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Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic Fisheries; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs)
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: March 26, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 58)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 13744-13746]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26mr02-15]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 600
[I.D. 030502B]
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic
Fisheries; Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management;
Application for Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs)
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notification of a proposal for EFPs to conduct experimental
fishing; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional
Administrator) has made a preliminary determination that the subject
exempted fishing permit (EFP) application contains all the required
information and warrants further consideration. The Regional
Administrator has also made a preliminary determination that the
activities authorized under the EFP would be consistent with the goals
and objectives of the American lobster (lobster) fishery under the
Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (ACFCMA).
However, further review and consultation may be necessary before a
final determination is made to issue EFPs. Therefore, NMFS announces
that the Regional Administrator has made a preliminary decision to
issue EFPs that would allow up to 100 current federally permitted
lobster and/or Maine lobster/crab license holders to conduct fishing
operations otherwise restricted by the regulations governing the
lobster fishery. EFPs would allow federally permitted and/or state-only
lobster/crab licensed vessels to fish modified lobster traps to target
Jonah crabs to collect important fishery and biological data on the
sustainability and practicality of a directed Jonah crab fishery in
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Nearshore Management Area 1 (ENMA1).
Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) require publication of this
notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment
on applications for proposed EFPs.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 10, 2002.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Patricia A. Kurkul,
Regional Administrator, NMFS, Northeast Regional Office, 1 Blackburn
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-2298. Mark the outside of the envelope
``Comments on EFP Proposal.'' Comments may also be sent via facsimile
(fax) to (978) 281-9135. Copies of the proposal and the draft
Environmental Assessment are available from the Northeast Regional
Office at the address stated above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bonnie Van Pelt, Fishery Policy
Analyst, 978-281-9244.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Maine Division of Marine Resources
(MEDMR) submitted an original application on December 6, 2000, for EFPs
to conduct an experimental fishery for Jonah crab in Federal waters of
the EEZ. Subsequent amendments to this application were dated April 30,
2001; May 29, 2001; July 9, 2001; and February 13, 2002. Revisions to
the original application included: (1) Scaling back the fishery from
unlimited participation to 100 participants; (2) an Environmental
Assessment was prepared to describe the impacts attributable to the
experimental fishery beyond those analyzed under the Draft Final
Environmental Impact Statement prepared for the lobster fishery
regulations under ACFCMA; (3) addition/removal of gear restrictions to
comply with Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP)
requirements; (4) addition of socioeconomic data to the logbook; (5)
addition of a one-time demographic and ethnographic profile survey and
fixed-cost survey; (6) reduced minimum soak times to 10 days from 2
weeks and then later changed soak time to a maximum of 2 weeks
(operational soak times of less than 1 week); (7) added a requirement
that participants pass Level 1 training in identification and
disentanglement of whales and sea turtles; (8) clarified that both
Jonah crab buoys and Jonah crab traps would be clearly marked as
``CRAB''; (9) requested that state-only licensed vessels be allowed to
participate in the Federal portion of ENMA1; and (10) specified that
the 40 percent ``exploratory'' (i.e., not yet field tested for
targeting Jonah crabs) traps would be of a top-entry design instead of
the previous proposal to have the design be at the discretion of the
participant. In addition, a January 30, 2002, memorandum clarified that
the submission dated December 5, 2001, will be considered a Memorandum
of Understanding concerning the Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives
outlined in the draft Biological Opinion for the Jonah crab
experimental fishery.
The Jonah crab, Cancer borealis, is currently an unregulated
species in the EEZ and little is known about its biology, distribution,
and relative abundance. MEDMR believes it is important to obtain a
better understanding of the Jonah crab resource and the feasibility of
developing a potential sustainable fishery. Due to a recent increase in
Jonah crab abundance and market demand, it may be profitable for
lobster fishermen to target Jonah crabs with modified lobster traps
during times of low lobster landings (generally in the spring).
