50 C.F.R. § 648.21 Procedures for determining initial annual amounts.
Title 50 - Wildlife and Fisheries
(a) Initial recommended annual specifications. The Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Monitoring Committee (Monitoring Committee) shall meet annually to develop and recommend the following specifications for consideration by the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Committee of the MAFMC: (1) Initial OY (IOY), including research quota (RQ), domestic annual harvest (DAH), and domestic annual processing (DAP) for Illex squid; (2) IOY, including RQ, DAH, DAP, and bycatch level of the total allowable level of foreign fishing (TALFF), if any, for butterfish; and (3) IOY, including RQ, DAH, DAP, joint venture processing (JVP), if any, and TALFF, if any, for mackerel. The Monitoring Committee may also recommend that certain ratios of TALFF, if any, for mackerel to purchases of domestic harvested fish and/or domestic processed fish be established in relation to the initial annual amounts. (4) Initial OY (IOY), including research quota (RQ), domestic annual harvest (DAH), and domestic annual processing (DAP) for Loligo squid, which, subject to annual review, may be specified for a period of up to 3 years; (5) Inseason adjustment, upward or downward, to the specifications for Loligo squid as specified in paragraph (e) of this section. (b) Guidelines. As the basis for its recommendations under paragraph (a) of this section, the Monitoring Committee shall review available data pertaining to: Commercial, recreational, and research project landings; discards; current estimates of fishing mortality; stock status; the most recent estimates of recruitment; virtual population analysis results; levels of noncompliance by harvesters or individual states; impact of size/mesh regulations; results of a survey of domestic processors and joint venture operators of estimated mackerel processing capacity and intent to use that capacity; results of a survey of fishermen's trade associations of estimated mackerel harvesting capacity and intent to use that capacity; and any other relevant information. The specifications recommended pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section must be consistent with the following: (1) Squid. (i) The ABC for any fishing year must be either the maximum OY specified in §648.20, or a lower amount, if stock assessments indicate that the potential yield is less than the maximum OY. (ii) IOY is a modification of ABC based on social and economic factors. The IOY is composed of a RQ and DAH. RQ will be based on requests for research quota as described in paragraph (g) of this section. DAH will be set after deduction for RQ, if applicable. (2) Mackerel. (i) Mackerel ABC must be calculated using the formula ABC = T - C, where C is the estimated catch of mackerel in Canadian waters for the upcoming fishing year and T is the catch associated with a fishing mortality rate that is equal to Ftarget (F = 0.25) at an 890,000 mt spawning stock biomass (or greater) and decreases linearly to zero at a 450,000 mt spawning stock biomass ( (ii) IOY is a modification of ABC, based on social and economic factors, and must be less than or equal to ABC. (iii) IOY is composed of RQ, DAH and TALFF. RQ will be based on requests for research quota as described in paragraph (g) of this section. DAH, DAP, and JVP will be set after deduction for RQ, if applicable, and must be projected by reviewing data from sources specified in paragraph (a) of this section and other relevant data, including past domestic landings, projected amounts of mackerel necessary for domestic processing and for joint ventures during the fishing year, projected recreational landings, and other data pertinent for such a projection. The JVP component of DAH is the portion of DAH that domestic processors either cannot or will not use. In addition, IOY is based on the criteria set forth in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, specifically section 201(e), and on the following economic factors: (A) Total world export potential of mackerel producing countries. (B) Total world import demand of mackerel consuming countries. (C) U.S. export potential based on expected U.S. harvests, expected U.S. consumption, relative prices, exchange rates, and foreign trade barriers. (D) Increased/decreased revenues to the United States from foreign fees. (E) Increased/decreased revenues to U.S. harvesters (with/without joint ventures). (F) Increased/decreased revenues to U.S. processors and exporters. (G) Increases/decreases in U.S. harvesting productivity due to decreases/increases in foreign harvest. (H) Increases/decreases in U.S. processing productivity. (I) Potential impact of increased/decreased TALFF on foreign purchases of U.S. products and services and U.S.-caught fish, changes in trade barriers, technology transfer, and other considerations. (3) Butterfish. (i) If the Monitoring Committee's review indicates that the stock cannot support a level of harvest equal to the maximum OY, the Monitoring Committee shall recommend establishing an ABC less than the maximum OY for the fishing year. This level represents the modification of maximum OY to reflect biological and ecological factors. If the stock is able to support a harvest level equivalent to the maximum OY, the ABC must be set at that level. (ii) IOY is a modification of ABC based on social and economic factors. The IOY is composed of a RQ, DAH, and bycatch TALFF that is equal to 0.08 percent of the allocated portion of the mackerel TALFF. RQ will be based on requests for research quota as described in paragraph (g) of this section. DAH and bycatch TALFF will be set after deduction for RQ, if applicable. (c) Recommended measures. Based on the review of the data described in paragraph (a) of this section and requests for research quota as described in paragraph (g) of this section, the Monitoring Committee will recommend to the Squid, Mackerel, and Butterfish Committee the