Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

29982

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 106 / Friday, June 4, 2021 / Proposed Rules
This action 1 takes the most precautionary approach to minimizing the potential for overfishing, 2
provides the greatest opportunity for maximum harvest from the Cook Inlet salmon fishery, 3 avoids creating new management uncertainty, 4 minimizes regulatory burden to fishery participants, 5 maximizes management efficiency for Cook Inlet salmon fisheries, and 6 avoids the introduction of an additional management jurisdiction into the already complex and interdependent network of Cook Inlet salmon fisheries.
Consistency of Proposed Action With the National Standards In developing Amendment 14, the Council considered consistency of the proposed action with the MagnusonStevens Acts 10 National Standards 16
U.S.C. 1851 and designed its proposed action to balance their competing demands. While all 10 of the National Standards were considered, five national standards figured prominently in the Councils recommendation for Amendment 14: National Standard 1, National Standard 2, National Standard 7, National Standard 3, and National Standard 8.
National Standard 1
National Standard 1 states that conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the OY
from each fishery for the United States fishing industry. OY is the amount of fish that will provide the greatest overall benefit to the Nation, particularly with respect to food production and recreational opportunities and taking into account the protection of marine ecosystems, that is prescribed on the basis of the MSY from the fishery, as reduced by any relevant economic, social, or ecological factor. This action establishes MSY on the basis of State escapement goals and proxies that were evaluated through the analytical process for this action and determined to be consistent with the goals and objectives of the Salmon FMP and the conservation objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
For the Cook Inlet salmon fishery, OY
is based on the MSY escapement goals, qualitatively reduced to account for management measures required to conserve weak stocks. This OY ensures the Cook Inlet salmon fishery produces the greatest net benefit to the Nation by maintaining an economically viable fishery while still providing recreational and subsistence opportunities, accounting for consumption of salmon by a variety of marine predators, and
VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:40 Jun 03, 2021

Jkt 253001

protecting weaker stocks. As illustrated by Sections 3 and 4 of the Analysis, the State has consistently achieved this OY
through its management strategy, and by allowing the State to continue managing Cook Inlet salmon as a unit, NMFS
anticipates that OY would continue to be achieved in State water salmon fisheries. Thus, NMFS finds that the proposed OY for the Cook Inlet salmon fishery would be achieved on a continuing basis under Amendment 14.
In addition, by prohibiting commercial salmon harvest in the Cook Inlet EEZ, the Council and NMFS would avoid creating new management uncertainty and reduce the risk of overfishing inherent to an independent Federal management regime that would not be well-suited to respond to inseason data as necessary to adjust harvest levels. Amendment 14 and this proposed rule would enable the State to continue to manage salmon fisheries in State waters to achieve escapement goals and maximize economic and social benefits from the fishery. While the closure of the Cook Inlet EEZ
Subarea to commercial fishing impacts a significant proportion of the drift gillnet fleets harvest, the closure would minimize the possibility of overfishing and would be expected to allow utilization of salmon to be maximized over the long-term among all fishery participants as State management measures are refined to account for a predictable closure of the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea Section 4.7.1.4 of the Analysis.
The Council and NMFS properly weighed the adverse economic impacts that are anticipated to occur for some EEZ commercial salmon fishery participants from a closure of the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea against the risk of overfishing and long-term achievement of OY through State fisheries. The Council and NMFS continue to recognize that the State is best situated to respond to changing conditions inseason to fully utilize salmon stocks consistent with the constraints of weak stock management in a mixed stock fishery. In light of this fact, through this action, the Council and NMFS are fulfilling their duty to manage the Cook Inlet EEZ and have determined that closing the Cook Inlet EEZ to commercial salmon fishing is the management approach most likely to maximize utilization of the resource while preventing overfishing.
Management measures under the Salmon FMP and other Federal FMPs, together with the States scientificallybased management program in State waters of Cook Inlet adjacent to the West Area, would continue to ensure
PO 00000

Frm 00029

Fmt 4702

Sfmt 4702

that overfishing of salmon does not occur.
National Standard 2
National Standard 2 states that conservation and management measures shall be based upon the best scientific information available. The Council carefully evaluated the available biological, ecological, environmental, economic, and sociological scientific information to determine how to most effectively conserve and manage Cook Inlet salmon resources. This process included SSC review to provide scientific advice for the fishery management decision, evaluation of uncertainty in the development of salmon escapement goals Section 11 of the Analysis, and a comprehensive description of social and economic conditions in the Cook Inlet salmon fishery Section 4 of the Analysis, as well as consideration of alternative scientific points of view regarding the potential for overcompensation in Cook Inlet salmon stocks Section 13 of the Analysis. From this analysis, the Council determined that the States escapement goal management system is based on and uses the best available scientific information to manage Cook Inlet salmon fisheries. Section 3.1 of the Analysis found State salmon management to be almost entirely consistent with proposed Federal measures for status determination criteria and reference points required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Specifically, this Analysis indicated that the State has and is appropriately conserving and managing Cook Inlet salmon stocks, that the State largely could have achieved Federal reference points over that time period, and that independent Federal management would not have been expected to produce significant conservation changes or benefits relative to State management of the salmon fishery based on Federal reference points. The Council also evaluated the social and economic impacts of their action using the best available scientific information.
National Standard 7
The very high degree of consistency between existing State management and proposed Federal management was also important in the Councils consideration of National Standard 7, which states that conservation and management measures shall, where practicable, minimize costs and avoid unnecessary duplication. The proposed management approach of closing the Cook Inlet EEZ
to commercial salmon fishing avoids unnecessary duplication of management to the greatest possible extent. The
E:FRFM04JNP1.SGM

04JNP1