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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 38 / Monday, March 1, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
shallow-water or deep-water flatfish complex depending on which PSC
halibut sideboard had been reached in in the Western GOA or the West Yakutat District.
Comment 4: A commenter disagreed with the proposed changes to remove observer coverage requirements and observer workstations under the Rockfish Program because data collected by observers is necessary to investigate corruption in this fishery.
Response: NMFS acknowledges the commenters support for observer data collected in the Rockfish Program fisheries. However, NMFS disagrees that the requirement for a shoreside processor to provide an observer workstation and communication equipment should not be removed. This final rule maintains existing observer coverage requirements for all participants for the purpose of monitoring the Rockfish Program fisheries as implemented under Amendment 88 to the GOA FMP 76 FR
81248, December 27, 2011. However, as part of that 2011 action, observer coverage requirements for shoreside processors were removed but the observer workstation and communication equipment requirements inadvertently remained in place. Without a requirement for observer coverage at shoreside processors under the Rockfish Program the observer workstation and communications equipment are not necessary and therefore these requirements are removed from regulation in this final rule. These changes are further described in the preamble to the proposed rule and Section 3.7.9 of the Analysis See ADDRESSES.
Comment 5: A commenter stated that there is no such thing as unused fish and asserts that NMFS should not be authorized to reallocate any unused fish or Pacific cod under this Program.
Response: NMFS disagrees. Each year, after consultation with the Council, NMFS publishes the final harvest specifications, to specify the total allowable catch TAC for each target groundfish species and apportionments thereof, Pacific halibut prohibited species catch PSC limits, and seasonal allowances of pollock and Pacific cod.
Unused fish in this context means unharvested and refers to the amount of catch for a particular species has been specified for harvest up to the TAC or apportionment of the TAC but has not yet been fully harvested in the specified time period. Under the GOA FMP and its implementing regulations, NMFS has existing authority to reallocate unharvested species. This final rule
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authorizes NMFS to reallocate Pacific cod and rockfish ICAs that would otherwise remain unharvested without reallocation. These changes will contribute to achieving optimum yield under National Standard 1 and potentially reduce mandatory discards of these species in other fisheries.
Additional information is included in the preamble to the proposed rule and Sections 1.9.2, 3.7.2, and 3.7.10 in the Analysis See ADDRESSES.
Comment 6: A commenter stated that proposed changes to regulations implementing the Rockfish Program, including changes to recordkeeping and reporting requirements, appear to increase unsustainable overharvesting of the fisheries.
Response: NMFS disagrees. Changes to recordkeeping and reporting requirements are summarized in the classification section of this final rule and do not modify provisions of the Rockfish Program that would affect NMFS ability to monitor fishery harvests under the Rockfish Program.
These recordkeeping and reporting changes clarify existing provisions of the program and remove unnecessary reporting requirements. These changes are described in more detail in Section 3.7 of the Analysis See ADDRESSES.
Comment 7: We support the proposed revisions to remove unnecessary reporting requirements. Removing the requirements to submit a fishing plan and to submit a cooperative report to NMFS will save industry unnecessary time as neither report is used in actively managing the fishery. Although the Cooperative Manager will still give a voluntary cooperative report/
presentation to the Council once per year to inform the Council and the public on the programs and cooperatives performance, we estimate the time saved will be up to 25 hours per year. We also support reducing the submission time for a cooperative check-in report from at least 48 hours to at least 24 hours before the vessel begins a fishing trip to help improve fishing efficiency.
Response: NMFS acknowledges this comment.
Comment 8: Two commenters suggest that NMFS should not use information submitted by commercial fishermen for fisheries management. The commenters suggested that the changes to reporting and recordkeeping requirements proposed by this action are inconsistent with the MSA and are likely to decrease the robustness of science-based components of the program and lead to increased accidental or intentional overfishing.

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Response: NMFS acknowledges this comment. This final rule makes minor administrative changes to the Rockfish Program, none of which modify the types of information that NMFS relies on to make fishery management decisions. The Magnuson-Stevens Act and the GOA FMP require, among other things, that fishery management decisions be based on the best scientific information available. This final rule does not change the data sources used to monitor the harvest of species allocated under the Rockfish Program.
Comment 9: NMFS received several comment letters addressing issues outside the scope of this action.
Commenters did not support this action because of the effects of fishing on natural resources, including marine mammals, and suggested that NMFS cut all commercial fishing quota by 50
percent, ban trawling in the Gulf of Alaska, and stop fishing for Pacific cod entirely.
Response: These comments address management issues that are beyond the scope of Amendment 111 and this regulatory action. This final rule does not change the process of allocating quota or establishing TACs or sideboard limits under the Rockfish Programs, nor does this final rule change specific management measures that govern the harvest of allocated species under the Rockfish Program, such as fishing location, timing, effort, or authorized gear types. This final rule removes the sunset date and makes minor changes to the regulations implementing the Rockfish Program. The MagnusonStevens Act and the GOA FMP require, among other things, that the Council and NMFS manage fisheries to prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery and base management decisions on the best scientific information available. The commenter provided no information to support cutting commercial fishing quota by 50
percent off Alaska. Currently, commercial groundfish fisheries off Alaska are being responsibly managed with conservative harvest strategies and provide important economic benefits to Alaskan communities. Additionally, in Section 2 of the Analysis prepared for this action, NMFS considered impacts on endangered and threatened species and marine mammals See ADDRESSES.
Comment 10: One commenter questioned how the quality of goods would be affected by the slower fishing times and if the industry will have to deal with quality control declines as production slows, including training procedures for this scenario.

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