Fishery conservation and management: Alaska; fisheries of Exclusive Economic Zone Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands groundfish,
[Federal Register: December 8, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 235)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 68265-68275]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08de03-6]
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 679
[Docket No. 031126295-3295-01; I.D. 111703B]
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area; Interim 2004 Harvest Specifications for Groundfish
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Interim final rule.
SUMMARY: NMFS issues interim 2004 total allowable catch (TAC) amounts for each category of groundfish, Community Development Quota (CDQ) reserve amounts, American Fisheries Act (AFA) pollock allocations and sideboard amounts, and prohibited species catch (PSC) allowances and prohibited species quota (PSQ) reserves for the groundfish fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). The intended effect is to conserve and manage the groundfish resources in the BSAI.
EFFECTIVE DATE: The interim harvest specifications are effective from 0001 hours, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), January 1, 2004, until the effective date of the final 2004 harvest specifications for BSAI groundfish, which will be published in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Environmental Assessment (EA) prepared for this action, the final 2002 Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report, dated November 2002, and the final 2003 SAFE report, dated November 2003, are available from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, West 4th Avenue, Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 99510- 2252 (907-271-2809) or from its home page at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc .
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Furuness, 907-586-7228, or mary.furuness@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Federal regulations at 50 CFR part 679 implementing the Fishery Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area (FMP) govern the groundfish fisheries in the BSAI. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared the FMP, and NMFS approved it under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
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Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). General regulations that also pertain to the U.S. fisheries appear at subpart H of 50 CFR part 600.
The Council met in October 2003 to review scientific information concerning groundfish stocks including the 2002 SAFE report and the EA (see ADDRESSES) and recommended proposed 2004 specifications. The Council recommended a proposed total acceptable biological catch (ABC) of 3,127,003 metric tons (mt) and a proposed total TAC of 1,998,443 mt for the 2004 fishing year. The proposed TAC amounts for each species were based on the best available biological and socioeconomic information.
Under Sec. 679.20(c)(1), NMFS published in the Federal Register proposed harvest specifications for groundfish in the BSAI for the 2004 fishing year (68 FR 67642, December 3, 2003). That document contains a detailed discussion of the proposed 2004 TACs, initial TACs (ITACs) and related apportionments, CDQ reserves, ABC amounts, overfishing levels, PSC allowances, PSQ reserve amounts, and associated management measures of the BSAI groundfish fishery.
This action provides interim harvest specifications and apportionments thereof for the 2004 fishing year that will become available on January 1, 2004, and remain in effect until superseded by the final 2004 harvest specifications. Background information concerning the 2004 groundfish harvest specification process on which this interim action is based is provided in the above mentioned proposed specification document.
Establishment of Interim TACs
Regulations at Sec. 679.20(b)(1)(i) require that 15 percent of the TAC for each target species or species group, except for pollock and the hook-and-line and pot gear allocation of sablefish, be placed in a non-specified reserve. The AFA supersedes this provision for pollock by requiring that the TAC for this species be fully allocated among the CDQ program, incidental catch allowance (ICA), and inshore, catcher/ processor, and mothership directed fishery allowances.
Regulations at Sec. 679.20(b)(1)(iii) require that one half of each TAC amount placed in the non-specified reserve, with the exception of squid, be allocated to the groundfish CDQ reserve and that 20 percent of the hook-and-line and pot gear allocation of sablefish be allocated to the fixed gear sablefish CDQ reserve. Regulations at Sec. 679.20(a)(5)(i)(A) require that 10 percent of the pollock TAC be allocated to the pollock CDQ reserve. With the exception of the hook- and-line and pot gear sablefish CDQ reserve, the CDQ reserves are not further apportioned by gear. Regulations at Sec. 679.21(e)(1)(i) also require that 7.5 percent of each PSC limit, with the exception of herring, be withheld as a PSQ reserve for the CDQ fisheries. Regulations governing the management of the CDQ and PSQ reserves are set forth at Sec. Sec. 679.30 and 679.31.
Regulations at Sec. 679.20(c)(2) require interim specifications to be effective at 0001 hours, A.l.t., January 1, and remain in effect until superseded by the final groundfish harvest specifications. Regulations at Sec. 679.20(c)(2)(ii) provide that the interim specifications will be established as one-fourth of each proposed ITAC amount and apportionment thereof (not including pollock, Pacific cod, Atka mackerel, and the hook-and-line and pot gear allocation of sablefish), one-fourth of each proposed PSQ reserve and PSC allowance established at Sec. 679.21, and the proposed first seasonal allowance of pollock, Pacific cod and Atka mackerel TAC. As stated in the proposed specifications (68 FR 67642, December 3, 2003), no harvest of groundfish is authorized before the effective date of this action implementing the interim specifications.
Interim 2004 BSAI Groundfish Harvest Specifications
Table 1 provides interim TAC and CDQ amounts and apportionments thereof. Amendment 77 to the FMP, approved by the Secretary of Commerce on October 20, 2003, provides for apportioning the BSAI Pacific cod TAC among hook-and-line and pot gear sectors. A final rule implementing Amendment 77 was published on December 1, 2003 (68 FR 67086), and will be effective by January 1, 2004. Amendment 77 will allocate the 18.3 percent pot gear allocation as: 15 percent to pot catcher vessels and 3.3 percent to pot catcher processors. Regulations at Sec. 679.20(c)(2)(ii) do not provide for an interim specification for the hook-and-line and pot gear allocations of sablefish for the CDQ reserve or for sablefish managed under the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program. As a result, directed fishing for the hook-and-line and pot gear allocations of CDQ sablefish and IFQ sablefish is prohibited until the effective date of the final 2004 groundfish specifications.
Table 1.--Interim 2004 TAC Amounts for Groundfish and Apportionments Thereof for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area\1\
Species and component (if applicable) Area and/or gear (if applicable) Interim TAC Interim CDQ
Pollock: \2\
AFA Inshore............................ BS.................................
259,119 ..............
AFA Inshore............................ SCA Limit \3\......................
41,769 ..............
AFA Catcher/Processors \4\............. BS.................................
207,295 .............. Catch by C/Ps...................... BS.................................
189,675 .............. Catch by CVs \4\................... BS.................................
17,620 .............. Unlisted C/P Limit \4\............. BS.................................
1,036 ..............
AFA Catcher/Processors \4\............. SCA Limit \3\......................
145,106 ..............
AFA Mothership......................... BS.................................
51,824 ..............
AFA Mothership......................... SCA Limit \3\......................
36,277 ..............
CDQ.................................... BS................................. ..............
59,670
CDQ.................................... SCA Limit \3\...................... ..............
41,769
ICA.................................... BS.................................
46,990 ..............
ICA.................................... AI.................................
1,000 ..............
ICA.................................... Bogoslof District..................
50 ..............
Excessive Harvesting Limit \5\......... BS.................................
90,692 ..............
Excessive Processing Limit \5\......... BS.................................
155,471 ..............
Total Pollock...................... ...................................
566,278
59,670
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Pacific Cod \6\............................ Jig................................
1,411 .............. Hook-and-line......................
42,937 .............. Catcher/Processors................. .............. .............. Hook-and-line Catcher Vessels......
161 .............. Pot Catcher/Processors.............
1,771 .............. Pot Catcher Vessels................
8,051 .............. Catcher Vessels 99 ft.......................
n/a 163,459 Vessels
