Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fisheries; Specifications and Management Measures

Federal Register, Volume 78 Issue 11 (Wednesday, January 16, 2013)

Federal Register Volume 78, Number 11 (Wednesday, January 16, 2013)

Rules and Regulations

Pages 3346-3355

From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office www.gpo.gov

FR Doc No: 2013-00827

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

Docket No. 120731291-2522-02

RIN 0648-BC40

Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fisheries; Specifications and Management Measures

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is implementing 2013-2015 specifications and management measures for Atlantic mackerel, and 2013 specifications for butterfish. Specifications for longfin squid and Illex squid were set for 3 years in 2012 (2012-2014) and therefore are not included in this year's specification rulemaking. These final specifications also implement regulatory changes to the longfin squid fishery, the butterfish mortality cap to avoid 1-2 week closures at the end of a Trimester, and the pre-trip observer notification for longfin squid trips landing over 2,500 lb (1.3 mt) from 72 to 48 hr. Compared to 2012, the butterfish domestic annual harvest implemented in this action (2,570 mt) represents an increase of 1,698 mt over the 2012 domestic annual harvest (872 mt). The butterfish mortality cap implemented in this action (4,464 mt) represents an increase of 1,299-mt over the current 2012 cap level (3,165 mt). Due to the increase in the proposed butterfish quota, this action also implements a variety of management measures for controlling effort in the directed butterfish fishery, including changes to trip limits, the closure threshold for the directed fishery, and post-closure trip limits. Finally, this rule implements minor corrections to existing regulatory text, to clarify the intent of the regulations. These specifications and management measures promote the utilization and conservation of the Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish resource.

DATES: Effective January 16, 2013, except for the amendments to Sec. 648.27, which will be effective on February 15, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the 2013 specifications document, including the Environmental Assessment (EA), is available from John K. Bullard, Northeast Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. This document is also accessible via the Internet at http://www.nero.noaa.gov. NMFS prepared a Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA), which is contained in the Classification section of this rule. Copies of the FRFA and the Small Entity Compliance Guide are available from: John K. Bullard, Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Region, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-2276, or via the internet at http://www.nero.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lindsey Feldman, Fishery Management Specialist, 978-675-2179, fax 978-281-9135.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Specifications, as referred to in this rule, are the combined suite of commercial and recreational catch levels established for 1 or more fishing years. The specification process also allows for the modification of a select number of management measures, such as closure thresholds, gear restrictions, and possession limits. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) process for establishing specifications relies on provisions within the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish (MSB) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and its implementing regulations, as well as requirements established by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-

Stevens Act). Specifically, section 302(g)(1)(B) of the Magnuson-

Stevens Act states that the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) for each Regional Fishery Management Council shall provide its Council ongoing scientific advice for fishery management decisions, including recommendations for acceptable biological catch (ABC), preventing overfishing, maximum sustainable yield, and achieving rebuilding targets. The ABC is a level of catch that accounts for the scientific uncertainty in the estimate of the stock's defined overfishing level (OFL).

The Council's SSC met on May 23 and 24, 2012, confirming 2013 specifications for Illex and longfin squid and recommending ABCs for the 2013-2015 Atlantic mackerel (mackerel) and 2013 butterfish specifications. A proposed rule for 2013 MSB specifications and management measures was published on November 19, 2012 (77 FR 69426), and the public comment period for the

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proposed rule ended on December 10, 2012.

The MSB regulations require the specification of annual catch limits (ACL) and accountability measures (AM) for mackerel and butterfish (both squid species are exempt from the ACL/AM requirements because they have a life cycle of less than 1 year). In addition, the regulations require the specification of domestic annual harvest (DAH), domestic annual processing (DAP), and total allowable level of foreign fishing (TALFF), along with joint venture processing for (JVP) commercial and recreational annual catch totals (ACT) for mackerel, the butterfish mortality cap in the longfin squid fishery, and initial optimum yield (IOY) for both squid species. Details concerning the Council's development of these measures were presented in the preamble of the proposed rule and are not repeated here.

