National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
Final rule.
NMFS implements 2019 specifications for the summer flounder and black sea bass fisheries and maintains previously-established 2019 specifications for the scup fishery. Additionally, this action reopens the February 2018 black sea bass recreational fishery and adjusts the current commercial incidental possession limit for scup. The implementing regulations for the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan require us to publish specifications for the upcoming fishing year for each of these species. The intent of this action is to inform the public of the specifications and management measures for the start of the 2019 fishing year for these three species. These specifications may be revised mid-year based on the results of ongoing stock assessments.
Effective January 1, 2019.
An environmental assessment (EA) was prepared for this action that describes these measures and other considered alternatives, and provides an analysis of the impacts of the measures and alternatives. Copies of the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass 2019 Specifications, including the EA, are available on request from Dr. Christopher M. Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Suite 201, 800 North State Street, Dover, DE 19901. These documents are also accessible via the internet at
Emily Gilbert, Fishery Policy Analyst, (978) 281–9244.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission cooperatively manage the summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass fisheries. The Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and its implementing regulations outline the Council's process for establishing specifications. Specifications in these fisheries include various catch and landing subdivisions, such as the commercial and recreational sector annual catch limits (ACL), annual catch targets (ACT), and sector-specific landing limits (
This action sets 2019 specifications for summer flounder and black sea bass. The previously-approved 2019 scup specifications (82 FR 60682; December 22, 2017) remain unchanged from the current two-year specifications and are maintained through this action.
An ongoing summer flounder benchmark assessment incorporating updated Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) data is scheduled to be available in early 2019. Operational assessments for black sea bass and scup will also be completed in April 2019 to incorporate revised MRIP data. Because new information for all three species is likely in the next few months, the Council and Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board only recommended interim specifications for 2019, and the Council and Board may develop mid-year changes to the summer flounder specifications, and possibly black sea bass specifications, to address the forthcoming updated assessment information.
The proposed rule for this action published in the
At their August 2018 meeting, the Council and Board recommended interim summer flounder specifications for the start of the 2019 fishing year (Table 1). Compared to 2018, the interim 2019 commercial quota and recreational harvest limit are a 16-percent increase. The Council and Board intend to consider revising these interim summer flounder specifications at a joint meeting in February 2019 to address the results of the benchmark stock assessment. If a change in catch limits is recommended by the Council and Board, we anticipate updated catch limits could be in place this spring and would announce any adjustments through a future rule.
The Council and Board recommended no adjustment to the commercial minimum fish size (14-inch (35.6 cm) total length), gear requirements, and possession limits. The Council and Board will develop recreational management measures (
Our final catch accounting shows that the 2017 commercial fishery exceeded its ACL by 21 percent and the ABC was exceeded by 7 percent, due to higher than expected discards in the commercial fishery. The newly-revised accountability measures (AM) regulations (83 FR 53825, October 25, 2018) require a scaled payback against the commercial fishery's ACT, based on the amount of the overage and the status of the summer flounder stock, using the most recent biological reference points. Based on our AMs, a scaled payback is required because the most recent assessment update (2016) indicated that the stock is experiencing overfishing and is not overfished.
The scaled payback based on the 2016 assessment status is 1.04 million lb (472 mt). This overage, when applied to the 2019 commercial ACT of 9.18 million lb (3,502 mt), results in a commercial quota of 6.67 million lb (3,030 mt), after subtracting the 2019 projected estimated discards. The resulting quota is less than one percent higher than the 2018 quota. The timing of this final rule did not allow for the results of the 2018 benchmark assessment to be incorporated into the AM evaluation. Final results of that assessment are anticipated to be available in early 2019. If the assessment results in changes to the current stock determination criteria, any adjustments to the summer flounder specifications can incorporate a re-evaluation of this AM.
Table 2 summarizes the commercial summer flounder quotas for each state, incorporating the revised 2019 commercial ACT. This rule announces commercial state quota overage reductions necessary for fishing year 2019. Table 2 includes percent shares as outlined in § 648.102(c)(1)(i), the resultant 2019 commercial quotas, quota overages (as needed), and the final adjusted 2019 commercial quotas. The 2018 quota overage is determined by comparing landings for January through October 2018, plus any 2017 landings overage that was not previously addressed in establishing the 2018 summer flounder specifications, for each state. For Delaware, this includes continued repayment of overharvest from previous years.
Table 2 shows the amount of overharvest from previous years for Delaware is greater than the amount of commercial quota allocated to Delaware for 2019. As a result, there is no quota available for 2019 in Delaware. The regulations at § 648.4(b) provide that Federal permit holders, as a condition of their permit, must not land summer flounder in any state that the NMFS Greater Atlantic Region Administrator has determined no longer has commercial quota available for harvest. Therefore, landings of summer flounder in Delaware by vessels holding commercial Federal summer flounder permits are prohibited for the 2019 calendar year, unless additional quota becomes available through a quota transfer and is announced in the
At the August meeting, the Council and Board made recommendations for the 2019 black sea bass specifications, but for reasons outlined below, we are
In June 2018, the Center provided the Council with a black sea bass data update, including updated catch, landings, and survey indices through 2017. Black sea bass biomass continues to be high and the 2015 year class appears to be above average in both the northern and southern surveys. Updated stock status information and biomass projections incorporating data on the 2015 year class were not available as part of the Center-provided data update, but will be once the operational assessment is completed in April 2019.
