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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 32 / Friday, February 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations Council reviewed the most recent biological and harvest information about the condition of the GOA groundfish stocks. The Councils GOA Groundfish Plan Team Plan Team compiled and presented this information in the 2020
SAFE report for the GOA groundfish fisheries, dated November 2020 see ADDRESSES. The SAFE report contains a review of the latest scientific analyses and estimates of each species biomass and other biological parameters, as well as summaries of the available information on the GOA ecosystem and the economic condition of the groundfish fisheries off Alaska. From these data and analyses, the Plan Team recommends, and the SSC sets, an OFL
and ABC for each species or species group. The 2020 SAFE report was made available for public review during the public comment period for the proposed harvest specifications.
In previous years, the greatest changes from the proposed to the final harvest specifications have been based on recent NMFS stock surveys, which provide updated estimates of stock biomass and spatial distribution, and changes to the models used for producing stock assessments. At the November 2020
Plan Team meeting, NMFS scientists presented updated and new survey results, changes to stock assessment models, and accompanying stock assessment estimates for groundfish species and species groups that are included in the 2020 SAFE report per the stock assessment schedule found in the 2020 SAFE report introduction. The SSC reviewed this information at the December 2020 Council meeting.
Changes from the proposed to the final 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications are discussed below.
The final 2021 and 2022 OFLs and ABCs are based on the best available biological information, including projected biomass trends, information on assumed distribution of stock biomass, and revised methods used to calculate stock biomass, and the final 2021 and 2022 TACs are based on the best available biological and socioeconomic information. The FMP
specifies the formulas, or tiers, to be used to compute OFLs and ABCs. The formulas applicable to a particular stock or stock complex are determined by the level of reliable information available to fisheries scientists. This information is categorized into a successive series of six tiers to define OFL and ABC
amounts, with Tier 1 representing the highest level of information quality available and Tier 6 representing the lowest level of information quality available. The Plan Team used the FMP
tier structure to calculate OFL and ABC

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amounts for each groundfish species.
The SSC adopted the final 2021 and 2022 OFLs and ABCs recommended by the Plan Team for most groundfish species, with the exception of sablefish.
The Alaska-wide sablefish ABC is apportioned between six areas within the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands BSAI and Gulf of Alaska Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, Western Gulf, Central Gulf, West Yakutat, and East Yakutat/
Southeast areas. Since 2013, a fixed apportionment methodology has been used to apportion the ABC between those six areas. However, a new apportionment methodology will be used for 2021 and 2022 that affects the apportionment of sablefish ABC and the area TACs that are allocated between the trawl and fixed gear sectors. The Joint BSAI and GOA Groundfish Plan Team, SSC, and Council reviewed a range of apportionment approaches for the sablefish ABC for the harvest specifications, including a range from the status quo fixed apportionment and the sablefish assessment authors recommended non-exponential 5-year survey moving average. The Joint Plan Team recommended that, from a biological perspective, moving away from the fixed apportionment toward the true distribution would be preferred, to the extent practical. The SSC
recommended a 25 percent stair step from the current fixed apportionment percentages toward the non-exponential 5-year survey moving average proposed by the assessment authors. The Council and NMFS have adopted the SSCs recommendation for the 2021 and 2022
ABC apportionments. For 2021 this increases the ABC apportionments in all areas for example, up to 60 percent in the Aleutian Islands subarea, with smaller increases in areas that have recently been apportioned a greater percentage under the fixed apportionment methodology than suggested by recent survey observations for example, only a 17 percent increase in the East Yakutat/Southeast area.
The Council adopted the SSCs OFLs and ABCs and the APs TAC
recommendations, with the exception of the sablefish TACs further described below. The final TAC
recommendations are based on the ABCs and are adjusted for other biological and socioeconomic considerations, including maintaining the sum of all TACs within the required OY range of 116,000 to 800,000 mt.
The Council recommended 2021 and 2022 TACs that are equal to ABCs for pollock in the Southeast Outside SEO
District, shallow-water flatfish in the Central GOA and the West Yakutat and SEO Districts, deep-water flatfish, rex
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sole, arrowtooth flounder in the Central GOA, flathead sole in the West Yakutat and SEO Districts, Pacific ocean perch, northern rockfish, shortraker rockfish, dusky rockfish, rougheye and blackspotted rockfish, demersal shelf rockfish, thornyhead rockfish, other rockfish in the Western/Central GOA
and West Yakutat District, big skate, longnose skate, other skates, sharks, and octopuses in the GOA. The Council recommended TACs for 2021 and 2022
that are less than the ABCs for pollock for the combined Western and Central GOA and West Yakutat District area, Pacific cod, shallow-water flatfish in the Western GOA, arrowtooth flounder in the Western GOA and the West Yakutat and SEO Districts, flathead sole in the Western and Central GOA, Atka mackerel, and other rockfish in the SEO District. The Council recommended 2021 sablefish TACs that are less than the 2021 ABCs, and 2022
sablefish TACs that are equal to 2022
ABCs. Setting the 2021 sablefish TACs less than 2021 ABCs is intended to provide an incremental increase to the 2021 sablefish TACs, rather than the very large increase in the 2021 sablefish TACs if they were set equal to ABCs.
The Council recommended setting the TAC for each GOA management area to be 25 percent higher than the 2020
sablefish TACs.
The combined Western, Central, and West Yakutat pollock TAC and the GOA
Pacific cod TACs are set to accommodate the State of Alaskas States guideline harvest levels GHLs so that the ABCs for pollock and Pacific cod are not exceeded. The Western GOA
shallow-water flatfish, Western GOA
arrowtooth flounder, and Western GOA
flathead sole TACs are set to allow for increased harvest opportunities for these target species while conserving the halibut PSC limit for use in other, more fully utilized fisheries. Similarly, the Western Yakutat and SEO Districts arrowtooth flounder TACs and the Central GOA flathead sole TAC are set lower than ABC to conserve halibut PSC
limit for use in other fisheries or because there is limited commercial interest and participation in these fisheries. The Atka mackerel TAC is set to accommodate incidental catch amounts in other fisheries. The other rockfish TAC in the SEO District is set to reduce the amount of discards of the species in that complex.
The final 2021 and 2022 harvest specifications approved by the Secretary of Commerce are unchanged from those recommended by the Council, and are consistent with the preferred harvest strategy alternative outlined in the FMP
and EIS see ADDRESSES.

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