[Federal Register: November 21, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 224)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 65539-65556]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21no07-30]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 679
[Docket No. 070711313-7637-03]
RIN 0648-AV62
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish,
Crab, Salmon, and Scallop Fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian
Islands Management Area
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS issues a proposed rule that would implement Amendment 88
to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and
Aleutian Islands Management Area. This amendment, if approved, would
revise the Aleutian Islands Habitat Conservation Area (AIHCA) boundary
to allow nonpelagic trawling in an area historically fished and to
prohibit nonpelagic trawling in an area of known coral and sponge
occurrence. This action is necessary to ensure the AIHCA protects areas
of coral and sponge habitat from the potential effects of nonpelagic
trawling and allow nonpelagic trawling in areas historically fished and
without evidence of coral and sponge occurrence.
DATES: Written comments must be received by January 7, 2008.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by 0648-AV62, by any one
of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov;
Mail: Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional Administrator,
Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668,
Juneau, AK 99802; Attn: Ellen Sebastian, Records Officer;
Hand delivery: 709 West 9th Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK;
or
Fax: 907-586-7557, Attention: Sue Salveson.
Instructions: All comments received are a part of the public record
and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without
change. All Personal Identifying Information (for example, name,
address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly
accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information. NMFS will accept
anonymous comments. Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted
in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
Copies of the map of the AIHCA and the Environmental Assessment/
Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (EA/
RIR/IRFA) for this action may be obtained from the addresses stated
above or from the Alaska Region NMFS website at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melanie Brown, 907-586-7228 or email
at melanie.brown@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The groundfish, crab, scallop, and salmon
fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off Alaska are managed
under their respective fishery management plans (FMPs). The North
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared the FMPs under
the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). Regulations implementing the
FMPs appear at 50 CFR parts 679 and 680. General regulations governing
U.S. fisheries also appear at 50 CFR part 600. The groundfish fishery
restrictions for the AIHCA described in the groundfish FMP are
implemented by regulations at 50 CFR part 679. Revisions to the AIHCA
also are described in the proposed Amendment 23 to the FMP for BSAI
King and Tanner Crabs, Amendment 12 to the FMP for Scallop Fisheries
off Alaska, and Amendment 9 to the FMP for Salmon Fisheries in the
Exclusive Economic Zone off the Coast of Alaska. No regulatory
amendments are needed for implementing these FMP amendments due to a
prohibition on using nonpelagic trawl gear in the crab, scallop, and
salmon fisheries.
The Council has submitted the amendments for the AIHCA revision for
review by the Secretary of Commerce, and a Notice of Availability of
the amendments was published in the Federal Register on November 13,
2007 (72 FR 63871), with comments on the amendments invited through
January 14, 2008. Comments may address the FMP amendments, the proposed
rule, or both, but must be received by January 7, 2008, to be
considered in the approval/disapproval decision on the FMP amendments.
All comments received by that time, whether specifically directed to
the FMP amendments or to the proposed rule, will be considered in the
approval/disapproval decision on the FMP amendments.
Background
In 2006, NMFS implemented essential fish habitat (EFH) protection
measures for the Aleutian Islands subarea and adjacent State of Alaska
(State) waters (71 FR 36694, June 28, 2006, and corrected at 72 FR
63500, November 9, 2007). The background on the development of the EFH
protection measures is available in the proposed rule for that action
(71 FR 14470, March 22, 2006). The EFH protection measures prohibited
nonpelagic trawling within the AIHCA. The AIHCA is the Aleutian
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Islands subarea and adjacent State waters except for specific sites
that remain open to nonpelagic trawling. Locations open to nonpelagic
trawling in the AIHCA included areas without known occurrences of coral
and sponge habitat and where nonpelagic trawling previously occurred. A
map of the AIHCA is available from the NMFS Alaska Region website at
http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/habitat/efh/aihca.pdf.
In March 2007, the Council recommended two revisions to the
boundaries of the AIHCA. These revisions were developed in response to
corrections provided by the nonpelagic trawl industry regarding fishing
locations and additional information on coral and sponge occurrence in
the Aleutian Islands.
The two revisions would revise the AIHCA boundaries near Agattu
Island and Buldir Island (see figure below). The proposed rule would
prohibit nonpelagic trawling in an area west of Buldir Island and would
permit nonpelagic trawling in an area north of Agattu Island.
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NMFS is proposing to open the area near Agattu Island to nonpelagic
trawling because no evidence of coral or sponge habitat exists in this
area, and nonpelagic trawling historically has occurred in this
location. NMFS is proposing to close the area near Buldir Island
because NMFS surveys show corals and sponges occur in this area.
Anecdotal information also indicated that nonpelagic trawlers avoid the
proposed Buldir Island closure area to protect fishing gear from damage
by bottom structures. Details of the fishing history and biological
features of these sites are available in the EA/RIR/IRFA for this
action (see ADDRESSES).
