50 CFR § 648.230-648.239 - Fisheries of the Northeastern United States - Management Measures for the Spiny Dogfish Fishery

992 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 648.230 publish a second RFP. Proposals to fund research that would start prior to, or that would end after the fishing year, are not eligible for consideration. The RSA must be utilized in the same fishing year in which it was distributed (i.e., RSA and compensation trips can not be rolled over into future years). However, the money generated from the RSA may be rolled over into, or used to fund research in future years, consistent with the multi-year pro posal. (f) Whenever possible, research pro posals shall be reviewed and approved prior to the publication of final quota specifications for the upcoming fishing years. In the event that the approved proposals do not make use of any or all of the set-asides, the unutilized portion of the set-aside shall be reallocated back to its respective management area(s) when the final specifications are published. If there is unutilized set aside available, NMFS, at the request of the Council, could publish another RFP for either the second or third years of the 3-year specifications. In this case, NMFS shall release the un utilized portion of the RSA back to its respective management area(s) for the first year of the specifications and any other year that yields unutilized set aside after an additional RFP is pub lished. The Council also may decide not to publish another RFP, in which case NMFS may release the unutilized portion of the set-aside back to its re spective management area(s) for all 3 fishing years covered by the specifica tions. (g) If a proposal is approved, but a final award is not made by NMFS, or if NMFS determines that the allocated RSA cannot be utilized by a project, NMFS shall reallocate the unallocated or unused amount of the RSA to the re spective sub-ACL, in accordance with the APA, provided that the RSA can be available for harvest before the end of the fishing year for which the RSA is specified. (h) Any RSA reallocated under para graphs (f) and (g) of this section may not be used solely as compensation for research. (i) Researchers may apply for the use of more than one herring RAS alloca tion for individual research projects, and may request that the set-aside be collected separately from the research trip or as part of the research trip. The research compensation trips do not necessarily have to be conducted by the same vessel, but must be conducted in the management area from which the set-aside was derived. (j) No more than 50 percent of the al located set-aside may be taken before the research begins. If a research project is terminated for any reason prior to completion, any funds col lected from the catch sold to pay for research expenses must be refunded to U.S. Treasury. (k) NMFS shall provide authorization of the research activities to specific vessels by letter of acknowledgement, letter of authorization, or Exempted Fishing Permit issued by the Regional Administrator, which must be kept on board the vessel. (l) Upon completion of herring re search projects approved under this part, researchers must provide the Council and NMFS with a report of re search findings, which must include: A detailed description of methods of data collection and analysis; a discussion of results and any relevant conclusions presented in a format that is under standable to a non-technical audience; and a detailed final accounting of all funds used to conduct the herring re search. [72 FR 11277, Mar. 12, 2007, as amended at 76 FR 11381, Mar. 2, 2011] Subpart L—Management Meas ures for the Spiny Dogfish Fish ery SOURCE: 65 FR 1570, Jan. 11, 2000, unless otherwise noted. § 648.230 Spiny dogfish Annual Catch Limits (ACLs). (a) The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee shall recommend to the Joint Spiny Dogfish Committee, an ACL for the commercial spiny dogfish fishery, which shall equal to the do mestic ABC (i.e., the ABC minus Cana dian catch) recommended by the SSC as specified in § 648.20. (1) Periodicity. The spiny dogfish ACL may be established on an annual basis 993 Fishery Conservation and Management § 648.232 for up to 5 years at a time, dependent on whether the SSC provides single or multiple-year ABC recommendations. (2) [Reserved] (b) Performance review. The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee shall conduct a detailed review of fishery performance relative to the ACL at least every 5 years. (1) If an ACL is exceeded with a fre quency greater than 25 percent (i.e., more than once in 4 years or any 2 con secutive years), the Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee will review fishery performance information and make recommendations to the Coun cils for changes in measures intended to ensure ACLs are not exceeded as fre quently. (2) The Councils may specify more frequent or more specific ACL perform ance review criteria as part of a stock rebuilding plan following a determina tion that the spiny dogfish stock has become overfished. (3) Performance