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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 36 / Thursday, February 25, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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3 For the Amendment 80 species Atka mackerel, flathead sole, rock sole, yellowfin sole, Pacific cod, and AI Pacific ocean perch, 10.7 percent of the TAC is reserved for use by CDQ participants see 679.20b1iiC and 679.31. Twenty percent of the sablefish TAC allocated to hook-and-line gear or pot gear, 7.5 percent of the sablefish TAC allocated to trawl gear, and 10.7 percent of the TACs for BS Greenland turbot and arrowtooth flounder are reserved for use by CDQ participants see 679.20b1iiB and D. The 2022 hook-and-line or pot gear portion of the sablefish ITAC and CDQ reserve will not be specified until the final 2022 and 2023 harvest specifications. AI Greenland turbot, other flatfish, Alaska plaice, BS Pacific ocean perch, Kamchatka flounder, northern rockfish, shortraker rockfish, blackspotted/rougheye rockfish, other rockfish, skates, sharks, and octopuses are not allocated to the CDQ program.
4 Under 679.20a5iA, the annual BS pollock TAC, after subtracting first for the CDQ directed fishing allowance 10 percent and second for the incidental catch allowance 4 percent, is further allocated by sector for a pollock directed fishery as follows: Inshore50 percent; catcher/
processor40 percent; and motherships10 percent. Under 679.20a5iiiB2, the annual AI pollock TAC, after subtracting first for the CDQ directed fishing allowance 10 percent and second for the incidental catch allowance 2,500 mt, is allocated to the Aleut Corporation for a pollock directed fishery.
5 Assuming an increase in the 2022 guideline harvest level based on the actual 2021 harvest, the 2022 BS Pacific cod TAC is set to account for the 11 percent, plus 45 mt, of the BS ABC for the State of Alaskas State guideline harvest level in State waters of the BS. The 2022 AI Pacific cod TAC is set to account for 39 percent of the AI ABC for the State guideline harvest level in State waters of the AI, except 39 percent of the AI ABC exceeds the State guideline harvest level of 15 million pounds 6,804 mt, in which case the TAC is set to account for the State guideline harvest level of 6,804 mt.
6 The sablefish OFL and ABC is Alaska-wide and includes the Gulf of Alaska.
7 Rock sole includes Lepidopsetta polyxystra Northern rock sole and L. bilineata Southern rock sole.
8 Flathead sole includes Hippoglossoides elassodon flathead sole and H. robustus Bering flounder.
9 Other flatfish includes all flatfish species, except for halibut a prohibited species, Alaska plaice, arrowtooth flounder, flathead sole, Greenland turbot, Kamchatka flounder, rock sole, and yellowfin sole.
10 Blackspotted/Rougheye rockfish includes Sebastes melanostictus blackspotted and S. aleutianus rougheye.
11 Other rockfish includes all Sebastes and Sebastolobus species except for dark rockfish, Pacific ocean perch, northern rockfish, blackspotted/rougheye rockfish, and shortraker rockfish.
Note: Regulatory areas and districts are defined at 679.2 BSAI = Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area, BS = Bering Sea subarea, AI = Aleutian Islands subarea, EAI = Eastern Aleutian district, CAI = Central Aleutian district, WAI = Western Aleu tian district.

Groundfish Reserves and the Incidental Catch Allowance ICA for Pollock, Atka Mackerel, Flathead Sole, Rock Sole, Yellowfin Sole, and AI Pacific Ocean Perch Section 679.20b1i requires that NMFS reserve 15 percent of the TAC for each target species except for pollock, hook-and-line and pot gear allocation of sablefish, and Amendment 80 species in a non-specified reserve. Section 679.20b1iiB requires that NMFS
allocate 20 percent of the hook-and-line or pot gear allocation of sablefish to the fixed-gear sablefish CDQ reserve for each subarea. Section 679.20b1iiD
requires that NMFS allocate 7.5 percent of the trawl gear allocations of sablefish in the BS and AI and 10.7 percent of the BS Greenland turbot and arrowtooth flounder TACs to the respective CDQ
reserves. Section 679.20b1iiC
requires that NMFS allocate 10.7
percent of the TACs for Atka mackerel, AI Pacific ocean perch, yellowfin sole, rock sole, flathead sole, and Pacific cod to the respective CDQ reserves. Sections 679.20a5iA and 679.31a also require that 10 percent of the BS pollock TAC be allocated to the pollock CDQ
directed fishing allowance DFA.
Sections 679.20a5iiiB2i and 679.31a require that 10 percent of the AI pollock TAC be allocated to the pollock CDQ DFA. The entire Bogoslof District pollock TAC is allocated as an
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ICA pursuant to 679.20a5ii because the Bogoslof District is closed to directed fishing for pollock by regulation 679.22a7B. With the exception of the hook-and-line or pot gear sablefish CDQ reserve, the regulations do not further apportion the CDQ allocations by gear.
Pursuant to 679.20a5iA1, NMFS allocates a pollock ICA of 4
percent of the BS pollock TAC after subtracting the 10 percent CDQ DFA.
This allowance is based on NMFSs examination of the pollock incidental catch, including the incidental catch by CDQ vessels, in target fisheries other than pollock from 2000 through 2020.
During this 21-year period, the pollock incidental catch ranged from a low of 2.2 percent in 2006 to a high of 4.6
percent in 2014, with a 21-year average of 3 percent. Pursuant to 679.20a5iiiB2i and ii, NMFS
establishes a pollock ICA of 2,500 mt of the AI pollock TAC after subtracting the 10 percent CDQ DFA. This allowance is based on NMFSs examination of the pollock incidental catch, including the incidental catch by CDQ vessels, in target fisheries other than pollock from 2003 through 2020. During this 18-year period, the incidental catch of pollock ranged from a low of 5 percent in 2006
to a high of 17 percent in 2014, with an 18-year average of 9 percent.
Pursuant to 679.20a8 and 10, NMFS allocates ICAs of 3,000 mt of
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flathead sole, 6,000 mt of rock sole, 4,000 mt of yellowfin sole, 10 mt of WAI
Pacific ocean perch, 60 mt of CAI
Pacific ocean perch, 100 mt of EAI
Pacific ocean perch, 20 mt of WAI Atka mackerel, 75 mt of CAI Atka mackerel, and 800 mt of EAI and BS Atka mackerel TAC after subtracting the 10.7
percent CDQ reserve. These ICA
allowances are based on NMFSs examination of the incidental catch in other target fisheries from 2003 through 2020.
The regulations do not designate the remainder of the non-specified reserve by species or species group. Any amount of the reserve may be apportioned to a target species that contributed to the non-specified reserves during the year, provided that such apportionments are consistent with 679.20a3 and do not result in overfishing see 679.20b1i. The Regional Administrator has determined that the ITACs specified for certain species listed in Tables 1 and 2 need to be supplemented from the non-specified reserve because U.S. fishing vessels have demonstrated the capacity to catch the full TAC allocations. Therefore, in accordance with 679.20b, NMFS is apportioning the amounts shown in Table 3 from the non-specified reserve to increase the ITAC for AI other rockfish by 15 percent of the other rockfish TAC in 2021 and 2022.

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