[Federal Register: May 26, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 102)]
[Notices]
[Page 30386-30387]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26my06-56]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 041806D]
Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act; Atlantic Striped Bass
Fishery
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of scoping process; extension of comment period.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In a document published in the Federal Register on April 24,
2006, NMFS announced its intention to re-open the scoping process and
accept further comments on the recommendations contained in Amendment 6
to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Interstate
Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (Amendment 6). NMFS
originally conducted scoping on the matter in 2003, but decided to re-
open the scoping process and accept further comments due to the passage
of significant time and the availability of new information. The intent
of this document is to announce the extension of the public comment
period from May 26, 2006, to June 26, 2006.
DATES: Comments on this action must be received (see ADDRESSES) no
later than 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on or before June 26, 2006.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests for copies of the draft
document should be sent to: Tom Meyer, State-Federal Fisheries
Division, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, NMFS, 1315 East West
Highway, Room 13248, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Mark the outside of the
envelope ``Striped Bass Scoping.'' An electronic copy of the draft
document and supporting documents (ANPR and a Notice of Intent to
Prepare an EIS (NOI)) may also be obtained on the State-Federal
Fisheries Division's Web site under Regulatory Activities at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/state_federal/state_federal.htm.
Comments may
also be sent via fax to (301) 713-0596, or via e-mail to:
Striped-Bass.Comments@noaa.gov. Include in the subject line of the fax or e-
mail the following document identifier: Striped Bass Scoping.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Meyer, telephone (301) 713-2334,
x173.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As announced in the Federal Register on July
21, 2003 (68 FR 43074), NMFS requested comments on potential revisions
to the Federal Atlantic striped bass regulations for the U.S. EEZ in
response to recommendations from the Commission to the Secretary. The
comment period was subsequently reopened on August 26, 2003 (68 FR
51232), for an additional 30-days. A ``Notice of Intent to Prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Notice of Scoping Process''
(NOI) was published in the Federal Register on October 20, 2003 (68 FR
59906) and public meetings were held in nine Atlantic coast states
between November 5 - December 10, 2003, and the public comment period
closed on December 22, 2003.
Significant time has passed since the nine initial scoping
hearings. Accordingly, NMFS thought it prudent to seek additional
scoping on its preliminary draft analyses of Federal management options
to open the EEZ to the harvest of Atlantic Striped Bass. NMFS,
therefore, re-opened the scoping process in a Federal Register Notice
on April 24, 2006 (71 FR 20984) and established a 30 day public comment
period. NMFS believes that extending the comment period an additional
30 days would provide the public a more appropriate opportunity to
provide meaningful commentary on the agency's list of potential
alternatives and other management measures. See ADDRESSES for
information on how to obtain a copy of the draft document and where to
send comments.
Background
Atlantic striped bass management is based on ASMFC's Atlantic
Striped Bass Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP), first adopted
in 1981. From 1981 - 1994, four ISFMP Amendments were developed that
provided a series of management measures that led to the rebuilding of
the stocks. In 1995, ASMFC declared the Atlantic striped bass
population fully restored and implemented Amendment 5 to the ISFMP to
perpetuate the stock so as to allow a commercial and recreational
harvest consistent with the long-term maintenance of the striped bass
stock. Since then the population has expanded to record levels of
abundance. To maintain this recovered population, ASMFC approved
Amendment 6 in February 2003 (copies of Amendment 6 are available via
ASMFC's website under Interstate Fisheries Management-striped bass at
http://www.asmfc.org). ASMFC believes that the measures contained in
Amendment 6 are necessary to prevent the overfishing of the Atlantic
striped bass resource while allowing growth in both the commercial and
recreational fishery. Development of Amendment 6 took almost 4 years
and involved extensive input from technical and industry advisors, and
provided numerous opportunities for the public to comment on the future
management of the species.
Amendment 6 incorporates results of the 2001 Atlantic striped bass
stock assessment, developed by the Atlantic Coast States, ASMFC, NMFS,
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see section 1.2.2 of Amendment
6 for summary). Amendment 6 also included recommendations to the
Secretary on the development of complementary measures in the EEZ.
Management of Atlantic striped bass in the EEZ was one of the issues
that was considered throughout development of Amendment 6.
Recommendation to the Secretary
In addition to the recommendations to the Secretary in Amendment 6,
the Secretary also received a letter on April 24, 2003, from ASMFC with
the following three recommendations for implementation of regulations
in the EEZ: (1) Remove the moratorium on the harvest of Atlantic
striped bass in the EEZ; (2) implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum size
limit for recreational and commercial Atlantic striped bass fisheries
in the EEZ; and (3) allow states the ability to adopt more restrictive
rules for fishermen and vessels licensed in their jurisdictions.