reviews shall not substitute for annual reviews that occur to ascertain if prior year ACLs have been exceeded, but may be con ducted in conjunction with such re views. [76 FR 60642, Sept. 29, 2011] § 648.231 Spiny dogfish Annual Catch Target (ACT) and Total Allowable Level of Landings (TAL). (a) The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee shall identify and review the relevant sources of management uncertainty to recommend an ACT and a TAL for the fishery as part of the spiny dogfish specification process specified in § 648.232. The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee recommenda tions shall identify the specific sources of management uncertainty that were considered, technical approaches to mitigating these sources of uncer tainty, domestic commercial and rec reational discards, and any additional relevant information considered in the ACT and TAL recommendation proc ess. (1) The ACT shall be identified as less than or equal to the ACL. (2) The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee shall recommend a TAL to the Joint Spiny Dogfish Committee, which accounts for domestic commer cial and recreational discards (ACT minus domestic dead discards). The TAL is equivalent to the annual coastwide commercial quota. (b) Periodicity. The TAL may be es tablished on an annual basis for up to 5 years at a time, dependent on wheth er the SSC provides single or multiple year ABC recommendations. (c) Performance review. The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee shall conduct a detailed review of fishery performance relative to TALs in con junction with any ACL performance re view, as outlined in § 648.230(b). [76 FR 60642, Sept. 29, 2011] § 648.232 Spiny dogfish specifications. (a) Commercial quota and other speci fication measures. The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee shall rec ommend to the Joint Spiny Dogfish Committee a TAL (i.e., annual coastwide commercial quota) and any other measures, including those in paragraphs (a)(1) through (8) of this section, that are necessary to ensure that the commercial ACL will not be exceeded in any fishing year (May 1– April 30), for a period of 1–5 fishing years. If research quota is specified as described in paragraph (f) of this sec tion, the effective commercial quota will be those commercial landings available after the deduction for the research quota. The measures that may be recommended include, but are not limited to: (1) Minimum or maximum fish sizes; (2) Seasons; (3) Mesh size restrictions; (4) Trip limits; (5) Research quota set from a range of 0 to 3 percent of the commercial quota; (6) Changes, as appropriate, to the SBRM, including the CV-based per formance standard, the means by which discard data are collected/ob tained, fishery stratification, the proc ess for prioritizing observer sea-day al locations, reports, and/or industry funded observers or observer set aside programs; (7) Other gear restrictions; and (8) Changes to AMs and ACT control rules. (b) Joint Spiny Dogfish Committee rec ommendation. The Councils’ Joint 994 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 648.233 Spiny Dogfish Committee shall review the recommendations of the Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee. Based on these recommendations, requests for research quota, and any public com ments, the Joint Spiny Dogfish Com mittee shall recommend to the Coun cils a TAL, and possibly other meas ures, including those specified in para graphs (a)(1) through (8) of this section, necessary to ensure that the ACL spec ified in § 648.230 will not be exceeded in any fishing year (May 1–April 30), for a period of 1–5 fishing years. (c) Council recommendations. (1) The Councils shall review these rec ommendations and, based on the rec ommendations and any public com ments, recommend to the Regional Ad ministrator a TAL and other measures necessary to ensure that the ACL spec ified in § 648.230 will not be exceeded in any fishing year, for a period of 1–5 fishing years. The Councils’ rec ommendations must include supporting documentation, as appropriate, con cerning the environmental, economic, and other impacts of the recommenda tions. The Regional Administrator shall initiate a review of these rec ommendations and may modify the recommended quota and other manage ment measures to ensure that the ACL specified in § 648.230 will not be exceed ed in any fishing year, for a period of 1– 5 fishing years. The Regional Adminis trator may modify the Councils’ rec ommendations using any of the meas ures that were not rejected by both Councils. (2) After such review, NMFS shall publish a proposed rule in the FEDERAL REGISTER specifying a TAL, adjust ments to ACL, ACT, and TAL resulting from the accountability measures spec ified in § 648.233, and other measures necessary to ensure that the ACL will not be exceeded in any fishing year, for a period of 1–5 fishing years. After con sidering public comments, NMFS shall publish a final rule in the FEDERAL REGISTER to implement the TAL and other measures. (3) If the annual specifications are not