[Federal Register: July 14, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 135)]
[Notices]
[Page 40076-40078]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14jy06-36]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 070706A]
Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions;
Application for Exempted Fishing Permit Related to Horseshoe Crabs
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, is considering issuing an Exempted Fishing Permit to Limuli
Laboratories of Cape May Court House, NJ, to conduct the sixth year of
an exempted fishing operation otherwise restricted by regulations
prohibiting the harvest of horseshoe crabs in the Carl N. Schuster Jr.
Horseshoe Crab Reserve (Reserve) located 3 nautical miles (nm) seaward
from the mouth of the Delaware Bay. If granted, the EFP would allow the
harvest of 10,000 horseshoe crabs for biomedical purposes and require,
as a condition of the EFP, the collection of data related to the status
of horseshoe crabs within the Reserve. This notice also invites
comments on the issuance of the EFP to Limuli Laboratories.
DATES: Written comments on this action must be received on or before
July 31, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Alan Risenhoover, Acting
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, NMFS, 1315 East-West
Highway, Room 13362, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Mark the outside of the
envelope ``Comments on Horseshoe Crab EFP Proposal.'' Comments may also
be sent via fax to (301) 713-0596. Comments on this notice may also be
submitted by e-mail to: Horseshoe-Crab.EFP@noaa.gov. Include in the
subject line of the e-mail comment the following document identifier:
Horseshoe Crab EFP Proposal.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Meyer, Fishery Management
Biologist, (301) 713-2334.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The regulations that govern exempted fishing, at 50 CFR 600.745(b)
and 697.22, allow a Regional Administrator or the Director of the
Office of Sustainable Fisheries to authorize for limited testing,
public display, data collection, exploration, health and safety,
environmental clean-up and/or hazardous removal purposes, the targeting
or incidental harvest of managed species that would otherwise be
prohibited. Accordingly, an EFP to authorize such activity may be
issued, provided: there is adequate opportunity for the public to
comment on the EFP application, the conservation goals and objectives
of the fishery management plan are not compromised, and issuance of the
EFP is beneficial to the management of the species.
The Reserve was established on March 7, 2001, to protect the
Atlantic coast stock of horseshoe crabs and to support the
effectiveness of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's
(Commission) Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP) for horseshoe
crabs. The final rule (February 5, 2001; 66 FR 8906) prohibited fishing
for and possession of horseshoe crabs in the Reserve on a vessel with a
trawl or dredge gear aboard while in the Reserve. While the rule did
not allow for any biomedical harvest or the collection of fishery
dependent data, NMFS stated in the comments and responses section that
it would consider issuing EFPs for the biomedical harvest of horseshoe
crabs in the Reserve.
The biomedical industry collects horseshoe crabs, removes
approximately 30 percent of their blood, and returns them alive to the
water. Approximately 10 percent do not survive the bleeding process.
The blood contains a reagent called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) that
is used to test injectable drugs and medical devices for bacteria and
bacterial by-products. Presently, there is no alternative to the LAL
derived from horseshoe crabs.
NMFS manages horseshoe crabs in the exclusive economic zone in
close cooperation with the Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. The Commission's Horseshoe Crab Management Board met on April
21, 2000, and again on December 16, 2003, and recommended to NMFS that
biomedical companies with a history of collecting horseshoe crabs in
the Reserve be given an exemption to continue their historic levels of
collection not to exceed a combined harvest total of 10,000 crabs
annually. In 2000, the Commission's Horseshoe Crab Plan Review Team
reported that biomedical harvest of up to 10,000 horseshoe crabs should
be allowed to continue in the Reserve given that the
[[Page 40077]]
resulting mortality should be only about 1,000 horseshoe crabs (10
percent mortality during bleeding process). Also in 2000, the
Commission's Horseshoe Crab Stock Assessment Committee Chairman
recommended that, in order to protect the Delaware Bay horseshoe crab
population from over-harvest or excessive collection mortality, no more
than a maximum of 20,000 horseshoe crabs should be collected for
biomedical purposes from the Reserve. In addition to the direct
mortality of horseshoe crabs that are bled, it can be expected that
more than 20,000 horseshoe crabs will be trawled up and examined for
LAL processing. This is because horseshoe crab trawl catches usually
include varied sizes and sexes of horseshoe crabs and large female
horseshoe crabs are the ones usually selected for LAL processing. The
remaining horseshoe crabs are released at sea with some unknown amount
of mortality. Although unknown, this mortality is expected to be
negligible.