Under current State of Maine lobster management (Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Amendment 3), all traps (defined as
structures or other devices, other than nets, that are placed, or
intended to be placed, on the ocean bottom) that are designed for or
are capable of catching lobsters must contain a lobster trap tag unless
exempted. With a limit of 800 trap tags (and in some cases fewer),
fishermen who are interested in helping explore and develop the Jonah
crab fishery in the EEZ cannot do so unless they receive the necessary
exemptions from the Federal lobster regulations at 50 CFR 697.19. The
EFPs would facilitate the collection of data on modified lobster trap
designs (side-entry and top-entry) to establish acceptable bycatch
thresholds of lobsters and allow for the development of a species-
specific Jonah crab trap, which would be exempted from the lobster
regulations. In addition, the issuance of EFPs for the testing of
modified lobster traps under commercial conditions could: (1)
Contribute to the development of year-round Jonah crab markets; (2)
provide additional economic opportunities for lobster and Jonah crab
fishermen who are currently being held to a maximum trap limit; and (3)
provide important biological and demographic data on the Jonah crab
resource, thus contributing to baseline information on the Jonah crab
life cycle and population structure. The overall goal of the experiment
is to develop a permanent Jonah crab fishery that could someday ease
pressure and decrease reliance on the harvesting of lobsters by
allowing fishermen to diversify fleet options through their pursuit of
new markets.
The experiment would expand on pilot studies in nearshore and
offshore waters (within 3 nautical miles from shore) of the Gulf of
Maine, which were conducted in spring and summer 2000. These pilot
studies tested various gear modifications in areas of both high and low
seasonal lobster abundance. The
[[Page 13745]]
results of this preliminary research suggested that a modified side-
entry trap may be the best design for targeting Jonah crabs with
negligible lobster bycatch.
The proposed experiment would be conducted in ENMA1, defined at 50
CFR 697.18(a), for 1 year from the date of EFP issuance, and would be
carried out according to the specifications detailed below. The
experimental area would be concentrated along the Maine coast between
the western and eastern boundaries of the ENMA1. The results of the
NMFS trawl survey suggest that Jonah crabs are most abundant at depths
of 60-200 m, which occur about 3 to 20 nautical miles offshore.
While at least 60 percent of the traps used in the experiment would
have the preferred modified side-entry trap design, the remaining 40
percent of experimental traps could incorporate a top-entry design that
has proven effective in decreasing lobster bycatch in State crab
fisheries. The following side-entry trap dimensions were developed
through preliminary research and modeling and are in compliance with
current lobster trap requirements: (1) Side-entry hoops not to exceed
2.5 inches (6.35 cm) in height; (2) a minimum of two, 3.25-inch (8.26-
cm) circular escape vents in the parlor and kitchen of the trap; and
(3) a minimum of one standard 1.94-inch (4.93-cm) x 5.75-inch (14.61-
cm) rectangular escape vent in the parlor of the trap. Although
preliminary testing of side-entry traps was conducted with escape vents
of 3.0 inches (7.62 cm) in diameter, a projected escape pattern model
based on Jonah crab carapace length and width revealed that the 3.25-
inch (8.26-cm) escape vent would be most efficient at retaining legal
crabs and excluding lobsters. The top-entry ``exploratory'' traps would
be required to have a minimum circular entrance-opening diameter of
3.6-inches (9.14-cm), as well as the same circular and rectangular
escape vent requirements outlined above for modified side-entry traps.
In response to MEDMR's July 30, 2001, request that NMFS initiate an
ESA section 7 consultation on this fishery, a draft Biological Opinion
on the Jonah crab fishery concluded that the proposed EFP activities,
described in the original application and all subsequent amendments,
are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the endangered
western North Atlantic right whale. Therefore, the proposed Reasonable
and Prudent Alternative (RPA) is designed to avoid the likelihood that
the Jonah crab experimental fishery will jeopardize the continued
existence of the western North Atlantic right whale. The proposed
measure is intended to remove the potential for entanglement of western
North Atlantic right whales in Jonah crab trap gear during the period
when the whales are most likely to occur in the experimental fishing
area. The proposed RPA would limit Jonah crab experimental fishery
participants to no more than their current lobster trap allocation (800
traps or fewer), unless the fisher uses either neutrally buoyant or
sinking groundline for any traps in excess of his/her lobster trap
allocation, during those times that western North Atlantic right whales
are expected to be in the experimental fishing area (June 1 through
October 31).