published in the FEDERAL REGISTER prior to the start of the fishing year, the previous year’s annual specifica tions will remain in effect. The pre vious year’s specifications will be re placed by the current year’s specifica tions as of the effective date of the final rule implementing the current year’s specifications. (d) [Reserved] (e) Landings applied against the com mercial quota. All spiny dogfish landed for a commercial purpose in the states from Maine through Florida shall be applied against the annual coastwide commercial quota, regardless of where the spiny dogfish were harvested. (f) Research quota. See § 648.22(g). [76 FR 60642, Sept. 29, 2011, as amended at 76 FR 81850, Dec. 29, 2011; 79 FR 41143, July 15, 2014; 80 FR 37197, June 30, 2015] § 648.233 Spiny dogfish Accountability Measures (AMs). (a) Commercial EEZ closure. The Re gional Administrator shall determine the date by which the annual coastwide quota described in § 648.232 will be har vested and shall close the EEZ to fish ing for spiny dogfish on that date for the remainder of the fishing year by publishing notification in the FEDERAL REGISTER. Upon the closure date, and for the remainder of the fishing year, no vessel may fish for or possess spiny dogfish in the EEZ, nor may vessels issued a spiny dogfish permit under this part land spiny dogfish, nor may dealers issued a Federal permit pur chase spiny dogfish from vessels issued a spiny dogfish permit under this part. (b) ACL overage evaluation. The ACL will be evaluated based on a single year examination of total catch (in cluding both landings and dead dis cards) to determine if the ACL has been exceeded. (c) Overage repayment. In the event that the ACL has been exceeded in a given fishing year, the exact amount in pounds by which the ACL was exceeded shall be deducted, as soon as possible from a subsequent single fishing year ACL. [76 FR 60643, Sept. 29, 2011, as amended at 79 FR 41144, July 15, 2014] § 648.234 Gear restrictions. [Reserved] § 648.235 Spiny dogfish possession and landing restrictions. (a) Possession limit. Vessels issued a valid Federal spiny dogfish permit under § 648.4(a)(11) may: 995 Fishery Conservation and Management § 648.239 (1) Possess up to 7,500 lb (3,402 kg) of spiny dogfish per trip; and (2) Land only one trip of spiny dogfish per calendar day. (b) Regulations governing the har vest, possession, landing, purchase, and sale of shark fins are found at part 600, subpart N, of this chapter. [76 FR 60643, Sept. 29, 2011, as amended at 78 FR 25864, May 3, 2013; 79 FR 41144, July 15, 2014; 79 FR 46378, Aug. 8, 2014; 81 FR 53960, Aug. 15, 2016; 87 FR 20350, Apr. 7, 2022] § 648.236 Special Management Zones. [Reserved] §§ 648.237–648.238 [Reserved] § 648.239 Spiny dogfish framework ad justments to management meas ures. (a) Within season management action. The Councils may, at any time, ini tiate action to add or adjust manage ment measures if they find that action is necessary to meet or be consistent with the goals and objectives of the Spiny Dogfish FMP. (1) Adjustment process. After the Councils initiate a management ac tion, they shall develop and analyze ap propriate management actions over the span of at least two Council meetings. The Councils shall provide the public with advance notice of the availability of both the proposals and the analysis for comment prior to, and at, the sec ond Council meeting. The Councils’ recommendation on adjustments or ad ditions to management measures must come from one or more of the following categories: Adjustments within exist ing ABC control rule levels; adjust ments to the existing MAFMC risk pol icy; introduction of new AMs, includ ing sub-ACTs; minimum fish size; max imum fish size; gear requirements, re strictions, or prohibitions (including, but not limited to, mesh size restric tions and net limits); regional gear re strictions; permitting restrictions, and reporting requirements; recreational fishery measures (including possession and size limits and season and area re strictions); commercial season and area restrictions; commercial trip or possession limits; fin weight to spiny dogfish landing weight restrictions; on board observer requirements; commer cial quota system (including commer cial quota allocation procedures and possible quota set-asides to mitigate bycatch, conduct scientific research, or for other purposes); recreational har vest limit; annual quota specification process; FMP Monitoring Committee composition and process; description and identification of essential fish habitat; description and identification of habitat areas of particular concern; overfishing definition and related thresholds and targets; regional season restrictions (including option to split seasons); restrictions on vessel size (length and GRT) or shaft horsepower; target quotas; measures to mitigate marine mammal entanglements and interactions; regional management; changes to the SBRM, including the CV-based performance standard, the means by which discard data are col lected/obtained, fishery stratification, the process for prioritizing observer sea-day