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72 FR 11277, Mar. 12, 2007, unless otherwise noted. (a) The Atlantic Herring Plan Development Team (PDT) shall meet at least every 3 years, but no later than July of the year before new specifications are implemented, with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (Commission) Atlantic Herring Plan Review Team (PRT) to develop and recommend the following specifications for a period of 3 years for consideration by the New England Fishery Management Council's Atlantic Herring Oversight Committee: Optimum yield (OY), domestic annual harvest (DAH), domestic annual processing (DAP), total foreign processing (JVPt), joint venture processing (JVP), internal waters processing (IWP), U.S. at-sea processing (USAP), border transfer (BT), total allowable level of foreign fishing (TALFF), reserve (if any), and the amount to be set aside for the RSA (from 0 to 3 percent of the TAC from any management area). The PDT and PRT shall also recommend the total allowable catch (TAC) for each management area and sub-area, including seasonal quotas as specified at §648.201(f). Recommended specifications shall be presented to the New England Fishery Management Council (Council). (1) The PDT shall meet with the Commission's PRT to review the status of the stock and the fishery and prepare a Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) report at least every 3 years. The Herring PDT will meet at least once during interim years to review the status of the stock relative to the overfishing definition if information is available to do so. When conducting a 3-year review and preparing a SAFE Report, the PDT/PRT will recommend to the Council/Commission any necessary adjustments to the specifications for the upcoming 3 years. (2) If the Council determines, based on information provided by the PDT/PRT or other stock-related information, that the specifications should be adjusted during the 3-year time period, it can do so through the same process outlined in this section during one or both of the interim years. (b) Guidelines . As the basis for its recommendations under paragraph (a) of this section, the PDT shall review available data pertaining to: Commercial and recreational catch data; current estimates of fishing mortality; discards; stock status; recent estimates of recruitment; virtual population analysis results and other estimates of stock size; sea sampling and trawl survey data or, if sea sampling data are unavailable, length frequency information from trawl surveys; impact of other fisheries on herring mortality; and any other relevant information. The specifications recommended pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section must be consistent with the following: (1) OY must be equal to or less than the allowable biological catch (ABC), as adjusted by subtracting an estimate of the expected Canadian New Brunswick fixed gear and GB herring catch. (2) OY must not exceed MSY, unless an OY that exceeds MSY in a specific year is consistent with a control rule that ensures the achievement of MSY and OY on a continuing basis. (3) Factors to be considered in assigning an amount, if any, to the reserve shall include: (i) Uncertainty and variability in the estimates of stock size and ABC; (ii) Uncertainty in the estimates of Canadian harvest from the coastal stock complex; (iii) The requirement to insure the availability of herring to provide controlled opportunities for vessels in other fisheries in the Mid-Atlantic and New England; (iv) Excess U.S. harvesting capacity available to enter the herring fishery; (v) Total world export potential by herring producer countries; (vi) Total world import demand by herring consuming countries; (vii) U.S. export potential based on expected U.S. harvests, expected U.S. consumption, relative prices, exchange rates, and foreign trade barriers; (viii) Increased/decreased revenues to U.S. harvesters (with/without joint ventures); (ix) Increased/decreased revenues to U.S. processors and exporters; and (x) Increased/decreased U.S. processing productivity. (4) Adjustments to TALFF, if any, shall be made based on updated information relating to status of stocks, estimated and actual performance of domestic and foreign fleets, and other relevant factors. (c) The Atlantic Herring Oversight Committee shall review the recommendations of the PDT and shall consult with the Commission's Herring Section. Based on these recommendations and any public comment received, the Herring Oversight Committee shall recommend to the Council appropriate specifications for a 3-year period. The Council shall review these recommendations and, after considering public comment, shall recommend appropriate 3-year specifications to NMFS. NMFS shall review the recommendations, consider any comments received from the Commission, and publish notification in the (d) NMFS shall make a final determination concerning the specifications for Atlantic herring. Notification of the final specifications and responses to public comments shall be published in the (e) In-season adjustments . (1) The specifications