Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries; Closure of the General Category January Through March Fishery for 2026

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE <SUBAGY>National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 635</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. 220919-0193; RTID 0648-XF428]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fisheries; Closure of the General Category January Through March Fishery for 2026</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; closure. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> NMFS closes the General category fishery for Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) for the remainder of the January through March time period. The General category may only retain, possess, or land large medium and giant ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> measuring 73 inches (185 centimeters (cm) curved fork length (CFL) or greater) BFT when the fishery is open. This action applies to Atlantic Tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT. During the closure, fishermen aboard General category permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels may tag and release BFT of all sizes, subject to the requirements of catch-and-release and tag-and-release programs. On June 1, 2026, the fishery will reopen automatically. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Effective 11:30 p.m., local time, January 14, 2026, through March 31, 2026. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Aiman Raza, <E T="03">aiman.raza@noaa.gov,</E> or Larry Redd, Jr. <E T="03">larry.redd@noaa.gov,</E> by email, or by phone at 301-427-8503. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Atlantic BFT fisheries are managed under the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan (HMS FMP) and its amendments, pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ) and consistent with the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ). ATCA is the implementing statute for binding recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The HMS FMP and its amendments are implemented by regulations at 50 CFR part 635. Section 635.27(a) divides the U.S. BFT quota, established by ICCAT and as implemented by the United States among the various domestic fishing categories, per the allocations established in the HMS FMP and its amendments. NMFS is required under the Magnuson-Stevens Act at 16 U.S.C. 1854(g)(1)(D) to provide U.S. fishing vessels with a reasonable opportunity to harvest quotas under relevant international fishery agreements such as the ICCAT Convention, which is implemented domestically pursuant to ATCA. Under § 635.28(a)(1), NMFS files a closure action with the Office of the Federal Register for publication when a BFT quota (or subquota) is reached or is projected to be reached. Retaining, possessing, or landing BFT under that quota category is prohibited on or after the effective date and time of a closure action for that category until the opening of the relevant subsequent quota period or until such date as specified. As described in § 635.27(a), the current baseline U.S. BFT quota is 1,316.14 metric tons (mt) (not including the 25 mt ICCAT allocated to the United States to account for bycatch of BFT in pelagic longline fisheries in the Northeast Distant Gear Restricted Area per § 635.27(a)(3)). The General category baseline quota is 710.7 mt. The General category baseline quota is suballocated to different time periods. Relevant to this action, the baseline subquota for the January through March time period is 37.7 mt. On January 8, 2026, NMFS adjusted the January through March subquota to be 63.7 mt (91 FR 1094, January 12, 2026). Separate from this action, NMFS is working on a rulemaking that would implement the 2025 ICCAT recommendation (Recommendation 25- 05) regarding western BFT management. Consistent with that recommendation, the separate rulemaking action would consider increasing the baseline U.S. BFT quota from 1,316.14 mt to 1,509.98 mt and adjusting any subquotas as needed accordingly. In the next few months, NMFS expects to issue a proposed rule regarding the overall quota increase and resulting subquota calculations. Any final rule implementing ICCAT Recommendation 25-05 would likely be effective in mid-2026 or later. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Closure of the January Through March 2026 BFT General Category Fishery</HD> To date, reported landings for the BFT General category January through March time period total 64.6 mt. Based on these landings data, including average daily catch rates, as well as anticipated favorable fishing conditions in the coming days, NMFS has determined that the adjusted January through March time period subquota of 63.7 mt has been reached and exceeded. Therefore, retaining, possessing, or landing large medium or giant ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> measuring 73 inches (185 cm) CFL or greater) BFT by persons aboard vessels permitted in the Atlantic Tunas General category and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels (while fishing commercially) must cease at 11:30 p.m. local time on January 14, 2026. The BFT General category will automatically reopen June 1, 2026, for the June through August 2026 time period. At that time, unless otherwise adjusted, the retention limit will be three large medium or giant BFT per vessel per day/trip. On July 1, 2026, unless otherwise adjusted, restricted-fishing days will go into effect and the retention limit on open days will decrease to one large medium or giant BFT per vessel per day/trip through August 31. This action applies to Atlantic Tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT and is taken consistent with the regulations at § 635.28(a)(1). During the closure, fishermen aboard General category permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels may tag and release BFT of all sizes, subject to the requirements of the catch-and-release and tag-and-release programs described at § 635.26(a). All BFT that are released must be handled in a manner that will maximize their survival, and without removing the fish from the water, consistent with requirements at § 635.21(a)(1). For additional information on safe handling, see the “Careful Catch and Release” brochure available at <E T="03">https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/resource/outreach-and-education/careful-catch-and-release-brochure/.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Monitoring and Reporting</HD> NMFS will continue to monitor the BFT fisheries closely. Per § 635.5(b)(2)(i)(A), dealers are required to submit landing reports within 24 hours of receiving BFT. Late reporting by dealers compromises NMFS' ability to timely implement actions such as quota and retention limit adjustments, as well as closures, and may result in enforcement actions. Additionally, and separate from the dealer reporting requirement, General and HMS Charter/Headboat category vessel owners are required per § 635.5(a)(4) to report their own catch of all BFT retained or discarded dead within 24 hours of the landing(s) or end of each trip, by accessing <E T="03">https://hmspermits.noaa.gov,</E> using the HMS Catch Reporting app, or calling 888-872-8862 (Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. E.T.). After the fishery reopens on June 1, depending on the level of fishing effort and catch rates of BFT at that time, and after consideration of all the criteria specified at § 635.27(a)(7), NMFS may determine that additional adjustments are necessary to ensure available subquotas are not exceeded or to enhance scientific data collection from, and fishing opportunities in, all geographic areas. If needed, subsequent adjustments will be published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . In addition, fishermen may access <E T="03">https://hmspermits.noaa.gov,</E> for updates on quota monitoring and inseason adjustments. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Classification</HD> NMFS issues this action pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1855(d)) and regulations at 50 CFR part 635, and this action is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866. The Assistant Administrator for NMFS (AA) finds that pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), there is good cause to waive prior notice of, and an opportunity for public comment on, this action because it is impracticable and contrary to the public interest for the following reasons. Specifically, the regulations implementing the HMS FMP and amendments provide for inseason retention limit adjustments and fishery closures to respond to the unpredictable nature of BFT availability on the fishing grounds, the migratory nature of this species, and the regional variations in the BFT fishery. Providing for prior notice and an opportunity to comment is impracticable and contrary to the public interest as this fishery is currently underway and, based on the most recent landings information, the available time period subquota has been reached and exceeded. Delaying this action could result in BFT landings that further exceed the adjusted January through March time period subquota, which may result in future potential quota reductions for other BFT categories, depending on the magnitude of a potential overharvest. Taking this action does not raise conservation and management concerns and would support effective management of the BFT fishery. NMFS notes that the public had an opportunity to comment on the underlying rulemakings that established the U.S. BFT quota, the inseason adjustment ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 11k characters. 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