Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Mid-Atlantic Blueline Tilefish and Golden Tilefish Fisheries; 2025-2027 Golden Tilefish Specifications and 2025 Blueline Tilefish Specifications

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 648</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 250326-0054]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 0648-XE313</RIN> <SUBJECT>Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Mid-Atlantic Blueline Tilefish and Golden Tilefish Fisheries; 2025-2027 Golden Tilefish Specifications and 2025 Blueline Tilefish Specifications</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule; request for comments. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> In this action, NMFS proposes specifications for the 2025 fishing year for the golden tilefish and blueline tilefish fisheries north of the North Carolina/Virginia border and projects specifications for the 2026 and 2027 golden tilefish fishery. The proposed action is necessary to establish allowable harvest levels and other management measures to prevent overfishing while allowing optimum yield, consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments must be received on April 16, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2025-0018, by any of the following methods: • <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-2025-0018 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 any other 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 a part of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> without change. All personal identifying information ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> name, address, etc.), 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). Copies of the supporting documents for these proposed specifications are available from Dr. Christopher M. Moore, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 800 North State Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901. These documents are also accessible via the internet at <E T="03">https://www.mafmc.org</E> . <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Matthew Rigdon, <E T="03">matthew.rigdon@noaa.gov,</E> 978-281-9336. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> The golden tilefish and blueline tilefish fisheries north of the North Carolina/Virginia border are managed under the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which outlines the process for establishing annual specifications. The Tilefish FMP requires the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) to recommend acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual catch limit (ACL), annual catch target (ACT), total allowable landings (TAL), and other management measures for the commercial and recreational sectors of the fisheries. The Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) provides ABC recommendations for both species to the Council to derive these catch limits. The Council makes recommendations to NMFS that cannot exceed the SSC's ABC recommendation. The Council's recommendations must include supporting documentation concerning the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the recommendations. NMFS reviews these recommendations and, if they are approved, publishes the specifications in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . <HD SOURCE="HD1">Proposed Specifications</HD> This action proposes to institute primarily status quo blueline tilefish management measures and specifications for 2025, with a lower commercial TAL reduced by the commercial overage in 2024. Consistent with the recommendations of the Council, we set specifications for 2019-2021 based on a 2017 benchmark stock assessment of the blueline tilefish population along the entire East Coast conducted through the Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process. On the basis of the Council's recommendation, we continued status quo measures for 2022-2024, as no new data or information was available to suggest changes (87 FR 66245; November 3, 2022). The Council has recommended continued blueline tilefish status quo measures (adjusted for the 2024 commercial overage) for a single additional year as the SEDAR operational stock assessment for blueline tilefish is currently ongoing with results expected in 2025. This new assessment would inform specifications for 2026 and future fishing years. Preliminary analysis indicates commercial landings exceeded the 2024 ACL by 5,975 pounds (lb; 2.7 metric tons (mt)). The regulations require an overage to be deducted in the following year. The resulting proposed specifications recommended are summarized in table 1. <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s100,xs100,xs100"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Proposed Blueline Tilefish Specifications for 2025 With 2024 Specifications for Comparison</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Specification</CHED> <CHED H="1">2024</CHED> <CHED H="1">2025</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ABC—North of NC/VA line</ENT> <ENT>100,520 lb (45.6 mt)</ENT> <ENT>100,520 lb (45.6 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Recreational ACL</ENT> <ENT>73,380 lb (33.3 mt)</ENT> <ENT>73,380 lb (33.3 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Recreational TAL</ENT> <ENT>71,912 lb (32.6 mt)</ENT> <ENT>71,912 lb (32.6 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Commercial ACL</ENT> <ENT>27,140 lb (12.3 mt)</ENT> <ENT>27,140 lb (12.3 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Overage Adjustment</ENT> <ENT>−4,470 lb (2.0 mt)</ENT> <ENT>−5,975 lb (−2.7 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Adjusted Commercial ACL</ENT> <ENT>22,670 lb (10.3 mt)</ENT> <ENT>21,165 lb (9.6 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Commercial TAL</ENT> <ENT>22,399 lb (10.2 mt)</ENT> <ENT>20,894 lb (9.5 mt).</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> The directed golden tilefish fishery is managed under an individual fishing quota (IFQ) program, with a small amount of non-IFQ catch allowed under an incidental permit. This action would implement 2025 and project 2026 and 2027 specifications for golden tilefish. The Council's recommended 2025-2027 specifications are based on the results of the golden tilefish management track stock assessment completed in 2024. We are implementing a constant-ABC approach, which members of the golden tilefish fishing industry have historically supported, and proposing the specifications for golden tilefish detailed in table 2. <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s100,xs100,xs100"> <TTITLE>Table 2—Proposed Golden Tilefish Specifications for 2025-2027 With 2024 Specifications for Comparison</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Specification</CHED> <CHED H="1">2024</CHED> <CHED H="1">2025-2027</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ABC</ENT> <ENT>1,964,319 lb (891 mt)</ENT> <ENT>1,878,338 lb (852 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">ACL</ENT> <ENT>1,964,319 lb (891 mt)</ENT> <ENT>1,878,338 lb (852 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">IFQ ACT</ENT> <ENT>1,763,478 lb (800 mt)</ENT> <ENT>1,733,109 lb (786 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Incidental ACT</ENT> <ENT>92,815 lb (42 mt)</ENT> <ENT>91,216 lb (41 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">IFQ TAL</ENT> <ENT>1,763,478 lb (800 mt)</ENT> <ENT>1,728,590 lb (784 mt).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Incidental TAL</ENT> <ENT>75,410 lb (34 mt)</ENT> <ENT>68,949 lb (31 mt).</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> This action would not change the landing limits for non-IFQ commercial fisheries. A vessel fishing under a non-IFQ Federal commercial tilefish vessel permit would continue to be prohibited from possessing more than 500 lb (227 kilograms (kg)) of gutted golden tilefish at any time, or 50 percent, by weight, of the total of all species, including golden tilefish, being landed (whichever is less). This landing limit does not apply to a vessel authorized to land golden tilefish under a Tilefish IFQ permit. A vessel fishing under a non-IFQ commercial tilefish permit would also continue to be prohibited from possessing more than 500 lb (227 kg) of gutted blueline tilefish per trip. If 70 percent of the blueline tilefish commercial TAL is landed, the Regional Administrator may reduce the blueline tilefish possession limit to 300 lb (136 kg). This action would not change the recreational management measures for golden or blueline tilefish. Any vessel used to fish recreationally for golden or blueline tilefish must have the appropriate Federal vessel permit. Boats used to take anglers for hire must have the Charter/Party Tilefish Permit, while private recreational vessels need to have the Private Recreational Tilefish Permit. Both permit types require the submission of vessel trip reports. Additional information about permitting and reporting requirements is available from the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office's Permits Office at (978) 282-8438 or <E T="03">NMFS.GAR.Permits@noaa.gov.</E> The 2025 fishing year for golden tilefish and blueline tilefish began on January 1, 2025. The regulations include rollover provisions for both species that allow the fisheries to operate under status quo specifications until new specifications are finalized. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Classification</HD> NMFS is issuing this proposed rule pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson Stevens Act (16 U ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 15k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━