Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Reopening of Scoping Process for Hake

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 012898B]

Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast

Multispecies Fishery; Reopening of Scoping Process for Hake

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact

statement (SEIS) and notice of reopening the scoping process for silver

hake, offshore hake, and red hake; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) announces

its intent to prepare an amendment to the Northeast Multispecies

Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to conserve silver hake (whiting,

Merluccius bilinearis), offshore hake (Merluccius albidus), and red

hake (Urophycis chuss) stocks, and to prepare an SEIS to analyze the

impacts of any proposed management measures. The Council also formally

announces the reinitiation of a public process to determine the scope

of issues to be addressed in the environmental impact analysis. The

purpose of this notice is to alert the interested public of the

reopening of the scoping process and to provide for public

participation in compliance with environmental documentation

requirements.

DATES: Written comments on the scope of the SEIS may be submitted until

March 17, 1998. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific dates and

times of scheduled scoping meetings.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests for copies of the scoping

document should be sent to Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New

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England Fishery Management Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906.

Scoping meetings will be held in New Jersey, New York, Rhode

Island, and Massachusetts. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for locations

of the meetings.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, Executive Director,

(781)-231-0422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Silver hake and red hake became components of the multispecies

fishery management unit in Amendment 4 to the FMP (56 FR 24724, May 31,

1991). At that time, a proposed 2.5-inch (6.35-cm) minimum mesh size

for whiting was considered but not approved, because NMFS determined

that it would do little to prevent overfishing. Also, the economic

analysis failed to demonstrate a net benefit over a 10-year period, and

members of the fishing industry in the Mid-Atlantic area commented that

the mesh size increase would result in a disproportionate economic cost

to them. Consequently, other than the measures adopted for the

Cultivator Shoal whiting fishery, no regulations controlling fishing

for either whiting or red hake have been developed following their

incorporation into the multispecies management unit.

Fishing for whiting, offshore hake, and red hake is currently

allowed without restriction in the Mid-Atlantic Regulatory Mesh Area,

and in the Southern New England and Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank

Regulated Mesh Areas, in times and areas where the regulatory bycatch

of groundfish commonly referred to as ``regulated species'' has been

determined to be less than 5 percent. This exemption applies year-round

in Southern New England and in Small Mesh Area 1 and Small Mesh Area 2

in the Gulf of Maine. Experimental fisheries have also been undertaken

to evaluate gear modifications, such as a separator grate or a raised

footrope trawl, in reducing regulated species bycatch below the maximum

acceptable level.

In 1993, whiting fishers brought concerns to the Council about the

emergence of an export market for juvenile whiting. The Council's

Groundfish Committee (Committee) formed a Whiting Subcommittee and an

industry advisory panel that outlined some objectives and measures for

a whiting management plan. The Committee held scoping meetings,

including two in the Mid-Atlantic area in early 1994 (March 7 in Wall,

New Jersey, and March 8 in Montauk, New York). At that time, the

Council staff prepared a draft public hearing document, but the Council

suspended plan development efforts while it worked on Amendment 7 to

the FMP.

The Whiting Subcommittee reconvened in June 1996. According to

advisors, in the period between 1993 and 1996 the juvenile whiting

fishery expanded significantly, raising concerns for the health of the

resource. On the recommendation of advisors and the Committee, the

Council established a control date of September 9, 1996, for whiting

(September 9, 1996, 61 FR 47473) and announced that it is considering

limiting future access to anyone not in possession of a multispecies

limited access permit as of that date.

The whiting advisors raised the issue of offshore hake, which they

reported was often mixed with silver hake, but historically has not

been separated at the docks for the sake of landings data. They also

asked about the impact of proposed management measures for silver hake

on offshore hake fishing. In response, the Council obtained a

scientific report from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in

October 1996. The report summarized available information and noted

that very little is known about the offshore hake species. However, the

Council agreed to include offshore hake in the FMP amendment addressing

whiting.

In December 1996, the Whiting Subcommittee and advisors outlined a

plan for whiting management. The Subcommittee agreed that, for

management purposes, the whiting resource should be divided into two

stocks: A northern stock in the Georges Bank/Gulf of Maine Regulated

Mesh Area, and a southern stock in the Southern New England and Mid-

Atlantic Regulated Mesh Areas. The Subcommittee recommended that, for

management purposes, offshore hake be treated as a component of the

southern stock of silver hake and that the Cultivator Shoal whiting

fishery be managed separately.

Recently, the Council designated the Whiting Subcommittee as a full

standing committee, tasked with developing an amendment to the FMP to

conserve whiting stocks. According to the ``Report on the Status of

Fisheries of the United States,'' prepared by NMFS in September 1997,

both red hake and the southern stock of silver hake are overfished, and

the northern silver hake stock is approaching an overfished condition.

Consequently, according to the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA)

amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management

Act, the Council must develop measures to end overfishing and rebuild

these overfished stocks by September 30, 1998.

Status of the Stocks

The last stock assessment for whiting was presented to the Council

in February 1994. This assessment was hampered by several problems,

particularly by uncertainty about stock boundary definitions and

discarding of juveniles, and by insufficient biological sampling to

determine the length and age composition of the catch. More recently,

recognition that a separate species (offshore hake) has been mixed with

catches of silver hake compounds the difficulty of establishing an age-

based assessment.

Based on analysis of landings and trawl survey data, the last

assessment concluded that the Gulf of Maine/Northern Georges Bank stock

was fully exploited and at a low level of abundance, although abundance

appeared to be increasing. The assessment also concluded that the

Southern Georges Bank/Middle Atlantic stock is overexploited and at a

low level of abundance and that abundance continues to decline.

