Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; 2024-2026 Specifications for the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 648</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 240717-0198]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 0648-BM79</RIN> <SUBJECT>Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; 2024-2026 Specifications for the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> NMFS approves and implements the 2024-2026 specifications for the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan, as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. This final rule sets the 2024 <E T="03">Illex</E> and longfin squid specifications, and projects the 2025 <E T="03">Illex</E> and 2025-2026 longfin squid specifications. This rule also reaffirms the 2024 butterfish and Atlantic chub mackerel specifications and the previously published projected 2025 chub mackerel specifications. These specifications establish allowable harvest levels that will prevent overfishing, consistent with the most recent scientific information. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Effective August 22, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> A Supplemental Information Report (SIR) was prepared for these specifications. Copies of the SIR and other relevant environmental documentation 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. The SIR is also accessible via the internet at <E T="03">https://www.mafmc.org/supporting-documents.</E> Copies of the small entity compliance guide are available from Michael Pentony, Regional Administrator, NMFS, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-2298, or available on the internet at <E T="03">https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Maria Fenton, Fishery Policy Analyst, (978) 281-9196. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">General Background</HD> The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) manages Atlantic mackerel, <E T="03">Illex</E> squid, longfin squid, butterfish, and Atlantic chub mackerel under the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The regulations implementing the FMP at 50 CFR part 648, subpart B, require the Council's Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Monitoring Committee to develop specification recommendations for each species based upon the acceptable biological catch (ABC) advice of the Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). The ABC is the level of catch that accounts for scientific uncertainty in the estimate of the stock's defined overfishing limit (OFL). Specifications are the combined suite of commercial and recreational catch levels and management measures necessary to prevent such catch levels from being exceeded. Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP regulations require the specification of annual catch limits (ACL) and accountability measure (AM) provisions for butterfish and chub mackerel. Both squid species are exempt from the ACL/AM requirements because they have a life cycle of less than 1 year. In addition, the regulations require the specification of domestic annual harvest (DAH), the butterfish mortality cap in the longfin squid fishery, and initial optimum yield (IOY) for both squid species. As part of this process, the Council sets specifications for up to 3 years. These specifications are reviewed annually and may be revised by the Council based on updated information. On July 27, 2023 (88 FR 48389), NMFS published a final rule in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> implementing 2023 specifications for the chub mackerel, butterfish, longfin squid, and <E T="03">Illex</E> squid fisheries. This included projected 2024 butterfish specifications and projected 2024-2025 chub mackerel specifications. The Council's SSC met in March, May, and July 2023 to consider the 2024 longfin squid, <E T="03">Illex</E> squid, chub mackerel, and butterfish specifications based upon the latest information. At those meetings, the SSC concluded that no adjustments to these species' ABCs were warranted. The Council finalized its recommendations for the 2024 <E T="03">Illex</E> and longfin squid specifications and projected 2025 <E T="03">Illex</E> and 2025-2026 longfin squid specifications during its April and August 2023 meetings. The Council reaffirmed the 2024 butterfish and 2024 and projected 2025 Atlantic chub mackerel specifications during its June 2023 meeting. During its December 2023 meeting, the Council also finalized recommendations for the 2024 and projected 2025 Atlantic mackerel specifications; however, those specifications were recently finalized through a separate final rule due to additional timing concerns (89 FR 25820, April 12, 2024). <HD SOURCE="HD2">Final 2024 and Projected 2025 Illex Squid Specifications</HD> The final 2024 and projected 2025 <E T="03">Illex</E> squid specifications are identical to what was in place in 2023, in alignment with the Council's recommendation (table 1). NMFS and the Council will