Je veux savoir à propos de…

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 28 / Friday, February 12, 2021 / Proposed Rules bycatch estimates calculated using a formula developed by the IPHC. As provided in the Halibut Act at 16 U.S.C.
773b, the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce, may accept or reject, on behalf of the United States, regulations recommended by the IPHC in accordance with the Convention.
Following acceptance by the Secretary of State, the annual management measures promulgated by the IPHC are published in the Federal Register to provide notice of their immediate regulatory effectiveness and to inform persons subject to the regulations of their restrictions and requirements 50
CFR 300.62. The rule containing the 2020 IPHC regulations and management measures was published in the Federal Register on March 13, 2020 85 FR
14586.
This rule proposes to approve the Councils recommended changes to the Catch Sharing Plan for IPHC regulatory Area 2A, which affect only the recreational fishery. In addition, this rule would implement 2021 recreational Pacific halibut fishery management measures, which include season opening and closing dates, retention of groundfish species, allowable gear, and opening closed areas that are set in NMFS regulations. These management measures were developed through the Councils public process and are detailed below.
Proposed Changes to the 2021 Area 2A
Catch Sharing Plan Each year at the Councils September meeting, members of the public have an opportunity to propose changes to the Catch Sharing Plan for consideration by the Council. At the September 2020
Council meeting, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife WDFW, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ODFW, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife CDFW proposed changes to the Catch Sharing Plan. The Council voted to solicit public input on most of the changes recommended by WDFW, ODFW, and CDFW. Input on these proposed changes was then gathered through public workshops subsequently held by WDFW and ODFW.
At its November 2020 meeting, the Council considered the input received through these public workshops on the changes to the Catch Sharing Plan proposed by WDFW, ODFW, and CDFW, along with other public input provided at the 2020 September and November Council meetings, and made its final recommendations for modifications to the Catch Sharing Plan to NMFS. NMFS proposes to approve all
VerDate Sep<11>2014

17:15 Feb 11, 2021

Jkt 253001

of the Councils recommended changes to the Catch Sharing Plan as discussed below.
1. In section 6.9.3h of the Catch Sharing Plan, the Council recommended removing prohibition on fishing within two Yelloweye Rockfish Conservation Areas YRCAs to be consistent with West Coast groundfish regulations. The 20212022 groundfish harvest specifications final rule 85 FR 79880;
December 11, 2020 included a modification to regulations at 50 CFR
660.360c1iB and C to allow for recreational fishing for groundfish and halibut within the South Coast Recreational YRCA and the Westport Offshore Recreational YRCA. Consistent with the groundfish regulations, this Catch Sharing Plan change removes the prohibition on recreational groundfish and halibut fishing in these two YRCAs and removes the description of the YCRAs.
2. In section 6.10g of the Catch Sharing Plan, the Council recommended allowing anglers fishing for Pacific halibut in the Columbia River subarea in Washington to retain certain midwater rockfish species, specifically yellowtail, widow, canary, redstriped, greenstriped, silvergray, chilipepper, bocaccio, and blue/deacon rockfish, in addition to the species currently allowed for retention.
This change would increase angler opportunity by permitting retention of more groundfish species than were previously allowed in regulation.
3. In section 6.11.1g and 6.11.2g of the Catch Sharing Plan, the Council recommended allowing anglers in Oregon to use long-leader fishing gear to retain certain groundfish species on the same fishing trip in which they also participate in the all-depth halibut fishery. This change would increase angler opportunity by permitting retention of more species than were previously allowed in regulation.
4. In section 6.12d of the Catch Sharing Plan, the Council recommended changing the season end date on the California Coast from October 31 to November 15. In 2019, the California recreational fishery was open May 1
through October 31, and attained around 17,000 pounds of the 39,000
pound quota. This change provides flexibility to extend the season by two weeks to allow for additional angler opportunity.
Additional discussion of these changes is included in the materials submitted to the Council at its September and November meetings, available at https www.pcouncil.org/
council-meetings/previous-meetings/. A
version of the Catch Sharing Plan including these changes can be found at
PO 00000

Frm 00010

Fmt 4702

Sfmt 4702

9313

https www.pcouncil.org/managed_
fishery/pacific-halibut/.
Proposed 2021 Recreational Fishery Management Measures Following the Councils recommendations in the Catch Sharing Plan, NMFS also proposes to implement recreational fishery management measures, including season dates for the 2021 fishery. The Catch Sharing Plan includes a framework for setting days open for fishing by subarea, and each state submits final recommended season dates annually to NMFS during the proposed rule comment period. This proposed rule contains dates for the recreational though referred to as sport in IPHC documents, recreational will be used in this rule fisheries based on the 2021 Catch Sharing Plan as recommended by the Council. The season dates preferred for Washington, following input from the public, are proposed here. The proposed season dates for Oregon are based on the Catch Sharing Plan framework and season dates from 2020. The proposed season dates for California are the start and end dates in the 2021 Catch Sharing Plan, including the revised season end date of November 15. The final rule will provide season dates based on public comment, including comments from Oregon and California after each state has concluded its public meetings gathering input on season dates.
Separate from this rule and described above, annual management measures promulgated by the IPHC are published each year through a final rule under NMFS authority to implement the Halibut Convention 50 CFR 300.62.
For the 2020 fishing season, the final rule for the IPHC regulations was published on March 13, 2020 85 FR
14586, and the final rule for Area 2A
recreational fisheries was published on May 1, 2020 85 FR 25317. At the 2021
IPHC meeting, the IPHC approved the 2021 halibut regulations. NMFS plans to publish those regulations prior to the start of the 2021 halibut fishery if approved by the Secretary of State with concurrence by the Secretary of Commerce.
NMFS proposes the following Area 2A recreational fishery management measures consistent with the Councils Catch Sharing Plan. After the opportunity for public comment, NMFS
will publish a final rule approving the Catch Sharing Plan and promulgating the annual management measures for the Area 2A recreational fishery, as required by implementing regulations at 50 CFR 300.63b1. The subarea allocations in this proposed rule are based on the 2021 IPHC halibut
E:FRFM12FEP1.SGM

12FEP1