Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States

Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 218 / Tuesday, November 10, 2020 / Rules and Regulations
disclosure under recognized
governmental privileges, or otherwise if
providing that information would
violate confidentiality or privacy
protections afforded by law.
(4) The Notice of Violation must
address all relevant concerns and
defenses raised by the contractor in
response to the Predetermination
Notice.
(c) Conciliation agreement. If a
compliance review, complaint
investigation, or other review by OFCCP
or its representative indicates a material
violation of the equal opportunity
clause, and:
(1) If the contractor, subcontractor or
bidder is willing to correct the
violations and/or deficiencies; and
(2) If OFCCP or its representative
determines that settlement (rather than
referral for consideration of formal
enforcement) is appropriate, a written
agreement shall be required. The
agreement shall provide for such
remedial action as may be necessary to
correct the violations and/or
deficiencies noted, including, where
appropriate (but not necessarily limited
to), remedies such as back pay and
retroactive seniority.
(d) Remedial benchmarks. The
remedial action referenced in paragraph
(c) of this section may include the
establishment of benchmarks for the
contractor’s outreach, recruitment,
hiring, or other employment activities.
The purpose of such benchmarks is to
create a quantifiable method by which
the contractor’s progress in correcting
identified violations and/or deficiencies
can be measured.
(e) Expedited conciliation option. A
contractor may voluntarily waive the
procedures set forth in paragraphs (a)
and/or (b) of this section to enter
directly into a conciliation agreement.
OFCCP may inform the contractor of
this expedited conciliation option, but
may not require or insist that the
contractor avail itself of the expedited
conciliation option.
(f) Severability. Should a court of
competent jurisdiction hold any
provision(s) of this section to be invalid,
such action will not affect any other
provision of this section.
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[FR Doc. 2020–24858 Filed 11–9–20; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[Docket No. 201103–0287]
RIN 0648–BI15

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act
Provisions; Fisheries of the
Northeastern United States
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:

This rule announces the
approval of, and regulations to
implement, an action to require
commercially permitted vessels in both
the New England and Mid-Atlantic
Fishery Management Council regions to
submit vessel trip reports electronically
within 48 hours of the end of a trip.
This action will also require for-hire
vessels with permits for species
managed by the New England Fishery
Management Council to submit vessel
trip reports electronically within 48
hours of the end of a trip. Document
retention requirements will be removed
with this action. This action is intended
to increase data quality and timeliness
of vessel trip reports.
DATES: This rule is effective November
10, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Joint Omnibus
Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting
Framework Adjustment prepared by the
Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery
Management Council in support of this
action are available from Dr.
Christopher Moore, Executive Director,
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council, 800 North Street, Suite 201,
Dover, DE 19901. The supporting
documents are also accessible via the
internet at: https://www.mafmc.org/
actions/commercial-evtr-framework,
https://www.nefmc.org/library/omnibuscommercial-evtr-framework, or http://
www.regulations.gov.
SUMMARY:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Moira Kelly, Senior Fishery Program
Specialist, phone: 978–281–9218; email:
Moira.Kelly@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Currently,
commercial vessels are required to
submit vessel trip reports (VTR) either
on paper or electronically following
each trip. Several fishery management
plans require weekly submission of
commercial vessel trip reports; others

