Draft Regulatory Amendment to Modify Pelagic Longline Bluefin Tuna Area-Based and Weak Hook Management Measures
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DRAFT REGULATORY AMENDMENT TO MODIFY PELAGIC LONGLINE BLUEFIN TUNA AREA-BASED AND WEAK HOOK MANAGEMENT MEASURES May 2019 NOAA FISHERIES U.S. Department of Commerce | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Marine Fisheries Service DRAFT REGULATORY AMENDMENT TO MODIFY PELAGIC LONGLINE BLUEFINTUNA AREA-BASED AND WEAK HOOK MANAGEMENT MEASURES Including: A Draft Environmental Impact Statement, A Draft Regulatory Impact Review, An Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, A Draft Social Impact Analysis May 2019 Highly Migratory Species Management Division Office of Sustainable Fisheries National Marine Fisheries Service 1315 East-West Highway Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 Draft Regulatory Amendment to Modify Pelagic Longline Bluefin Tuna Area-Based and Weak Hook Management Measures Abstract: Through the rulemaking process, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is considering whether current area-based and gear management measures are still necessary to reduce and/or maintain low numbers of bluefin tuna discards and interactions in the pelagic longline fishery for Atlantic highly migratory species, given other, more recent conservation and management measures implemented in the fishery. This evaluation is necessary given the IBQ Program’s shift in management focus towards individual vessel accountability for bluefin tuna bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery; the continued underharvest of quotas in the associated target fisheries, particularly the swordfish quota; comments from the public and the HMS Advisory Panel members indicating that certain regulations may be redundant in effect; and requests from the public and HMS Advisory Panel members to reduce regulatory burden and remove duplicative regulations. NMFS takes these actions to (1) continue to appropriately conserve and manage Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS), including bluefin tuna; 2) simplify and streamline Atlantic HMS management; (2) optimize the ability of the pelagic longline fishery to harvest target species quotas (e.g., swordfish); and (4) continue to minimize, to the extent practicable, bycatch and bycatch mortality of bluefin tuna by pelagic longline gear. Proposed Actions: Undertake a review process to evaluate the continued need for the Northeastern United States Closed Area and the Gulf of Mexico Gear Restricted Area; remove the Cape Hatteras Gear Restricted Area; adjust the Gulf of Mexico weak hook effective period from year-round to seasonal (January - June). Statement Type: Draft Environmental Impact Statement; Initial Regulatory Impact Review; Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis; Initial Social Impact Statement Lead Agency: National Marine Fisheries Service For Further Information: Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Management Division (F/SF1) 1315 East West Highway Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301) 427-8503 263 13th Ave South Saint Petersburg, FL 33701 (727) 824-5399 Executive Summary The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is considering whether current regulations are still necessary to achieve conservation and management objectives for the pelagic longline fishery, or if measures can be streamlined to eliminate regulations that are redundant in effect. Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) fisheries are managed under the dual authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA). Under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NMFS must, consistent with ten National Standards, manage fisheries to maintain optimum yield on a continuing basis while preventing overfishing. ATCA authorizes the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) to promulgate regulations, as may be necessary and appropriate to carry out recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The authority to issue regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and ATCA has been delegated from the Secretary to the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries. The measures proposed in this amendment and associated rulemaking are taken under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and ATCA. Currently, Atlantic sharks, tunas, swordfish, and billfish are managed under the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic HMS Fishery Management Plan (2006 Consolidated HMS FMP) and its amendments. The implementation of Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP (79 FR 71510; December 2, 2014)(Amendment 7) in 2015 shifted the focus of managing bluefin tuna bycatch in the HMS pelagic longline fishery from fleet-wide management measures to individual vessel accountability for such bycatch through the implementation of a bluefin tuna catch share program (i.e., the Individual Bluefin Quota, or IBQ Program). The preliminary results of a Draft Three-Year Review of the IBQ Program indicate that a management strategy of individual vessel accountability has successfully reduced bluefin tuna dead discards, improved timely catch reporting across the fleet, and addressed previous problems with bluefin tuna pelagic longline category quota overages. Furthermore, the Draft Review also implies that there is a healthy, functioning IBQ allocation leasing market to support the IBQ Program. However, effort as defined by number of vessels fishing with pelagic longline gear, trips, sets, and hooks within the pelagic longline fishery has continued to decrease. In addition, quotas established for target species (e.g., swordfish) are still not being met despite a targeted program of fishery revitalization that has been underway since 2007. Since implementation of Amendment 7 management measures, NMFS has received comments from pelagic longline fishery participants and other interested parties to examine whether older fleet-wide measures such as gear requirements, area restrictions, or time/area closures are still necessary to reduce bluefin tuna bycatch and still meet the objectives of the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP and its amendments. In other words, there are concerns that certain regulations may be redundant in effect. Commenters (including the public and HMS Advisory Panel members) specifically requested that NMFS evaluate and potentially reduce regulatory burden or remove regulations that may be redundant with the IBQ program. On March 2, 2018 (83 FR 8969), NMFS published a scoping document that evaluated management options for three spatially managed areas and gear-based regulations, all of which were implemented with the objective of reducing bluefin tuna dead discards or interactions. NMFS received approximately 275 unique comments during the public comment period (March 2, 2018 through May 1, 2018). Comments were received that were both in support of and opposed to changes in the regulations. Additionally, comments included three letter writing campaign batch submissions that totaled 13,444 form letters, most of which were opposed to any management changes in the Gulf of Mexico out of concern for protecting the Northwest Atlantic stock of spawning bluefin. All comment submissions were considered in the development of this proposed rule. i In this document, NMFS considers a reasonable range of alternative management measures to evaluate potential adjustments to conservation and management measures that could both meet domestic and international management objectives for bluefin tuna and the pelagic longline fishery, and reduce unnecessary regulatory burden by streamlining, simplifying, or modifying potentially redundant regulations. For each spatially managed area, NMFS evaluates management alternatives that could retain current management measures; modify the boundaries of spatially managed areas by time or space; implement performance metrics to grant vessels controlled access to spatially managed areas if they have low rates of bluefin interactions and high compliance with observer and reporting (i.e. logbooks) requirements; establish an evaluation program in order to collect information to inform future management decisions for the area; or eliminate the spatially managed area. NMFS also evaluates three alternatives concerning weak hook regulations with the following alternatives: retain the current year round weak hook requirement in the Gulf of Mexico; implement seasonal, voluntary use of weak hooks; and elimination of the weak hook requirement. Consistent with the regulations published by the Council on Environmental Quality, 40 C.F.R. 1501-1508 (CEQ Regulations), this document identifies the preferred alternatives that would meet conservation and management objectives while also reducing regulatory burden and providing additional opportunity to harvest target species. A full description and analysis of the different alternatives can be found in Chapters 2 and 4 of this document. The list of preferred alternatives can be found below (Table 0.1); the list of the full range of alternatives considered can be found in Chapter 2. The cumulative ecological impacts of the preferred alternatives are expected to be minor and beneficial, while the socioeconomic impacts are expected to be minor and adverse. NMFS will take public comment into consideration before finalizing any alternatives, and the proposed measures may be altered or different alternatives may be adopted at the final rule stage. The CEQ regulations direct Federal agencies to the full extent possible to integrate the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with other planning and environmental review procedures required by law or by agency practice so that all procedures run concurrently rather than consecutively.