Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Spiny Dogfish Fishery; 2024 Specifications Emergency Measures

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration </SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 648</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 240514-0138; RTID 0648-XD841]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Spiny Dogfish Fishery; 2024 Specifications Emergency Measures</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Temporary rule; emergency action; request for comments. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> This emergency rule implements 2024 specifications for the Atlantic spiny dogfish fishery. This action is necessary to establish allowable harvest levels for the spiny dogfish fishery to prevent overfishing while minimizing adverse economic impacts on fishing communities, using the best scientific information available. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Effective May 21, 2024, through November 18, 2024. Comments must be received by June 21, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2024-0063 by the following method: <E T="03">Electronic Submission:</E> Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> and enter NOAA-NMFS-2024-0063 in the Search box. Click on the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments. <E T="03">Instructions:</E> Comments sent by another method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are part of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on <E T="03">https://www.regulation.gov</E> without change. All personal identifying information ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> name, address, <E T="03">etc.</E> ), confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter“N/A” in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous). The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council prepared an environmental assessment (EA) for these specifications that describes the action, other considered alternatives, and analyses of the impacts of all alternatives. Copies of the specifications document, including the EA, are available on request from Dr. Christopher M. Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Suite 201, 800 North State Street, Dover, DE 19901. These documents are also accessible via the internet at <E T="03">https://www.mafmc.org/action-archive.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Emily Keiley, Fishery Policy Analyst, (978) 281-9116, <E T="03">emily.keiley@noaa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> The Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils (Councils) jointly manage the Atlantic Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), with the Mid-Atlantic Council acting as the administrative lead. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission manages the spiny dogfish fishery in state waters from Maine to North Carolina through an interstate fishery management plan. The implementing regulations for the Federal FMP are found at 50 CFR part 648 subpart L, and require the specification of regulatory harvest limits, including an acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limit (ACL), annual catch target (ACT), total allowable landings, and a coastwide commercial quota. These limits and other management measures may be set for up to 5 fishing years at a time, with each fishing year running from May 1 through April 30. Due to concerns related to national standard 8 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), we are issuing this temporary emergency rule to implement Atlantic spiny dogfish specifications for the 2024 fishing year. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Council Recommended Specifications</HD> In October 2023, the Mid-Atlantic Council's Science and Statistical Committee (SSC) set spiny dogfish ABCs for 2024-2026 based on the 2023 management track assessment. The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee recommended specifications in November 2023, followed by recommendations from the joint Spiny Dogfish Committee. The Mid-Atlantic Council adopted 2024-2026 specifications at its December 2023 meeting and the New England Council adopted identical 2024-2026 specifications at its January 2024 meeting. The Mid-Atlantic Council's Risk Policy specifies an acceptable risk for overfishing. The risk policy works in conjunction with the SSC's application of the Mid-Atlantic Council's ABC control rule to account for scientific uncertainty when determining ABCs. For a stock slightly above its biomass target, such as spiny dogfish, the risk policy dictates achieving a 54-percent chance of not overfishing. Using the stock assessment and associated projection methods, the SSC applied the Council's risk policy to generate the 2024-2026 ABCs. The Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee recommended reductions for Canadian landings and U.S. recreational landings as well as model-based projected discard set-asides. The specifications recommended by the Monitoring Committee result in a commercial quota of 4,605 metric tons (mt; 10.1 million pounds (lb)) for 2024. The size of this quota was a significant concern for the spiny dogfish industry and, ultimately, both Councils. Representatives of the commercial spiny dogfish industry indicated to the Councils that another reduction beyond that already taken in 2023, particularly a reduction that brings the quota substantially below 12 million lb (5,443 mt), could be devastating for what remains of the industry. Industry testimony has cited a level close to 12 million lb (5,443 mt) as a threshold for the minimum commercial quota necessary for the sole remaining commercial spiny dogfish processor to remain economically viable. Research track (December 2022) and management track (September 2023) stock assessments were recently completed for spiny dogfish. Initial findings from the research track assessment indicated that recruitment and biomass were trending downward and that the stock may be experiencing overfishing. However, the more recent management track assessment found that, with updated data and indices, the stock is not currently overfished or experiencing overfishing and remains above its biomass target. Even so, in response to the results of these assessments and using the Mid-Atlantic Council's Risk Policy, the SSC recommended an 8-percent decrease to the 2024 ABC (resulting in a 15-percent decrease in the commercial quota), but as noted above, these decreases create a significant risk of the collapse of the fishery in light of the recent loss of the last southern processing facility. Given concerns about the commercial quota level in 2024, the Councils considered alternative approaches to setting the specifications. Because the Councils cannot set an ABC above the SSC recommendation, they opted to use a discard estimate that was different from the Monitoring Committee's recommendation. The Councils considered several approaches and ultimately decided to use the 2022 discard estimate as a proxy for predicted discards in 2024. The 2022 estimate of discards represents the lowest level in the time series, and using 2022 discards as a proxy results in a lower value of predicted discards than the model-based estimate recommended by the Monitoring Committee. Specifically, the Monitoring Committee stated that the model-based discard estimate is objective and more likely to reflect actual discards than a recent 3-year average or the most recent year (2022) estimate. The modeled discards integrate the historic discard information as well as the trends in biomass forecasted by the model. The Councils did not identify a compelling reason why the single-year 2022 estimate should be more predictive of 2024 discards than the model-based estimate recommended by the Monitoring Committee. While the lower discard estimate recommended by the Councils did result in a higher commercial quota, we agree with the Monitoring Committee, that it is not based on the best available science. As a result, we are unable to approve the Councils' recommended 2024 specifications with the lower discard estimate, as they violate national standard 2. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Justification for Emergency Action</HD> Section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act authorizes us to take “emergency” action to address situations that result from recent, unforeseen events or recently discovered circumstances. NMFS' policy guidelines for the use of emergency rules (62 FR 44421, August 21, 1997) specify the following three criteria that define what an emergency situation is, and justification for final rulemaking: (1) The emergency results from recent, unforeseen events or recently discovered circumstances; (2) the emergency presents serious conservation or management problems in the fishery; and (3) the emergency can be addressed through emergency regulations for which the immediate benefits outweigh the value of advance notice, public comment, and deliberative consideration of the impacts on participants to the same extent as would be expected under the normal rulemaking process. NMFS' policy guidelines further provide that emergency action is justified for certain situations where emergency action would prevent significant direct economic loss, to preserve a significant economic opportunity that otherwise might be foregone, or to prevent significant community impacts. 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