The proposed rule would revise the coordinates for the boundaries
of the AIHCA near Agattu Island and Buldir Island. Table 24 to 50 CFR
part 679 contains coordinates for sites where nonpelagic trawling is
permitted in the AIHCA. Table 24 would be revised to specify the
coordinates near Agattu and Buldir Islands to adjust the boundaries of
the AIHCA to allow for nonpelagic trawling near Agattu Island and
prohibit nonpelagic trawling near Buldir Island, as shown in the figure
above. The proposed rule would modify the coordinates for the Buldir
and Semichi areas listed on Table 24. The Semichi area includes the
waters near Agattu Island proposed to be opened to nonpelagic trawling.
Because the proposed rule would divide the Buldir Island open area into
two areas to allow for the closure area, the proposed rule would add
the West Buldir site to Table 24. The proposed rule also would remove
the site number for each site because the site number serves no
additional purpose in the identification of the site beyond that
provided by the site name. The proposed rule also would remove from
Table 24 two redundant sets of coordinates for the Buldir site because
they are not necessary to accurately describe the boundaries.
Classification
Pursuant to section 304 (b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the
NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is
consistent with Amendment 88 to the FMP for Groundfish of the BSAI,
other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens
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Act, and other applicable law, subject to further consideration after
public comment.
This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for
the purposes of Executive Order 12866.
NMFS prepared an initial regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA), as
required by section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). The
IRFA describes the economic impact this proposed rule, if adopted,
would have on small entities. Descriptions of the action, the reasons
it is under consideration, and its objectives and legal basis, are
contained earlier in the preamble and in the SUMMARY section of the
preamble. A summary of the analysis follows. A copy of this analysis is
available from NMFS (see ADDRESSES).
Vessels were considered small, according to the Small Business
Administration (SBA) criteria, if they had estimated 2004 gross
revenues less than or equal to $4 million, and were not known to be
affiliated with other firms whose combined receipts exceeded $4
million.
Ten vessels that qualify as small entities under SBA criteria are
directly regulated by this action. Six of these vessels are catcher
vessels, and four are catcher/processors. Average gross revenues in
2005 were about $1,400,000 for the catcher vessels and about $2,200,000
for the catcher/processors.
This regulation does not impose new recordkeeping and reporting
requirements on the regulated small entities.
The IRFA did not reveal any Federal rules that duplicate, overlap,
or conflict with the proposed action.
The Council considered one alternative (Alternative 1, no action)
to the preferred alternative for this action. The boundaries of the
opened and closed areas were based on information provided by the
fishing industry regarding historical fishing activity and on NMFS
survey information regarding coral and sponge location. This is the
method of boundary identification used in the original EFH rule for the
AIHCA. Because this is a correction to that rule, the identification of
boundaries for the opened and closed areas for this action is based on
the same method. No other alternatives were identified because the
action is an adjustment to the AIHCA boundaries based on corrected
fishing information and NMFS survey information, and no additional
information regarding adjustments to the AIHCA was available. No other
boundaries of the opened or closed areas for the AIHCA were considered
because no additional information was available to support other
boundary alternatives.
The status quo condition of the fishery should be based on the 2006
fishery because of the recent implementation of the EFH protection
measures (71 FR 36694, June 28, 2006), but 2006 data were not yet
available for the analysis. Therefore, 2001 through 2005 data were used
as a proxy for status quo. Vessel monitoring system (VMS) and NMFS
inseason catch data were used to analyze the catches in the proposed
Agattu and Buldir Islands opened and closed areas. These types of data
allowed for determining the fine scale location of fishing activities
in combination with the estimated harvest from the proposed opened and
closed areas.
The no action alternative would not meet the objectives of this
action. The status quo alternative would allow fishing in an area of
known coral and sponge occurrence and would prohibit fishing in an area
that had historical fishing activity. This would not meet the intent of
the Council for the AIHCA and does not meet the objectives of the
action to provide continued fishing where historical fishing activity
has occurred and to prohibit fishing where coral and sponges occur.
Moreover, the IRFA did not identify discernable adverse impacts to
small entities from this action. In fact, as noted in the preamble,
this action may have positive benefits for small entities because more
historical fishing activity occurred in the area to be opened by this
action, than in the area to be closed. Vessels that are not small
entities will likely experience the same benefits as small entities by
being allowed to fish in an area historically fished, and no adverse
impacts are expected for these vessels.
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679
Alaska, Fisheries, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.
Dated: November 16, 2007.
Samuel D. Rauch III
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
For reasons set out in the preamble, NMFS proposes to amend 50 CFR
part 679 as follows:
PART 679--FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA
1. The authority citation for part 679 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et seq.; 3631 et seq.;
Pub. L. 108-447
2. Revise Table 24 to part 679 to read as follows:
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[FR Doc. 07-5774 Filed 11-20-07; 8:45 am]
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