Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan and Annual Management Measures - Federal Register Rules and Notices

Final Rule

The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, on behalf of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), publishes as regulations the 2024 annual management measures governing the Pacific halibut fishery that have been recommended by the IPHC and accepted by the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce. These measures are intended to enhance the conservation of Pacific halibut and further the goals and objectives of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPMFC).

Background

The IPHC has recommended regulations that would govern the Pacific halibut fishery in 2024, pursuant to the Convention between Canada and the United States for the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea (Convention), signed at Ottawa, Ontario, on March 2, 1953, as amended by a Protocol Amending the Convention (signed at Washington, D.C., on March 29, 1979).

As provided by the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 (Halibut Act), the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce, may accept or reject, on behalf of the United States, regulations recommended by the IPHC in accordance with the Convention. 16 U.S.C. 773b. The Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce, accepted the 2024 IPHC regulations on March 9, 2024.

The Halibut Act provides the Secretary of Commerce with the authority and general responsibility to carry out the requirements of the Convention and the Halibut Act. The Regional Fishery Management Councils may develop, and the Secretary of Commerce may implement, regulations governing harvesting privileges among U.S. fishermen in U.S. waters that are in addition to, and not in conflict with, approved IPHC regulations. The NPFMC has exercised this authority in developing halibut management programs for three fisheries that harvest halibut in Alaska: the subsistence, sport, and commercial fisheries. The PFMC has exercised this authority by developing a catch sharing plan governing the allocation of halibut and management of sport fisheries on the U.S. West Coast.

The IPHC apportions catch limits for the Pacific halibut fishery among regulatory areas:

• Area 2A (Oregon, Washington, and California)
• Area 2B (British Columbia)
• Area 2C (Southeast Alaska)
• Area 3A (Central Gulf of Alaska)
• Area 3B (Western Gulf of Alaska)
• Area 4 (which is further divided into 5 areas, 4A through 4E, in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands of Western Alaska)

Subsistence and sport halibut fishery regulations for Alaska are codified at 50 CFR part 300. Commercial halibut fisheries off Alaska are subject to regulations resulting from the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program, the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program (50 CFR part 679), and the area-specific catch sharing plans (CSPs) for Areas 2C, 3A, and Areas 4C, 4D, and 4E, respectively.

The NPFMC implemented a CSP among commercial IFQ and CDQ halibut fisheries in IPHC Regulatory Areas 4C, 4D, and 4E (Area 4, Western Alaska) through rulemaking, and the Secretary of Commerce approved the plan on March 20, 1996 (61 FR 11337). The Area 4 CSP regulations are codified at 50 CFR 300.65. New annual regulations pertaining to the Area 4 CSP also may be implemented through IPHC action, subject to acceptance by the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce.

The NPFMC recommended and NMFS implemented through rulemaking a CSP for guided sport (charter) and commercial IFQ halibut fisheries in IPHC Regulatory Areas 2C and 3A on January 13, 2014 (78 FR 75844, December 12, 2013). The Area 2C and 3A CSP regulations are codified at 50 CFR 300.65. The CSP defines an annual process for allocating halibut between the commercial and charter fisheries so that each sector’s allocation varies in proportion to halibut abundance, specifies a public process for setting annual management measures, and authorizes limited annual leases of commercial IFQ for use in the charter fishery as guided angler fish (GAF)