-NMFS-2012-0175 in the keyword search. Locate the document you wish to comment on from the resulting list and click on the ``Submit a Comment'' icon on the right of that line.
Mail: Submit written comments to 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Please mark the outside of the envelope ``Comments on the Proposed Rule to Establish Quotas and Opening Dates for the 2013 Atlantic Shark Commercial Fishing Season.''
Fax: 301-427-8503, Attn: Karyl Brewster-Geisz or Guy DuBeck.
Instructions: Comments must be submitted by one of the above methods to ensure that the comments are received, documented, and considered by NMFS. Comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.) submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive or protected information. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter ``N/A'' in the 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Guyacute DuBeck or Karyl Brewster-
Geisz at 301-427-8503.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Atlantic commercial shark fisheries are managed under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The 2006 Consolidated HMS Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and its amendments under the Magnuson-Stevens Act are implemented by regulations at 50 CFR part 635. For the Atlantic commercial shark fisheries, the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and its amendments established, among other things, commercial quotas for species and species complexes, accounting measures for under- and overharvests for the shark fisheries, and adaptive management measures such as flexible opening dates for the fishing season and inseason adjustments to shark trip limits, which provide flexibility in management in the furtherance of equitable fishing opportunities, to the extent practicable, for commercial shark fishermen in all regions and areas.
Accounting for Under- and Overharvests
This proposed rule would adjust the quota levels for the different shark species and complexes for the 2013 Atlantic commercial shark fishing season based on over- and underharvests that occurred during the 2011 and 2012 fishing seasons, consistent with existing regulations at Sec. 635.27(b)(1)(i). Over- and underharvests are accounted for in the same region and/or fishery in which they occurred the following year, depending on stock status. Shark stocks that are overfished, have overfishing occurring, or that have an unknown stock status, or complexes that contain one or more stocks that are overfished, have overfishing occurring, or that have an unknown stock status, will not have underharvest carried over in the following year. Stocks that are not overfished and have no overfishing occurring will have any underharvest carried over in the following year, up to 50 percent of the base quota.
Although there were underharvests in the sandbar shark, non-sandbar large coastal shark, blacknose shark, blue shark, and pelagic shark (other than porbeagle or blue sharks) fisheries, those underharvests cannot be carried over to the 2013 fishing season because those stocks have been determined to be overfished, overfished with overfishing occurring, or have an unknown status. Porbeagle sharks have been declared to be overfished with overfishing occurring, and the quota was overharvested in 2011 and 2012. Thus, for all of these species, the 2013 proposed quota would be equal to the appropriate base quota minus any overharvests that occurred in the 2011 and 2012 fishing seasons.
However, since the non-blacknose small coastal shark complex has been determined not to be overfished and has no overfishing occurring, the underharvest (up to 50 percent of the base quota) from the 2012 fishing season can be applied to the 2013 quota.
2013 Proposed Quotas
This rule proposes adjustments to the base commercial quotas due to over- and underharvests that occurred in 2011 and 2012, where allowable, taking into consideration the stock status as required under existing regulations.
The quotas in this proposed rule are based on dealer reports received as of August 22, 2012. In the final rule, we will adjust the quotas based on dealer reports received as of October 31, 2012. Thus, all of the 2013 proposed quotas for the respective shark complexes/
species are subject to further adjustment for any overharvests reflected after considering the October 31 dealer reports. All dealer reports that are received after October 31, 2012, will be used to adjust the 2014 quotas, as appropriate. In addition, the 5-year quota reduction to account for overharvest of the non-sandbar large coastal shark and sandbar shark fisheries established in Amendment 2 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP ends on December 31, 2012, and quotas will increase to annual base levels established in Amendment 2 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP. We also propose to adjust the non-blacknose small coastal shark quota due to underharvest from the 2012 fishing season, and to adjust the porbeagle shark quota to account for overharvest from the 2011 and 2012 fishing season.
Due to the small quota and difficulties in accurately monitoring such a small quota, we propose to keep the porbeagle shark fishery closed in 2013. The porbeagle shark fishery landings in 2012 exceeded the quota by 259 percent with the addition of late reports in December 2011, which must be accounted for in 2013. The combined overharvest in 2011 and 2012 for the porbeagle shark fishery would result in a very small quota (0.5 mt dw; 1,001 lb dw). The proposed 2013 quotas by species and species group are summarized in Table 1.
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Table 1--2013 Proposed Quotas and Opening Dates for the Atlantic Shark Fisheries *
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2012 Annual Preliminary 2012 Overharvest/ 2013 Base 2013 Proposed Season opening
Species group Region quota landings \1\ Underharvest annual quota quota dates
................ (A)............. (B)............. (C)............. (D)............ (D+C).......... ...............
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Non-Sandbar Large Coastal Gulf of Mexico.. 392.8 (866,063 369.8 (815,236 ................ 439.5 (968,922 439.5 (968,922 On or about
Sharks. lb dw). lb dw). lb dw). lb dw). January 1,
2013.
Atlantic........ 183.2 (403,889 32.9 (72,648 lb ................ 188.3 (415,126 188.3 (415,126
lb dw). dw). lb dw). lb dw).
Non-Sandbar Large Coastal No regional 37.5 (82,673 lb 9.1 (20,015 lb ................ 50.0 (110,230 50.0 (110,230
Shark Research Quota. quotas. dw). dw). lb dw). lb dw).
Sandbar Research Quota....... ................ 87.9 (193,784 lb 24.7 (54,439 lb ................ 116.6 (257,056 116.6 (257,056
dw). dw). lb dw). lb dw).
Non-Blacknose Small Coastal ................ 332.4 (732,808 133.8 (294,871 110.8 \2\ 221.6 (488,539 332.4 (732,808
Sharks. lb dw). lb dw). (244,269 lb dw). lb dw). lb dw).
Blacknose Sharks............. ................ 19.9 (43,872 lb 10.9 (23,991 lb ................ 19.9 (43,872 lb 19.9 (43,872 lb
dw). dw). dw). dw).
Blue Sharks.................. ................ 273.0 (601,856 8.6 (18,868 lb ................ 273.0 (601,856 273.0 (601,856
lb dw). dw). lb dw). lb dw).
Porbeagle Sharks............. ................ 0.7 (1,585 lb 1.9 (4,105 lb -1.2 \3\ (2,747 1.7 (3,748 lb 0.5 (1,001 lb Closed for
dw). dw). lb dw). dw). dw). 2013.
Pelagic Sharks Other Than ................ 488 (1,075,856 99.7 (219,691 lb ................ 488.0 488.0 On or about
Porbeagle or Blue. lb dw). dw). (1,075,856 lb (1,075,856 lb January 1,
dw). dw). 2013.
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astAll quotas and landings are dressed weight (dw), in metric tons (mt), unless specified otherwise. Table includes landings data through August 22,
2012, and quotas are subject to change based on landings through October 31, 2012.
\1\ Landings are from January 1, 2012, until August 22, 2012, and are subject to change.
\2\ This adjustment accounts for the underharvest in 2012. While the total underharvest is 198.6 mt dw, we may account for underharvest only up to 50
percent of the base annual quota or 110.8 mt dw (244,269 lb dw).
\3\ This adjustment accounts for overharvest in 2011 and 2012. After the final rule establishing the 2012 quotas, the porbeagle shark quota was
overharvested by an additional
