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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 149 / Friday, August 6, 2021 / Proposed Rules 73 FR 35778; corrected on July 15, 2008, 73 FR 40658, Amendment 5a to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP 78 FR
40318; July 3, 2013, Amendment 6 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP 80 FR
50073; August 18, 2015, and Amendment 9 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP 80 FR 73128; November 24, 2015 are consistent to the maximum extent practicable with the enforceable policies of the approved coastal management program of coastal states on the Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, as required under the Coastal Zone Management Act. Pursuant to 15 CFR
930.41a, NMFS provided the Coastal Zone Management Program of each coastal state a 60-day period to review the consistency determination and to advise NMFS of their concurrence.
NMFS received concurrence with the consistency determinations from several states and inferred consistency from those states that did not respond within the 60-day time period. This proposed action to establish an opening date and adjust quotas for the 2022 fishing year for the Atlantic commercial shark fisheries does not change the framework previously consulted upon. Therefore, no additional consultation is required.
This rulemaking would implement previously adopted and analyzed measures with adjustments, as specified in the 2006 Consolidated HMSFMP and its amendments, and the Environmental Assessment EA that accompanied the 2011 shark quota specifications rule 75
FR 76302; December 8, 2010. Impacts have been evaluated and analyzed in Amendments 2, 3, 5a, 6, and 9 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP, which include Final Environmental Impact Statements FEISs for Amendments 2, 3, and 5a, and EAs for Amendments 6
and 9. The final rule for Amendment 2
implemented base quotas and quota adjustment procedures for sandbar shark and non-sandbar LCS species/
management groups, and Amendments 3 and 5a implemented base quotas for Gulf of Mexico blacktip shark, aggregated LCS, hammerhead shark, blacknose shark, and non-blacknose SCS management groups and quota transfers for Atlantic sharks. The final rule for Amendment 6 implemented a revised commercial shark retention limit, revised base quotas for sandbar shark and non-blacknose SCS species/
management groups, new sub-regional quotas in the Gulf of Mexico region for blacktip sharks, aggregated LCS, and hammerhead sharks, and new management measures for blacknose sharks. The final rule for Amendment 9
implemented management measures,
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including commercial quotas, for smoothhound sharks in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions. In 2010, NOAA
Fisheries prepared an EA with the 2011
quota specifications rule 75 FR 76302;
December 8, 2010 that describes the impact on the human environment that would result from implementation of measures to delay the start date and allow for inseason adjustments. NMFS
has determined that the quota adjustments and season opening dates of this proposed rule and the resulting impacts to the human environment are within the scope of the analyses considered in the FEISs and EAs for these amendments, and additional National Environmental Policy Act NEPA analysis is not warranted for this proposed rule.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities as defined under the Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA. The factual basis for this determination is as follows.
The proposed rule would adjust quotas and retention limits and establish the opening date for the 2022
fishing year for the Atlantic commercial shark fisheries. NMFS would adjust quotas as required or allowable based on any overharvests and/or underharvests from the 2021 fishing year. NMFS has limited flexibility to otherwise modify the quotas in this proposed rule. In addition, the impacts of the quotas and any potential modifications were analyzed in previous regulatory flexibility analyses, including the initial regulatory flexibility analysis and the final regulatory flexibility analysis that accompanied the 2011 shark quota specifications rule. NMFS proposes the opening date and commercial retention limits to provide, to the extent practicable, fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in all regions and areas.
The proposed measures could affect fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. However, the effects this proposed rule would have on small entities would be minimal. Section 603b3 of the RFA requires agencies to provide an estimate of the number of small entities to which the rule would apply. The Small Business Administration SBA has established size criteria for all major industry sectors in the United States, including fish harvesters. SBAs regulations include provisions for an agency to
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develop its own industry-specific size standards after consultation with SBA
and providing an opportunity for public comment see 13 CFR 121.903c.
Under this provision, NMFS may establish size standards that differ from those established by the SBA Office of Size Standards, but only for use by NMFS and only for the purpose of conducting an analysis of economic effects in fulfillment of the agencys obligations under the RFA. To utilize this provision, NMFS must publish such size standards in the Federal Register, which NMFS did on December 29, 2015
80 FR 81194; 50 CFR 200.2. In this final rule effective on July 1, 2016, NMFS established a small business size standard of $11 million in annual gross receipts for all businesses in the commercial fishing industry NAICS
11411 for RFA compliance purposes.
NMFS considers all HMS permit holders to be small entities because they had average annual receipts of less than $11 million for commercial fishing.
As of June 13, 2021, this proposed rule would apply to the approximately 207 directed commercial shark permit holders, 253 incidental commercial shark permit holders, 164 smoothhound shark permit holders, and 90
commercial shark dealers. Not all permit holders are active in the fishery in any given year. Active directed commercial shark permit holders are defined as those with valid permits that landed one shark based on HMS
electronic dealer reports. Of the 460
directed and incidental commercial shark permit holders, to date, only 10
permit holders landed sharks in the Gulf of Mexico region, and only 65 landed sharks in the Atlantic region. Of the 164
smoothhound shark permit holders, to date, only 63 permit holders landed smoothhound sharks in the Atlantic region, and 1 landed smoothhound sharks in the Gulf of Mexico region. As described below, NMFS has determined that all of these entities are small entities for purposes of the RFA.
Based on the 2020 ex-vessel price Table 3, fully harvesting the unadjusted 2021 Atlantic shark commercial base quotas could result in total fleet revenues of $8,481,742. For the Gulf of Mexico blacktip shark management group, NMFS is proposing to adjust the base sub-regional quotas upward due to underharvests in 2021.
The increase for the western Gulf of Mexico blacktip shark management group could result in a $206,656 gain in total revenues for fishermen in that subregion, while the increase for the eastern Gulf of Mexico blacktip shark management group could result in a $21,066 gain in total revenues for
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