and TACs established pursuant to this section may be adjusted by NMFS, after consulting with the Council, during the fishing year by publishing notification in the (2) If a total allowable catch reserve (TAC reserve) is specified for an area, NMFS may make any or all of that TAC reserve available to fishers after consulting with the Council. NMFS shall propose any release of the TAC reserve in the (f) Management areas . The specifications process establishes TACs and other management measures for the three management areas, which may have different management measures. Management Area 1 is subdivided into inshore and offshore sub-areas. The management areas are defined as follows: (1) Management Area 1 (Gulf of Maine) : All U.S. waters of the Gulf of Maine (GOM) north of a line extending from a point at 70°00' W. long. and 41°39' N. to 42°53'14" N. lat., 67° 44'35" W. long., thence northerly along the Hague Line to the U.S.-Canadian border, to include state and Federal waters adjacent to the States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Management Area 1 is divided into Area 1A (inshore) and Area 1B (offshore). The line dividing these areas is described by the following coordinates: (2) Management Area 2 (South Coastal Area) : All waters west of 70° 00' W . long., south of 41°39' N. lat., to include state and Federal waters adjacent to the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. (3) Management Area 3 (Georges Bank) : All U.S. waters east of 70°00' W. long. and southeast of the line that runs from a point at 70°00' W. long. and 41°39' N. lat., northeasterly to the Hague Line at 42°53'14" N. lat., 67°44'35" W. long. [72 FR 11277, Mar. 12, 2007, as amended at 73 FR 4757, Jan. 28, 2008] § 648.201 Closures and TAC controls.(a) If NMFS determines that catch will reach 95 percent of the annual TAC allocated to a management area before the end of the fishing year, or 95 percent of the Area 1A TAC allocated to the first seasonal period as set forth in paragraph (f) of this section, NMFS shall prohibit vessels, beginning the date the catch is projected to reach 95 percent of the TAC, from fishing for, possessing, catching, transferring, or landing >2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of Atlantic herring per trip and/or >2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of Atlantic herring per day in such area pursuant to paragraph (e) of this section, except as provided in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section. These limits shall be enforced based on a calendar day, without regard to the length of the trip. (b) The percent of the TAC that triggers imposition of the 2,000–lb (907.2–kg) limit specified in paragraph (a) of this section may be adjusted through the specification process described in §648.200. Any lowering of the percent of the TAC that triggers the 2,000–lb (907.2–kg) limit specified in paragraph (a) of this section must be accomplished through the framework adjustment or amendment processes. (c) A vessel may transit an area that is limited to the 2,000–lb (907.2–kg) limit specified in paragraph (a) of this section with > 2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of herring on board, provided such herring were caught in an area or areas not subject to the 2,000–lb (907.2–kg) limit specified in paragraph (a) of this section, and that all fishing gear is stowed and not available for immediate use as required by §648.23(b), and provided the vessel is issued a vessel permit appropriate to the amount of herring on board and the area where the herring was harvested. (d) A vessel may land in an area that is limited to the 2,000–lb (907.2–kg) limit specified in paragraph (a) of this section with > 2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of herring on board, provided such herring were caught in an area or areas not subject to the 2,000–lb (907.2–kg) limit specified in paragraph (a) of this section, and that all fishing gear is stowed and not available for immediate use as required by §648.23(b), and provided the vessel is issued a vessel permit appropriate to the amount of herring on board and the area where the herring was harvested. (e) NMFS shall implement fishing restrictions as specified in paragraph (a) of this section by publication of a notification in the (f) The TAC for Management Area 1A is divided into two seasonal periods. The first season extends from January 1 through May 31, and the second season extends from June 1 through December 31. Seasonal TACs for Area 1A, including the specification of the seasonal periods, shall be set through the annual specification process described in §648.200. (g) Up to 500 mt of the Area 1A TAC shall be allocated for the fixed gear fisheries in Area 1A (weirs and stop seines) that occur west of 44° 36.2 N. Lat. and 67° 16.8 W. long (Cutler, Maine). This set-aside shall be available for harvest by fixed gear within the specified area until November 1 of each fishing year. Any portion of this allocation that has not been utilized by November 1 shall be restored to the TAC allocation for Area 1A. § 648.202 Season and area restrictions.