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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 192 / Thursday, October 7, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
Kate Taylor, NMFS PIR Sustainable Fisheries, 8087255182.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council Council and NMFS manage the American Samoa longline fishery under the FEP and implementing Federal regulations. The fishery is currently limited to 60 permits distributed over four vessel size classes.
Permits are valid for three years, and issued only to individuals who meet specific eligibility criteria. A permit holder must also meet minimum landing requirements within three years to renew the permit. Existing requirements have created programmatic barriers that may be hampering small vessel participation in the fishery. As described in Amendment 9, the Council recommended changes to the program that will reduce complexity and provide for sustained community participation in the small vessel American Samoa deep-set longline fishery. This final rule implements the new provisions established by Amendment 9, as follows:
Consolidate four existing vessel sizes classes into two, i.e., small less than 50 ft 15.2 m and large equal to or larger than 50 ft 15.2 m;
Permit holders must be U.S.
citizens or nationals. Applicants do not need to document a history of participation to be eligible for a permit, but if there is competition between applicants, NMFS will continue to use a priority ranking system based on earliest documented history of fishing in a vessel class size;
Permits may be transferred only among U.S. citizens or nationals. There is no requirement for documented participation in the fishery to receive a transferred permit;
The small vessel minimum harvest requirement is now 500 lb 227 kg of pelagic management unit species MUS
within a 3-year period. The large vessel harvest requirement remains 5,000 lb 2,268 kg over three years;
The minimum harvest amount must be landed in American Samoa within a 3-year permit period. These required harvests need not be caught within the U.S. exclusive economic zone EEZ
around American Samoa;
Permits are valid for the same, fixed 3-year period as the 3-year period required to make a minimum harvest;
and When a permit is transferred, the minimum harvest period does not restart. If the minimum amount has not been caught at the time of transfer, the new permit owner is required to meet
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the harvest requirement based on the following formula: The product of percentage of time left within the 3-year permit period and the minimum harvest amount.
You may find additional background information on this action in the preamble to the proposed rule 86 FR
37982, July 19, 2021.
Comments and Responses On June 30, 2021, NMFS published the notice of availability NOA for Amendment 9 and request for public comments 86 FR 34711; the comment period ended August 30, 2021. The American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources provided comments on Amendment 9 that generally supported the changes established by the Council, and offered to work with NMFS on future reporting and permitting issues in this and other fisheries.
On July 19, 2021, NMFS published a proposed rule and request for public comments 86 FR 37982; the comment period ended September 2, 2021. NMFS
received comments from the Hawaii Longline Association HLA, and responds below.
Comment 1: HLA noted that two dozen Hawaii vessels also hold American Samoa longline permits.
Although the fishery is operating safely during the Covid19 pandemic, HLA is concerned that a minimum landing requirement would force these dualpermitted vessels to land in American Samoa, possibly spreading the virus to an area that has been largely virus-free.
HLA requested that NMFS delay the effectiveness of the landing requirement and associated 3-year period for large vessels until the threat caused by the pandemic has eased.
Response: The American Samoa Department of Health has health and safety protocols in place that are applicable to fishing vessels landing in the territory. During the pandemic, U.S.
fishing vessels have continued to land in American Samoa under these requirements, which include proof of a negative Covid19 test, evidence of having recovered from Covid19 in the past six months, or proof of complete vaccination at least 14 days prior to the arrival. Anyone arriving in port must provide the documentation at least 72
hours prior to arrival. Prior approval is required for crew to disembark.
Quarantine measures are also in place, as needed, for vessels entering the port.
These protocols have been effective.
To date, there has been only one documented Covid19 case in American Samoa. Based on the effective health and safety protocols in place there,
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NMFS does not agree that a delay in effectiveness for the minimum harvest landing requirements for large vessels is warranted.
Changes From the Proposed Rule This final rule does not make any substantive changes from the proposed rule.
This rule does make three administrative housekeeping changes.
The first revises 50 CFR 665.14 relating to reporting. After NMFS published the proposed rule for this action, we published a separate final rule that requires electronic reporting for American Samoa Class C and D vessels 86 FR 42744, August 5, 2021. Because this final rule replaces the former C and D classes with a single large vessel class, we are updating 665.14 to clarify that large vessels must report electronically.
The second modifies 50 CFR
665.802x relating to observer coverage.
In the proposed rule, we erred in using the term large vessel, which is a vessel equal to or greater than 50 ft long.
If implemented, we would have inadvertently removed the requirement for a vessel between 40 and 50 ft to carry an observer. In Amendment 9, the Council did not recommend removal of the observer coverage requirement for vessels between 40 and 50 ft in length overall LOA, and this final rule correctly implements the Councils intention by replacing large vessel with vessel greater than 40 ft 12.2 m LOA in 665.802x.
The third housekeeping changes are in 50 CFR 665.816, relating to permit validity. Amendment 9 established a requirement that the duration of a permit is three years from the date of issuance and that the term of the permit validity does not change or reset in the event of a permit transfer. To accurately implement the recommendations in Amendment 9, this rule adds a new 665.816f that clarifies that a permit is valid for three years. The rule also clarifies in 665.816h1 and 3 the 3year permit term and that it does not change in the event of a transfer.
Classification Pursuant to section 304b3 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery and Conservation Act, the NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this final rule is consistent with the FEP, other provisions of the MagnusonStevens Act, and other applicable law.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration during the proposed rule stage that this action would not have a significant economic
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