Research Set-Aside

The Mid-Atlantic Research Set-Aside (RSA) Program funds research projects through the sale of fish that has been set aside from the total annual quota. The RSA may vary between 0 and 3 percent of the overall quota for each species. NMFS solicited research proposals under the 2013 Mid-Atlantic RSA Program through a Federal Funding Opportunity announcement that published on February 17, 2012 (Funding Opportunity Number NOAA-NMFS-NEFSC-2013-2003258 on grants.gov). Two projects were preliminarily selected by NMFS, although final grant approval by NOAA Grants is pending. Federally permitted vessels harvesting RSA quota are issued Exempted Fishing Permits in support of approved research projects, which would authorize them to exceed Federal possession limits and to fish during Federal quota closures. If approved, the projects would be awarded 589,800 lb (267,529 kg) of summer flounder, 958,950 lb (434,972 kg) of scup, 111,900 lb (50,757 kg) of black sea bass, 874,000 lb (396,440 kg) of longfin squid, 79,455 lb (36,040 kg) of butterfish for discards on longfin squid research trips, and 715,830 lb (324,695 kg) of bluefish. The research projects preliminary selected include the following:

A near-shore trawl survey between Martha's Vineyard, MA, and Cape Hatteras, NC, in shallow waters unsampled by current Federal finfish bottom trawl surveys to provide stock assessment data for Mid-

Atlantic RSA species, including summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, longfin squid, butterfish, and Atlantic bluefish, and assessment-

quality data for weakfish, Atlantic croaker, spot, several skate and ray species, smooth dogfish, horseshoe crab, and several unmanaged but important forage species; and

A fishery-independent black sea bass survey of four separate hard-bottom sites unsampled by current state and Federal finfish bottom trawl surveys in southern New England and MidhyphenAtlantic waters using unvented black sea bass pots.

The Council recommended that up to 3 percent of the total ACL for mackerel, up to 3 percent of the IOY for Illex and longfin squid, and up to 2 percent of the butterfish ACT could be set aside to fund projects selected under the 2013 Mid-Atlantic RSA Program, where 59 mt could be set aside for butterfish discard on longfin squid research trips, and 151 mt could be set aside for directed butterfish landings. The final RSA awards are subtracted from the IOY for longfin squid, and the butterfish mortality cap in Table 1 below.

Table 1--Final Specifications, in Metric Tons (mt), for Mackerel for 2013-2015, Butterfish for 2013, and Longfin

and Illex Squid for the 2013-2014 Fishing Year

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Specifications Mackerel Butterfish Illex Longfin

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OFL............................................. Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown

ABC............................................. 43,781 8,400 24,000 23,400

ACL............................................. 43,781 7,560 N/A N/A

Commercial ACT.................................. 34,907 7,560 N/A N/A

Recreational ACT/RHL............................ 2,443 N/A N/A N/A

IOY............................................. N/A N/A 22,915 22,049

DAH/DAP......................................... 33,821 2,570 22,915 22,049

JVP............................................. 0 N/A N/A N/A

TALFF........................................... 0 0 N/A N/A

RSA............................................. N/A 36 N/A 396

Butterfish Mortality Cap........................ .............. 4,464

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Final 2013-2015 Specifications and Management Measures for Mackerel

This action specifies the mackerel U.S. ABC at 43,781 mt. The status of the mackerel stock was assessed by the Transboundary Resources Assessment Committee (TRAC) in March 2010. The 2010 TRAC Status Report indicated reduced productivity in the stock and a lack of older fish in both the survey and catch data, and determined that the status of the mackerel stock is unknown because biomass reference points could not be determined. Due to uncertainty in the assessment, the TRAC recommended that total annual catches not exceed 80,000 mt (average total U.S. and Canadian landings from 2006-2008) until new information is available. The mackerel stock-wide ABC was set at 80,000 mt for 2012, consistent with the TRAC recommendation. Since a new mackerel assessment is not expected for several years, the SSC recommended maintaining the 2012 mackerel specification and specifying the stock-wide ABC for 3 years (2013-2015) at 80,000 mt. The Council recommended a U.S. ABC of 43,781 mt (80,000 mt--36,219 mt (2010 actual Canadian catch)). Due to the variability in recent Canadian catch, and the inability to predict Canadian catch for 2013, the SSC recommended the use of Canadian catch from 2010 (the same amount used for setting 2012 specifications).