In support of its request, ASMFC cited a number of reasons,
including: ASMFC declared the striped bass stock restored in 1995;
commercial harvest is controlled by individual state quotas; with the
EEZ closed striped bass caught there are required to be discarded, and
are often dead when thrown back - Opening the EEZ will convert some of
the discarded bycatch of striped bass to landings; and Amendment 6
incorporates measures that would address future concerns about the
stock status. See ADDRESSES for information on how to obtain a copy of
the NOI, which has a complete list of ASMFC's cited reasons.
ASMFC also stated that its Atlantic Striped Bass Technical
Committee would monitor annually the Atlantic striped bass population,
and, if at some point in the future ASMFC determines that the Atlantic
striped bass population
[[Page 30387]]
is overfished or that overfishing is occurring, it may recommend
further management measures for the EEZ.
Delay in the Development of an EIS
In September 2004, ASMFC's Striped Bass Technical Committee
prepared its 2004 Stock Assessment Report for use by the Striped Bass
Management Board (Board), which included data through 2003. That
assessment contradicted previous assessments, which had indicated that
the striped bass population was not overfished and continued to grow in
abundance. Instead, the results of the modeling portion of the 2004
assessment indicated that the stock was overfished and that spawning
stock biomass had been reduced to below target levels. However, the
members of the Technical Committee did not feel the assessment provided
an accurate representation of stock status, especially given that
results of tagging study analyses did not show a similar increase in
fishing mortality. The Technical Committee was concerned with any
conclusions that might be derived from these estimated and recommended
the 2004 assessment results not be used for management decisions until
both the modeling software and the input data sets were reevaluated
during the 2005 assessment process. The results from the 2004 stock
assessment have not been used by ASMFC for management decisions.
With the great uncertainty in estimates of spawning stock biomass,
and fishing mortality rates during 2003, as presented in the 2004 stock
assessment, NMFS decided to delay the completion of the EIS to be able
to incorporate the 2005 stock assessment in the EIS.
During 2005, the Technical Committee and Stock Assessment
Subcommittee reviewed model inputs and the model itself to determine if
the results from the 2004 assessment truly reflected status of the
population or were an artifact of data or model errors. They concluded
that a number of the indices used in the 2004 effort were not
consistent with what was observed in the population as a whole, or were
contradictory to the majority of other reliable time series. Those
indices were removed from subsequent model runs. The Technical
Committee believes
the current assessment reflects the true status of the population
(within reasonable ranges of certainty). Both the 2004 and 2005 Striped
Bass Stock Assessments are available on ASMFC's website under
Interstate Fisheries Management-striped bass at http://www.asmfc.org.
Addendum I to Amendment 6
During the development of Amendment 6, there were concerns over the
impacts of bycatch mortality on the overall population. To address
these concerns, ASMFC is currently developing Addendum 1 to Amendment 6
to increase the accuracy of data on striped bass bycatch in all sectors
of the striped bass fishery. Addendum I will outline mandatory data
collection and bycatch mortality studies for the commercial,
recreational, and for-hire fisheries for striped bass.
Further Public Participation
Due to the significant time that has passed since the nine initial
scoping hearings were held in November-December 2003, NMFS is seeking
additional scoping on its preliminary draft analyses of Federal
management options to open the EEZ to the harvest of Atlantic Striped
Bass. See ADDRESSES for information on how to obtain a copy of the
draft document and where to send comments.
At this time, a preferred option has not been identified. Options
being considered in this draft document include: (1) open the entire
EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum size limit, and allow states
to adopt more restrictive regulations for fishermen and vessels
licensed in their state (ASMFC recommendation); (2) open the entire
EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum size limit, allow states to
adopt more restrictive regulations for fishermen and vessels licensed
in their state, implement a recreational bag limit of 2 fish per day,
require circle hooks for all commercial and recreational hook and line
fishing using bait, and commercial trip limits and bycatch trip limit
options; (3) open the entire EEZ, implement a 28-inch (71.1-cm) minimum
size limit, allow states to adopt more restrictive regulations for
fishermen and vessels licensed in their state, allow hook and line gear
only, implement a recreational bag limit of 2 fish per day, require
circle hooks for all commercial and recreational hook and line fishing
using bait, and implement a commercial trip limit of 30 fish per trip
or day whichever is greater; and (4) status quo - maintain moratorium
in the EEZ.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 5151 et seq.
Dated: May 23, 2006.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 06-4894 Filed 5-23-06; 2:25 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S