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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 106 / Friday, June 4, 2021 / Proposed Rules
obtained from http
www.regulations.gov or from the NMFS
Alaska Region website at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/alaska.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Doug Duncan, 9075867228 or doug.duncan@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Authority for Action NMFS manages U.S. salmon fisheries off of Alaska under the Salmon FMP.
The Council prepared, and the Secretary of Commerce Secretary approved, the Salmon FMP under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801
et seq. Regulations implementing the Salmon FMP are located at 50 CFR part 679. General regulations governing U.S.
fisheries also appear at 50 CFR part 600.
The Council is authorized to prepare and recommend an FMP amendment for the conservation and management of a fishery managed under the FMP. NMFS
conducts rulemaking to implement FMP
amendments and regulatory amendments.
The Council recommended Amendment 14 to incorporate the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea defined as EEZ
waters north of a line at 5946.15 N
into the Salmon FMPs Fishery Management Unit as a part of the West Area. The West Area is currently defined as the EEZ off Alaska in the Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, and the Gulf of Alaska west of the longitude of Cape Suckling, at 14353.6
W longitude except for the Cook Inlet Area, the Prince William Sound Area, and the Alaska Peninsula Area. This proposed rule would implement Amendment 14.
A notice of availability NOA for Amendment 14 was published in the Federal Register on May 18, 2021 with comments invited through July 19, 2021. All relevant written comments received by July 19, 2021, whether specifically directed to the NOA or this proposed rule, will be considered by NMFS in the decision to approve, disapprove, or partially approve Amendment 14. Commenters do not need to submit the same comments on both the NOA and this proposed rule.
Comments submitted on this proposed rule by the end of the comment period for this proposed rule See DATES will be considered by NMFS in our decision whether to approve and implement Amendment 14.
Background In December 2020, the Council recommended Amendment 14 to the Salmon FMP. Amendment 14 would incorporate the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea
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into the Salmon FMPs West Area, thereby bringing the Cook Inlet EEZ
Subarea and the commercial salmon fisheries that occur within it under Federal management by the Council and NMFS. The management measure implemented by Amendment 14 would apply the prohibition on commercial salmon fishing that is currently established in the West Area to the newly added Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea.
This proposed rule would implement Amendment 14 by removing the regulation that excludes the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea from the directly adjacent West Area. This action specifically addresses management of the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea and the commercial salmon fishery that occurs there.
History of the Salmon FMP
The Councils Salmon FMP manages the Pacific salmon fisheries in the EEZ
from 3 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles off Alaska. The Council developed the Salmon FMP under the MagnusonStevens Act, and it first became effective in 1979. The Salmon FMP was comprehensively revised by Amendment 3 in 1990 55 FR 47773, November 15, 1990, and again most recently by Amendment 12 in 2012 77
FR 75570, December 21, 2012.
Since 1979, the Council has divided the Salmon FMPs coverage into the West Area and the East Area, with the boundary between the two areas at Cape Suckling, at 14353.6 W longitude. This action focuses on commercial salmon fishing management in the West Area.
Prior to Amendment 12, the Salmon FMP authorized commercial fishing in the East Area, sport salmon fishing in both areas, and prohibited commercial salmon fishing in the West Area.
However, the commercial salmon fishing prohibition in the West Area was not applied to three areas in the EEZ
where commercial salmon fishing with nets was originally authorized by the International Convention for the High Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean, as implemented by the North Pacific Fisheries Act of 1954 1954 Act.
The Salmon FMP refers to these three areas of the EEZ where commercial net fishing for salmon occurs as the Cook Inlet EEZ, the Alaska Peninsula EEZ, and the Prince William Sound EEZ, and refers to these areas collectively as the traditional net fishing areas.
Under the authority of the 1954 Act, NMFS issued regulations that set the outside fishing boundaries for the traditional net fishing areas as those set forth under State of Alaska State regulations and stated that any fishing in these areas was to be conducted pursuant to State regulations.

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In 1990, the Council amended the Salmon FMP, continuing to prohibit commercial salmon fishing with nets in the EEZ, with the exception of the traditional net fishing areas managed by the State. The next major modification to the Salmon FMP occurred when the Council recommended Amendment 12
in December 2011. In developing Amendment 12, the Council recognized that the law governing the three traditional net fishing areas the 1954
Act had changed and the Salmon FMP
was vague with respect to Federal management of the traditional net fishing areas. After considering various alternatives, the Council recommended and NMFS approved Amendment 12, which removed the three traditional net fishing areas from the Salmon FMPs Fishery Management Unit.
Removing the traditional net fishing areas from the Salmon FMPs West Area allowed the State to continue managing these areas independently, which the State has done since before the inception of the Salmon FMP in 1979.
Any commercial fishing for salmon by State registered vessels in the traditional net fishing areas is managed solely by the State. In developing Amendment 12, the Council considered Federal management of the three traditional net fishing areas and the salmon fisheries that occur within them, but determined that 1 the State was managing the salmon fisheries within these three areas consistent with the policies and standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 2 the Council and NMFS did not have the expertise or infrastructure such as personnel, monitoring and reporting systems, and processes for salmon stock assessments to manage Alaska salmon fisheries, and 3 Federal management of these areas would not serve a useful purpose or provide additional benefits and protections to the salmon fisheries within these areas. The Council recognized that salmon are best managed as a unit throughout their range and separate Federal management of a portion of the fishery would not be optimal. The Council also recognized the States long-standing expertise and well developed infrastructure for salmon management and the fact that the State has been adequately managing the salmon fisheries in Alaska since Statehood. The Council determined that Amendment 12 was consistent with the management approach established in the original Salmon FMP in 1979.
The final rule implementing Amendment 12 was published in the Federal Register on December 21, 2012
77 FR 75570. On January 18, 2013, Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishermen and seafood processors filed
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