Proposed 2026 Chub Mackerel, Squid, Butterfish Fishery Specifications

Content

ACTION:

Proposed rule; request for comments.

SUMMARY:

NMFS proposes specifications for the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), as recommended by the
Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This action proposes new 2026 and projected 2027-2028 specifications for
the chub mackerel and Illex squid fisheries and reaffirms previously-projected 2026 specifications for the longfin squid and butterfish fisheries. These
specifications are intended to establish allowable harvest levels that will prevent overfishing, consistent with the most
recent scientific information.

DATES:

Public comments must be received by April 15, 2026.

ADDRESSES:

A plain language summary of this proposed rule is available at: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/NOAA-NMFS-2025-0768. You may submit comments on this document, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2025-0768, by any of the following methods:

Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Visit https://www.regulations.gov and type NOAA-NMFS-2025-0768 in the Search box. Click on the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach
your comments.

Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may
not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted for public viewing
at: https://www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying information (e.g., name, address), confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily by the sender
will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter “N/A” in the required fields if you wish to remain
anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Maria Fenton, Fishery Policy Analyst, (978) 281-9196.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

NMFS manages the Atlantic mackerel, chub mackerel, Illex squid, longfin squid, and butterfish fisheries pursuant to the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan (the
FMP) in consultation with the Council. Regulations implementing the FMP appear at 50 CFR part 648, subpart B. In 2024, the
most recent year for which complete revenue data are available, the FMP supported commercial fisheries producing an overall
$41.9 million in revenues.

Section 302(g)(1)(B) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) states that the
Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) for each regional fishery management council shall provide its council with ongoing
scientific advice for fishery management decisions, including recommendations for acceptable biological catch (ABC), preventing
overfishing, ensuring maximum sustainable yield (MSY), and achieving rebuilding targets. The ABC is a level of catch that
accounts for the scientific uncertainty in the estimate of the stock's defined overfishing limit (OFL). Specifications regulations
at § 648.22 require the Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Monitoring Committee (Monitoring Committee) to meet annually to develop
specifications recommendations for each species managed under the FMP. The Council must review these suggestions, as well
as any public comments regarding them, and recommend to the Regional Administrator specifications and additional measures
necessary to assure that annual catch limits (ACL) will not be exceeded.

NMFS proposes to implement the Council's recommended chub mackerel and Illex squid fishery specifications and reaffirms the intention to implement previously-projected 2026 longfin squid and butterfish
fishery specifications pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which authorizes the Secretary to implement
management measures necessary to carry out an approved fishery management plan. Specifications for Atlantic mackerel will
be proposed through a separate rulemaking.

Fishery Specifications

Proposed 2026 and Projected 2027-2028 Chub Mackerel Fishery Specifications

Chub mackerel has never been assessed, and recent efforts to develop a data-limited assessment approach for the stock were
unsuccessful. In May 2025, the SSC reviewed: (1) updated fishery data; (2) Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Advisory Panel
(AP) input; and (3) staff recommendations for chub mackerel. Since the stock was added to the FMP in 2020, the ABC has been
held constant at 2,300 metric tons (mt). There is little biological information available for chub mackerel, but, given that
the species tends to be highly productive in other parts of the world and vessels in the Greater Atlantic Region are relatively
limited in their ability to target the stock, the SSC determined that it was unlikely that overfishing would occur under the
existing ABC. Because of this consideration, and because there was insufficient new information to justify changes to the
ABC, the SSC recommended maintaining the 2,300 mt ABC during 2026-2028.

The Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Monitoring Committee reviewed the SSC's ABC advice and recommended keeping the remaining
chub mackerel specifications status quo during 2026-2028. During its June 2025 meeting, the Council reviewed: (1) updated
fishery data; (2) AP, SSC, and Monitoring Committee advice; and (3) staff recommendations and recommended that NMFS maintain
the status quo chub mackerel specifications during 2026-2028 (table 1). We are proposing to

  adopt the Council's recommended specifications for chub mackerel.

| Specification | 2025 | Proposed 2026 | Projected 2027-2028 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ABC | 2,300 | 2,300 | 2,300 |
| ACL | 2,262 | 2,262 | 2,262 |
| Annual catch target (ACT) | 2,171 | 2,171 | 2,171 |
| Total allowable landings (TAL) | 2,041 | 2,041 | 2,041 |

Proposed 2026 and Projected 2027-2028 Illex Squid Fishery Specifications

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center (Science Center) completed the most recent management track assessment for Illex squid in June 2025. There is no accepted stock assessment model for Illex squid; therefore, reference points for the stock cannot be determined and stock status continues to be unknown. Updated fishery
data revealed that average annual U.S. landings of Illex squid during 2022-2024 (5,920 mt per year) were lower than average annual landings during the full 1987-2024 time series (13,365
mt per year). Additionally, fall survey biomass during 2022-2024 (0.49 kilograms (kg) per tow) was lower than average fall
survey biomass during the full 1987-2024 time series (1.30 kg per tow).

