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Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery

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 [Federal Register: October 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 197)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 60396-60398]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11oc00-34]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 100400F]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Sea Scallop
Fishery

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

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement (SEIS); request for comments.

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[[Page 60397]]

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) announces
its intention to prepare Framework 14 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop
Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The intent of this action is to adjust
the limited access scallop days-at-sea (DAS) allocations for the next 2
fishing years (March 1, 2001, through February 28, 2003); create a
restricted access program for the scallop Mid-Atlantic closed areas
(Hudson Canyon South and Virginia Beach), scheduled to reopen on March
1, 2001; and to close additional areas to scallop fishing to protect
concentrations of juvenile scallops, reduce fishing mortality, and
increase yield per recruit. The Council, in coordination with NMFS,
also announces its intent to prepare an SEIS for the Atlantic Sea
Scallop FMP in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act to
analyze the impacts of management alternatives.

DATES: Written comments on the intent to prepare the SEIS must be
received on or before 5 p.m., local time, November 13, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Paul J. Howard, Executive
Director, New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill
2, Newburyport, MA 01950. Comments may also be sent via fax to (978)
465-0492. Comments will not be accepted if submitted via e-mail or
Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, Executive Director,
New England Fishery Management Council, (978) 465-0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Amendment 4 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP, implemented by a final
rule published January 19, 1994 (59 FR 2757), established a limited
access program and a schedule of annual DAS allocations for full-time,
part-time, and occasional vessels with limited access permits. The
primary management tool implemented under Amendment 4 to control
fishing mortality was the annual DAS allocation.
    Amendment 7 to the FMP, implemented by a final rule published March
29, 1999 (64 FR 14835), changed the overfishing definition and extended
the DAS-reduction schedule through 2008 to achieve a 10-year biomass
rebuilding objective. To comply with the new overfishing definition and
implement the rebuilding schedule, Amendment 7 revised the DAS schedule
beginning March 1, 1999. To allow time for industry adjustment to the
new regulations, the initial annual DAS allocations in 1999 were 120
days for full-time vessels, 48 days for part-time vessels, and 10 days
for occasional vessels. According to Amendment 7, the DAS allocations
in 2000 would be reduced to 51 days for full-time vessels, 20 days for
part-time vessels, and 4 days for occasional vessels, and would remain
below these levels until 2007, when the biomass rebuilding targets were
expected to be met. The SEIS for Amendment 7 indicated that the 2000
DAS allocations would have negative impacts on the economic viability
of the vessels and the scallop fleet. Amendment 7 also modified the
framework adjustment process to allow the Council to consider closing
and reopening areas, and closed two areas in the Mid-Atlantic to
protect small scallops that were prevalent there, to promote stock
rebuilding.
    Shortly after the implementation of Amendment 7, the Council began
deliberations on a longer-term process of developing Amendment 10,
which would implement an area-based management system for scallops. In
connection with the development of Amendment 10, the Council and NMFS
published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an SEIS (65 FR 6975,
February 11, 2000). The NOI announced that the Council is considering,
among other things, closing areas with high concentrations of small
scallops and opening them later when the scallops reach a certain size.
The Council believes that shifting fishing effort in this manner could
promote rebuilding, improve yield, and reduce the economic impacts of
the low DAS allocations.
    While Amendment 10 was being developed, the Council, through
Framework 11 to the Scallop FMP (64 FR 31144, June 10, 1999) began a
short-term strategy to access Closed Area II (CA II) in order to allow
fishing on dense concentrations of scallops without compromising
multispecies rebuilding or habitat protection. Framework 11 implemented
a 1999 seasonal Georges Bank Sea Scallop Exemption Area (Exemption
Area) in and adjacent to CA II and included the following primary
measures for vessels fishing in the Exemption Area: A possession limit
of up to 10,000 lb (4,536.0 kg) of scallop meats per trip; a maximum of
three trips for full and part-time vessels and a maximum of one trip
for occasional vessels; an automatic minimum deduction of 10 DAS for
each trip; a minimum mesh twine-top of 10 inches (25.40 cm); a total
allowable catch (TAC) of yellowtail flounder of 387 metric tons (mt);
and an increase in the regulated species possession limit from 300 lb
(136.1 kg) to 500 lb (226.8 kg) per trip. In addition, Framework 11
implemented a minimum mesh twine-top of 8 inches (20.32 cm) for vessels
fishing under a scallop DAS when fishing outside the Exemption Area.
    This strategy occurred in the 1999 and 2000 fishing years. Based on
an updated assessment from the 29th Northeast Regional Stock Assessment
Workshop (September 1999) and the 1999 Stock Assessment and Fishery
Evaluation (SAFE) Report, the Scallop Plan Development Team determined
that increasing the Amendment 7 DAS allocations for each of three
permit categories to the same amounts as in the 1999 fishing year would
meet the 2000 fishing mortality rate (F) target. This was contingent
upon scallops in multispecies CA I, CA II, and the Nantucket Lightship
Closed Area (NLCA) remaining protected, or upon maintaining
conservation neutrality, if scallopers were allowed access to these
closed areas. Based on this information, Framework 12 to the FMP (65 FR
11478, March 3, 2000) adjusted the limited access scallop DAS
allocations for the fishing year March 1, 2000, through February 28,
2001, to 120 days for full-time vessels, 48 days for part-time vessels,
and 10 days for occasional vessels.
    Framework 13 to the FMP (65 FR 37903, June 19, 2000) continued the
short-term strategy by implementing the 2000 Sea Scallop Exemption
Program (Exemption Program), creating Exemption Areas in portions of CA
I, CA II, and NLCA, and by including the following management measures:
A possession limit of up to 10,000 lb (4,356.0 kg) of scallop meats per
trip; a maximum number of trips for each area; an automatic minimum
deduction of 10 DAS for each trip; a minimum mesh twine-top of 10
inches (25.40 cm); a yellowtail flounder TAC of 725 mt for CA I and CA
II combined, and 50 mt for the NLCA; and an increase in the regulated
species possession limit from 300 lb (136.1 kg) to 1,000 lb (435.6 kg)
per trip, among other measures. In addition, this action modified the
scallop dredge gear stowage requirements and corrected and clarified
the ``end of the year DAS carry-over'' provision for vessels
participating in the limited access scallop fishery. The primary intent
of this action was to provide a continuation and an expansion of a
short-term strategy to allow scallop dredge vessels access to
multispecies closed areas without compromising multispecies and sea
scallop rebuilding or habitat protection.
    The Council is once again considering development of management
measures through Framework 14 to provide for

