Je veux savoir à propos de…

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 36 / Thursday, February 25, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
11463

TABLE 12FINAL 2022 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT QUOTA CDQ RESERVES, INCIDENTAL CATCH AMOUNTS ICAS, AND
AMENDMENT 80 ALLOCATIONS OF THE AI PACIFIC OCEAN PERCH, AND BSAI FLATHEAD SOLE, ROCK SOLE, AND YELLOWFIN SOLE TACSContinued Amounts are in metric tons Pacific ocean perch Sector
Eastern Aleutian district
Amendment 80 1

Central Aleutian district
6,373

Western Aleutian district
4,703

9,179

Flathead sole
Rock sole
Yellowfin sole
BSAI

BSAI

BSAI

19,325

42,669

139,818

1 The
2022 allocations for Amendment 80 species between Amendment 80 cooperatives and the Amendment 80 limited access sector will not be known until eligible participants apply for participation in the program by November 1, 2021.
Note: Sector apportionments may not total precisely due to rounding.

Section 679.2 defines the ABC surplus for flathead sole, rock sole, and yellowfin sole as the difference between the annual ABC and TAC for each species. Section 679.20b1iii establishes ABC reserves for flathead sole, rock sole, and yellowfin sole. The ABC surpluses and the ABC reserves are necessary to mitigate the operational variability, environmental conditions, and economic factors that may constrain the CDQ groups and the Amendment 80
cooperatives from achieving, on a
continuing basis, the optimum yield in the BSAI groundfish fisheries. NMFS, after consultation with the Council, may set the ABC reserve at or below the ABC
surplus for each species, thus maintaining the TAC below ABC limits.
An amount equal to 10.7 percent of the ABC reserves will be allocated as CDQ
ABC reserves for flathead sole, rock sole, and yellowfin sole. Section 679.31b4 establishes the annual allocations of CDQ ABC reserves among the CDQ groups. The Amendment 80

ABC reserves are the ABC reserves minus the CDQ ABC reserves. Section 679.91i2 establishes each Amendment 80 cooperative ABC reserve to be the ratio of each cooperatives quota share units and the total Amendment 80 quota share units, multiplied by the Amendment 80 ABC
reserve for each respective species.
Table 13 lists the 2021 and 2022 ABC
surplus and ABC reserves for BSAI
flathead sole, rock sole, and yellowfin sole.

TABLE 13FINAL 2021 AND 2022 ABC SURPLUS, ABC RESERVES, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT QUOTA CDQ ABC
RESERVES, AND AMENDMENT 80 ABC RESERVES IN THE BSAI FOR FLATHEAD SOLE, ROCK SOLE, AND YELLOWFIN SOLE
Amounts are in metric tons 2021
Flathead sole
Sector ABC
TAC
ABC surplus
ABC reserve
CDQ ABC reserve
Amendment 80 ABC reserve

62,567
25,000
37,567
37,567
4,020
33,547

2021
Rock sole
2021
Yellowfin sole
140,306
54,500
85,806
85,806
9,181
76,625

313,477
200,000
113,477
113,477
12,142
101,335

2022 1
Flathead sole 64,119
25,000
39,119
39,119
4,186
34,933

2022 1
Rock sole 206,605
54,500
152,105
152,105
16,275
135,830

2022 1
Yellowfin sole 344,140
200,000
144,140
144,140
15,423
128,717

1 The 2022 allocations for Amendment 80 species between Amendment 80 cooperatives and the Amendment 80 limited access sector will not be known until eligible participants apply for participation in the program by November 1, 2021.

PSC Limits for Halibut, Salmon, Crab, and Herring Sections 679.21b, e, f, and g sets forth the BSAI PSC limits. Pursuant to 679.21b1, the annual BSAI halibut PSC limits total 3,515 mt. Section 679.21b1 allocates 315 mt of the halibut PSC limit as the PSQ reserve for use by the groundfish CDQ program, 1,745 mt of the halibut PSC limit for the Amendment 80 sector, 745 mt of the halibut PSC limit for the BSAI trawl limited access sector, and 710 mt of the halibut PSC limit for the BSAI non-trawl sector.
Sections 679.21b1iiiA and B
authorize apportionment of the BSAI
non-trawl halibut PSC limit into PSC
allowances among six fishery categories in Table 17, and 679.21b1iiA
and B, e3iB, and e3iv require
VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:18 Feb 24, 2021

Jkt 253001

apportionment of the trawl PSC limits in Tables 15 and 16 into PSC allowances among seven fishery categories.
Pursuant to Section 3.6 of the FMP, the Council recommends, and NMFS
agrees, that certain specified non-trawl fisheries be exempt from the halibut PSC limit. As in past years, after consultation with the Council, NMFS
exempts the pot gear fishery, the jig gear fishery, and the sablefish IFQ hook-andline gear fishery categories from halibut bycatch restrictions for the following reasons: 1 The pot gear fisheries have low halibut bycatch mortality; 2 NMFS
estimates halibut mortality for the jig gear fleet to be negligible because of the small size of the fishery and the selectivity of the gear; and 3 the sablefish and halibut IFQ fisheries have low halibut bycatch mortality because the IFQ program requires that legal-size
PO 00000

Frm 00077

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

halibut be retained by vessels using fixed gear if a halibut IFQ permit holder or a hired master is aboard and is holding unused halibut IFQ for that vessel category and the IFQ regulatory area in which the vessel is operating 679.7f11.
The 2020 total groundfish catch for the pot gear fishery in the BSAI was 41,517 mt, with an associated halibut bycatch mortality of 5 mt. The 2020 jig gear fishery harvested about 10 mt of groundfish. Most vessels in the jig gear fleet are exempt from observer coverage requirements. As a result, observer data are not available on halibut bycatch in the jig gear fishery. As mentioned above, NMFS estimates a negligible amount of halibut bycatch mortality because of the selective nature of jig gear and the low mortality rate of halibut caught with jig gear and released.

E:FRFM25FER1.SGM

25FER1