Consistent with MSB Amendment 11, the Council recommended a recreational allocation of 2,714 mt (6.2 percent of the U.S. ABC). The proposed Recreational ACT of 2,443 mt (90 percent of the U.S. ABC of 2,714 mt) was reduced to account for low precision and time lag of recreational catch estimates, as well as lack of recreational discard estimates. The Recreational ACT is equal to the Recreational Harvest Limit (RHL), which would be the effective cap on recreational catch.

For the commercial mackerel fishery, the Council recommended a commercial fishery allocation of 41,067 mt (93.8 percent of the U.S. ABC, the portion of the ACL that was not allocated to the recreational fishery). The recommended

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Commercial ACT of 34,907 mt (85 percent of 41,067) was reduced to address uncertainty in estimated 2013 Canadian landings, uncertainty in discard estimates, and possible misreporting. The Commercial ACT was further reduced by a discard rate of 3.11 percent (mean plus one standard deviation of discards from 1999-2008), to arrive at the proposed DAH of 33,821 mt. The DAH was proposed as the effective cap on commercial catch, as it has been in past specifications.

Consistent with the Council's recommendation, this action sets the 2013-2015 mackerel specifications so that the U.S. ABC/ACL is 43,781 mt; the Commercial ACT is 34,907 mt; the DAH and DAP are 33,821 mt; and the Recreational ACT is 2,443 mt. Additionally, as recommended by the Council, JVP is maintained as zero. There was no mackerel awarded for the RSA program for the 2013 fishing year.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act provides that the specification of TALFF, if any, shall be the portion of the optimum yield (OY) of a fishery that will not be harvested by U.S. vessels. TALFF would allow foreign vessels to harvest U.S. fish and sell their product on the world market, in direct competition with U.S. industry efforts to expand exports. While a surplus existed between ABC and the mackerel fleet's harvesting capacity for many years, that surplus has disappeared due to decreases in the specifications in recent years. Based on analysis and a review of the state of the world mackerel market and possible increases in U.S. production levels, the Council concluded that specifying a DAH/DAP resulting in zero TALFF will yield positive social and economic benefits to both U.S. harvesters and processors, and to the Nation. For these reasons, consistent with the Council's recommendation, NMFS is specifying the DAH at a level that can be fully harvested by the domestic fleet, thereby precluding the specification of a TALFF, in order to support the U.S. mackerel industry. NMFS concurs that it is reasonable to assume that in 2013 the commercial mackerel fishery has the ability to harvest 33,821 mt of mackerel.

Final 2013 Specifications and Management Measures for Butterfish

This action specifies the butterfish ABC at 8,400 mt. The current status of the butterfish stock is unknown because biomass reference points could not be determined in the SAW 49 assessment (February 2010); however, survey trends since the most recent assessment suggest an increase in butterfish abundance. In recommending 2013 specifications, the SSC considered multiple sources of information, including a recent analysis of the butterfish stock by Dr. Paul Rago and Dr. Tim Miller from NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). Because of the uncertainty in the most recent butterfish stock assessment, on April 6, 2012, the Council requested that NEFSC offer additional analysis of the butterfish stock to aid the SSC in the ABC setting process for the 2013 fishing year. The NEFSC analysis (May 2, 2012) applied ranges of a number of different factors (such as natural mortality and survey catchability) to develop a range of likely stock biomasses that would be consistent with recent survey results and observed butterfish catch. The NEFSC also examined a range of fishing mortalities that would result from these biomass estimates. The SSC used the NEFSC analysis, along with guidance (Patterson, 1992) that suggests maintaining a natural mortality/fishing mortality ratio of 67 percent for small pelagic species, to develop a proxy OFL for butterfish. Consistent with the 2010 butterfish assessment, the SSC assumed a high level of natural mortality (M = 0.8) and applied the 67-

