Commerce Department Proposed Rule

2023-15574: Fisheries Off West Coast States; West Coast Groundfish Electronic Monitoring Program; Service Provider Revisions

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Summary

NMFS proposes regulatory amendments that would apply to Pacific Coast Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program participants and electronic monitoring (EM) service providers that participate in the EM program. This rulemaking proposes to modify submission deadlines in Federal regulations specific to vessel feedback reports, summary reports, and logbook submissions by EM service providers. In addition, this rulemaking proposes to clarify regulations on how EM discard data should be estimated via the video review process. This action is necessary because the current regulatory deadlines for EM service providers may be too restrictive. This action is expected to provide more flexibility, while still meeting the data collection and data quality requirements of the EM program. This action would also update and revise obsolete regulations, correct terminology, correct web addresses, and remove obsolete administrative requirements in the Pacific groundfish fishery. Some aspects of this action remove duplicative requirements for mail notifications or mail-based record- keeping and reporting, which are also undertaken electronically. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many administrative notifications and reporting requirements were moved to electronic methods; this action would revise the regulations to be consistent with current practice. This action is intended to support the overarching goal to continually monitor the Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program for compliance with existing regulations in an economical and flexible manner while meeting the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act; MSA), the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan, and other applicable laws.

The agency’s own summary, as published.

What this changes

Amends 1 part of the Code of Federal Regulations — the standing rules this notice rewrites.

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