[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 68 (Wednesday, April 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19743-19744]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-07391]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XX049]
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic
Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable
Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary
determination that an exempted fishing permit application submitted by
The Nature Conservancy contains all of the required information and
warrants further consideration. This exempted fishing permit would
allow participants to use electronic monitoring systems in lieu of at-
sea monitors in support of a study to develop electronic monitoring for
catch monitoring in the Northeast multispecies fishery. Regulations
under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
require publication of this notification to provide interested parties
the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed exempted
fishing permits.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 23, 2020.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by either of the following
methods:
Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject line
``PARTIAL EM EFP RENEWAL.''
Mail: Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, NMFS,
Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive,
Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope ``PARTIAL EM EFP
RENEWAL.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Claire Fitz-Gerald, Fishery Policy
Analyst: 978-281-9255; [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Northeast multispecies (groundfish) sectors
must implement and fund an at-sea monitoring (ASM) program, and the
Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) regulations allow
sectors to use electronic monitoring (EM) to satisfy this monitoring
requirement, provided that NMFS deems the technology sufficient for
catch monitoring. NMFS recently notified the Council of its intent to
allow sectors to submit EM plans instead of, or in addition to, ASM
plans as part of the fishing year 2021 and 2022 sector operations plans
approval process. For the 2020 fishing year, lessons learned through
this exempted fishing permit (EFP) would allow NMFS to continue
developing standards and requirements for the groundfish EM program.
Project partners include The Nature Conservancy, the Cape Cod
Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, the Maine Coast Fishermen's
Association, and fishermen.
The Nature Conservancy first obtained an EFP authorizing
participant vessels to use EM in lieu of human observers to meet their
ASM requirements in fishing year 2016. Project partners applied to
renew this EFP in fishing years 2017, 2018, and 2019. The EFP was
reissued for all 3 years.
Table 1--Participation in Previous Issues of the Partial Audit-Model EM
EFP
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ASM
Number of coverage
Fishing year participant level
vessels (percent)
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2016........................................... 14 14
2017........................................... 5 16
2018........................................... 5 15
2019........................................... 5 31
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On February 27, 2020, The Nature Conservancy, along with project
partners, submitted a request to renew this EFP for the 2020 fishing
year, as part of an ongoing effort to develop EM in the groundfish
fishery. The proposed participant list includes five vessels, all of
which participated in this EFP in fishing year 2019. Together, they are
expected to take an a total of 235 trips in fishing year 2020. Vessels
would be assigned observer coverage at the fishing year 2020 ASM
coverage level of 40 percent, which is a combination of Northeast
Fishery Observer Program (NEFOP) and ASM coverage. At 40-percent
observer coverage, this would equate to roughly 94 EFP trips.
On groundfish trips selected for observer coverage, vessels
participating in this EFP would use EM in lieu of human ASMs, and in
addition to NEFOP observers. Vessels would adhere to a vessel-specific
Vessel Monitoring Plan (VMP) detailing at-sea catch handling protocols.
An EM service provider would review 100 percent of the video footage.
The provider would also produce an EM summary report identifying,
counting, and generating weight estimates for all groundfish discards,
which it would submit to the NMFS Greater Atlantic Fisheries Regional
Office. These data would be used for catch accounting purposes on trips
selected for ASM coverage. EM data would not be used for catch
accounting in place of observer data on NEFOP trips. Following the EM
service provider's review, the Northeast Fisheries Science Center would
conduct a secondary review of the EM summary reports for a subset of
EFP trips.
Under this EFP, participating vessels would be exempt from minimum
fish size requirements (Sec. 648.83(a)) for Northeast multispecies,
for sampling purposes only; and ocean pout, windowpane flounder, and
Atlantic wolfish possession prohibitions (Sec. 648.86(l)), for
sampling purposes only. Vessels would also be exempt from their
sector's third-party monitoring program requirements (Sec.
648.87(b)(1)(v)(B)); all other standard sector reporting and monitoring
[[Page 19744]]
requirements would still apply. All catch of allocated groundfish
stocks would be deducted from the appropriate sector's allocation.
Legal-sized regulated groundfish would be retained and landed as
required by the Northeast Multispecies FMP. Undersized groundfish would
be handled according to the VMP guidelines in view of cameras and
returned to the sea as quickly as possible. All other species would be
handled per normal commercial fishing operations. No legal-size
regulated groundfish would be discarded, unless otherwise permitted
through regulatory exemptions granted to the participating vessel's
sector.
If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications to the
EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and extensions may be
granted without further notice if they are deemed essential to
facilitate completion of the proposed research and have minimal impacts
that do not change the scope or impact of the initially approved EFP
request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope of the
exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.
(Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.)
Dated: April 3, 2020.
H[eacute]l[egrave]ne M.N. Scalliet,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-07391 Filed 4-7-20; 8:45 am]
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