The impact of the juvenile (whiting) fishery over the past 5 years

on stock status has not been measured. Given the truncated age-

structure of the population of both silver hake stocks, the juvenile

fishery may be detrimental to the resource.

To date, the status of the offshore hake stock has not been

formally assessed, and no overfishing definition has been developed.

Offshore hake is almost indistinguishable from, and often caught in

combination with, silver hake. Therefore, conservation and management

measures for silver hake should also address offshore hake. The scoping

process will help the Council by providing input about appropriate

management measures to conserve offshore hake.

The last stock assessment for red hake was conducted in 1990 (Stock

Assessment Workshop/Stock Assessment Review Committee 11). Questions

still remain regarding both the boundaries and the age structures of

red hake stocks. While the available data are incomplete, precautionary

steps can be taken to protect the resource and allow for a balanced and

sustainable fishery. Additionally, in order to comply with the mandates

of the SFA, the Council must address overfishing of red hake and work

to rebuild the resource to a level capable of achieving optimum yield.

[[Page 6701]]

Purpose

The purpose of the proposed amendment is to end and prevent

overfishing on silver hake and red hake stocks, to provide basic

protection for offshore hake, and to rebuild and maintain healthy

spawning stocks in order to allow for a balanced, sustainable fishery

that maximizes economic benefits without compromising the health of the

resources.

Management Options

Moratorium on Permits--Limited Access

The Whiting Committee recommends that, in order to land whiting, a

vessel without a current limited access multispecies permit must meet

the following criteria: (1) That it held an open access, nonregulated

multispecies permit as of the control date (September 9, 1996), and (2)

that it had landed at least one pound of whiting prior to the control

date. All vessels with a current limited access multispecies permit

would retain access to the whiting fishery.

Southern Stock

Management of the southern stock is complicated by the diversity of

the fisheries where whiting is caught; specifically, the squid/whiting

fishery uses a 1.88-inch (4.78-cm) mesh, and the other mixed-trawl

fisheries use meshes of 2-2.5 inches (5-6.35 cm). The Council is

considering requiring a vessel retaining whiting to use a codend of 2.5

inches (6.35 cm) or larger and to prohibit the retention of whiting on

vessels using smaller mesh from June 1 to September 1 of each year.

Vessels retaining whiting from September 1 through May 31 would be

required to switch to a 2.5-inch (6.35-cm) mesh upon reaching a

specific threshold amount of whiting on board. The minimum mesh size

for retaining whiting from September 1 to May 31 would be the minimum

mesh size for Loligo squid as determined by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery

Management Council.

The Whiting Committee is also considering several options for a

whiting trip limit, including a sliding scale trip limit based on

overall vessel length. A trip limit may be imposed year-round or

seasonally.

Northern Stock

Scientific information indicates that the northern stock may be

able to sustain a fishery utilizing both small and large whiting,

provided the catch is limited or controlled. The Whiting Committee

intends to consider results from experimental fisheries that have

evaluated grate/mesh size management strategies. The Whiting Committee

recommends requiring a vessel retaining whiting to use a codend of 2.5

inches (6.35 cm) or larger if the vessel is not in an approved fishery

requiring a separator grate. The Whiting Committee is also considering

the same trip limit options for the northern stock as for the southern

stock.

Other Measures Under Consideration

The Council is also considering and will take comments on other

management options, including (1) a minimum fish size for whiting of 11

inches (27.94 cm) with a 20-percent tolerance for undersized fish, with

or without a minimum mesh size; (2) minimum mesh sizes up to 3 inches

(7.62 cm), with or without a minimum fish size; (3) a square-mesh panel

in the net and other gear modifications; (4) a raised footrope trawl

design; (5) spawning area closures; and (6) a provision to utilize

additional management tools from the FMP to manage these stocks in the

future.

Scoping Process

The Council discussed and took scoping comments at a previous

meeting on March 12 and 13, 1997. A notice of intent to prepare an SEIS

and notice of scoping process for silver hake and offshore hake stocks

was published in the Federal Register on March 19, 1997 (62 FR 12983).

Because both red hake and silver hake have recently been listed as

overfished, the Whiting Committee felt that reopening the scoping

process was necessary to receive further comments about managing silver

hake, offshore hake, and red hake. Therefore, the Council will accept

public comments about the scope of whiting, offshore hake, and red hake

management at its next meeting on February 25, 1998, in Portsmouth, New

Hampshire. Additional scoping meetings are scheduled as follows (a

notice will be published in the Federal Register at a later date giving

complete addresses for the meetings):

1. March 3, 1998, 7 p.m.--Holiday Inn, Toms River, NJ.

2. March 4, 1998, 7 p.m.--Holiday Inn at MacArthur Airport,

Ronkonkoma, NY.

3. March 5, 1998, 4 p.m.--Holiday Inn at the Crossings, Warwick,

RI.

4. March 9, 1998, 2 p.m.--Town Hall, Provincetown, MA.

Additional meetings of the Council, Whiting Committee, or Advisory

Panel during the scoping period will provide opportunities for public

comments on specific issues identified in the respective agendas.

All persons affected by, or otherwise interested in, whiting and

red hake fisheries management are invited to participate in determining

the scope and significance of issues to be analyzed by submitting

written comments (see ADDRESSES). Scope consists of the range of

actions, alternatives, and impacts to be considered. Alternatives

include not developing a management plan, developing amendments to

existing plans, or other reasonable courses of action. Impacts may be

direct, indirect, individual, or cumulative. The scoping process will

also identify and eliminate from detailed study issues that are not

significant. Once a draft FMP amendment and an SEIS or Environmental

Assessment are developed, the Council will hold public hearings to

receive comments on them.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Dated: February 4, 1998.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine

Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 98-3333 Filed 2-9-98; 8:45 am]

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