[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 22, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15126-15127]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-6847]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 030695A]


Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery; Scoping Meetings; SEIS

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement (SEIS); scoping meetings; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the intention of the New England Fishery 
Management Council (Council) to prepare an SEIS for proposed Amendment 
5 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP). NMFS 
informs the public herewith of the opportunity to participate in the 
further development of Amendment 5 to the FMP. All persons affected by, 
or otherwise interested in, the proposed amendment are invited to 
participate in determining the scope of significant issues to be 
considered in the SEIS by submitting written comments. The scoping 
process also will identify issues that are not significant and 
eliminate them from detailed study.

DATES: See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for dates and times of scoping 
meetings. Written comments must be received by April 19, 1995.

ADDRESSES: See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for meeting locations. Send 
written comments on the scoping process and scope of the SEIS to 
Douglas G. Marshall, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management 
Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA 01906-1097.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas G. Marshall, Executive 
Director, 617-231-0422; FAX: 617-565-8937.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Council will discuss Amendment 5 at 
regularly scheduled meetings. The public will be notified (by a Federal 
Register notice) of the specific agendas at least 2 weeks prior to 
Council meetings. There is a preliminary document available from the 
Council that briefly describes the alternatives currently under 
consideration.
    One of these alternatives is consolidation. Consolidation means 
allowing days at sea (DAS) or other units of fishing activity to be 
redistributed among fewer boats, so the remaining vessels have more 
opportunity to fish. It has already been discussed at the following 
Council meetings:
    October 26, 1994, Danvers, MA;
    December 8, 1994, Danvers, MA;
    January 12, 1994, Danvers, MA; and
    February 16, 1995, Danvers, MA.
    The currently scheduled scoping meetings are as follows:
    1. March 31, 1995, 4 p.m., Holiday Inn, Maine Route 3, Ellsworth, 
ME;
    2. April 3, 1995, 4 p.m., Seaport Inn, 110 Middle St., Fairhaven, 
MA; [[Page 15127]] 
    3. April 4, 1995, 7 p.m., Little Washington, Department of 
Environmental, Health and Natural Resources, 1424 Carolina Avenue, 
Washington, NC; and
    4. April 5, 1995, 5 p.m., Grand Hotel, Oceanfront and Philadelphia 
Avenue, Cape May, NJ.
    Atlantic sea scallop stocks are over-exploited and at low levels of 
abundance. Amendment 4 to the FMP was implemented on March 1, 1994 (59 
FR 12, January 19, 1994), and was intended to eliminate overfishing 
through an incremental effort reduction program, gear modifications 
such as ring and mesh size increases, and other measures. It was also 
expected that the number of limited access vessels would remain stable 
for the duration of the 7-year schedule.
    Amendment 4 to the FMP states that vessels with a DAS allocation of 
150 days per year will yield revenues that are insufficient, on 
average, to cover the fixed costs for vessels larger than 50 gross 
registered tons. A DAS allocation of 150 days is projected for year 4 
or 5 of the 7-year schedule, depending on the initial fishing mortality 
rate. The amendment further states that if recruitment falls to what is 
considered to be average or below average levels, many vessel 
operations will become uneconomic, regardless of the management in 
place at that time. During 1994, the first year of effort reduction 
under Amendment 4, recruitment has been below average. The result has 
been a request by scallop advisors to redistribute DAS among the 
remaining vessels. The amendment will not do this until the pause in 
DAS reductions, which is scheduled for the third year. The 
consolidation of DAS is expected to allow the remaining vessels to 
remain economically viable.
    The Council's Scallop Industry Advisory Committee believes that 
consolidation is needed as soon as possible to minimize financial 
failures caused by present and future reductions in DAS and poor 
scallop stock conditions.
    The Council is in the process of identifying management 
alternatives to achieve these goals. The current range of options 
includes, but is not limited to, a private program to buy back vessels, 
a government buy-back program, limits on total allowable catch with 
individual transferrable quotas, transferrable DAS, a use-it-or-lose-it 
provision under which vessels that do not use their DAS or quota 
allocation will lose their scallop permits, and a prohibition on 
shellstocking.
    The Council expects that proposed regulations implementing the 
recommendations of the industry advisors may have significant economic 
and social effects. The Council recognizes that these effects will 
extend beyond the individuals, families and communities that 
principally depend on scallops to other fisheries in the region, due to 
the displacement of fishing effort caused by the scallop regulations. 
This displacement could also potentially affect the status of these 
other fishery stocks. For this reason the Council has determined that 
it will hold scoping meetings to determine whether or not an SEIS is 
appropriate.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: March 15, 1995.
David S. Crestin,
Acting Director, Office of Fisheries Conservation and Management, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 95-6847 Filed 3-21-95; 8:45 am]
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