[[Page 60398]]

effective conservation and management of sea scallops while Amendment
10 is being developed. This action proposes to adjust the limited
access scallop DAS allocations for the next 2 fishing years (March 1,
2001, through February 28, 2003). Under this measure annual DAS would
remain at 120 days for full-time vessels, 48 days for part-time
vessels, and 10 days for occasional vessels. This action also proposes
a restricted access program for the Mid-Atlantic scallop closed areas
(Hudson Canyon South and Virginia Beach), which are currently scheduled
to reopen to scallop fishing on March 1, 2000, with no restrictions.
Proposed measures and provisions of this action program include: (1)
all scallop limited access and open access vessels (dredge, trawl, and
General Category vessels) would be allowed access; (2) a scallop TAC
for each of the reopened areas; (3) an allowance of five trips per
vessel; (4) a possession limit of 15,000 lb (6,804 kg) of meats per
trip (400 lb (181.4 kg) of meats for the General Category vessels); (5)
an automatic deduction of 10 DAS for each trip; (6) a season of April 1
through February 28, with the provision that the Administrator,
Northeast Region, NMFS, may allow additional trips for those vessels
that made a trip prior to September 1, 2001; (7) an emergency landing
provision, whereby vessels would only be charged one DAS for each 1,500
lb (680 kg) of meats landed, provided the vessel has experienced an
emergency condition that forces the vessel to come into port earlier
than anticipated; (8) a minimum mesh twine-top of 10 inches (25 cm) for
scallop dredge vessels; (9) a vessel monitoring system requirement,
with double-polling for the duration of the access program; (10) a TAC
set-aside to allow cooperative research; and (11) a TAC set-aside to
provide for observer coverage. The Council also may propose additional
closed areas to protect concentrations of small scallops. Options for
the closed areas include areas in both the Mid-Atlantic and Georges
Bank.
    Because the Mid-Atlantic closed areas are scheduled to reopen on
March 1, 2001, the Council is considering in Framework 14 a restricted
access program to prevent a rush of effort into the closed areas, which
could potentially diminish the benefits achieved by the closures, and
to balance fishing effort between the closed and open areas of the
scallop fishery.
    Because Framework 14 is the third in a series of short-term
measures adopted by the Council during the development of Amendment 10,
the Council, in cooperation with NMFS, has determined that it may be
necessary to prepare an SEIS to examine the cumulative effects and
consequences of the short-term measures on the human environment. In
preparing the SEIS, the Council and NMFS will take into account, in
addition to comments received in response to this document, all
comments that have already been submitted and all discussions that have
occurred in Council meetings before the publication of this document.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: October 5, 2000.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 00-26060 Filed 10-5-00; 3:52 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S

 
 

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