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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 239 / Thursday, December 16, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
and October through November subquotas underharvest of 15.5 mt 10.7
mt + 4.8 mt = 15.5 mt would result in a total of 54.6 mt 39.1 mt + 15.5 mt =
54.6 mt being available to the General category in December. Without a quota adjustment at this time, NMFS would likely need to close the General category fishery immediately, and participants would have to stop BFT fishing activities while commercial-sized BFT
remain available in the areas where General category permitted vessels operate at this time of year.
Regarding the projected ability of the vessels fishing under the General category quota to harvest the additional amount of BFT quota before the end of the fishing year 635.27a8iii, NMFS considered General category landings over the last several years and landings to date this year. Landings are highly variable and depend on access to commercial-sized BFT and fishing conditions, among other factors, such as the restrictions that some dealers placed on their purchases of BFT from General category participants this year. Thus, this quota adjustment would allow fishermen to take advantage of the availability of BFT on the fishing grounds and provide a reasonable opportunity to harvest available U.S.
BFT quota.
NMFS also considered the estimated amounts by which quotas for other gear categories of the BFT fishery might be exceeded 635.27a8iv and the ability to account for all 2021 landings and dead discards. In the last several years, total U.S. BFT landings have been below the available U.S. quota such that the United States has carried forward the maximum amount of underharvest allowed by ICCAT from one year to the next. Earlier this year, NMFS took such an action to carryover the allowable 127.3 mt of underharvest from 2020 to 2021 86 FR 54659, October 4, 2021.
NMFS will need to account for 2021
landings and dead discards within the adjusted U.S. quota, consistent with ICCAT recommendations, and anticipates having sufficient quota to do that based on anticipated underharvest due to landings of some quota categories being substantially less than the available quotas for those categories.
NMFS also considered the effects of the adjustment on the BFT stock and the effects of the adjustment on accomplishing the objectives of the FMP
635.27a8v and vi. This adjustment would be consistent with established quotas and subquotas, which are implemented consistent with ICCAT recommendations established in Recommendation 1706 and maintained in Recommendation 2006, ATCA, and
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the objectives of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and amendments. In establishing these quotas and subquotas and associated management measures, ICCAT and NMFS considered the best scientific information available, objectives for stock management and status, and effects on the stock. This quota adjustment is in line with the established management measures and stock status determinations. Another principal consideration is the objective of providing opportunities to harvest the available General category quota without exceeding the annual quota, based on the objectives of the 2006
Consolidated HMS FMP and its amendments, including to achieve optimum yield on a continuing basis and to allow all permit categories a reasonable opportunity to harvest available BFT quota allocations related to 635.27a8x. Specific to the General category, this includes providing opportunities equitably across all time-periods.
Given these considerations, NMFS is adjusting the General category December 2021 subquota by adding 15.5
mt of quota remaining from the September and October through November subquotas. Therefore, NMFS
adjusts the General category December 2021 subquota to 54.6 mt.
Closure of the December 2021 General Category Fishery As of December 13, 2021, reported landings for the General category December subquota time period total approximately 44 mt. Based on these landings data, as well as average catch rates and anticipated fishing conditions, NMFS projects the adjusted December 2021 subquota of 54.6 mt will be reached shortly. Therefore, retaining, possessing, or landing large medium or giant i.e., measuring 73 inches 185 cm curved fork length or greater BFT by persons aboard vessels permitted in the Atlantic Tunas General category and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels while fishing commercially must cease at 11:30 p.m. local time on December 14, 2021. The General category will automatically reopen January 1, 2022, for the January through March 2022 subquota time period. This action applies to Atlantic Tunas General category commercial permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT and is taken consistent with the regulations at 635.28a1. The intent of this closure is to prevent overharvest of the available December subquota.

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Fishermen aboard General category permitted vessels and HMS Charter/
Headboat permitted vessels may catchand-release and tag and release BFT of all sizes, subject to the requirements of the catch-and-release and tag-andrelease programs at 635.26. All BFT
that are released must be handled in a manner that will maximize their survival, and without removing the fish from the water, consistent with requirements at 635.21a1. For additional information on safe handling, see the Careful Catch and Release brochure available at https
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/
outreach-and-education/careful-catchand-release-brochure/.
Monitoring and Reporting NMFS will continue to monitor the BFT fisheries closely. Dealers are required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of a dealer receiving BFT. Late reporting by dealers compromises NMFS ability to timely implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustment, as well as closures, and may result in enforcement actions. Additionally, and separate from the dealer reporting requirement, General and HMS Charter/Headboat category vessel owners are required to report the catch of all BFT retained or discarded dead within 24 hours of the landings or end of each trip, by accessing hmspermits.noaa.gov, using the HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling 888 8728862 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m..
Classification NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305d of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This action is taken pursuant to regulations at 50 CFR part 635, which were issued pursuant to section 304c, and is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866.
The Assistant Administrator for NMFS AA finds that pursuant to 5
U.S.C. 553bB, there is good cause to waive prior notice of, and an opportunity for public comment on, this action for the following reasons:
The regulations implementing the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and amendments provide for inseason adjustments to respond to the unpredictable nature of BFT availability on the fishing grounds, the migratory nature of this species, and the regional variations in the BFT fishery. This fishery is currently underway and delaying this action would be contrary to the public interest as it could result in BFT landings exceeding the adjusted December 2021 General category quota.
Affording prior notice and opportunity
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