Collection of horseshoe crabs for biomedical purposes from the
Reserve is necessary because of the low numbers of horseshoe crabs
found in other areas along the New Jersey Coast from July through early
November and because of the critical role horseshoe crab blood plays in
health care. In conjunction with the biomedical harvest, NMFS is
considering requiring that scientific data be collected from the
horseshoe crabs taken in the Reserve as a condition of receiving an
EFP. Since the Reserve was first established, the only fishery data
from the Reserve were under EFPs issued to Limuli Laboratories for the
past five years, and under Scientific Research Activity Letter of
Acknowledgment issued Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University's Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Science on September
4, 2001 (for collections from September 1-October 31, 200l), on
September 24, 2002 (for collections from September 24-November 15,
2002), on August 14, 2003 (for collections from September 1-October 31,
2003), on September 15, 2004 (for collections from September 15-October
31, 2004), and on September 9, 2005 (for collections from September 9-
October 30, 2005). Further data are needed to improve the understanding
of the horseshoe crab population in the Delaware Bay area and to better
manage the horseshoe crab resource under the cooperative state/Federal
management program. The data collected through the EFP will be provided
to NMFS, the Commission, and to the State of New Jersey.
Results from 2005 EFP
Limuli Laboratories applied for an EFP to collect horseshoe crabs
for biomedical and data collection purposes from the Reserve in 2005.
The EFP application specified that: (1) the same methods would be used
in 2005 that were used in years 2001-2004, (2) 15 percent of the bled
horseshoe crabs would be tagged - an increase from 10 percent, and (3)
there had not been any sighting or capture of marine mammals or
endangered species in the trawling nets of fishing vessels engaged in
the collection of horseshoe crabs since 1993. In 2005, a Supplemental
Environmental Assessment was completed and found that there was no
significant impacts in conducting the EFP.
An EFP was issued to Limuli Laboratories on July 12, 2005, which
allowed them to collect horseshoe crabs in the Reserve until November
30, 2005. A total of 5,480 horseshoe crabs were collected in the
Reserve during the late summer and early fall of 2005. Of these, 4,681
animals were used for the manufacture of LAL. Female horseshoe crab
activity levels were 75 percent active and 25 percent very active,
while males were 59 percent active and 41 percent very active. The
remaining 799 animals were rejected; 373 crabs (6.8 percent) were
unresponsive due to collecting, transporting and handling (presumed
dead), and 426 animals (7.9 percent) were rejected for biomedical use
due to lethargy or injury. Horseshoe crabs were collected on 11 days (9
days in August and 2 days in September), and were transported to the
laboratory for the bleeding operation and inspected for sex, size,
injuries and responsiveness. Three to four tows were conducted during
each fishing trip with the tows lasting no more than 30 minutes to
avoid impacting loggerhead turtles. Horseshoe crabs were unloaded at
Two Mile Dock, Wildwood Crest, New Jersey and at County Dock, Ocean
City, Maryland and transported to the laboratory by truck. Since large
horseshoe crabs, which are generally females, are used for LAL
processing, most of the crabs transported to the laboratory were
females. Of those 4,681 processed for LAL, 100 female and 100 male
crabs were measured (inter-ocular distances and prosoma widths),
weighed, aged, and tagged to establish baseline morphometrics and ages,
prior to being released. An additional 625 female bled animals were
tagged for a total of 825 animals or 17.6 percent. The average
measurements for the female horseshoe crabs were 161.64 mm (166.32 mm
in 2004) for the inter-ocular distance, 260.4 mm (264.90 mm in 2004)
for the prosoma width and 2.08 kg (2.39 kg in 2004) for the weight. The
average measurements for the male horseshoe crabs were 127.14 mm for
the inter-ocular distance, 217.52 mm for the prosoma width and 1.02 kg
for the weight. No male horseshoe crabs were measured in 2004.
Encrusting organisms (bryozoans, barnacles, slipper shells, and sand
tub worms) were found on 18 (9 percent) of the female animals and 28
(14 percent) of the horseshoe crabs examined. Eight (4 percent) of the
female horseshoe crabs had broken tails, four had dents in their
prosomas, and one had a malformed right wing prosoma. Eight (4 percent)
of the males had broken tails and one had a hole on the right side of
the prosoma.
