Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 2025 Pacific Whiting Tribal Allocation and 2025 Incidental Set-Aside

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 660</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 250409-0062]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 0648-BN47</RIN> <SUBJECT>Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries off West Coast States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 2025 Pacific Whiting Tribal Allocation and 2025 Incidental Set-Aside</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> NMFS issues this proposed rule to establish the 2025 Tribal allocation of Pacific whiting and set-aside of Pacific whiting for research and incidental mortality in non-groundfish fisheries. The proposed measures are intended to help prevent overfishing, achieve optimum yield, ensure that management measures are based on the best scientific information available, and provide for the implementation of Tribal treaty fishing rights. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments on this proposed rule must be received no later than April 30, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> A plain language summary of this proposed rule is available at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NOAA-NMFS-2025-0002</E> . You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2025-0002, by any of the following methods: <E T="03">Electronic Submission:</E> Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Visit <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> and type “NOAA-NMFS-2025-0002” 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, <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). Background information for this action and analytical documents for the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) are available at the NMFS West Coast Region website at: <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/2025-harvest-specifications-pacific-whiting-and-2025-tribal-allocation</E> . NEPA documents for this and other West Coast groundfish actions are also available at: <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/laws-and-policies/groundfish-actions-nepa-documents</E> . Additional background information for the Pacific Hake/Whiting Treaty can be found at: <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/laws-policies/pacific-hake-whiting-treaty</E> . <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Colin Sayre, phone: 206-526-4656, and email: <E T="03">Colin.Sayre@noaa.gov</E> . </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> Under the authority of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), sections 304(b) and 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Pacific Whiting Act of 2006, and other applicable laws, NMFS proposes to implement a Tribal Pacific whiting allocation based on a percentage of the recommended U.S. total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific whiting and a set-aside for research and incidental mortality in non-groundfish fisheries. The Tribal and non-Tribal commercial Pacific whiting fisheries open on May 1 of each year. The Tribal and non-Tribal commercial sector allocations for Pacific whiting, as well as set-asides, would be effective until December 31, 2025. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Pacific Whiting Agreement</HD> The transboundary stock of Pacific whiting is managed through the Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada on Pacific Hake/Whiting of 2003 (Agreement). The Agreement establishes bilateral management bodies to implement the terms of the Agreement, including the Joint Management Committee (JMC), which recommends the annual catch level for Pacific whiting. In addition to the JMC, the Agreement establishes several other bilateral management bodies to set whiting catch levels: the Joint Technical Committee (JTC), which conducts the Pacific whiting stock assessment; the Scientific Review Group (SRG), which reviews the stock assessment; and the Advisory Panel (AP), which provides stakeholder input to the JMC. The Agreement establishes a default harvest policy of F-40 percent, which means a fishing mortality rate that would reduce the spawning biomass of Pacific whiting to 40 percent of the estimated unfished level. The Agreement also allocates 73.88 percent of the Pacific whiting TAC to the United States and 26.12 percent of the TAC to Canada. Based on recommendations from the JTC, SRG, and AP, the JMC determines the overall Pacific whiting TAC by March 25th of each year. NMFS, under the delegation of authority from the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of State, has the authority to accept or reject this recommendation. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) and consistent with the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), NMFS allocates the recommended U.S. TAC between the Tribal sector and non-Tribal commercial sectors. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Tribal Allocation</HD> Four Washington coastal treaty Indian Tribes—the Makah Indian Tribe, the Quileute Indian Tribe, the Quinault Indian Nation, and the Hoh Indian Tribe (collectively, the Treaty Tribes)—can participate in the Tribal Pacific whiting fishery. The regulations at 50 CFR 660.50(d) identify the procedures for implementing the treaty rights that Pacific Coast Treaty Tribes have to harvest groundfish in their usual and accustomed fishing areas in U.S. waters, including the process by which Tribes with treaty fishing rights in the area covered by the FMP request allocations, set-asides, or regulations specific to the Treaty Tribes. 50 CFR 660.50(d) provides that the Secretary will develop Tribal allocations and regulations in consultation with the affected Treaty Tribes and, insofar as possible, with Tribal agreement. NMFS allocates a portion of the U.S. TAC of Pacific whiting to the Tribal fishery following the process established in 50 CFR 660.50(d). The Tribal allocation is subtracted from the U.S. Pacific whiting TAC before allocation to the non-Tribal sectors. Tribal allocations of Pacific whiting have been based on discussions with the Treaty Tribes regarding their intent to fish. The Hoh Tribe has not expressed an interest in participating in the Pacific whiting fishery to date. The Quileute Tribe and the Quinault Indian Nation have expressed interest in beginning to participate in the Pacific whiting fishery at a future date. To date, only the Makah Tribe has prosecuted a Tribal fishery for Pacific whiting and has harvested Pacific whiting since 1996 using midwater trawl gear. Table 2 below provides a recent history of U.S. TACs and annual Tribal allocation in metric tons (mt). <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s100,r100,r100"> <TTITLE> Table 2—U.S. Total Allowable Catch and Annual Tribal Allocation in Metric Tons for 2015-2024 ( <E T="01">mt</E> ) </TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Year</CHED> <CHED H="1">U.S. TAC</CHED> <CHED H="1">Tribal allocation</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2015</ENT> <ENT>325,072 mt</ENT> <ENT>56,888 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2016</ENT> <ENT>367,553 mt</ENT> <ENT>64,322 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2017</ENT> <ENT>441,433 mt</ENT> <ENT>77,251 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2018</ENT> <ENT>441,433 mt</ENT> <ENT>77,251 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2019</ENT> <ENT>441,433 mt</ENT> <ENT>77,251 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2020</ENT> <ENT>424,810 mt</ENT> <ENT>74,342 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2021</ENT> <ENT>369,400 mt</ENT> <ENT>64,645 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2022</ENT> <ENT>402,646 mt</ENT> <ENT>70,463 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2023</ENT> <ENT>461,750 mt</ENT> <ENT>80,806 mt.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2024</ENT> <ENT>410,034 mt</ENT> <ENT>71,755 mt.</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> In 2009, NMFS, the States of Washington and Oregon, and the Treaty Tribes started a process to determine the long-term Tribal allocation for Pacific whiting. However, they have not yet determined a long-term allocation. This rule proposes the 2025 Tribal allocation of Pacific whiting. This allocation does not represent a long-term allocation and is not intended to set precedent for future allocations. In exchanges between NMFS and the Treaty Tribes during September 2024, the Makah Tribe indicated their intent to participate in the Tribal Pacific whiting fishery in 2025. The Quinault Indian Nation, the Quileute Indian Tribe and the Hoh Indian Tribe informed NMFS that they will not participate in the 2025 fishery. Only the Makah Indian Tribe indicated its intent to fish and requested 17.5 percent of the U.S. Pacific whiting TAC, which is identical to the Tribal allocation percentage implemented in previous years. NMFS proposes an allocation that accommodates the Tribal request for 17.5 percent of the 2025 U.S. TAC. The JMC is anticipated to recommend the coastwide and corresponding United States/Canada TACs no later than March 25, 2025. The U.S. TAC is 73.88 percent of the coas ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 35k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━