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require monthly submission. Vessels
issued a for-hire permit for a MidAtlantic Council fishery are required to
submit vessel trip reports electronically
within 48 hours of the end of a fishing
trip (September 11, 2017; 82 FR 42610).
Vessels issued a for-hire permit for a
New England Council fishery are subject
to the same requirements as that FMP’s
commercial permit.
A detailed summary of the
development of this action can be found
in the supporting documentation (see
ADDRESSES) and the proposed rule (July
17, 2020; 85 FR 43528).
Approved Measures
With this action, vessels issued a
commercial or for-hire permit for all
Mid-Atlantic and New England Councilmanaged fisheries will be required to
submit vessel trip reports electronically
within 48 hours of the end of a fishing
trip. This action is applicable to all
commercial and for-hire permits issued
pursuant to the following Fishery
Management Plans: Atlantic Herring;
Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish;
Northeast Multispecies; Surfclam and
Ocean Quahog; Atlantic Bluefish;
Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab; Atlantic
Sea Scallop; Summer Flounder, Scup,
Black Sea Bass; Monkfish; Northeast
Skate Complex; Spiny Dogfish; and
Tilefish. This requirement does not
apply to vessels issued only a Federal
lobster permit or to federally permitted
private recreational tilefish vessels (July
16, 2020; 85 FR 43149).
In addition to the method and
submission timeframe changes,
document retention requirements that
are no longer necessary with electronic
reporting will be removed. Specifically,
the requirement to retain copies of the
previously submitted vessel trip reports
on board the vessel will no longer be
applicable. Owners will have access to
trip reports submitted electronically on
the device from which they were
submitted and on the Fish Online
website.
There are no other changes to the
vessel trip reporting requirements,
including the requirement that vessel
operators are obligated to fill out the
vessel trip report with all information
ascertainable prior to entering port.
Implementation
Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting
Systems
There are several applications
available to vessel owners for electronic
vessel trip reporting. Information about
approved application platforms are
available on our website (https://
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/new-england-

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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 218 / Tuesday, November 10, 2020 / Rules and Regulations

mid-atlantic/resources-fishing/vesseltrip-reporting-greater-atlanticregion#electronic-vessel-trip-reporting).
Vessel owners and operators should
determine which application is
appropriate for their vessel and
operations.
Training and Implementation Timing
In order to ensure adequate time for
all vessel owners to transition to
electronic vessel trip reporting systems,
there will be several training
opportunities available prior to the
delayed implementation date (see
DATES). Training opportunities and
recordings will be available on the MidAtlantic Council’s website (https://
www.mafmc.org/commercial-evtr).

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Comments and Responses
Four comments were received during
the public comment period. One
comment was unrelated to the proposed
action and is not considered further.
Comment: Two comments were
received from for-hire vessel operators
in the mid-Atlantic suggesting that 48
hours was an insufficient amount of
time for operators to submit vessel trip
reports following the end of a trip. In
addition, these comments suggested that
the reports were redundant, difficult to
fill out, and that filling out the report at
sea was unsafe.
Response: For-hire vessel operators
with Mid-Atlantic Council-managed
permits have been required to submit
vessel trip reports electronically within
48 hours of the end of a trip since March
2018. Since then, the majority of these
reports (70 percent) have been
submitted within 1 day, with nearly 80
percent of reports submitted within the
required 48 hours. The requirement to
have vessel trip reports filled out with
all information that is ascertainable
prior to entering port is a long-standing
requirement and is not being changed in
this action. Finally, many of the
electronic reporting applications use
favorites, frequently used responses,
auto-population, and drop-down
features to streamline reporting and
minimize the number of fields that need
to be individually key-punched. Vessel
operators should review all available
applications to determine which is
easiest for them to use.
Comment: A comment was received
from the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s
Association supporting the shift to
electronic reporting and encouraging
ample outreach and training
opportunities prior to the rule becoming
effective. The Association also
recommends that electronic reporting
should not require expensive software

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or additional hardware that vessel
owners are required to obtain.
Response: As noted above, we intend
to offer many training opportunities and
have delayed implementation of the
requirements until November 10, 2021.
In addition, most approved electronic
reporting applications can be used on a
mobile phone or a variety of tablets
(both iOS and Android options are
available). As such, vessel owners will
likely be able to download their desired
application onto a device that they
already own.
Classification
NMFS is issuing this rule pursuant to
section 304(b)(1)(A) of the MagnusonStevens Act, which provides specific
authority for implementing this action.
Section 304(b)(1)(A) authorizes NMFS
to issue regulations to implement
approved Council recommendations.
NMFS is extending the requirements of
this action to vessels issued for-hire
permits for New England Council
fisheries pursuant to 305(d) of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act. This action is
necessary to carry out the intention of
the Councils to make reporting
requirements across all fishery
management plans and sectors
consistent and to minimize confusion
among industry stakeholders. The
NMFS Assistant Administrator has
determined that this final rule is
consistent with the Joint Omnibus
Electronic Vessel Trip Reporting
Framework Adjustment; the Fishery
Management Plans for (1) Atlantic
herring, (2) Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish,
(3) Northeast Multispecies, (4) Surfclam
and Ocean Quahog, (5) Atlantic
Bluefish, (6) Atlantic Deep-Sea Red
Crab, (7) Atlantic Sea Scallop, (8)
Summer Flounder, Scup, Black Sea
Bass, (9) Monkfish, (10) Northeast Skate
Complex, (11) Spiny Dogfish, and (12)
Tilefish; other provisions of the
Magnuson-Stevens Act; and other
applicable law.
This final rule has been determined to
be not significant for purposes of
Executive Order (E.O.) 12866. This final
rule is considered an Executive Order
13771 deregulatory action.
This proposed rule does not contain
policies with Federalism or takings
implications as those terms are defined
in E.O. 13132 and E.O. 12630,
respectively.
The Chief Counsel for Regulation of
the Department of Commerce certified
to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the
Small Business Administration during
the proposed rule stage that this action
would not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities. The factual basis for the

