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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 171 / Wednesday, September 8, 2021 / Proposed Rules
fishing decisions, which could improve safety. Further, a higher possession limit would provide increased fishing revenue and vessel profit. The results of the program review are summarized in the Amendment 21 scoping document, which can be found at this website:
https www.nefmc.org/library/
amendment-21.
Quota Transfers by Limited Access/
LAGC IFQ Vessels
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with PROPOSALS

Amendment 15 allowed LAGC IFQ
permit holders to permanently transfer some or all of their quota allocation to another LAGC IFQ permit holder while retaining the permit itself. During development of Amendment 15, the Council considered an option that would have included limited access permit holders that also have LAGC IFQ
permits combo vessels in this allowance; however, the Council opted against this option because it would change the overall 5-percent and 0.5percent allocations specified in Amendment 11. For example, the 5percent allocation would be expected to increase if a combo vessel permanently transferred quota to an LAGC IFQ-only vessel and, therefore, would have implications on quota accumulation caps that apply to LAGC IFQ-only permit holders i.e., 5-percent maximum for owners, 2.5-percent maximum for individual vessels.
The Council initiated Amendment 21
to consider adjusting the management of the NGOM to allow for more controlled access by the limited access and LAGC
components, to increase monitoring to support a growing directed scallop fishery in Federal waters, and to consider adjusting the LAGC IFQ
program to support overall economic performance while allowing for
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continued participation in the general category fishery at varying levels. To address these issues the Council approved Amendment 21 at its September 2020 meeting. Amendment 21 would:
Change the Annual Catch Limit flow chart to account for biomass in the NGOM as part of the Overfishing Limit and the Acceptable Biological Catch to be consistent with other portions of scallop resource management;
Develop landing limits for all permit categories in the NGOM and establish an 800,000-lb 362,874 kg NGOM Set-Aside trigger for the NGOM
directed fishery, with a sharing agreement for access by all permit categories for allocation above the trigger. Allocation above the trigger would be split 5 percent for the NGOM
fleet and 95 percent for limited access and LAGC IFQ fleets;
Expand the scallop observer program to monitor directed scallop fishing in the NGOM by using a portion of the NGOM allocation to off-set monitoring costs;
Allocate 25,000 lb 11,340 kg of the NGOM allocation to increase the overall Scallop Research Set-Aside RSA and support Scallop RSA compensation fishing;
Increase the LAGC IFQ possession limit to 800 lb 363 kg per trip only for access area trips;
Prorate the daily observer compensation rate in 12-hour increments for observed LAGC IFQ trips longer than 1 day; and Allow for temporary transfers of IFQ from limited access vessels with IFQ to LAGC IFQ-only vessels.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act allows us to approve, partially approve, or disapprove measures recommended by the Council in an amendment based on
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whether the measures are consistent with the FMPs, plan amendment, the Magnuson-Stevens Act and its National Standards, and other applicable law.
The Council develops policy for its fisheries and we defer to the Council on policy decisions unless those policies are inconsistent with the MagnusonSteven Act or other applicable law. As such, we are seeking comment on whether measures in Amendment 21 are consistent with the FMP, the MagnusonStevens Act and its National Standards, and other applicable law. Through this notice, NMFS seeks comments on Amendment 21 and its incorporated documents through the end of the comment period stated in the DATES
section of this notice of availability NOA. Following the publication of this NOA a rule proposing the implementation of measures in this amendment is anticipated to be published in the Federal Register for public comment. Public comments must be received by the end of the comment period provided in this NOA of Amendment 21 to be considered in the approval/disapproval decision. All comments received by the end of the comment period on the NOA, whether specifically directed to the NOA or the proposed rule, will be considered in the approval/disapproval decision.
Comments received after the end of the comment period for the NOA will not be considered in the approval/disapproval decision of Amendment 21.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: September 2, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace, Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
FR Doc. 202119367 Filed 9221; 4:15 pm BILLING CODE 351022P

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