(a) Purse Seine/Fixed Gear Only Area . Vessels fishing for Atlantic herring may not use, deploy, or fish with midwater trawl gear in Area 1A from June 1 September 30 of each fishing year. A limited access herring vessel with midwater trawl gear on board may transit Area 1A from June 1–September 30, provided such midwater trawl gear is stowed pursuant to §648.23(b). Vessels may use any authorized gear type to harvest herring in Area 1A from October 1 – May 31. (b) [Reserved] § 648.203 Gear restrictions.(a) Midwater trawl gear may only be used by a vessel issued a valid herring permit in the GOM/GB Exemption Area as defined in §648.80(a)(17), and in the Nantucket Lightship Area as described in §648.81(c)(1), provided it complies with the midwater trawl gear exemption requirements specified under the NE multispecies regulations at §648.80(d), including issuance of a Letter of Authorization. (b) Purse seine gear may only be used by a vessel issued a valid herring permit in the GOM/GB Exemption Area as defined in §648.80(a)(17), provided it complies with the purse seine exemption requirements specified under the NE multispecies requirements at §648.80(e), including issuance of a Letter of Authorization. § 648.204 Possession restrictions.(a) A vessel must be issued a valid limited access herring permit to fish for, possess, or land more than 6,600 lb (3 mt) of Atlantic herring from or in the EEZ from any herring management area, provided that the area has not been closed due to the attainment of 95 percent of the TAC allocated to the area, as specified in §648.201. (1) A vessel issued an All Areas Limited Access Herring Permit is authorized to fish for, possess, or land Atlantic herring with no possession restriction from any of the herring management areas defined in §648.200(f), provided that the area has not been closed due to the attainment of 95 percent of the TAC allocated to the area, as specified in §648.201. (2) A vessel issued only an Areas 2 and 3 Limited Access Herring Permit is authorized to fish for, possess, or land Atlantic herring with no possession restriction only from Area 2 or Area 3 as defined in §648.200(f), provided that the area has not been closed due to the attainment of 95 percent of the TAC allocated to the area, as specified in §648.201. Such a vessel may fish in Area 1 only if issued an open access herring permit or a Limited Access Incidental Catch Herring Permit, and only as authorized by the respective permit. (3) A vessel issued a Limited Access Incidental Catch Herring Permit is authorized to fish for, possess, or land up to 55,000 lb (25 mt) of Atlantic herring in any calendar day, from any management area defined in §648.200(f), provided that the area has not been closed due to the attainment of 95 percent of the TAC allocated to the area. (4) A vessel issued an open access herring permit may not fish for, possess, or land more than 6,600 lb (3 mt) of Atlantic herring from any herring management area per trip and/or per calendar day, provided that the area has not been closed due to the attainment of 95 percent of the TAC allocated to the area, as specified in §648.201. (5) A vessel issued a herring permit may possess herring roe provided that the carcasses of the herring from which it came are not discarded at sea. (b) Both vessels involved in a pair trawl operation must be issued valid herring permits to fish for, possess, or land Atlantic herring harvested from any management area. Both vessels must be issued the herring permit appropriate for the amount of herring jointly possessed by both of the vessels participating in the pair trawl operation. § 648.205 VMS requirements.The owner or operator of any limited access herring vessel with the exception of fixed gear fishermen must install and operate a VMS unit consistent with the requirements of §648.9. The VMS unit must be installed on board, and must be operable before the vessel may begin fishing. Atlantic herring carrier vessels are not required to have VMS. At least 1 hr prior to leaving port, the owner or authorized representative of a herring vessel that is required to use VMS as specified in this section must notify the Regional Administrator by entering the appropriate VMS code that the vessel will be participating in the herring fishery. VMS codes and instructions are available from the Regional Administrator upon request. § 648.206 Framework provisions.