SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Scallop Shack Farms, LLC submitted a complete application for an EFP to conduct commercial fishing activities that the regulations would otherwise restrict. This EFP would exempt the participating vessel from the following Federal regulations: ( printed page 45264)

Project narrative

Scallop Shack Farms, LLC is requesting an EFP in support of a pilot project to evaluate combined scallop and tilefish fishing trips to increase operational efficiency. Combining scallop and tilefish trips would decrease transit time and fuel consumption and increase the profit margin of LAGC vessels that hold commercial/incidental tilefish permits. Currently, 195 vessels hold both LAGC scallop and commercial/incidental tilefish permits. LAGC scallop vessels are prohibited from fishing for, possessing, or landing any species other than scallop or monkfish while fishing in the Georges Bank (GB) and Southern New England (SNE) Scallop Dredge Fishery Exemption Area, and this EFP would allow one participating vessel to fish for, possess, and land both scallops and tilefish. The prohibition on landing species other than scallops and monkfish in the GB/SNE Scallop Dredge Fishery Exemption Area pre-dates Federal regulation of the tilefish fishery and was intended to limit bycatch or targeting of Northeast multispecies. The requested exemption would not introduce restricted fishing gear or incentivize capture of Northeast multispecies. For the participating LAGC scallop vessel, the exemption would instead eliminate the need for a long return trip to land scallops before transiting further offshore to target tilefish. These combination fishing trips would occur year-round with the highest fishing effort between May and October. On fishing trips under this EFP, the participating vessel would first transit to scallop fishing grounds to catch up to the scallop possession limit and then transit further offshore to use bottom longline gear to catch up to the blueline and golden tilefish possession limits. Apart from possessing tilefish while on a LAGC scallop trip, all other regulations would apply, unless otherwise exempted by a separate permit. On trips under this EFP, the vessel operator would record the dock-to-dock distance traveled, fuel consumption and cost, and revenue from scallop and tilefish landings, which could be compared to such metrics from previous separate trips to evaluate cost savings. The vessel owner anticipates that a combined scallop and tilefish trip would save 24 hours of steam time, reducing fuel use by approximately 300 gallons and therefore reducing fuel cost by $1,500 per trip (assuming diesel price of $5/gallon). This exemption could, therefore, reduce costs to the vessel owner by $49,500 across 33 trips.

Under current regulations, LAGC scallop vessels may land up to 600 lb (272 kg) of scallop meats every 24 hours. Frequency of tilefish landings is not explicitly regulated, but because tilefish are found further offshore, these trips in practice take between 24 and 48 hours to complete. The combination trips taken under this EFP would be between 48 and 96 hours long. The applicant anticipates increased efficiency in terms of landings per day-at-sea by converting transit time to time spent fishing and reducing fuel costs. However, these optimized landings do not exceed what is allowable for a vessel under current fishing regulations, and the fishery-wide effects of this vessel's exemption on landings, effort, and fishing behavior would, therefore, be minor.

Per trip, vessels with commercial/incidental tilefish permits may land up to 500 lb (227 kg) of blueline tilefish (or 300 lb (136 kg) if 70 percent of the blueline tilefish commercial total allowable landings (TAL) has been landed). Between 2020 and 2025, the blueline tilefish commercial TAL was exceeded five times, with overages of between 3 and 26 percent. However, starting in 2026 the commercial TAL increased 426 percent from 20,894 lb (9,477 kg) to 109,846 lb (49,825 kg) with no corresponding change in possession limit (91 FR 35897, June 15, 2026). The reduced transit time for this EFP's participating vessel could result in higher annual landings of blueline tilefish. However, due to the very large increase in quota this year, this EFP is not expected to result in a significant increase in landings that would result in an early reduction in possession limits or a commercial TAL overage.

Possession of golden tilefish is limited to either 500 lb (227 kg) or 50 percent, by weight, of the total weight of all species being landed, whichever is less. If the incidental ( i.e., commercial non-Individual Fishing Quota) TAL is reached, the incidental golden tilefish fishery is closed for the remainder of the ( printed page 45265) fishing year. As an accountability measure, any overages would result in a reduction to the incidental quota in the following fishing year. Between 2020 and 2025, the golden tilefish incidental TAL was never exceeded, and the percent of quota landed ranged from 35 percent in 2023 to 93 percent in 2025. The golden tilefish incidental TAL for 2026 remains the same as in 2025 at 68,949 lb (31,275 kg). From 2020 to 2025, vessels with incidental tilefish permits took between 585 and 804 annual trips where golden tilefish were landed, with the number of annual trips tending to increase over time. The 33 trips that may be taken under this EFP would represent approximately 4 percent of this total fishing effort. Between the small scale of this permit (one participating vessel) and existing possession limits on golden tilefish, this EFP is not likely to result in substantially increased golden tilefish landings and a premature incidental closure.

If approved, the applicant may request minor modifications and extensions to the EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and extensions may be granted without further notice if they are deemed essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and have minimal impacts that do not change the scope or impact of the initially approved EFP request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope of the exempted fishing activity would be prohibited.

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

91 FR 45263