Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone; Authorizing Hook-and-Line Catcher/Processors To Use Longline Pot Gear in the Bering Sea Greenland Turbot Fishery

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 679</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 250321-0045]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 0648-BM77</RIN> <SUBJECT>Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone; Authorizing Hook-and-Line Catcher/Processors To Use Longline Pot Gear in the Bering Sea Greenland Turbot Fishery</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 issues regulations authorizing hook-and-line catcher/processors (C/Ps) to use longline pot gear when directed fishing for Greenland turbot in the Bering Sea (BS) subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI). This action is necessary to improve efficiency, provide economic benefits for the hook-and-line C/P sector, and minimize potential fishery interactions with killer whales. This action promotes the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI FMP), and other applicable laws. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Effective on April 28, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Electronic copies of the Environmental Assessment and Regulatory Impact Review (RIR) (collectively “the Analysis”) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) prepared for this action are available on <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> or from the NMFS Alaska Region website at <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/alaska</E> . Written comments regarding the burden-hour estimates or other aspects of the collection-of-information requirements contained in this final rule may be submitted to <E T="03">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</E> . Find the particular information collection by using the search function and entering either the title of the collection or the Office of Management and Budget OMB Control Number. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Andrew Olson, 907-586-7228, <E T="03">andrew.olson@noaa.gov</E> . </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> This final rule implements regulations authorizing hook-and-line C/Ps to use longline pot gear when directed fishing for Greenland turbot ( <E T="03">Reinhardtius hippoglossoides</E> ) in the BS subarea of the BSAI. NMFS published a proposed rule in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> on October 23, 2024 (89 FR 84514) with comments invited through November 22, 2024. All comments submitted on or before November 22, 2024, were considered in the development of this final rule, and a technical change has been made from the proposed rule in this final rule. A summary of the comments and NMFS's responses are provided under the heading “Comments and Responses” below. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS manage Greenland turbot as a groundfish species under the BSAI FMP. Section 3.4 of BSAI FMP identifies authorized gear types for groundfish fisheries as the following: trawls, hook-and-line, pots, jigs, and other gear as defined in regulations. This section also states that further restrictions on gear that are necessary for conservation and management of fishery resources and which are consistent with the goals and objectives of the FMP are found at 50 CFR part 679. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> This final rule is intended to increase operational flexibility for hook-and-line C/Ps participating in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea by authorizing the use of longline pot gear to mitigate the impacts of whale depredation, which should allow the fishery to resume. At its April 2023 meeting, the Council took final action recommending that NMFS authorize the use of longline pot gear and remove the 9 inch (22.86 cm) pot gear tunnel opening restriction for hook-and-line C/P vessels participating in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea. The following background sections describe the following: (1) the Greenland turbot directed fishery, (2) authorized gear, (3) whale depredation, and (4) longline pot gear groundfish maximum retainable amounts (MRAs). A more detailed description of the need for this rule and background information on the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea is included in the preamble to the proposed rule (October 23, 2024, 89 FR 84514) and section 3 of the Analysis (see <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> section). <HD SOURCE="HD2">Greenland Turbot Directed Fishery</HD> The directed fishery for Greenland turbot is managed under the BSAI FMP and is divided into two fishing subareas, the BS and the Aleutian Islands Subarea (AI). Vessels are authorized to fish for Greenland turbot in both subareas from May 1 through December 31, unless NMFS closes the fishery to prevent exceeding the total allowable catch (TAC) prior to the season end date. The directed fishery for Greenland turbot is prosecuted by the trawl and nontrawl sectors and is mainly concentrated in the BS subarea. Vessels participating in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea are required to have a groundfish license limitation program (LLP) license with the necessary gear and area endorsements ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> nontrawl, trawl, or both gear types and BS subarea) as specified in § 679.4(k)(1)(i). The majority of participants in the nontrawl sector directed fishery for Greenland turbot are hook-and-line C/P vessels. Hook-and-line C/Ps primarily target Pacific cod ( <E T="03">Gadus macrocephalus</E> ) in the BSAI, and may also participate in the Greenland turbot and sablefish ( <E T="03">Anoplopoma fimbria</E> ) directed fisheries and other groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). Hook-and-line C/P vessels, as defined in the regulations at § 679.2, are vessels named on LLP licenses that are noninterim and transferable, or that are interim and subsequently become noninterim and transferable, and that are endorsed for BS subarea or AI subarea C/P fishing activity, C/P Pacific cod, and hook-and-line gear. Most hook-and-line C/P vessels that participate in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea are members of the Freezer Longline Conservation Cooperative (FLCC). The FLCC is a voluntary cooperative represented by the Freezer Longline Coalition that comprises 36 LLP license holders endorsed for BS or AI subarea hook-and-line C/P fishing for Pacific cod. Since 2010, less than 10 FLCC vessels have participated in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Authorized Gear</HD> Authorized gear in the nontrawl sector in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea is limited to longline and pot-and-line gear ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> single pot), with longline gear encompassing only hook-and-line gear. Pot-and-line gear, although authorized in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea, has not been used due to the inefficiency of setting a single pot at the depths and locations where the fishery occurs. Compared to pot-and-line gear, longline pot gear can have improved operational and harvesting efficiency and also has reduced potential for lost gear. However, under existing regulations, longline pot gear use is limited by area and fishery under regulations at § 679.24(b)(1) and is not authorized for use in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea. Logbook reporting requirements for vessel operators when deploying longline pot gear in the GOA (but not the BSAI) are required to record the length of the longline pot set, size of pots used, the spacing between pots on a set, and the quantity of pots deployed and lost when using longline pot gear (§ 679.5(c)(3)(v)(G)(2)). Regulations at § 679.24(a) require any vessel fishing with hook-and-line, longline pot, and pot-and-line gear to mark all buoys carried on board or used with the vessel's Federal Fisheries Permit (FFP) number or Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) vessel registration number. Buoy markings have minimum text width and height specifications and must be of contrasting coloring so markings are clearly visible above the water line. Vessel operators deploying longline pot gear in the GOA (but not the BSAI) are also required to have an additional hard buoy ball in the buoy cluster attached and marked with the initials “LP” for “Longline Pot” in order to distinguish buoys for longline pot gear from other gear types only when fishing for individual fishing quota (IFQ) (§ 679.24(a)(3)). All pot gear used to fish for groundfish must be equipped with a biodegradable panel to ensure the release of fish if a pot is lost or becomes unretrievable as defined in paragraph (15)(i) of the definition of “Authorized fishing gear” at § 679.2. Pot gear is also restricted to tunnel openings no larger than 9 inches with an exception for halibut, when fishing for IFQ or Community Development Quota (CDQ) halibut or for IFQ or CDQ sablefish fisheries when halibut retention is required as defined in paragraphs (15)(ii) and (iii) under the definition of “Authorized fishing gear” at § 679.2. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Whale Depredation</HD> Depredation by killer whales ( <E T="03">Orcinus orca</E> ) has been increasing, preventing hook-and-line C/P vessels from participating in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea. Killer whale depredation resulted in the decline in participation by hook-and-line C/P vessels in the directed fishery for Greenland turbot in the BS subarea beginning in 2018. This led to the complete absence of fishery participation in 2021, 2022, and 2023, due to operational c ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 37k characters. 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