To accompany the assessment, the Science Center also produced a report evaluating alternative 2025 catch limits for the Illex squid fishery. Because there are no biological reference points for the Illex squid stock, this report uses alternative metrics (i.e., escapement level and the ratio of fishing mortality (F) to natural mortality (M)) to estimate the risk of overfishing at different
ABC levels. This approach has been used by the SSC for establishing Illex squid ABCs since 2020, and the most recent version of the report incorporates updated data through 2024.

In July 2025, the SSC reviewed the results of the assessment and the alternative catch limit report and recommended maintaining
a status quo ABC of 40,000 mt during 2026-2028. The SSC determined that a 40,000-mt ABC would result in a low probability
of the fishery falling below an escapement threshold of 40 percent (i.e., the threshold used in management of other global squid fisheries) and only a moderate risk of exceeding an F:M ratio of 2:3
(i.e., the threshold used to manage other forage finfish species). Because of this, the SSC concluded that a 40,000-mt ABC was likely
to result in a low risk of overfishing. Additionally, given the high level of uncertainty associated with the Illex squid stock assessment and the alternative catch limit analyses, the SSC determined that an increase in the ABC was not justified.

The Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Monitoring Committee reviewed the SSC's ABC advice and recommended keeping the remainder
of the Illex fishery specifications status quo during 2026-2028. The commercial discard set-aside (1,369 mt) was calculated based on average
annual discards during 2018-2019, a time when the Illex squid fishery was highly productive and observer coverage was relatively high. The Monitoring Committee concluded that maintaining
a discard set-aside that was calculated based on data from this time period should help to ensure that catch stays below the
ABC should Illex squid become highly available again in the future. During its August 2025 meeting, the Council reviewed: (1) updated fishery
data; (2) AP, SSC, and Monitoring Committee advice; and (3) staff recommendations and recommended that NMFS maintain the status
quo Illex squid specifications during 2026-2028 (table 2). We are proposing to adopt the Council's recommended specifications for Illex squid.

| Specification | 2025 | Proposed 2026 | Projected 2027-2028 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| OFL | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| ABC | 40,000 | 40,000 | 40,000 |
| Commercial discard set-aside | 1,369 | 1,369 | 1,369 |
| Commercial discard set-aside (percent) | 3.42% | 3.42% | 3.42% |
| Initial optimum yield (IOY) | 38,631 | 38,631 | 38,631 |
| Research set-aside (RSA) * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Domestic annual harvest (DAH)/domestic annual processing (DAP) | 38,631 | 38,631 | 38,631 |
| * The Council's RSA program has been suspended since 2014. | | | |

Reaffirmed 2026 Longfin Squid Fishery Specifications

Projected 2026 longfin squid fishery specifications were set through the final rule implementing 2024-2026 specifications
for the FMP (July 23, 2024, 89 FR 59678).

During its May 2025 meeting, the SSC reviewed updated fishery data, AP input, and staff recommendations for longfin squid.
A longfin squid research track assessment is currently ongoing and scheduled to be completed this year. The Science Center's
most recent management track assessment for longfin squid in 2023 indicated that the stock is not overfished and it is unknown
whether overfishing is occurring. Survey and fishery data suggest that longfin squid abundance has fluctuated but remained
relatively stable, with no clear trends displayed over time. The SSC concluded that there

  was insufficient new information to justify changes to the ABC and recommended maintaining the projected ABC of 23,400 mt
  for 2026.

