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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 32 / Friday, February 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness of this action.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 12, 2021.
Jennifer M. Wallace, Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
FR Doc. 202103351 Filed 21621; 4:15 pm BILLING CODE 351022P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 679
Docket No. 2102100018
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Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Gulf of Alaska; Final 2021 and 2022 Harvest Specifications for Groundfish National Marine Fisheries Service NMFS, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA, Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule; harvest specifications and closures.
AGENCY:

NMFS announces final 2021
and 2022 harvest specifications, apportionments, and Pacific halibut prohibited species catch limits for the groundfish fishery of the Gulf of Alaska GOA. This action is necessary to establish harvest limits for groundfish during the remainder of the 2021 and the start of the 2022 fishing years and to accomplish the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska FMP.
The 2021 harvest specifications supersede those previously set in the final 2020 and 2021 harvest specifications, and the 2022 harvest specifications will be superseded in early 2022 when the final 2022 and 2023 harvest specifications are published. The intended effect of this action is to conserve and manage the groundfish resources in the GOA in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Magnuson-Stevens Act.
DATES: Harvest specifications and closures are effective at 1200 hours, Alaska local time A.l.t., February 19, 2021, through 2400 hours, A.l.t., December 31, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of the Final Alaska Groundfish Harvest Specifications Environmental Impact Statement EIS, Record of Decision ROD, and the annual Supplementary
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SUMMARY:

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Information Reports SIRs to the EIS
prepared for this action are available from https www.regulations.gov. The 2020 Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation SAFE report for the groundfish resources of the GOA, dated November 2020, and SAFE reports for previous years are available from the North Pacific Fishery Management Council Council at 1007 West 3rd Avenue, Suite 400, Anchorage, AK
99501, phone 9072712809, or from the Councils website at https
www.npfmc.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Obren Davis, 9075867228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS
manages the GOA groundfish fisheries in the exclusive economic zone of the GOA under the FMP. The Council prepared the FMP under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C.
1801 et seq. Regulations governing U.S.
fisheries and implementing the FMP
appear at 50 CFR parts 600, 679, and 680.
The FMP and its implementing regulations require that NMFS, after consultation with the Council, specify the total allowable catch TAC for each target species, the sum of which must be within the optimum yield OY range of 116,000 to 800,000 metric tons mt 50
CFR 679.20a1iB. Section 679.20c1 further requires that NMFS
publish and solicit public comment on proposed annual TACs and apportionments thereof, Pacific halibut prohibited species catch PSC limits, and seasonal allowances of pollock and Pacific cod. Upon consideration of public comment received under 679.20c1, NMFS must publish notice of final harvest specifications for up to two fishing years as annual TACs and apportionments, Pacific halibut PSC
limits, and seasonal allowances of pollock and Pacific cod, per 679.20c3ii. The final harvest specifications set forth in Tables 1
through 29 of this rule reflect the outcome of this process, as required at 679.20c.
The proposed 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications for groundfish of the GOA
and Pacific halibut PSC limits were published in the Federal Register on December 3, 2020 85 FR 78076.
Comments were invited and accepted through January 4, 2021. NMFS did not receive any comments on the proposed harvest specifications. In December 2020, NMFS consulted with the Council regarding the 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications. After an opportunity for public comment, and after considering more recent biological and socioeconomic data that were available
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at the Councils December 2020
meeting, NMFS is implementing the final 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications, as recommended by the Council. Differences between the proposed specifications and the final specifications are discussed below. For 2021, the sum of the TAC amounts is 407,975 mt. For 2022, the sum of the TAC amounts is 409,039 mt.
Other Actions Affecting the 2021 and 2022 Harvest Specifications Amendment 109 to the FMP: Revisions to the GOA Pollock Seasons and Pacific Cod Seasonal Allocations On June 25, 2020, NMFS published a final rule to implement Amendment 109
to the FMP 85 FR 38093, effective January 1, 2021 see also correction 85
FR 79139, December 9, 2020. The final rule revised the pollock seasons and allocations, along with Pacific cod season allocations, in the Western and Central Regulatory Areas of the GOA.
Amendment 109 modified the existing annual pollock TAC allocation to two equal seasonal allocations 50 percent of TAC, rather than four equal seasonal allocations 25 percent of TAC. The pollock A and B seasons were combined into a January 20 through May 31 A
season, and the pollock C and D seasons were combined into a September 1
through November 1 B season.
Additionally, Amendment 109 revised the Pacific cod TAC seasonal apportionments to the trawl catcher vessel CV sector by increasing the A
season allocation and decreasing the B
season allocation. The December 9, 2020, correction clarified existing seasonal apportionments of Pacific cod for the jig sector. The revisions implemented by Amendment 109 are incorporated into these final 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications.
Amendment 110 to the FMP: Reclassify Sculpins as an Ecosystem Component Species On July 10, 2020, NMFS published the final rule to implement Amendment 110 to the FMP 85 FR 41427. The final rule reclassified sculpins in the FMP as an Ecosystem Component species, which is a category of non-target species that are not in need of conservation and management. Accordingly, NMFS will no longer set an Overfishing Level OFL, acceptable biological catch ABC, and TAC for sculpins in the GOA
groundfish harvest specifications.
ABC and TAC Specifications In December 2020, the Councils Scientific and Statistical Committee SSC, its Advisory Panel AP, and the
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