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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
delay in the effectiveness of this action under 5 U.S.C. 553d3.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: May 26, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace, Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
FR Doc. 202111492 Filed 52721; 4:15 pm BILLING CODE 351022P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 660
Docket No. 2012040325
RIN 0648BK53

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions;
Fisheries Off West Coast States;
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery;
20212022 Biennial Specifications and Management Measures; Inseason Adjustments National Marine Fisheries Service NMFS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule; inseason adjustments to biennial groundfish management measures.
AGENCY:

This final rule announces routine inseason adjustments to the harvest limits for incidental Pacific halibut retention in the sablefish primary fishery. The Pacific Fishery Management Council recommended, and NMFS is implementing, a decrease to the incidental Pacific halibut catch limit to ensure equitable harvest opportunities without exceeding the harvest limit.
DATES: This final rule is effective June 1, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Abbie Moyer, phone: 2063059601 or email: abbie.moyer@noaa.gov.
SUMMARY:

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Electronic Access This rule is accessible via the internet at the Office of the Federal Register website at https
www.federalregister.gov. Background information and documents are available at the Pacific Fishery Management Councils website at http
www.pcouncil.org/.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background The Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan PCGFMP, and its implementing regulations at 50 CFR part
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660, subparts C through G, regulate fishing for over 90 species of groundfish off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. The Pacific Fishery Management Council Council develops groundfish harvest specifications and management measures for two-year periods i.e., a biennium. NMFS published the final rule to implement harvest specifications and management measures for the 20212022 biennium for most species managed under the PCGFMP on December 11, 2020, 85 FR 79880.
NMFS also published a correction 85
FR 86853, December 31, 2020, and a correcting amendment 86 FR 14379, March 16, 2021 to implement the Councils recommendations for the 20212022 harvest specifications and management measures.
In general, the management measures set at the start of the biennial harvest specifications cycle help the various sectors of the fishery attain, but not exceed, the catch limits for each stock.
The Council, in coordination with Pacific Coast Treaty Indian Tribes and the states of Washington, Oregon, and California, recommends adjustments to the management measures during the fishing year to achieve this goal. At its March 25 and 811, 2021, meeting, the Council recommended decreasing the amount of Pacific halibut that vessels in the sablefish primary fishery north of Point Chehalis, WA, may take incidentally to ensure that catch of Pacific halibut stays within the allocated amount.
Pacific halibut is generally a prohibited species for vessels fishing in Pacific coast groundfish fisheries, unless explicitly allowed in groundfish regulations. The Council developed a Catch Sharing Plan for the International Pacific Halibut Commission IPHC
Regulatory Area 2A, as provided for in the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982
16 U.S.C. 773773k, to allocate the Area 2A annual total allowable catch TAC for Pacific halibut among fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California.
Under the Catch Sharing Plan, the sablefish primary fishery north of Point Chehalis, WA 4653.30 N lat. is allocated a portion of the Washington recreational allocation, which varies via a TAC-dependent formula, as described in the Catch Sharing Plan.
The sablefish primary fishery season is open from April 1 to October 31, though the fishery may close for individual participants prior to October 31 once they reach the cumulative limit associated with their tier assignments.
Regulations at 660.231b3iv allow vessels fishing in the sablefish primary
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fishery with a permit from the IPHC to retain Pacific halibut up to a set landing limit, which may be reviewed and modified throughout the sablefish primary fishery season to allow for attainment, but not exceedance of the Pacific halibut allocation. The objectives for the annual landing restrictions are to allow incidental Pacific halibut catch to attain the Pacific halibut allocation at about the same time the sablefish primary season ends October 31, and to ensure an equitable sharing of the Pacific halibut landings among the fishers.
On March 9, 2021, NMFS
implemented a 2021 Area 2A TAC of 1,510,000 pound lb 684.9 metric tons mt 86 FR 13475. As specified by the Catch Sharing Plan, since the 2021 Area 2A catch limit is greater than 1.5 million pounds 680.4 mt, the incidental halibut limit for the sablefish primary fisherys allocation is 70,000 lb 31.8 mt 86 FR 13475, March 9, 2021, the same limit as was in place in 2020. In 2020, due to the COVID19 pandemic affecting vessel participation, harvest during the regular sablefish primary fishery season was lower than predicted. As a result, at the September 2020 Council meeting, the Council recommended, and NMFS
implemented, an emergency rule to extend the sablefish primary season, normally scheduled to end on October 31, until December 31, 2020 85 FR
68001, October 27, 2020. Also, as part of that emergency rule, the incidental Pacific halibut retention allowance continued until the close of the Pacific halibut season on November 15, 2020.
The 2020 season concluded with 90.5
percent of the 70,000 lb 31.8 mt allowance for Pacific halibut landed.
The effects of the COVID19 pandemic on sablefish primary fishery harvest are expected to be lessened in 2021, compared to 2020. If fishing patterns return to more typical seasonal efforts in 2021, the incidental Pacific halibut retention limit in place in 2020 may be too high, and harvest of Pacific halibut may accrue too quickly to allow retention throughout the entire sablefish primary season, which is expected to run through October 31, 2021.
Therefore, at the March 2021 virtual meeting, the Council recommended a precautionary reduction in Pacific halibut retention allowance early in the 2021 sablefish primary fishery season to discourage targeted fishing while allowing small incidental catches through the end of the season on October 31.
The Council recommended, and NMFS is revising the incidental Pacific halibut retention regulations at
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