Horseshoe crabs were aged in 2005 using Dr. Carl N. Schuster Jr.'s
criteria of aging by appearance: female horseshoe crabs - virgin (65
percent), young (4 percent), young/medium (29 percent), and old (2
percent); male horseshoe crabs - virgin (8 percent), young (52
percent), young/medium (24 percent), and old (16 percent) . This
finding supports the basis for the Reserve, which was established to
protect young horseshoe crabs.
In 2005, a total of 825 horseshoe crabs from the Reserve were
tagged and released at the water's edge on Highs Beach, New Jersey. The
beach was checked frequently, following release, to ensure the crabs
had returned to the water. Seventeen live recoveries and seven dead
recoveries were documented. The live recoveries were found along the
shores of the Delaware Bay (Fowlers Beach, Kitts Hummock and Slaughter
Beach in Delaware and Cape May, Del Haven, East Point, Egg Island,
Higbees and Thompson in New Jersey). One horseshoe crab was observed
along the Atlantic coast off Sea Isle City in New Jersey.
Data collected under the EFP were supplied to NMFS, the Commission,
and the State of New Jersey.
Proposed 2005 EFP
Limuli Laboratories proposes to conduct an exempted fishery
operation using the same means, methods, and seasons utilized during
the EFPs in 2001-2005, as described below under terms and conditions.
Limuli proposes to continue to tag 15 percent of the bled horseshoe
crabs as they did in 2005, up from 10 percent during years 2001-2003.
The proposed EFP would exempt three commercial vessels from
regulations at 50 CFR 697.7(e), which prohibit fishing for horseshoe
crabs in the Reserve under Sec. 697.23(f)(1) and
[[Page 40078]]
prohibit possession of horseshoe crabs on a vessel with a trawl or
dredge gear aboard in the same Reserve.
Limuli Laboratories, in cooperation with the State of New Jersey's
Division of Fish and Wildlife, submitted an application for an EFP on
July 5, 2006. NMFS has made a preliminary determination that the
subject EFP contains all the required information and warrants further
consideration. NMFS has also made a preliminary determination that the
activities authorized under the EFP would be consistent with the goals
and objectives of the Federal horseshoe crab regulations and the
Commission's Horseshoe Crab ISFMP.
Regulations at 50 CFR 600.745(b)(3)(v) authorize NMFS to attach
terms and conditions to the EFP consistent with: the purpose of the
exempted fishery, the objectives of horseshoe crab regulations and
fisheries management plan, and other applicable law. NMFS is
considering adding the following terms and conditions to the EFP:
1. Limiting the number of horseshoe crabs collected in the Reserve
to no more than 500 crabs per day and to a total of no more than 10,000
crabs per year;
2. Requiring collections to take place over a total of
approximately 20 days during the months of July, August, September,
October, and November. Horseshoe crabs are readily available in
harvestable concentrations nearshore earlier in the year, and offshore
in the Reserve from July through November;
3. Requiring that a 5 1/2 inch (14.0 cm) flounder net be used by
the vessel to collect the horseshoe crabs. This condition would allow
for continuation of traditional harvest gear and adds to the
consistency in the way horseshoe crabs are harvested for data
collection;
4. Limiting trawl tow times to 30 minutes as a conservation measure
to protect sea turtles, which are expected to be migrating through the
area during the collection period, and are vulnerable to bottom
trawling;
5. Restricting the hours of fishing to daylight hours only,
approximately from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. to aid law enforcement. NMFS
also is considering a requirement that the State of New Jersey Law
Enforcement be notified daily as to when and where the collection will
take place;
6. Requiring that the collected horseshoe crabs be picked up from
the fishing vessels at docks in the Cape May Area and transported to
local laboratories, bled for LAL, and released alive the following
morning into the Lower Delaware Bay; and
7. Requiring that any turtle take be reported to NMFS, NERO
Assistant Regional Administrator of Protected Resources Division
(phone, (978) 281-9328) within 24 hours of returning from the trip in
which the incidental take occurred.
Also as part of the terms and conditions of the EFP, for all
horseshoe crabs bled for LAL, NMFS is considering a requirement that
the EFP holder provide data on sex ratio and daily numbers, and tag 15
percent of the horseshoe crabs harvested. Also, the EFP holder may be
required to examine at least 200 horseshoe crabs for: morphometric
data, by sex (e.g., interocular (I/O) distance and weight), and level
of activity, as measured by a response or by distance traveled after
release on a beach.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: July 10, 2006.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-11067 Filed 7-13-06; 8:45 am]
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