review the <E T="03">Illex</E> squid specifications during future annual specifications processes following data updates each spring. The 2025 specifications projected here could change based on new information. <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s200,13,13"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Final 2024 and Projected 2025 Illex Squid Specifications</TTITLE> [mt] <CHED H="1">Specification</CHED> <CHED H="1">2024</CHED> <ENT I="01">Commercial Discard Set-Aside</ENT> <ENT>1,369 (3.42%)</ENT> <ENT>1,369 (3.42%)</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Initial optimum yield (IOY)</ENT> <ENT>38,631</ENT> <ENT>38,631</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Domestic annual harvest (DAH)/domestic annual processing (DAP)</ENT> <ENT>38,631</ENT> <ENT>38,631</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD2">Final 2024 and Projected 2025-2026 Longfin Squid Specifications</HD> The final 2024 and projected 2025-2026 longfin squid specifications are nearly identical to what was in place in 2023, in alignment with the Council's recommendation. The only change is a slight increase in the longfin squid discard rate (from 2 percent to 2.16 percent). The background for this change is discussed in the proposed rule to implement these specifications (89 FR 28713, April 19, 2024), and therefore is not repeated here. The longfin squid IOY, DAH, and DAP are calculated by deducting a discard set-aside, calculated using the discard rate, from the ABC. The 0.16-percent increase in the discard rate results in a 0.17-percent decrease in the commercial quota (table 2). NMFS and the Council will review the longfin squid specifications during future annual specifications processes following data updates each spring. The 2025-2026 specifications projected here could change based on new information. <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s200,13,13"> <TTITLE>Table 2—Final 2024 and Projected 2025-2026 Longfin Squid Specifications</TTITLE> [mt] <CHED H="1">Specification</CHED> <CHED H="1">2024</CHED> <ENT I="01">Commercial Discard Set-Aside</ENT> <ENT>506.3 (2.16%)</ENT> <ENT>506.3 (2.16%)</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">IOY</ENT> <ENT>22,893.7</ENT> <ENT>22,893.7</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">DAH/DAP</ENT> <ENT>22,893.7</ENT> <ENT>22,893.7</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> The percentage of the longfin squid quota allocated to each trimester during 2024-2026 remains unchanged from what was in place in 2023 (table 3). <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s200,13,13"> <TTITLE>Table 3—2024-2026 Longfin Squid Quota Trimester Allocations</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Trimester</CHED> <CHED H="1">Percent</CHED> <CHED H="1">Metric tons</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">I (Jan-Apr)</ENT> <ENT>43</ENT> <ENT>9,844.3</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">II (May-Aug)</ENT> <ENT>17</ENT> <ENT>3,891.9</ENT> </ROW> <ROW RUL="n,s"> <ENT I="01">III (Sep-Dec)</ENT> <ENT>40</ENT> <ENT>9,157.5</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">Total</ENT> <ENT>100</ENT> <ENT>22,893.7</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD2">Reaffirmation of 2024 Butterfish Specifications</HD> As part of the final rule implementing 2023-2025 specifications for the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish FMP (88 FR 48389, July 27, 2023), NMFS projected 2024 butterfish specifications that would decrease the ABC and available quota by 12.7 percent relative to 2023. Even with this reduction, the projected 2024 butterfish quota was still above recent catch levels. This final rule reaffirms the previously projected 2024 butterfish specifications, in alignment with the Council's recommendation, as no new information suggests a need to change. <GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s200,12"> <TTITLE>Table 4—Reaffirmed 2024 Butterfish Specifications</TTITLE> [mt] <CHED H="1">Specification</CHED> <CHED H="1">2024</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">OFL</ENT> <ENT>16,096</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ABC/ACL</ENT> <ENT>15,764</ENT> <ENT I="01">Annual Catch Target (ACT)</ENT> <ENT>14,976</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Assumed Discards</ENT> <ENT>1,248</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Total Discard Set-Aside (All Sources)</ENT> <ENT>5,132</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Butterfish Cap in Longfin Fishery</ENT> <ENT>3,884</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">DAH</ENT> <ENT>9,844</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> The percentage of the butterfish mortality cap allocated to the longfin squid fishery during each trimester in 2024 remains unchanged from what was in place during 2023 (table 5). <GPOTABLE COLS= ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 15k characters. 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