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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 44 / Tuesday, March 9, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
IPHC Annual Meeting Report IPHC
2021AM097_R.
The IPHC recommended an allocation to Area 2A that would provide a TCEY
of 1,650,000 lb 748.43 mt with a combined commercial, subsistence, and recreational catch limit of 1,510,000 lb 684.92 mt. This allocation is larger than the catch limit that would apply to Area 2A under the adopted fishing intensity of F43 percent and the proportion of the stock as estimated from the FISS under the current interim management procedure. To achieve the Area 2A and Area 2B allocations and still maintain the target coastwide fishing intensity of F43 percent, the IPHC recommended an overall reduction in catch limits in other IPHC
regulatory areas in U.S. waters that are intended to maintain total mortality to the adopted fishing intensity of F43
percent.
After the allocations for Areas 2A and 2B are accounted for, the IPHC

apportioned the remaining TCEY to the Alaska regulatory areas Areas 2C
through Area 4 after considering the distribution of harvestable biomass of halibut based on the Fishery Independent Setline Survey, as well as 2020 harvest rates, the recommendations from the IPHCs advisory boards, public input, and social and economic factors. The only U.S. area with a decreased TCEY
relative to 2020 is Area 2C 0.9
percent; see Table 1. Areas 3A, 4A, 4B, and 4CDE received increases over 2020
levels that ranged from +2.5 percent in Areas 4CDE to +17.1 percent in Area 4A. The TCEY in Area 3B remained the same for 2021 as in 2020. The IPHC
determined that the 2021 catch limit recommendations are consistent with its conservation objectives for the halibut stock and its management objectives for the halibut fisheries.

The IPHC also considered the Catch Sharing Plan for Area 4CDE developed by the NPFMC in its catch limit recommendation. The Area 4CDE catch limit is determined by subtracting estimates of the Area 4CDE subsistence harvests, commercial discard mortality, and non-directed discard mortality of halibut over 26 inches from the area TCEY. When the resulting Area 4CDE
catch limit is greater than 1,657,600 lb 751.87 mt, a direct allocation of 80,000
lb 36.29 mt is made to Area 4E to provide CDQ fishermen in that area with additional harvesting opportunity.
After this 80,000 lb allocation is deducted from the catch limit, the remainder is divided among Areas 4C, 4D, and 4E according to the percentages specified in the CSP. Those percentages are 46.43 percent each to 4C and 4D, and 7.14 percent to 4E. For 2021, the IPHC recommended a catch limit for Area 4CDE of 1,670,000 lb 757.50 mt.

TABLE 1PERCENT CHANGE IN TCEY MORTALITY LIMITS FROM 2020 TO 2021 BY IPHC REGULATORY AREA
2020 Total mortality limit lb
Regulatory area 2A
2B
2C
3A
3B
4A
4B
4CDE
Coastwide

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Commercial Halibut Fishery Opening and Closing Dates The IPHC considers advice from the IPHCs two advisory boards, as well as direct testimony from the public, when selecting opening and closing dates for the commercial halibut fishery. The opening date for all IPHC regulatory areas is March 6, 2021, which is eight days earlier than the 2020 opening date of March 14. The closing date for the commercial halibut fisheries in all regulatory areas is December 7, 2021, which is 22 days later than the 2020
closing date of November 15. By adopting a longer fishing season, the IPHC was persuaded by considerable public testimony that cited the increased harvest flexibility and potential market advantages of a longer season. No detrimental conservation effects were identified by the change.
The new dates also take into account the anticipated time required to fully harvest the commercial halibut catch limits, seasonal holidays, and adequate
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time for IPHC staff to review the complete record of 2021 commercial catch data for use in the stock assessment process. It also takes into account the administrative tasks that are linked to halibut regulations developed independently by the domestic partners.
For Area 2A, the IPHC recommended that the non-treaty directed commercial fishery will open for 58 hours, beginning at 0800 hours on June 22 and closing at 1800 hours on June 24. After this first opening, if the IPHC
determines that the fishing limit has not been exceeded, it may announce a second fishing period of up to three fishing days to begin on Tuesday two weeks after the first period. Specific fishing period limits vessel quota will be determined and communicated by IPHC.
Area 2A Catch Sharing Plan The NMFS West Coast Region has published a proposed rule to approve the Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan CSP for Area 2A off Washington,
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1,650,000
6,830,000
5,850,000
12,200,000
3,120,000
1,750,000
1,310,000
3,900,000
36,600,000

2021 Total mortality limit lb 1,650,000
7,000,000
5,800,000
14,000,000
3,120,000
2,050,000
1,400,000
3,980,000
39,000,000

Change from 2020
percent 0.0
2.5
0.9
14.8
0.0
17.1
6.9
2.1
6.6

Oregon, and California and implement annual management measures for Area 2A as recommended by the PFMC in the CSP. These annual management measures include the sport fishery allocations and management measures for Area 2A which are not implemented through the IPHC. Public comments will be accepted for 30 days following publication of the proposed rule and NMFS will address any comments received in a final rule. The proposed and final rules for the Area 2A CSP will be available on the NOAA Fisheries West Coast Regions website at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/2021pacific-halibut-catch-sharing-plan and also at www.regulations.gov.
Catch Sharing Plan for Area 2C and Area 3A
In 2014, NMFS implemented a CSP
for Area 2C and Area 3A. The CSP
defines an annual process for allocating halibut between the charter and commercial fisheries in Area 2C and Area 3A, and establishes allocations for
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