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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 106 / Friday, June 4, 2021 / Proposed Rules
production throughout the year, while offshore, on the middle and outer shelf, upwelling along the Gulf Stream front and intrusions from the Gulf Stream cause seasonal phytoplankton blooms.
Because of its high productivity, this sub-region supports active commercial and recreational fisheries Shertzer et al.
2009.
Detailed Description of Specific Activity The Federal Government has a trust responsibility to protect living marine resources in waters of the U.S., also referred to as Federal waters. These waters generally lie 3 to 200 nautical miles nmi from the shoreline. Those waters 312 nmi offshore comprise Federal territorial waters and those 12to-200 nmi offshore comprise the Exclusive Economic Zone EEZ, except where other nations have adjacent territorial claims. NOAA also conducts research to foster resource protection in state waters i.e., estuaries and oceanic waters within 3 nmi of shore. The U.S.
government has also entered into a number of international agreements and treaties related to the management of living marine resources in international waters outside of the U.S. EEZ i.e., the high seas. To carry out its responsibilities over Federal and international waters, Congress has enacted several statutes authorizing certain Federal agencies to administer programs to manage and protect living marine resources. Among these Federal agencies, NOAA has the primary responsibility for protecting marine finfish and shellfish species and their habitats. Within NOAA, NMFS has been delegated primary responsibility for the science-based management, conservation, and protection of living marine resources under statutes including the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act MSA, the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act ACA, and the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act.
Within NMFS, six Regional Fisheries Science Centers direct and coordinate the collection of scientific information needed to inform fisheries management decisions. Each Fisheries Science Center
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is a distinct entity and is the scientific focal point for a particular region. The NEFSC conducts research and provides scientific advice to manage fisheries and conserve protected species in the Atlantic coast region from Maine to northeast Florida. The NEFSC provides scientific information to support the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and other domestic fisheries management organizations. Specifically, NEFSC develops the scientific information required for fishery resource conservation, fishery development and utilization, habitat conservation, and protection of marine mammals and endangered marine species. Research is pursued to address specific needs in population dynamics, fishery biology and economics, engineering and gear development, and protected species biology. Specifically, research includes monitoring fish stock recruitment, abundance, survival and biological rates, geographic distribution of species and stocks, ecosystem process changes, and marine ecological research.
The NEFSC collects a wide array of information necessary to evaluate the status of exploited fishery resources and the marine environment. NEFSC
scientists conduct fishery-independent research onboard NOAA-owned and operated vessels or on chartered vessels.
For other types of surveys, cooperating scientists may conduct research onboard non-NOAA vessels. The NEFSC
proposes to administer and conduct 59
survey programs over the 5-year period.
Forty-two of the 59 total surveys/
projects involve gear and equipment with the potential to take marine mammals by mortality or serious injury M/SI or Level B harassment. We note the need for additional surveys could arise during the time period this proposed rule is effective, or some of the identified surveys could be eliminated or reduced in effort. Research activities associated with the requested LOA are not necessarily limited to the specific surveys shown in Table 1; however, any other surveys conducted by NEFSC
would not be significantly different from the research analyzed herein or result in a change in the take request.

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The gear types used by NEFSC to conduct fisheries research include:
Pelagic trawl gear used at various levels in the water column, pelagic and demersal longlines, bottom-contact trawls, anchored sinking gillnets, and other gear such as dredges and traps.
The use of pelagic and bottom trawl nets, gillnets, fyke nets, and longline/
hook and line gear have to potential to result in interaction e.g., entanglement, hooking with marine mammals. These gears and the methods of fishing are identical or similar to those described in the initial NEFSC proposed rule 80 FR
35942, July 9, 2015. Complete gear descriptions can also be found in Appendix B of the NMFS 2020 Draft Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment available at https www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/
draft-supplemental-programmaticenvironmental-assessment-nefscresearch-now-available. Please refer to those documents for more information related to fishing gear.
Additionally, a small set of research activities along the Penobscot River estuary in Maine have the potential to behaviorally disturb marine mammals due to the physical presence of researchers near haulout areas.
Most of the vessel-based surveys use active acoustic devices. The NEFSC may conduct surveys aboard research vessels R/V, including the NOAA Ship R/V
Henry B. Bigelow, R/V Gordon Gunter, R/V Pisces, R/V Nauvoo, R/V Harvey, R/
V Chemist, R/V Resolute, R/V Hassler, R/V C.E. Stillwell, and R/V Gloria Michelle; aboard R/V and fishing vessels F/V owned and operated by cooperating agencies and institutions including the F/V Robert Michael, F/V
Darana R, R/V Hugh R. Sharp, and F/
V Eagle Eye II; or aboard charter vessels.
A complete description of the longterm research surveys conducted by NEFSC can be found in section 1.4 of the LOA application. A complete description of the short-term cooperative research projects can be found in section 1.5 of the LOA
application. Below we provide a summary table with information relevant to this proposed rule Table 1.

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