percent ratio to result in a fishing mortality rate of F = 0.536, which the SSC used as a proxy maximum F threshold for butterfish. In the NEFSC analysis, a catch of 16,800 mt would only lead to fishing mortality rates higher than F = 0.536 (i.e., rates consistent with overfishing based on the maximum fishing mortality rate threshold proxy) under very extreme assumptions. The SSC therefore adopted 16,800 mt as a proxy OFL. The SSC buffered the proxy OFL by 50 percent to reach the butterfish ABC of 8,400 mt. The SSC's justification for this buffer noted that the short life history of butterfish gives limited time for management to respond to adverse patterns, that recruitment of butterfish is highly variable and uncertain, that the stock status of butterfish is unknown, and that butterfish are susceptible to environmental and ecosystem variability, in particular inter-annual variability in natural mortality. A detailed summary of the SSC's rationale for its 2013 butterfish ABC recommendation is available in its May 2012 Report (available, along with other materials from the SSC discussion, at: http://www.mafmc.org/meeting_materials/SSC/2012-05/SSC_2012_05.htm).

The Council recommended setting the butterfish ACL equal to the ABC, and establishing a 10-percent buffer between ACL and ACT for management uncertainty, which would result in an ACT of 7,560 mt. Since discards have been roughly \2/3\ of catch (1999-2008 average), the Council recommended setting the DAH and DAP at 2,570 mt (7,560 mt-4,990 mt discards). Since up to 3 percent of the ACL for butterfish may be set aside for scientific research, the Council recommended setting aside 2 percent of the butterfish ACT for research, where 59 mt would be set aside for butterfish discard on longfin squid research trips, and 151 mt would be set aside for directed butterfish landings. RSA projects were not awarded any directed butterfish, but were awarded 36 mt of butterfish to account for discards on longfin squid research trips. After accounting for 36 mt of RSA, the butterfish mortality cap on the longfin squid fishery was revised from 4,500 mt to 4,464 mt (59.05 percent of the ACT of 7,560 mt).

NMFS is implementing butterfish specifications for the 2013 fishing year, consistent with the Council's recommendations, that would set the butterfish ABC/ACL at 8,400 mt, the ACT at 7,560 mt, the DAH and DAP at 2,570 mt, TALFF at zero, and the butterfish mortality cap on the longfin squid fishery at 4,464 mt. Additionally, this action allocates the 2013 butterfish mortality cap by Trimester as follows:

Table 2--Trimester Allocation of Butterfish Mortality Cap on the Longfin

Squid Fishery for 2013

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Metric

Trimester Percent tons

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I (Jan-Apr)........................................ 65 2,902

II (May-Aug)....................................... 3.3 147

III (Sep-Dec)...................................... 31.7 1,415

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Total............................................ 100 4,464

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Due to the increase in the recommended butterfish DAH and butterfish mortality cap, a variety of management measures were recommended by the Council to control fishing effort while allowing the expansion of a profitable directed butterfish fishery. The Council recommended, and this action implements, a three-phase management system for the directed butterfish fishery (Table 3) to allow for maximum utilization of the butterfish resource without exceeding the stock-wide ACL.

In phase 1, there is no trip limit for vessels issued longfin squid/butterfish moratorium permits using mesh greater than or equal to 3 inches (7.62 cm), a 2,500-lb (1.13-mt) trip limit for longfin squid/

butterfish moratorium permits using mesh less than 3 inches (7.62 cm), and a trip limit of 600 lb (0.27 mt) for

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vessels issued squid/butterfish incidental catch permits. Once butterfish harvest reaches the trip hold reduction threshold to move from phase 1 to phase 2, the trip limit for longfin squid/butterfish moratorium permit holders will be reduced while in phase 2 to 5,000 lb (2.27 mt) for vessels using greater than or equal to 3-inch (7.62-cm) mesh and 2,500 lb (1.13 mt) for vessels using under 3-inch (7.62-cm) mesh. When butterfish harvest is projected to reach the trip hold reduction thresholds to move from phase 2 to phase 3, the trip limit for all longfin squid/butterfish moratorium permit holders will be reduced while in phase 3 to 500 lb (0.23 mt) to avoid quota overages. For phases 2 and 3, the quota thresholds to reduce the trip limits will vary bimonthly throughout the year, as shown in Tables 4 and 5.

Table 3--Three-Phase Butterfish Management System

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Longfin squid/butterfish moratorium permit trip

limit Squid/butterfish

Phase -------------------------------------------------- incidental catch permit

>=3 inch (7.62 cm) mesh

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