allocations, reports, and/or in dustry-funded observers or observer set aside programs; any other management measures currently included in the Spiny Dogfish FMP; and measures to regulate aquaculture projects. Meas ures that require significant departures from previously contemplated meas ures or that are otherwise introducing new concepts may require an amend ment of the FMP instead of a frame work adjustment. (2) Councils’ recommendation. After de veloping management actions and re ceiving public testimony, the Councils shall make a recommendation ap proved by a majority of each Council’s members, present and voting, to the Regional Administrator. The Councils’ recommendation must include sup porting rationale, an analysis of im pacts and, if management measures are recommended, a recommendation to the Regional Administrator on whether to issue the management measures as a final rule. If the Councils recommend that the management measures should be issued as a final rule, they must consider at least the following factors and provide support and analysis for each factor considered: (i) Whether the availability of data on which the recommended manage ment measures are based allows for adequate time to publish a proposed rule and whether regulations have to 996 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 648.260 be in place for an entire harvest/fishing season; (ii) Whether there has been adequate notice and opportunity for participa tion by the public and members of the affected industry in the development of the Councils’ recommended manage ment measures; (iii) Whether there is an immediate need to protect the resource; and (iv) Whether there will be a con tinuing evaluation of management measures adopted following their im plementation as a final rule; (3) NMFS action. If the Councils’ rec ommendation includes adjustments or additions to management measures, then: (i) If NMFS concurs with the Coun cils’ recommended management meas ures and determines that the rec ommended management measures should be issued as a final rule based on the factors specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, then the measures will be issued as a final rule in the FED ERAL REGISTER. (ii) If NMFS concurs with the Coun cils’ recommendation and determines that the recommended management measures should be published first as a proposed rule, then the measures will be published as a proposed rule in the FEDERAL REGISTER. After additional public comment, if NMFS concurs with the Councils’ recommendation, then the measures will be issued as a final rule in the FEDERAL REGISTER. (iii) If NMFS does not concur, the Councils will be notified in writing of the reasons for the non-concurrence. (iv) Framework actions can be taken only in the case where both Councils approve the proposed measure. (b) Emergency action. Nothing in this section is meant to derogate from the authority of the Secretary to take emergency action under section 305(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. [76 FR 60643, Sept. 29, 2011, as amended at 76 FR 81850, Dec. 29, 2011; 80 FR 37197, June 30, 2015] Subpart M—Management Meas ures for the Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab Fishery SOURCE: 67 FR 63233, Oct. 10, 2002, unless otherwise noted. § 648.260 Specifications. (a) Review and specifications process. (1)—(3) [Reserved] (4) The PDT, after its review of the available information on the status of the stock and the fishery, may rec ommend to the Council any measures necessary to assure that the specifica tions will not be exceeded, as well as changes to the appropriate specifica tions. (5) Taking into account the annual review and/or SAFE Report described in paragraph (b) of this section, the ad vice of the SSC, and any other relevant information, the Red Crab PDT may also recommend to the Red Crab Com mittee and Council changes to stock status determination criteria and asso ciated thresholds based on the best sci entific information available, including information from peer-reviewed stock assessments of red crab. These adjust ments may be included in the Council’s specifications for the red crab fishery. (6)(i) The Council shall review the recommendations of the Red Crab PDT, Red Crab Committee, and SSC, any public comment received thereon, and any other relevant information, and make a recommendation to the Re gional Administrator on appropriate specifications and any measures nec essary to assure that the specifications will not be exceeded. (ii) The Council’s recommendation must include supporting documenta tion, as appropriate, concerning the en vironmental, economic, and social im pacts of the recommendations. The Re gional Administrator shall consider the recommendations and publish a rule in the FEDERAL REGISTER proposing speci fications and associated measures, con sistent with the Administrative Proce dure Act. (iii) The Regional Administrator may propose specifications different than those recommended by the Council. If the specifications published in the FED ERAL REGISTER differ from those rec ommended by the Council, the reasons