The Monitoring Committee reviewed the SSC's ABC advice and recommended reaffirming the remaining 2026 longfin squid specifications
as projected. During its June 2025 meeting, the Council reviewed: (1) updated fishery data; (2) AP, SSC, and Monitoring Committee
advice; and (3) staff recommendations and recommended that NMFS reaffirm the projected 2026 longfin squid specifications without
changes. Relative to the 2025 longfin squid specifications, the reaffirmed 2026 specifications would remain status quo (tables
3 and 4). We are announcing our intention to adopt the Council's recommendation to reaffirm the projected 2026 longfin squid
specifications.

| Specification | 2025 | Reaffirmed 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| OFL | Unknown | Unknown |
| ABC | 23,400 | 23,400 |
| Commercial discard set-aside | 506.3 | 506.3 |
| Commercial discard set-aside (%) | 2.16% | 2.16% |
| IOY | 22,893.70 | 22,893.70 |
| RSA * | 0 | 0 |
| DAH/DAP | 22,893.70 | 22,893.70 |
| * The Council's RSA program has been suspended since 2014. | | |

| Trimester | Percent of quota | Metric tons |
| --- | --- | --- |
| I (January-April) | 43 | 9,844.30 |
| II (May-August) | 17 | 3,891.90 |
| III (September-December) | 40 | 9,157.50 |
| Total | 100 | 22,893.70 |

Reaffirmed 2026 Butterfish Fishery Specifications

Projected 2026 butterfish fishery specifications were set through the final rule implementing 2025-2026 specifications for
the FMP (90 FR 45674; September 23, 2025). During its May 2025 meeting, the SSC reviewed updated fishery data, AP input, and
staff recommendations for butterfish. According to the Science Center's most recent 2024 management track assessment, butterfish
is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The assessment also indicated that spawning stock biomass is well above
the biomass target and fishing mortality is well below the overfishing threshold proxy, but it acknowledged that there is
considerable uncertainty associated with estimates of natural mortality and survey catchability. The SSC noted that while
the exact scale of the population is unknown, stock status is perceived to be favorable and catch has remained well below
allowable levels in recent years. Therefore, the SSC concluded that there was insufficient new information to justify changes
to the ABC and recommended maintaining the projected ABC of 13,842 mt for 2026.

The Monitoring Committee reviewed the SSC's ABC advice and recommended reaffirming the remaining 2026 butterfish specifications
as projected. During its June 2025 meeting, the Council reviewed: (1) updated fishery data; (2) AP, SSC, and Monitoring Committee
advice; and (3) staff recommendations and recommended that NMFS reaffirm the projected 2026 butterfish specifications without
changes (tables 5 and 6). We are announcing our intention to adopt the Council's recommendation to reaffirm the prior projected
2026 butterfish specifications.

| Specification | 2025 | Reaffirmed 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| OFL | 17,587 | 14,224 |
| ABC/ACL | 17,115 | 13,842 |
| ACT buffer | 0 | 0 |
| ACT buffer (%) | 0 | 0% |
| ACT | 17,115 | 13,842 |
| RSA * | 0 | 0 |
| Total allowable level of foreign fishing (TALFF) | 0 | 0 |
| Butterfish cap in longfin squid fishery | 3,884 | 3,884 |
| Assumed other discards | 1,907 | 1,907 |
| Total discard set-aside (all sources) | 5,791 | 5,791 |
| DAH/DAP | 11,324 | 8,051 |
| Closure threshold (amount caught) | 10,324 | 7,051 |
| * The Council's RSA program has been suspended since 2014. | | |

| Trimester | Percent | Metric tons |
| --- | --- | --- |
| I (January-April) | 43 | 1,670 |
| II (May-August) | 17 | 660 |
| III (September-December) | 40 | 1,554 |
| Total | 100 | 3,884 |
The reaffirmed 2026 butterfish fishery specifications would be reduced relative to the 2025 specifications. The ABC, ACL,
and ACT would decrease by 19 percent, and the DAH would decrease by 29 percent. However, in recent years commercial butterfish
landings have been well below the DAH and catch has been well below the ACL, so these reductions in butterfish fishery specifications
are not expected to be limiting for the fishery.

Classification

NMFS is issuing this rule pursuant to section 305(d) of the Magnuson Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1855(d)). In a previous action
taken pursuant to section 304(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1854(b)), the FMP and implementing regulations created
the process by which specifications are developed through a NMFS rulemaking process distinct from that of 304(b). See 50 CFR
648.22. The NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is consistent with the Mackerel, Squid, and
Butterfish FMP, other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law, subject to further consideration after
public comment.

This proposed rule is exempt from review under Executive Order (E.O.) 12866.

This proposed rule is exempt from E.O. 14192 because it is not significant under E.O. 12866.