measures from the following list that it determines are necessary to ensure that the specifications are not exceeded: (1) Research quotas set from a range of 0 to 3 percent of IOY. (2) Commercial quotas, set after reductions for research quotas. (3) The amount of Loligo and butterfish that may be retained, possessed and landed by vessels issued the incidental catch permit specified in §648.4(a)(5). (4) Commercial minimum fish sizes. (5) Commercial trip limits. (6) Commercial seasonal quotas/closures for Loligo and Illex. (7) Minimum mesh sizes. (8) Commercial gear restrictions. (9) Recreational harvest limit, set after reductions for research quotas. (10) Recreational minimum fish size. (11) Recreational possession limits. (12) Recreational season. (d) [Reserved] (e) Inseason adjustments. The specifications established pursuant to this section may be adjusted by the Regional Administrator, in consultation with the MAFMC, during the fishing year by publishing notification in the Federal Register stating the reasons for such an action and providing a 30–day public comment period. (f) Distribution of annual Loligo squid commercial quota. (1) Beginning January 1, 2001, a commercial quota will be allocated annually for Loligo squid into quarterly periods, based on the following percentages: (2) Beginning January 1, 2001, any overages of commercial quota landed from Quarter I will be subtracted from Quarter III and any overages of commercial quota landed from Quarter II will be subtracted from Quarter IV. (3) Beginning January 1, 2003, if commercial landings in Quarter I are determined to be less than 80 percent of the Quarter I quota allocation, any remaining Quarter I quota that is less than 80 percent will be reallocated to Quarter III (e.g., if the Quarter I quota was 100,000 lb (220,462 kg) and 50,000 lb (110,231 kg) was landed, then the remaining Quarter I quota, up to 80 percent, or 30,000 lb (66,139 kg), would be reallocated to Quarter III. A balance of 20 percent, or 20,000 lb (44,092 kg), would remain in Quarter I). (g) Research quota. Prior to the Council's quota-setting meetings: (1) NMFS will publish a Request for Proposals (RFP) in the (2) NMFS will convene a review panel including the Council's Comprehensive Management Committee, as well as technical experts, to review proposals submitted in response to the RFP. (i) Each panel member will recommend which research proposals should be authorized to utilize research quota, based on the selection criteria described in the RFP. (ii) The Regional Administrator and the NOAA Grants Office will consider each panel member's recommendation, provide final approval of the projects and exempt selected vessel(s) from regulations specified in each of the respective FMPs through written notification to the project proponent. (3) The grant awards approved under the RFPs will be for the upcoming fishing year. Proposals to fund research that would start prior to, or that would end after the fishing year, will not be eligible for consideration. All research and/or compensation trips will have to be completed within the fishing year for which the research grant was awarded. (4) Research projects will be conducted in accordance with provisions approved and provided in an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) issued by the Regional Administrator. (5) If a proposal is disapproved by the Regional Administrator or the NOAA Grants Office, or if the Regional Administrator determines that the allocated research quota cannot be utilized by a project, the Regional Administrator shall reallocate the unallocated or unused amount of research quota to the respective commercial and recreational fisheries by publication of a notice in the (i) The reallocation of the unallocated or unused amount of research quota is in accord with National Standard 1, and can be available for harvest before the end of the fishing year for which the research quota is specified; and (ii) Any reallocation of unallocated or unused research quota shall be consistent with the proportional division of quota between the commercial and recreational fisheries in the relevant FMP and allocated to the remaining quota periods for the fishing year proportionally. (6) Vessels participating in approved research projects may be exempted from certain management measures by the Regional Administrator, provided that one of the following analyses of the impacts associated with the exemptions is provided: (i) The analysis of the impacts of the requested exemptions is included as part of the annual quota specification packages submitted by the Council; or (ii) For proposals that require exemptions that extend beyond the scope of the analysis provided by the Council, applicants may be required to provide additional analysis of impacts of the exemptions before issuance of an EFP will be considered, as specified in the EFP regulations at §648.745(b). [61 FR 34968, July 3, 1996, as amended at 62 FR 8637, Feb. 26, 1997; 64 FR 57593, Oct. 26, 1999; 65 FR 16345, Mar. 28, 2000; 65 FR 55927, Sept. 15, 2000; 66 FR 13028, Mar. 2, 2001; 66 FR 35566, July 6, 2001; 66 FR 42159, Aug. 10, 2001; 67 FR 3627, Jan. 25, 2002; 67 FR 44394, July 2, 2002; 68 FR 60, Jan. 2, 2003; 69 FR 16178, Mar. 29, 2004]
Title 50: Wildlife and Fisheries
PART 648—FISHERIES OF THE NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
Subpart B—Management Measures for the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fisheries
§ 648.21 Procedures for determining initial annual amounts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quarter Percent------------------------------------------------------------------------I_January-March.............................................. 33.23II_April-June................................................ 17.61III_July-September........................................... 17.30IV_October-December.......................................... 31.86------------------------------------------------------------------------