(a) Framework adjustment process . In response to the triennial review, or at any other time, the Council may initiate action to add or adjust management measures if it finds that action is necessary to meet or be consistent with the goals and objectives of the Atlantic Herring FMP, or to address gear conflicts as defined under §600.10 of this chapter. (1) Adjustment process . After a management action has been initiated, the Council shall develop and analyze appropriate management measures over the span of at least two Council meetings. The Council may delegate authority to the Herring Oversight Committee to conduct an initial review of the options being considered. The Oversight Committee shall review the options and relevant information, consider public comment, and make a recommendation to the Council. (2) After the first framework meeting, the Council may refer the issue back to the Herring Oversight Committee for further consideration, make adjustments to the measures that were proposed, or approve of the measures and begin developing the necessary documents to support the framework adjustments. If the Council approves the proposed framework adjustments, the Council shall identify, at this meeting, a preferred alternative and/or identify the possible alternatives. (3) A framework document shall be prepared that discusses and shows the impacts of the alternatives. It shall be available to the public prior to the second or final framework meeting. (4) After developing management actions and receiving public testimony, the Council shall make a recommendation to NMFS. The Council's recommendation must include supporting rationale and, if changes to the management measures are recommended, an analysis of impacts and a recommendation to NMFS on whether to issue the management measures as a final rule. If the Council recommends that the management measures should be issued as a final rule, the Council must consider at least the following factors and provide support and analysis for each factor considered: (i) Whether the availability of data on which the recommended management measures are based allows for adequate time to publish a proposed rule, and whether regulations have to be in place for an entire harvest/fishing season. (ii) Whether there has been adequate notice and opportunity for participation by the public and members of the affected industry in the development of the Council's recommended management measures. (iii) Whether there is an immediate need to protect the resource or to impose management measures to resolve gear conflicts. (iv) Whether there will be a continuing evaluation of management measures adopted following their implementation as a final rule. (5) If the Council's recommendation to NMFS includes adjustments or additions to management measures, after reviewing the Council's recommendation and supporting information NMFS may: (i) Concur with the Council's recommended management measures and determine that the recommended management measures should be published as a final rule in the (ii) Concur with the Council's recommendation and determine that the recommended management measures should be first published as a proposed rule in the (iii) If NMFS does not concur, the Council shall be notified in writing of the reasons for the non-concurrence. (b) Possible framework adjustment measures. Measures that may be changed or implemented through framework action include: (1) Management area boundaries or additional management areas; (2) Size, timing, or location of new or existing spawning area closures; (3) Closed areas other than spawning closures; (4) Restrictions in the amount of fishing time; (5) A days-at-sea system; (6) Adjustments to specifications; (7) Adjustments to the Canadian catch deducted when determining specifications; (8) Distribution of the TAC; (9) Gear restrictions (such as mesh size, etc.) or requirements (such as bycatch-reduction devices, etc.); (10) Vessel size or horsepower restrictions; (11) Closed seasons; (12) Minimum fish size; (13) Trip limits; (14) Seasonal, area, or industry sector quotas; (15) Measures to describe and identify essential fish habitat (EFH), fishing gear management measures to protect EFH, and designation of habitat areas of particular concern within EFH; (16) Measures to facilitate aquaculture, such as minimum fish sizes, gear restrictions, minimum mesh sizes, possession limits, tagging requirements, monitoring requirements, reporting requirements, permit restrictions, area closures, establishment of special management areas or zones, and any other measures included in the FMP; (17) Changes to the overfishing definition; (18) Vessel monitoring system requirements; (19) Limits or restrictions on the harvest of herring for specific uses; (20) Quota monitoring tools, such as vessel, operator, or dealer reporting requirements; (21) Permit and vessel upgrading restrictions; (22) Implementation of measures to reduce gear conflicts, such as mandatory monitoring of a radio channel by fishing vessels, gear location reporting by fixed gear fishermen, mandatory plotting of gear by mobile fishermen, standards of operation when conflict occurs, fixed gear marking or setting practices; gear restrictions for certain areas, vessel monitoring systems, restrictions on the maximum number of fishing vessels, and special permitting conditions; (23) Limited entry or controlled access system; (24) Specification of the amount of herring to be used for roe (25) In-season adjustments to TACs; (26) Measures to address bycatch and bycatch monitoring; (27) Requirements for a herring processor survey; (28) TAC set-aside amounts, provisions, adjustments; (29) Changes, as appropriate, to the Northeast Region SBRM, including the CV-based performance standard, the means by which discard data are