[Federal Register: June 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 106)]
[Notices]
[Page 31091-31092]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02jn04-39]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 052604B]
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish
Fisheries Management in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management
Area and the Gulf of Alaska
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has
submitted for Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) review Amendment 81 to
the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the
[[Page 31092]]
Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area (BSAI)
and Amendment 74 to the FMP for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA).
If approved, the amendments would implement a new management policy by
revising the goals and objectives of the management of the groundfish
fisheries. The goals and objectives would provide for a new ecosystem-
based management framework that would serve as the management policy
for the groundfish fisheries into the future. This action will promote
the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the FMPs, and other
applicable laws. Comments from the public are welcome.
DATES: Comments on Amendments 81 and 74 must be submitted by August 2,
2004.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS,
Attn: Lori Durall. Comments may be submitted by:
[bul] Mail to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802;
[bul] Hand delivery to the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street,
Room 420A, Juneau, AK;
[bul] Fax to 907-586-7557; or
[bul] E-mail to 8174-0648-AS14@noaa.gov. Include in the subject
line of the e-mail comments the following document identifier: 81-74
NOA. E-mail comments, with or without attachments, are limited to 5
megabytes.
Copies of Amendments 81 and 74 and the Programmatic Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (PSEIS) for the Alaska Groundfish
Fisheries may be obtained from the NMFS Alaska Region at the address
above or from the Alaska Region website at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/seis/default.htm
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melanie Brown, 907-586-7228 or
melanie.brown@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each
Regional Fishery Management Council submit any FMP amendment it
prepares to the Secretary for review and approval, disapproval, or
partial approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that the
Secretary, upon receiving an FMP amendment, immediately publish a
notice in the Federal Register that the amendment is available for
public review and comment.
The Council prepared and the Secretary approved the FMP for
Groundfish of the GOA in 1978 and the FMP for the Groundfish Fishery of
the BSAI in 1981. Both FMPs have been amended numerous times, and
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental documents have
been prepared for each amendment.
In December 1998, NMFS issued an SEIS for the groundfish fisheries
authorized by the FMPs. The U. S. District Court, Western District of
Washington at Seattle (NO. C98-0492Z) ruled in Greenpeace v. NMFS that
the 1998 SEIS was legally inadequate, and remanded the document to NMFS
for further action consistent with the requirements of NEPA. After an
extensive development and public review process, NMFS has completed a
new PSEIS for the groundfish fisheries (see ADDRESSES). Amendments 81
and 74 are based on the preferred alternative in the PSEIS.
Amendments 81 and 74 were unanimously recommended by the Council in
April 2004. If approved by the Secretary, these amendments would revise
the goals and objectives of the FMPs to implement a new management
policy for the groundfish fisheries. The new management policy would
include consideration of community-based or rights-based management and
ecosystem-based management principles that protect managed species from
overfishing, and where appropriate and practicable, increase habitat
protection and bycatch constraints. All management measures would be
based on the best scientific information available. The fishery
management goals are: (1) sound conservation of the living marine
resources, (2) socially and economically viable fisheries and fishing
communities, (3) minimal human-caused threats to protected species, (4)
healthy marine resource habitat, and (5) ecosystem-based considerations
in management decisions. To meet these goals and to focus the Council's
consideration of potential management measures, Amendments 81 and 74
identify 45 objectives that are grouped under the following nine
subjects: prevent overfishing; promote sustainable fisheries and
communities; preserve the food web; manage incidental catch and reduce
bycatch and waste; avoid impacts to seabirds and marine mammals; reduce
and avoid impacts to habitat; promote equitable and efficient use of
fishery resources; increase Alaska native consultation; and improve
data quality, monitoring, and enforcement. The new management policy
would begin to be implemented immediately upon Secretarial approval and
would be applied to ongoing and future groundfish fisheries management.
The new management policy also would include adaptive management with
regular and periodic reviews, including annual review of the
objectives.
Public comments are being solicited on proposed Amendments 81 and
74 through the end of the comment period stated (see DATES). All
comments received by the end of the comment period on the amendments
will be considered in the approval/partial approval/disapproval
decision. Comments received after that date will not be considered in
the approval/partial approval/disapproval decision on the amendments.
To be considered, comments must be received not just postmarked or
otherwise transmitted by the close of business on the last day of the
comment period.
Dated: May 26, 2004.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 04-12437 Filed 6-1-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S