Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Temporary Rule To Extend Fishing Year 2025 Measures

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 648</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 250424-0072]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 0648-BN64</RIN> <SUBJECT>Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Temporary Rule To Extend Fishing Year 2025 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. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> This rule extends the emergency measures to revise portions of the fishing year 2025 provisions in the Northeast multispecies fishery. This action is necessary to address an emergency presented by an absence of approved specifications and other measures for fishing year 2025. This action is intended to mitigate economic harm to the Northeast multispecies fishery participants by establishing fish stock quotas and related measures that allow the fishery to operate while preventing overfishing. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Effective as of October 3, 2025, §§ 648.14 and 648.89 as amended at 90 FR 18804 is extended through April 30, 2026. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> NMFS developed a Supplemental Impact Report (SIR) for the Environmental Assessments (EA) for Framework Adjustments 65 and 66 to the Northeast Multispecies FMP that describes the impact that the measures in this temporary rule would have on the human environment. Copies of the SIR and the Regulatory Impact Review of this rulemaking are available on the internet at: <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/new-england-mid-atlantic.</E> Copies of each sector's operations plan and contracts for fishing years 2025-2026; the Sector Operations Plan, Contract, and EA requirements guidance document for fishing years 2025-2026; and other supporting documents are available from the NMFS Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office website at: <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/new-england-mid-atlantic.</E> Copies of supporting sector documents are available from Heather Nelson at <E T="03">heather.nelson@noaa.gov.</E> Copies of the EAs for Framework Adjustments 65, 66, and 69 are available from Dr. Cate O'Keefe, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950. The Council's documents are also accessible via the internet at: <E T="03">http://www.nefmc.org/management-plans/northeast-multispecies</E> or <E T="03">http://www.regulations.gov.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Heather Nelson, Fishery Management Specialist, phone: 978-281-9334; email: <E T="03">Heather.Nelson@noaa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: </HD> On May 2, 2025, NMFS published an emergency rule to implement fishing year 2025 management measures for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) (90 FR 18804). The emergency rule: • Set interim fishing year 2025 annual catch limits (ACL) for two stocks of cod—Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod and Georges Bank (GB) cod—as well as for GB haddock; • Set fishing year 2025 total allowable catches (TAC) for Eastern GB cod and Eastern GB haddock that are shared stocks between the United States and Canada; • Confirmed projected fishing year 2025 specifications for other Northeast multispecies stocks that were previously published in Framework Adjustments 65 and 66; • Approved Northeast multispecies (groundfish) sector operations plans and allocated annual catch entitlements (ACE) to the sectors, consistent with the catch limits described above; • Prohibited recreational fishing vessels from possessing GB cod; • Prohibited commercial fishing vessels fishing under the common pool management program from possessing GB cod; • Set trimester TACs and possession limits for commercial vessels fishing in the common pool; • Allocated zero common pool trips into the Closed Area II Yellowtail Flounder/Haddock Special Access Program (SAP) during fishing year 2025; and • Closed the Regular B Days-at-Sea (DAS) program and prohibit usage of Regular B DAS in fishing year 2025. At the time the emergency rule was implemented, NMFS was considering two actions (Amendment 25 and Framework Adjustment 69) submitted by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) that would have made changes to, and set measures for, the Northeast Multispecies FMP. Pending a final decision on these actions, the emergency rule ensured that the fishery could operate at the start of the fishing year on May 1, 2025, mitigating the adverse economic impact to the groundfish fishery if measures were not put in place. Following the implementation of the emergency rule, Amendment 25 was disapproved on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce. Framework 69 to the FMP, which recommends the annual specifications necessary to authorize the fishery to operate in the 2025 fishing year beginning on May 1, 2025, and projected specifications for fishing years 2026 and 2027, remains under consideration by NMFS. Framework 69 cannot be implemented when the current emergency rule expires on October 28, even if the framework is approved on or before that date. The emergency rule is in effect for 180 days, from May 1, 2025, through October 28, 2025. Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, an emergency rule can be extended for an additional 186 days. An extension of the emergency rule is necessary to address the continuing emergency arising from the lack of approved specifications and other measures for the full fishing year 2025. Absent an extension of the rule, the lack of measures on October 29, 2025, would create serious conservation and management problems for the fishery and severe economic harm to the Northeast multispecies fishery participants. Without this extension, vessels participating in the groundfish fishery would be unable to fish for the remainder of the 2025 fishing year (through April 30, 2025) unless replaced by other measures ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> Framework 69 measures). This inability to fish would result in substantial adverse economic impacts on vessel owners and operators, dealers, and the fishing communities that rely on them. With this emergency rule extension, all emergency measures remain in place. Sector and common pool allocations are updated in this extension to reflect the final rosters that were not available when the emergency rule was originally implemented, and these updates are provided in Tables 1-8. Additionally, errors in table formatting in the original emergency rule are corrected. The extended emergency measures would remain in place through April 30, 2026, unless replaced by other measures. <GPOTABLE COLS="11" OPTS="L2,nj,p7,7/8,i1" CDEF="s50,9,10,7,7,12,8,8,9,9,9"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Catch Limits for the 2025 Fishing Year </TTITLE> [Mt, live weight] <CHED H="1">Stock</CHED> <CHED H="1">Total ACL</CHED> <CHED H="2">A to H</CHED> <CHED H="1">Groundfish sub-ACL</CHED> <CHED H="2">A+B+C</CHED> <CHED H="1"> Sector sub-ACL </CHED> <CHED H="2">A</CHED> <ENT>0.0</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GB Haddock</ENT> <ENT>1,478</ENT> <ENT>1,449</ENT> <ENT>1,415</ENT> <ENT>7.6</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GB Yellowtail Flounder</ENT> <ENT>3.7</ENT> <ENT/> <ENT/> <ENT>11.0</ENT> <ENT>1.3</ENT> <ENT>0.0</ENT> <ENT>0.0</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">SNE/MA Yellowtail Flounder</ENT> <ENT>38</ENT> <ENT>33</ENT> <ENT>24</ENT> <ENT>9.0</ENT> <ENT/> <ENT/> <ENT>2.7</ENT> <ENT/> <ENT>0.2</ENT> <ENT>2.0</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CC/GOM Yellowtail Flounder</ENT> <ENT>12.1</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">SNE/MA Winter Flounder</ENT> <ENT I="01">N. Windowpane Flounder</ENT> <ENT>0.0</ENT> <ENT>6.8</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">S. Windowpane Flounder</ENT> <ENT>6.4</ENT> <ENT>98</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Ocean Pout</ENT> <ENT>1.2</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Atlantic Wolffish</ENT> <TNOTE>n/a: not allocated to sectors.</TNOTE> </GPOTABLE> <GPOTABLE COLS="4" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s50,12,12,12"> <TTITLE>Table 2—Fishing Year 2025 Common Pool Trimester TACs </TTITLE> [Mt, live weight] <CHED H="1">Stock</CHED> <CHED H="1">2025</CHED> <CHED H="2">Trimester 1</CHED> <CHED H="2">Trimester 2</CHED> <CHED H="2">Trimester 3</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GB Cod</ENT> <ENT>1.3</ENT> <ENT>1.6</ENT> <ENT>1.8</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GOM Cod</ENT> <ENT>3.4</ENT> <ENT>2.3</ENT> <ENT>1.2</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GB Haddock</ENT> <ENT>9.0</ENT> <ENT>11.0</ENT> <ENT>13.3</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GOM Haddock</ENT> <ENT>9.7</ENT> <ENT>9.4</ENT> <ENT>17.0</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GB Yellowtail Flounder</ENT> <ENT>0.7</ENT> <ENT>1.1</ENT> <ENT>1.9</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">SNE/MA Yellowtail Flounder</ENT> <ENT>1.9</ENT> <ENT>2.5</ENT> <ENT>4.6</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">CC/GOM Yellowtail Flounder</ENT> <ENT>27.1</ENT> <ENT>12.4</ENT> <ENT>8.1</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">American Plaice</ENT> <ENT>113.7</ENT> <ENT>12.3</ENT> <ENT>27.6</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Witch Flounder</ENT> <ENT>24.1</ENT> <ENT>8.8</ENT> <ENT>11.0</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GB Winter Flounder</ENT> <ENT>5.7</ENT> <ENT>17.0</ENT> <ENT>48.2</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">GOM Winter Flounder</ENT> <ENT>34.5</ENT> <ENT>35.5</ENT> <ENT>23.3</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Redfish</ENT> <ENT>24.4</ENT> <ENT>30.2</ENT> <ENT>42.9</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">White Hake</ENT> <ENT>7.9</ENT> <ENT>6.5</ENT> <ENT>6.5</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Pollock</ENT> <ENT>35.6</ENT> <ENT>44.6</ENT> <ENT>47.1< ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 40k characters. 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