Vertical lines (e.g., buoy lines) and horizontal lines (e.g.,
lobster pot trawl groundlines) in the water column have been shown to
adversely affect Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed marine mammals and
sea turtles, and precautions must be taken to prevent gear
entanglements with these species. It is generally believed that
floating line poses more of an entanglement risk to sea turtles and
whales than sinking or neutrally buoyant line because it is loosely
suspended in the water column, making it more likely to be encountered
by a whale or sea turtle swimming through the area. Thus, the use of
sinking or neutrally buoyant line rather than floating line as a
condition of the EFP would reduce the chances of entanglement.
Additional gear restrictions that would meet the requirements of
the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP), as well as
additional measures to minimize the risk to protected species are as
follows: (1) A minimum of 10 traps per vertical line; (2) no
interspersed lobster traps per single line of Jonah crab traps; (3) a
MEDMR requirement to clearly mark each buoy with the word ``CRAB''
under the State lobster/crab license number; (4) maximum soak times of
2 weeks (operational soak time will less than 1 week); and (5) a MEDMR
requirement to mark each Jonah crab trap with the State lobster/crab
license number and the word ``CRAB.''
The following additional conservation measures would be required of
all Jonah crab experimental participants. Unlike lobsters, most crabs
reach reproductive size before the size of harvest. Therefore, the
MEDMR is recommending that there be a minimum legal carapace width of 5
inches (127 mm), no retention of females, and no retention of regulated
species, in particular lobster. MEDMR would require participating
fishermen to record catch information including, but not limited to,
numbers of trap hauls, type of trap, soak times, and bycatch
(specifically, count of undersized and legal-sized lobsters). The MEDMR
would designate a minimum of 2 observer days per month to this
experimental fishery. Observer data collected would complement the
MEDMR-supplied logbooks, and would include detailed fisheries, trap
design and fishing methods information on randomly sampled individual
trap hauls. For each trap haul sampled, all crabs and lobster bycatch
retained would be measured for carapace width (length for lobsters),
sex, molt condition, and egg development. All illegal crabs and all
bycatch, including all lobsters incidental to the catch of Jonah crabs,
would be returned to the sea promptly after data collection. In
addition, a one-time MEDMR survey will provide baseline demographic and
ethnographic profiles on the Jonah crab fishery, and information on
fixed costs (gear modifications, rope, etc.).
While alternative top-entry trap designs have proven to be less
capable of catching lobsters, the MEDMR proposed that these
``exploratory'' traps be monitored directly by periodic onboard
observer trips. In addition, the Maine Marine Patrol (MMP) would
routinely haul gear to ensure compliance with experimental crab trap
specifications and gear restrictions described above. A cooperative
agreement that was signed on March 8, 2001, between NMFS and the MMP
will allow State enforcement officials to enter Federal waters and act
as deputized Federal law enforcement agents in upholding the
regulations promulgated under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, ACFCMA, ESA,
Marine Mammal Protection Act, National Marine Sanctuaries Act, and the
Lacey Act.
[[Page 13746]]
The EFPs would exempt up to 100 vessels from the requirements of
the lobster fishery regulations according to the provisions at 50 CFR
parts 600.745 and 697.22, as follows: (1) Permit, tagging and trap
limit requirements under Sec. 697.4(a) and (d), and Sec. 697.19(a)(2)
and (c); (2) temporary possession of lobster less than the minimum
carapace size specified at Sec. 697.20(b)(1) and (2) for data
collection purposes; (3) trap tag identification requirements at
Sec. 697.21(a)(2); and (4) deployment and gear configuration
requirements at Sec. 697.21(b)(2).
Based on the results of this EFP, this action may lead to future
rulemaking.
Dated: March 19, 2002.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 02-7133 Filed 3-25-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S