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certification was published in the
proposed rule and is not repeated here.
No comments were received regarding
this certification. As a result, a
regulatory flexibility analysis was not
required and none was prepared.
This final rule does not contain a
change to a collection of information
requirement for purposes of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The
existing collection of information
requirements would continue to apply
under the following OMB Control
Number(s): 0648–0202, Greater Atlantic
Region Permit Family of Forms.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648
Fisheries, Fishing, Recordkeeping,
and reporting requirements.
Dated: November 3, 2020.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for
Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.

For the reasons stated in the
preamble, 50 CFR part 648 is amended
as follows:
PART 648—FISHERIES OF THE
NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
1. The authority citation for part 648
continues to read as follows:

■

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

2. In § 648.7, revise paragraphs (b)(1),
(c), and (d), remove and reserve
paragraph (e)(2), and revise paragraph
(f)(2) to read as follows:

■

§ 648.7 Recordkeeping and reporting
requirements.

*

*
*
*
*
(b) * * *
(1) Fishing Vessel Trip Reports. The
owner or operator of any vessel issued
a valid permit, or eligible to renew a
limited access permit under this part
must maintain on board the vessel, and
submit, an accurate fishing log report for
each fishing trip, regardless of species
fished for or taken, by electronic means.
This report must be entered into and
submitted through a software
application approved by NMFS. The
reporting requirements specified in
paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section for an
owner or operator of a vessel fishing for,
possessing, or landing Atlantic chub
mackerel are effective through
December 31, 2020.
(i) Vessel owners or operators. With
the exception of those vessel owners or
operators fishing under a surfclam or
ocean quahog permit, at least the
following information as applicable and
any other information required by the
Regional Administrator must be
provided:

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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 218 / Tuesday, November 10, 2020 / Rules and Regulations
(A) Vessel name;
(B) USCG documentation number (or
state registration number, if
undocumented);
(C) Permit number;
(D) Date/time sailed;
(E) Date/time landed;
(F) Trip type;
(G) Number of crew;
(H) Number of anglers (if a charter or
party boat);
(I) Gear fished;
(J) Quantity and size of gear;
(K) Mesh/ring size;
(L) Chart area fished;
(M) Average depth;
(N) Latitude/longitude;
(O) Total hauls per area fished;
(P) Average tow time duration;
(Q) Hail weight, in pounds (or count
of individual fish, if a party or charter
vessel), by species, of all species, or
parts of species, such as monkfish
livers, landed or discarded; and, in the
case of skate discards, ‘‘small’’ (i.e., less
than 23 inches (58.42 cm), total length)
or ‘‘large’’ (i.e., 23 inches (58.42 cm) or
greater, total length) skates;
(R) Dealer permit number;
(S) Dealer name;
(T) Date sold, port and state landed;
and
(U) Vessel operator’s name, signature,
and operator’s permit number (if
applicable).
(ii) Atlantic mackerel owners or
operators. The owner or operator of a
vessel issued a limited access Atlantic
mackerel permit must report catch
(retained and discarded) of Atlantic
mackerel daily via VMS, unless
exempted by the Regional
Administrator. The report must include
at least the following information, and
any other information required by the
Regional Administrator: Fishing Vessel
Trip Report serial number; month, day,
and year Atlantic mackerel was caught;
total pounds of Atlantic mackerel
retained and total pounds of all fish
retained. Daily Atlantic mackerel VMS
catch reports must be submitted in 24hr intervals for each day and must be
submitted by 0900 hr on the following
day. Reports are required even if
Atlantic mackerel caught that day have
not yet been landed. This report does
not exempt the owner or operator from
other applicable reporting requirements
of this section.
(iii) Surfclam and Ocean Quahog
owners or operators. The owner or
operator of any vessel conducting any
surfclam and ocean quahog fishing
operations must provide at least the
following information and any other
information required by the Regional
Administrator:
(A) Name and permit number of the
vessel;

