50 C.F.R. § 648.200 Specifications
Library | Code of Federal Regulations |
Edition | 2021 |
Currency | Current through February 28, 2022 |
Citation | 50 C.F.R. § 648.200 |
Year | 2021 |
(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: Overfishing Limit (OFL), Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC), Annual Catch Limit (ACL), Optimum yield (OY), domestic annual harvest (DAH), domestic annual processing (DAP), U.S. at-sea processing (USAP), border transfer (BT), the sub-ACL for each management area, including seasonal periods as specified at §648.201(d) and modifications to sub-ACLs as specified at §648.201(f), the amount to be set aside for the RSA (from 0 to 3 percent of the sub-ACL from any management area), and river herring and shad catch caps, as specified in §648.201(a)(4). Recommended specifications shall be presented to the New England Fishery Management Council.
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(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.
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(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)
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(1) OFL must be equal to catch resulting from
applying the maximum fishing mortality threshold to a current or projected
estimate of stock size. When the stock is not overfished and overfishing is not
occurring, this is the fishing rate supporting maximum sustainable yield
(
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(2) ABC must be less than the OFL. The
Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) shall recommend ABC to the
Council by applying the ABC control rule and considering scientific
uncertainty. Scientific uncertainty, including, but not limited to, uncertainty
around stock size estimates, variability around estimates of recruitment, and
consideration of ecosystem issues, shall be considered when setting
ABC.
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(3) ACL must be equal to or
less than the ABC. Management uncertainty, which includes, but is not limited
to, expected catch of herring in the New Brunswick weir fishery and the
uncertainty around discard estimates of herring caught in Federal and state
waters, shall be considered when setting the ACL. Catch in excess of the ACL
shall trigger accountability measures (AMs), as described in §
648.201(a)
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(4) OY may not exceed OFL
(
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(5) DAH is comprised of DAP and BT.
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(6) River herring and shad catch caps may be
allocated to the herring fishery by the following: Species, as defined in
§648.2, either separately or combined; area as specified in paragraph
(f)(7) of this section; vessel permit; gear type; or any combination of
these.
(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 FEDERAL REGISTER proposing 3-year specifications. If the proposed specifications differ from those recommended by the Council, the reasons for any differences shall be clearly stated and the revised specifications must satisfy the criteria set forth in paragraph (b) of this section.
(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 FEDERAL REGISTER. If the final specification amounts differ from those recommended by the Council, the reason(s) for the difference(s) must be clearly stated and the revised specifications must be consistent with the criteria set forth in paragraph (b) of this section. The previous year's specifications shall remain effective until they are revised through the specification process.
(e)
(f)
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(1)
1 | 41°58' N | 70° 00' W | |
2 | 42°38' N | 70° 00' W | |
3 | 42°53' N | 69° 40' W | |
4 | 43°12' N | 69° 00' W | |
5 | 43°40' N | 68° 00' W | |
6 | 43°58'16.0314" N | 67° 21'26.157" W | ( |
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(2)
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(3)
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