The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities. The purpose, context, and statutory basis for this action is described above and not repeated here. Business
entities affected by this action include vessels that are issued Federal limited access and/or open access commercial Atlantic
mackerel, Illex squid, longfin squid, or butterfish permits. In order to fish for, possess, or land chub mackerel from the Exclusive Economic
Zone portion of the Atlantic Chub Mackerel Management Unit, a vessel must be issued a Federal mackerel, squid, or butterfish
permit. Therefore, although Atlantic mackerel fishery specifications are not included in this action, vessels that are issued
Federal Atlantic mackerel permits are included as business entities affected by this action because those vessels may use
their Atlantic mackerel permits in order to access chub mackerel. Additionally, although recreational chub mackerel catch
also counts against the chub mackerel ACL that would be implemented through this action, vessels that are issued charter/party
permits for mackerel, squid, and butterfish are not expected to be impacted by this action because it does not contain changes
to management measures specific to recreational fishing.

In 2015, NMFS issued a final rule establishing a small business size standard of $11 million in annual gross receipts for
all businesses primarily engaged in the commercial or for-hire fishing industry (North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS) code 11411) for Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) compliance purposes only. The $11 million standard became effective
on July 1, 2016. The RFA defines a small business in either the commercial or for-hire fishery as a firm that is independently
owned and operated with receipts of less than $11 million annually. Individually permitted vessels may hold permits for several
fisheries, harvesting species of fish that are regulated by several different fishery management plans, even beyond those
impacted by the proposed action. Furthermore, multiple permitted vessels and/or permits may be owned by entities affiliated
by stock ownership, common management, identity of interest, contractual relationships, or economic dependency.

For the purposes of this analysis, “ownership entities” are defined as those entities with common ownership as listed on the
permit application. On June 1 of each year, ownership entities are identified based on a list of all permits for the most
recent complete calendar year. The current ownership dataset is based on the calendar year 2024 permits and contains average
gross sales associated with those permits for calendar years 2020 through 2024. In 2024, there were 1,650 active Federal commercial
mackerel, squid, and butterfish permits. Approximately 1,241 entities held these permits, and based on NMFS size standards,
1,232 would be qualified as small business entities.

Fishing revenue and, therefore, the economic impacts of annual chub mackerel, Illex squid, longfin squid, and butterfish specifications depend upon species availability and ex-vessel price, which may change
annually. This action is not expected to have negative impacts on any participating entities. The chub mackerel, Illex squid, and longfin squid fishery specifications that would be implemented through this action would remain status quo relative
to 2025. The 2026 butterfish specifications that would be reaffirmed through this action would be reduced relative to 2025.
However, in recent years commercial butterfish landings have been well below the DAH. From 2019-2024, only 6.2-24.5 percent
of the DAH was caught annually, which resulted in annual landings ranging from 718-3,442 mt. Because the reaffirmed 2026 butterfish
specifications would be substantially higher than recent annual butterfish landings, implementation of these new specifications
is not expected to result in a reduction in butterfish fishery landings. Therefore, the reaffirmed 2026 butterfish fishery
specifications are not expected to be limiting for participating entities because they would still allow for a higher harvest
level than the fishery has recently achieved. For this reason, the proposed 2026 butterfish specifications are not expected
to result in negative economic impacts for participating entities.

In determining the significance of the economic impacts of the proposed action, NMFS considered the following two criteria
outlined in applicable NMFS guidance: (1) disproportionality; and (2) profitability. The chub mackerel, Illex squid, and longfin squid fishery specifications for 2026 would remain status quo relative to the 2025 specifications and are
therefore not expected to have an economic impact on any of the fishery participants. Additionally, the 2026 butterfish specifications
are not expected to have an economic impact on any of the

  fishery participants because NMFS expects the actual landings to remain lower than what the proposed specifications would
  permit based on the landings from 2019-2024. Because there are no expected economic impacts on any of the fishery participants,
  there would be no disproportionate economic effects from this action between small and large entities. The proposed measures
  would not: (1) reduce fishing opportunities relative to recent chub mackerel, *Illex* squid, longfin squid, or butterfish landings; (2) change any entity's access to these resources; or (3) impose any costs on
  affected entities. Therefore, the proposed measures also would not result in reduced profitability for affected entities.
  As a result, an initial regulatory flexibility analysis is not required and none has been prepared.

This proposed rule contains no information collection requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

NMFS has determined that this action would not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian Tribes, on the relationship
between the Federal Government and Indian Tribes, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal
Government and Indian Tribes; therefore, consultation with Tribal officials under E.O. 13175 is not required, and the requirements
of sections (5)(b) and (5)(c) of E.O. 13175 also do not apply. A Tribal summary impact statement under section (5)(b)(2)(B)
and section (5)(c)(2)(B) of E.O. 13175 is not required and has not been prepared.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: March 11, 2026. Samuel D. Rauch III, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 2026-05050 Filed 3-13-26; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-22-P

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