Federal Register - February 25, 2021
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Source: Federal Register
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 36 / Thursday, February 25, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
TABLE 16FINAL 2021 AND 2022 PROHIBITED SPECIES BYCATCH ALLOWANCES FOR THE BSAI TRAWL LIMITED ACCESS
SECTORContinued Prohibited species and area and zone 1
BSAI trawl limited access fisheries
Halibut mortality mt BSAI
Red king crab animals Zone 1
C. opilio animals COBLZ
C. bairdi animals Zone 1
Zone 2
Greenland turbot/arrowtooth flounder/Kamchatka flounder/
sablefish
Rockfish April 15December 31
Pacific cod
Pollock/Atka mackerel/other species 3
5
300
175
2,954
197
3,214
82,939
32,147
60,000
5,000
1,000
50,000
5,000
Total BSAI trawl limited access PSC
745
26,489
2,064,131
411,228
1,241,500
1 Refer
to 679.2 for definitions of areas and zones.
2 Other flatfish for PSC monitoring includes all flatfish species, except for halibut a prohibited species, Alaska plaice, arrowtooth flounder, flathead sole, Greenland turbot, Kamchatka flounder, rock sole, and yellowfin sole.
3 Other species for PSC monitoring includes skates, sharks, and octopuses.
Note: Seasonal or sector allowances may not total precisely due to rounding.
TABLE 17FINAL 2021 AND 2022 HALIBUT PROHIBITED SPECIES BYCATCH ALLOWANCES FOR NON-TRAWL FISHERIES
Halibut mortality mt BSAI
Catcher/
processor
Non-trawl fisheries
Seasons
Catcher vessel
All Non-Trawl
Pacific cod
Non-Pacific cod non-trawl-Total
Groundfish pot and jig
Sablefish hook-and-line
Total Pacific cod
January 1June 10
June 10August 15
August 15December 31
May 1December 31
n/a
n/a
648
388
162
98
n/a n/a n/a
13
9
2
2
n/a n/a n/a
661.
n/a.
n/a.
n/a.
49.
Exempt.
Exempt.
Total for all non-trawl PSC
n/a
n/a
n/a
710.
Note: Seasonal or sector allowances may not total precisely due to rounding.
Estimates of Halibut Biomass and Stock Condition The International Pacific Halibut Commission IPHC annually assesses the abundance and potential yield of the Pacific halibut stock using all available data from the commercial and sport fisheries, other removals, and scientific surveys. Additional information on the Pacific halibut stock assessment may be found in the IPHCs 2020 Pacific halibut stock assessment December 2020, available on the IPHC website at www.iphc.int. The IPHC considered the 2020 Pacific halibut stock assessment at its January 2021 annual meeting when it set the 2021 commercial halibut fishery catch limits.
Halibut Discard Mortality Rates To monitor halibut bycatch mortality allowances and apportionments, the Regional Administrator uses observed halibut incidental catch rates, halibut discard mortality rates DMRs, and estimates of groundfish catch to project when a fisherys halibut bycatch mortality allowance or seasonal apportionment is reached. Halibut incidental catch rates are based on
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observers estimates of halibut incidental catch in the groundfish fishery. DMRs are estimates of the proportion of incidentally caught halibut that do not survive after being returned to the sea. The cumulative halibut mortality that accrues to a particular halibut PSC limit is the product of a DMR multiplied by the estimated halibut PSC. DMRs are estimated using the best scientific information available in conjunction with the annual BSAI stock assessment process. The DMR methodology and findings are included as an appendix to the annual BSAI groundfish SAFE
report.
In 2016, the DMR estimation methodology underwent revisions per the Councils directive. An interagency halibut working group IPHC, Council, and NMFS staff developed improved estimation methods that have undergone review by the Plan Team, SSC, and the Council. A summary of the revised methodology is included in the BSAI proposed 2017 and 2018 harvest specifications 81 FR 87863, December 6, 2016, and the comprehensive discussion of the working groups statistical methodology is available from
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the Council see ADDRESSES. The DMR
working groups revised methodology is intended to improve estimation accuracy, transparency, and transferability used for calculating DMRs. The working group will continue to consider improvements to the methodology used to calculate halibut mortality, including potential changes to the reference period the period of data used for calculating the DMRs.
Future DMRs may change based on additional years of observer sampling, which could provide more recent and accurate data and which could improve the accuracy of estimation and progress on methodology. The methodology will continue to ensure that NMFS is using DMRs that more accurately reflect halibut mortality, which will inform the different sectors of their estimated halibut mortality and allow specific sectors to respond with methods that could reduce mortality and, eventually, the DMR for that sector.
At the December 2020 meeting, the SSC, AP, and the Council concurred with the revised DMR estimation methodology, and NMFS adopts for 2021 and 2022 the DMRs calculated under the revised methodology, which
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