[Federal Register: May 22, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 99)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 27972]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22my03-42]
[[Page 27972]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
[I.D.051403C]
RIN 0648-AQ68
Fisheries off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific;
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Amendment 17
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management
plan; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council
(Council) has submitted Amendment 17 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Secretarial review. Amendment 17
would revise the Council's annual groundfish management process so that
it would become a biennial process with a NMFS public notice and
comment period prior to implementation of the biennial specifications
and management measures. Amendment 17 is intended to ensure that the
specifications and management measures process comports with a Court
ruling to make the Council's development process for specifications and
management measures more efficient, and to streamline the NMFS
regulatory process for implementing the specifications and management
measures.
DATES: Comments on Amendment 17 must be received on or before July 21,
2003.
ADDRESSES: Comments on Amendment 17 or supporting documents should be
sent to D. Robert Lohn, Administrator, Northwest Region, NMFS, Sand
Point Way NE., BIN C15700, Seattle, WA 98115-0070; or to Rodney
McInnis, Acting Administrator, Southwest Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean
Boulevard, Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802-4213.
Copies of Amendment 17 and the Environmental Assessment/ Regulatory
Impact Review (EA/RIR) are available from Donald McIsaac, Executive
Director, Pacific Fishery Management Council, 2130 SW Fifth Ave., Suite
224, Portland, OR 97201.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yvonne deReynier (Northwest Region,
NMFS), phone: 206-526-6140; fax: 206-526-6736 and; e-mail:
yvonne.dereynier@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic Access
This Federal Register document is also accessible via the Internet
at the Web site of the Office of the Federal Register's Web site at:
http://www/access/gpo.gov/su_docs/aces140.html.
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires each regional fishery management
council to submit fishery management plans or plan amendments to NMFS
for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The
Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires NMFS, immediately upon receiving a
fishery management plan or amendment, to publish notification in the
Federal Register that the fishery management plan or plan amendment is
available for public review and comment. At the end of the comment
period, NMFS considers the public comments received during the comment
period described above in determining whether to approve, partially
approve, or disapprove the fishery management plan or plan amendment.
Amendment 17 is administrative in nature and is intended to revise
Council and NMFS processes associated with the specifications and
management measures. This annual process establishes harvest
``specifications,'' which are harvest levels or limits such as
acceptable biological catches, optimum yields, or allocations for
different user groups. Management measures, such as trip limits, closed
times and areas, and gear restrictions are also set in the annual
regulatory process. Since 1990, in order to use the most recent
scientific information possible, the Council has annually developed its
recommendations for specifications and management measures in a two-
meeting process (usually its September and November meetings) followed
by a NMFS final action published in the Federal Register and made
available for public comment after the effective date of the action. In
2001, NMFS was challenged on this process in Natural Resources Defense
Council, Inc. v. Evans, 168 F.Supp. 2d 1149 (N.D. Cal. 2001) and the
Court ordered NMFS to provide prior public notice and allow public
comment on the annual specifications. Amendment 17 would amend the
FMP's framework for developing annual specifications and management
measures to include time for NMFS to publish a proposed rule for the
specifications and management measures, followed by a final rule.
In addition to needing to revise the notice and comment procedure
associated with the specifications and management measures, the Council
wished to take a new look at efficiency in the annual management
process. Groundfish management workload levels have grown in recent
years, particularly those associated with setting annual harvest levels
for both depleted and healthy stocks. Because of the increasing
workload associated with developing specifications and management
measures, the Council and NMFS have had less time for addressing many
other important groundfish fishery management issues. NMFS has recently
asked all of the fishery management councils to consider how they might
streamline their processes for developing regulatory recommendations.
Amendment 17 responds to this request by setting the specifications and
management measures process for biennial, rather than annual,
development and implementation.
Public comments on Amendment 17 must be received by July 21, 2003,
to be considered by NMFS in the decision whether to approve,
disapprove, or partially approve Amendment 17. A proposed rule to
implement Amendment 17 has been submitted for Secretarial review and
approval. NMFS expects to publish and request public comment on
proposed regulations to implement Amendment 17 in the near future.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: May 16, 2003.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-12885 Filed 5-21-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S