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(B) Total amount in bushels of each
species taken;
(C) Date(s) caught;
(D) Time at sea;
(E) Duration of fishing time;
(F) Locality fished;
(G) Crew size;
(H) Crew share by percentage;
(I) Landing port;
(J) Date sold;
(K) Price per bushel;
(L) Buyer;
(M) Tag numbers from cages used;
(N) Quantity of surfclams and ocean
quahogs discarded; and
(O) Allocation permit number.
(iv) Private tilefish recreational vessel
owners and operators. The owner or
operator of any fishing vessel that holds
a Federal private recreational tilefish
permit, must report for each recreational
trip fishing for or retaining blueline or
golden tilefish in the Tilefish
Management Unit. The required Vessel
Trip Report must be submitted by
electronic means. This report must be
submitted through a NMFS-approved
electronic reporting system within 24
hours of the trip returning to port. The
vessel operator may keep paper records
while onboard and upload the data after
landing. The report must contain the
following information:
(A) Vessel name;
(B) USCG documentation number (or
state registration number, if
undocumented);
(C) Permit number;
(D) Date/time sailed;
(E) Date/time landed;
(F) Trip type;
(G) Number of anglers;
(H) Species;
(I) Gear fished;
(J) Quantity and size of gear;
(K) Soak time;
(L) Depth;
(M) Chart Area;
(N) Latitude/longitude where fishing
occurred;
(O) Count of individual golden and
blueline tilefish landed or discarded;
and
(P) Port and state landed.
*
*
*
*
*
(c) When to fill out a vessel trip report.
Vessel trip reports required by
paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section must
be filled out with all required
information, except for information not
yet ascertainable, prior to entering port.
Information that may be considered
unascertainable prior to entering port
includes dealer name, dealer permit
number, and date sold. Vessel trip
reports must be completed as soon as
the information becomes available.
Vessel trip reports required by

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paragraph (b)(1)(iii) of this section must
be filled out before landing any
surfclams or ocean quahogs.
(d) Inspection. Upon the request of an
authorized officer or an employee of
NMFS designated by the Regional
Administrator to make such inspections,
all persons required to submit reports
under this part must make immediately
available for inspection reports, and all
records upon which those reports are or
will be based, that are required to be
submitted or kept under this part.
*
*
*
*
*
(f) * * *
(2) Fishing vessel trip reports—(i)
Timing requirements. For any vessel
issued a valid commercial or charter/
party permit, or eligible to renew a
limited access permit under this part,
fishing vessel trip reports, required by
paragraph (b)(1) of this section, must be
submitted within 48 hours at the
conclusion of a trip.
(ii) Commercial trips. For the
purposes of paragraph (f)(2) of this
section, the date when fish are offloaded
from a commercial vessel will establish
the conclusion of a commercial trip.
(iii) Charter/party trips. For the
purposes of paragraph (f)(2) of this
section, the date a charter/party vessel
enters port will establish the conclusion
of a for-hire trip.
(iv) Private recreational tilefish trips.
Private recreational tilefish electronic
log reports, required by paragraph
(b)(1)(iv) of this section, must be
submitted within 24 hours after entering
port at the conclusion of a trip.
*
*
*
*
*
[FR Doc. 2020–24921 Filed 11–9–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 665
[Docket No. 201102–0284]
RIN 0648–BH61

Pacific Island Fisheries; Swordfish Trip
Limits in the American Samoa Pelagic
Longline Fishery
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:

This final rule removes the
swordfish retention limit in the
American Samoa deep-set longline
fishery. The intent of this rule is to

SUMMARY:

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