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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 32 / Friday, February 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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NMFS finds that the Councils recommended OFLs, ABCs, and TACs are consistent with the biological condition of the groundfish stocks as described in the final 2020 SAFE report.
NMFS also finds that the Councils recommendations for TACs are consistent with the biological condition of groundfish stocks as adjusted for other biological and socioeconomic considerations, including maintaining the sum of all TACs within the OY
range. NMFS reviewed the Councils recommended TACs and apportionments, and NMFS approves these harvest specifications under 50
CFR 679.20c3ii. The apportionment of TAC amounts among gear types and sectors, processing sectors, and seasons is discussed below.
Tables 1 and 2 list the final 2021 and 2022 OFLs, ABCs, TACs, and area apportionments of groundfish in the GOA. The 2021 harvest specifications set in this final action will supersede the 2021 harvest specifications previously set in the final 2020 and 2021 harvest specifications 85 FR
13802, March 10, 2020. The 2022
harvest specifications will be superseded in early 2022 when the final 2022 and 2023 harvest specifications are published. Pursuant to this final action, the 2021 harvest specifications therefore will apply for the remainder of the current year 2021, while the 2022
harvest specifications are projected only for the following year 2022 and will be superseded in early 2022 by the final 2022 and 2023 harvest specifications.
Because this final action published in early 2021 will be superseded in early 2022 by the publication of the final 2022
and 2023 harvest specifications, it is projected that this final action will implement the harvest specifications for the Gulf of Alaska for approximately one year.
Specification and Apportionment of TAC Amounts NMFSs apportionment of groundfish species is based on the distribution of biomass among the regulatory areas over which NMFS manages the species.
Additional regulations govern the apportionment of pollock, Pacific cod, and sablefish and are described below.
The ABC for the pollock stock in the combined Western and Central Regulatory Areas and the West Yakutat WYK District of the Eastern Regulatory Area the W/C/WYK includes the amount for the GHL established by the State for the Prince William Sound PWS pollock fishery. The Plan Team, SSC, AP, and Council have recommended that the sum of all State water and Federal water pollock
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removals from the GOA not exceed ABC
recommendations. For 2021 and 2022, the SSC recommended and the Council approved the W/C/WYK pollock ABC, including the amount to account for the States PWS GHL. At the November 2020 Plan Team meeting, State fisheries managers recommended setting the PWS pollock GHL at 2.5 percent of the annual W/C/WYK pollock ABC. For 2021, this yields a PWS pollock GHL of 2,643 mt, a decrease of 69 mt from the 2020 PWS pollock GHL of 2,712 mt. For 2022, the PWS pollock GHL is 2,298 mt, a decrease of 414 mt from the 2020 PWS
pollock GHL of 2,712 mt. After the GHL
reductions, the 2021 and 2022 pollock ABCs for the combined W/C/WYK areas are then apportioned between four statistical areas Areas 610, 620, 630, and 640 as both ABCs and TACs, as described below and detailed in Tables 1 and 2. The total ABCs and TACs for the four statistical areas, plus the State PWS GHL, do not exceed the combined W/C/WYK ABC.
Apportionments of pollock to the W/
C/WYK areas are considered to be apportionments of annual catch limits ACLs rather than ABCs. This more accurately reflects that such apportionments address management, rather than biological or conservation, concerns. In addition, apportionments of the ACL in this manner allow NMFS
to balance any transfer of TAC among Areas 610, 620, and 630 pursuant to 679.20a5ivB to ensure that the combined W/C/WYK ACL, ABC, and TAC are not exceeded.
NMFS establishes pollock TACs in the Western Area 610 and Central Areas 620 and 630 Regulatory Areas and the West Yakutat Area 640 and the SEO Area 650 Districts of the GOA see Tables 1 and 2. NMFS also establishes seasonal apportionments of the annual pollock TACs in the Western and Central Regulatory Areas of the GOA
among Statistical Areas 610, 620, and 630. Additional detail on area apportionments and seasonal allowances is provided in a subsequent section in this rule; Tables 3 and 4 list these amounts.
The 2021 and 2022 Pacific cod TACs are set to accommodate the States GHLs for Pacific cod in State waters in the Western and Central Regulatory Areas, as well as in PWS. The Plan Team, SSC, AP, and Council recommended that the sum of all State water and Federal water Pacific cod removals from the GOA not exceed ABC recommendations. The Council set the 2021 and 2022 Pacific cod TACs in the Western, Central, and Eastern Regulatory Areas to account for State GHLs. Therefore, the 2021 Pacific cod TACs are less than the ABCs by the
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following amounts: 1 Western GOA, 2,396 mt; 2 Central GOA, 3,414 mt;
and 3 Eastern GOA, 496 mt. The 2022
Pacific cod TACs are less than the ABCs by the following amounts: 1 Western GOA, 3,868 mt; 2 Central GOA, 5,511
mt; and 3 Eastern GOA, 801 mt. These amounts reflect the States 2021 and 2022 GHLs in these areas, which are 30
percent of the Western GOA ABC and 25 percent of the Eastern and Central GOA ABCs.
The Western and Central GOA Pacific cod TACs are allocated among various gear and operational sectors. NMFS also establishes seasonal apportionments of the annual Pacific cod TAC in the Western and Central Regulatory Areas.
The Pacific cod sector and seasonal apportionments are discussed in detail in a subsequent section and in Tables 5
and 6 of this rule.
The Councils recommendation for sablefish area apportionments takes into account the prohibition on the use of trawl gear in the SEO District of the Eastern Regulatory Area 679.7b1
and makes available 5 percent of the combined Eastern Regulatory Area TACs to vessels using trawl gear for use as incidental catch in other trawl groundfish fisheries in the WYK District 679.20a4i. Tables 7 and 8 list the final 2021 and 2022 allocations of sablefish TAC to fixed gear and trawl gear in the GOA.
Changes From the Proposed 2021 and 2022 Harvest Specifications in the GOA
In October 2020, the Councils recommendations for the proposed 2021
and 2022 harvest specifications 85 FR
78076, December 3, 2020 were based largely on information contained in the final 2019 SAFE report for the GOA
groundfish fisheries, dated November 2019. The final 2019 SAFE report for the GOA is available from the Council see ADDRESSES. The Council proposed that the final OFLs, ABCs, and TACs established for the 2021 groundfish fisheries 85 FR 13802, March 10, 2020
be used for the proposed 2021 and 2022
harvest specifications 85 FR 78076, December 3, 2020, pending completion and review of the 2020 SAFE report at the Councils December 2020 meeting.
As described previously, the SSC
recommended the final 2021 and 2022
OFLs and ABCs as recommended by the Plan Team, with the exception of sablefish ABCs. The Council adopted as its recommendations the SSCs OFL and ABC recommendations and the APs TAC recommendations except for sablefish for 2021 and 2022.
The final 2021 ABCs are higher than the proposed 2021 ABCs published in the proposed 2021 and 2022 harvest
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