The Council's Scienctific and Statistical Committee (SSC) recommended a 2019 ABC of 7.97 million lb (3,615 mt), which was based on biomass projections from the 2016 benchmark stock assessment. This would have been an 11-percent reduction compared to the 2018 ABC. This decline in the ABC reflects the population responding to fishing at maximum sustainable yield and the decrease of the large 2011 year class, but does not incorporate the information on the 2015 year class. Based on this ABC recommendation, the Council and Board recommended the 2019 specifications that were 11 percent lower than those in place for 2018.
Following the Council and Board meeting, we requested that the Center perform a sensitivity analysis of the 2019 projection derived from the 2016 benchmark stock assessment. As previously described, that projection did not include the 2015 year class because those fish were too small to be widely captured in the surveys at the time of the 2016 assessment. This sensitivity analysis used various recruitment scenarios applied to the original projection and compared them to the most recent survey indices. The objective of this analysis was to see if that projection would have supported different specifications for 2019 had we been able to incorporate what we know now about the strength of the 2015 year class. The results suggest that the 2015 year class would have to be about 50 percent above average to allow for 2019 catch limits to be the same as what they were in 2018. Based on a comparison between the Center's 2018 spring survey results and average recruitment from 2003–2018, the 2015 year class appears to be more than 50 percent above average. Based on this information, we are maintaining status quo black sea bass specifications for 2019 (Table 3).
Maintaining status quo allows for stability in the black sea bass commercial and recreational fisheries while we wait for the results of the MRIP operational assessment to be completed in April 2019. Once that information is available, the Council and Board may recommend adjusting black sea bass measures mid-year.
No adjustments are made to the commercial minimum fish size (11-inch (27.9 cm) total length), gear requirements, and possession limits.
This action also reopens the black sea bass recreational fishery for the month of February (during MRIP Wave 1). The current Federal black sea bass recreational management measures (
There are currently no MRIP survey estimates collected for Wave 1 except for occasional estimates in North Carolina, but catch from this time period must be accounted for, and count against the recreational harvest limit. Similar to last year, to account for the harvest during this 28-day season, the Council and Board recommended a coastwide catch estimate of 100,000 lb (45.3 mt). The Board has further divided this coastwide catch estimate across the states. States that decide to participate in the Wave 1 fishery must account for this catch when developing their management measures for the remainder of the fishing year. Only two states participated in the 2018 February recreational fishery. The estimated catch was nominal. Measures for the rest of the 2019 recreational fishery will be developed through the winter for implementation in spring 2019.
The scup fishery is currently operating under multi-year specifications projected through 2019. This action reaffirms the Council's and Board's previous recommendation for scup 2019 specifications. Those specifications result in the same commercial quota and recreational harvest limit as implemented in 2018 (Table 4).
The 2019 scup commercial quota is divided into three commercial fishery quota periods, as outlined in Table 5.
The current quota period possession limits are not changed by this action, and are outlined in Table 6. The Winter I possession limit will drop to 1,000 lb (454 kg) upon attainment of 80 percent of that period's allocation. If the Winter I quota is not fully harvested, the remaining quota is transferred to Winter II. The Winter II possession limit may be adjusted (in association with a transfer of unused Winter I quota to the Winter II period) via notice in the
This action adjusts the gear-based incidental possession limit for the commercial fishery. The incidental possession limit applies to vessels with commercial moratorium scup permits fishing with nets with diamond mesh smaller than 5 inches (12.7 cm) in diameter. The incidental possession limit is currently 1,000 lb (454 kg) during October 1–April 30 and 200 lb (91 kg) during May 1-September 30. The action adds another threshold period from April 15–June 15 to allow for higher retention in the small-mesh squid fishery that operates during that time and occasionally catches larger amounts of scup than the current limits allow to be landed (Table 8). During that time, vessels with scup moratorium permits using small mesh can land up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) of scup.
No adjustments are made to the current commercial minimum fish size (9-inch (22.9-cm) total length) and winter quota period directed-fishery possession limits.
On November 15, 2018, NMFS published the proposed specifications for public notice and comment. NMFS received six comments from individuals, and comments from the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA), the New York Recreational & For-Hire Fishing Alliance, the State of New York and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. No changes to the proposed specifications were made as a result of these comments.
There are no changes to the measures from the proposed rule.
The Administrator, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, determined that these specifications are necessary for the conservation and management of the summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass fisheries and that they are consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws.
This rule has been determined to be not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration during the proposed rule stage that this action would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The factual basis for the certification was published in the proposed rule and is not repeated here. No comments were received regarding this certification, and the initial certification remains unchanged. As a result, a final regulatory flexibility analysis is not required and none has been prepared.
The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, finds good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to waive the 30-day delay of effectiveness period for this rule, to ensure that the final specifications are in place on January 1, 2019. This action establishes the final specifications (
This rule is being issued at the earliest possible date. Preparation of the proposed rule was dependent on the submission of the EA in support of the specifications that is developed by the Council. An initial draft was received by NMFS in mid-October, with a complete document submitted in early December 2018. Documentation in support of the Council's recommended specifications is required for NMFS to provide the public with information from the environmental and economic analyses, as required in rulemaking, and to evaluate the consistency of the Council's recommendation with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable law. The proposed rule published on November 15, 2018, with a 15-day comment period ending November 30, 2018. Publication of the summer flounder quotas at the start of the fishing year that begins January 1 of each fishing year is required by the order of Judge Robert Doumar in
If the 30-day delay in effectiveness were not waived, the lack of effective
Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 648 is amended as follows:
16 U.S.C. 1801
(a) * * *
(1)
(5)
Vessels that are not eligible for a moratorium permit under § 648.4(a)(7), and fishermen subject to the possession limit specified in § 648.145(a), may only possess black sea bass from February 1 through February 28, May 15 through December 31, unless this time period is adjusted pursuant to the procedures in § 648.142.