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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 106 / Friday, June 4, 2021 / Proposed Rules Council did recognize that this action could have significant costs because it closes an area responsible for just under 50 percent of drift gillnet fleet harvests, on average. However, under the only other viable alternative, the Council also expected significant reductions in EEZ
harvests and possible fishery closures, but with added participation costs, management costs, and uncertainty, as described above. Ultimately, the Council determined, and NMFS agrees, that this action would provide for sufficient salmon harvest opportunity in State waters to largely offset the costs.
In addition, closure of the Cook Inlet EEZ minimizes regulatory burden and participants would not have to track or participate in management of the Cook Inlet salmon fishery across multiple jurisdictions to plan their businesses.
Finally, closure of the Cook Inlet EEZ
would create the most efficient Cook Inlet salmon management arrangement of the two available management approaches. Under National Standard 7, management measures should not impose unnecessary burdens on the economy, on individuals, on private or public organizations, or on Federal, state, or local governments. As explained in more detail below under Potential Impacts of the Action, when the Council considered the costs and benefits of management by closure under Amendment 14 Alternative 4, the Council determined, and NMFS
agrees, that Amendment 14 is consistent with National Standard 7.
National Standard 3
The Council highlighted that management of salmon in Cook Inlet is highly complex, requiring multiple interdependent management plans to achieve sustainable harvest of Cook Inlet salmon stocks that benefit all user groups. National Standard 3 states that to the extent practicable, an individual stock of fish shall be managed as a unit throughout its range, and interrelated stocks of fish shall be managed as a unit or in close coordination. Given the significant degree of interaction among salmon fisheries in Cook Inlet, management of salmon stocks as a unit throughout all Cook Inlet salmon fisheries is particularly important.
Management action in one Cook Inlet salmon fishery often has direct relationships with harvest rates and harvest composition by stock in other regional salmon fisheries. With commercial salmon fishing being prohibited in the Cook Inlet EEZ, all salmon fishing in Cook Inlet would occur within State waters under State management which continues to promote unity of management of Cook
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Inlet salmon stocks across their range.
Separate Federal management under Alternative 3 would significantly disrupt management unity and would impose unnecessary duplication without additional benefits. Optimizing yield within acceptable management uncertainty thresholds is best accomplished by a single management entity in Cook Inlet. Developing Amendment 14 required extensive discussions and coordination between the managers of State and Federal jurisdictions to determine the best means of achieving the FMPs objectives and implementing a comprehensive approach to fishery management. The Council determined, and NMFS agrees, that management by closure of the federal fishery, which allows one jurisdiction the State to manage the harvest of salmon stocks as a unit, is consistent with National Standard 3.
National Standard 8
The Council acknowledged that this action would likely have adverse impacts on drift gillnet salmon harvesters operating in the Cook Inlet EEZ and their associated communities, but would also likely have corresponding benefits to other salmon users within many of the same communities. National Standard 8
requires that conservation and management measures shall, consistent with the conservation requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities by utilizing economic and social data that are based upon the best scientific information available, in order to a provide for the sustained participation of such communities, and b to the extent practicable, minimize adverse economic impacts on such communities. The Analysis considered the social and economic importance of the Cook Inlet salmon fisheries to fishing communities, and recognized these communities participate in a variety of salmon fisheries apart from the drift gillnet fishery. While the Analysis identified varying dependence on the Cook Inlet EEZ portion of the Cook Inlet commercial salmon fishery, no community was identified as solely dependent on the EEZ portion of the drift gillnet fishery Section 4.5.5 of the Analysis. In addition, the Council recognized that closing the Cook Inlet EEZ to commercial salmon fishing would result in additional harvest opportunity in State waters, and that the associated benefits would be distributed across Cook Inlet fishing communities given the diversity of users involved. In all, the Analysis supports a finding that
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this action would provide for the sustained participation of fishing communities in Cook Inlet salmon fisheries, even if there is some redistribution of benefits. Under this proposed action, it is likely that at least some of these benefits would accrue to communities that also experience adverse impacts based on their engagement and dependence on multiple Cook Inlet salmon fisheries.
Therefore, this action is consistent with National Standard 8.
In addition, closure of the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea would minimize adverse economic impacts to the extent practicable by avoiding the costs of additional monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting that would be required to access the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea under Alternative 3, despite reduced harvest opportunities and the annual possibility of closure to account for added uncertainty. Further, National Standard 8 requires NMFS to consider adverse economic impacts within the constraints of conservation and management goals. This action is explicitly intended to prevent overfishing and achieve the conservation and management goals of the Salmon FMP while recognizing that an economically viable fishery would still occur within State waters.
Potential Impacts of the Action This action would close a portion of the historically used fishing area for the Upper Cook Inlet UCI drift gillnet salmon fishery. The UCI drift gillnet salmon fishery currently operates in both State and EEZ Cook Inlet waters without specific reference to the boundary and is the only commercial salmon fishery that would be directly regulated by this action.
As described in Section 4.7.1.4 of the Analysis, the impacts of closing the Cook Inlet EEZ on UCI salmon drift gillnet vessels would be proportional to the extent that they rely on the EEZ. The entire active UCI salmon drift gillnet fleet likely fishes in the Cook Inlet EEZ
Subarea at some time during each fishing season, but over the entire season, each vessel differs with respect to its level of economic dependency on fishing in this area. Section 4.5.2.3 of the Analysis describes that from 2009
through 2018 an estimated average of 48.7 percent of gross revenue $10.3
million for the UCI drift gillnet fleet was generated from salmon caught in the Cook Inlet EEZ Subarea. In the last 5 years, an estimated average of approximately 42.7 percent of gross revenue $5.8 million was generated in the EEZ for the fishery. While UCI drift gillnet vessels could relocate their
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