[Federal Register: November 21, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 225)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 65676-65677]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21no03-17]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 679
[I.D. 110303B]
Groundfish Fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area
and the Gulf of Alaska, King and Tanner Crab Fisheries in the Bering
Sea/Aleutian Islands, Scallop and Salmon Fisheries off the Coast of
Alaska
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notification of a call for proposals for Habitat Areas of
Particular Concern (HAPCs) and associated fishery management measures.
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SUMMARY: NMFS and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council are
soliciting proposals for specific HAPCs that could be identified and
managed within Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) pursuant to the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
The Council has identified two priority habitat types for consideration
during this call for proposals, and the Council plans to solicit
additional proposals every three years.
DATES: Proposals must be submitted by January 10, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Proposals should be submitted to the North Pacific Fishery
Management Council, 605 W. 4th Ave., Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 99501-
2252.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cathy Coon, (907) 271-2809.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulatory guidelines for implementing
the EFH provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act encourage Fishery
Management Councils to identify specific types or areas of habitat
within EFH as HAPCs based on one or more of the following
considerations: (1) The importance of the ecological function provided
by the habitat; (2) The extent to which the habitat is sensitive to
human-induced environmental degradation; (3) Whether, and to what
extent, development activities are, or will be, stressing the habitat
type; and (4) The rarity of the habitat type (50 CFR 600.815(a)(8)).
HAPC designations provide an opportunity for Councils to highlight
especially valuable and/or vulnerable areas within EFH that warrant
priority consideration for conservation and management.
NMFS and the Council are developing an environmental impact
statement (EIS) for the EFH components of Council fishery management
plans (FMPs). As discussed in a previous notification published in the
Federal Register (August 20, 2003, 68 FR 50120), the EIS will evaluate
alternative approaches for identifying HAPCs, and NMFS and the Council
will consider specific HAPC designations in separate National
Environmental Policy Act analyses.
The Council has identified the following two HAPC priority areas
for 2003:
1. Seamounts in the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska, named on
NOAA nautical charts, that provide important habitat for managed
species.
2. Largely undisturbed, high relief, long lived hard coral beds,
with particular attention in the Aleutian Islands, which provide
habitat for life stages of rockfish or other important managed species.
Based upon best available scientific information, nominated coral sites
must have likely or documented presence of Council managed rockfish
species, must be largely undisturbed, and must occur outside core
fishing areas.
NMFS and the Council are soliciting proposals for specific HAPCs.
Proposals will be ranked according to how many of the four HAPC
considerations they meet, with the highest ranking given to proposals
that meet all four. The Council determined that successful proposals
must meet at least two of the four HAPC considerations, and that rarity
of the habitat type will be a mandatory criterion of all HAPC
proposals. Proposals will be screened by Council staff and reviewed by
Council Plan Teams, and then the Council will decide which proposals
warrant detailed analysis and public comment. NMFS will promulgate any
resulting regulations, supported by appropriate analyses, no later than
August 13, 2006. The Council plans to solicit additional HAPC proposals
every three years.
Proposals should include the following information:
1. Name of proposer, address, and affiliation;
2. Title of proposal and a single, brief paragraph concisely
describing the proposed action;
3. Identification of the habitat and FMP species the HAPC proposal
is intended to protect;
4. Statement of purpose and need;
5. Description of whether and how the proposed HAPC addresses the
four considerations set out in the EFH regulations;
6. Specific objectives for the proposal, including proposed
management measures and their specific objectives, if appropriate;
7. Proposed solutions to achieve these objectives (how might the
problem be solved);
8. Methods of measuring progress towards those objectives;
9. Expected benefits to the FMP species of the proposed HAPC, and
supporting information or data;
[[Page 65677]]
10. Identification of the fisheries, sectors, stakeholders and
communities to be affected by the establishment of the proposed HAPC
and any available information on socioeconomic costs, including catch
data from the proposed area over the last five years;
11. Clear geographic delineation for proposed HAPC (written
latitude and longitude reference points and delineation on an
appropriately scaled NOAA chart); and
12. Best available information and sources of such information to
support the objectives for the proposed HAPC (citations for common
information or copies of uncommon information).
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: November 17, 2003.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-29173 Filed 11-20-03; 8:45 am]
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