collected/obtained, fishery stratification, reports, and/or industry-funded observers or observer set-aside programs; and (30) Any other measure currently included in the FMP. (c) Emergency action . Nothing in this section is meant to derogate from the authority of the Secretary to take emergency action under section 305(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. [72 FR 11277, Mar. 12, 2007, as amended at 73 FR 4757, Jan. 28, 2008] § 648.207 Herring Research Set-Aside (RSA). (a) NMFS shall publish a Request for Proposals (RFP) in the (b) Proposals submitted in response to the RFP must include the following information, as well as any other specific information required within the RFP: A project summary that includes the project goals and objectives, the relationship of the proposed research to herring research priorities and/or management needs, project design, participants other than the applicant, funding needs, breakdown of costs, and the vessel(s) for which authorization is requested to conduct research activities. (c) NMFS shall convene a review panel, including technical experts, to review proposals submitted in response to the RFP. Each panel member shall recommend which research proposals should be authorized to utilize RSA, based on the selection criteria described in the RFP. (d) NMFS shall consider each panel member's recommendation, provide final approval of the projects and the Regional Administrator may, when appropriate, exempt selected vessel(s) from regulations specified in each of the respective FMPs through written notification to the project proponent. (e) The grant awards approved under the RFPs shall be for the upcoming 3 fishing years, unless the Council identifies new/different research priorities during the interim years and decides to publish a second RFP. Proposals to fund research that would start prior to, or that would end after the fishing year, are not eligible for consideration. The RSA must be utilized in the same fishing year in which it was distributed (i.e., RSA and compensation trips cannot be rolled over into future years). However, the money generated from the RSA may be rolled over into, or used to fund research in future years, consistent with the multi-year proposal. (f) Whenever possible, research proposals shall be reviewed and approved prior to the publication of final quota specifications for the upcoming fishing years. In the event that the approved proposals do not make use of any or all of the set-asides, the unutilized portion of the set-aside shall be reallocated back to its respective management area(s) when the final specifications are published. If there is unutilized set-aside available, NMFS, at the request of the Council, could publish another RFP for either the second or third years of the 3-year specifications. In this case, NMFS shall release the unutilized portion of the RSA back to its respective management area(s) for the first year of the specifications and any other year that yields unutilized set-aside after an additional RFP is published. The Council also may decide not to publish another RFP, in which case NMFS may release the unutilized portion of the set-aside back to its respective management area(s) for all 3 fishing years covered by the specifications. (g) If a proposal is approved, but a final award is not made by NMFS, or if NMFS determines that the allocated RSA cannot be utilized by a project, NMFS shall reallocate the unallocated or unused amount of the RSA to the respective TAC by publication of a notice in the (h) Any RSA reallocated under paragraphs (f) and (g) of this section may not be used solely as compensation for research. (i) Researchers may apply for the use of more than one herring RAS allocation for individual research projects, and may request that the set-aside be collected separately from the research trip or as part of the research trip. The research compensation trips do not necessarily have to be conducted by the same vessel, but must be conducted in the management area from which the set-aside was derived. (j) No more than 50 percent of the allocated set-aside may be taken before the research begins. If a research project is terminated for any reason prior to completion, any funds collected from the catch sold to pay for research expenses must be refunded to U.S. Treasury. (k) NMFS shall provide authorization of the research activities to specific vessels by letter of acknowledgement, letter of authorization, or Exempted Fishing Permit issued by the Regional Administrator, which must be kept on board the vessel. (l) Upon completion of herring research projects approved under this part, researchers must provide the Council and NMFS with a report of research findings, which must include: A detailed description of methods of data collection and analysis; a discussion of results and any relevant conclusions presented in a format that is understandable to a non-technical audience; and a detailed final accounting of all funds used to conduct the herring research. Browse Previous | Browse Next
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