[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 17, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 26403-26404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-12027]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 659

[I.D. 050595A]


Shrimp and Calico Scallop Fisheries Off the Southern Atlantic 
States; Public Hearings and Scoping Meetings

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

ACTION: Notice of public hearings and scoping meetings.

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SUMMARY: The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) is 
holding public hearings to solicit comments on management options for 
Amendment 1 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Shrimp Fishery 
of the South Atlantic Region (Shrimp FMP) that would add rock shrimp to 
the management unit. Immediately after the hearings, the Council will 
hold public scoping meetings to solicit comments on the development of 
an FMP for the calico scallop fishery and on Amendment 2 to the Shrimp 
FMP dealing with fishery bycatch issues. See the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section for additional information on the hearings and 
scoping meetings.

DATES: The hearings are scheduled as followed:
    1. Monday, May 22, 1995, 7 p.m., Wilmington, NC
    2. Tuesday, May 23, 1995, 7 p.m., Charleston, SC
    3. Wednesday, May 24, 1995, 7 p.m., Cocoa Beach, FL
    4. Thursday, May 25, 1995, 7 p.m., Mobile, AL
    The public scoping meetings on an FMP for calico scallops and on 
Amendment 2 to the Shrimp FMP will be held immediately after the public 
hearings on May 22 and 23. Also, a public scoping meeting on calico 
scallops will be held immediately after the public hearing on May 24.

ADDRESSES: The hearings will be held at the following locations:
    1. Wilmington--Ramada Conference Center, 5001 Market Street, 
Wilmington, NC 28405; public hearing and scoping meeting.
    2. Charleston--Department of Natural Resources, Fort Johnson 
Auditorium, 217 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC 29412; public hearing 
and scoping meeting.
    3. Cocoa Beach-Holiday Inn, 300 N. Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach, FL 
32931; public hearing and scoping meeting.
    4. Mobile--Holiday Inn Downtown, 301 Government Street, Mobile, AL 
36602; public hearing.
    Written comments regarding the issues being discussed at the 
hearings and scoping meetings must be received on or before June 2, 
1995. Requests for copies of the public hearing documents should be 
sent to the Council at the following address: South Atlantic Fishery 
Management Council, One Southpark Circle, Suite 306, Charleston, SC 
29407-4699.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharon Coste (Council staff); 
telephone: 803-571-4366; fax: 803-769-4520.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public hearings will be held to solicit 
comments on management options for Amendment 1 to the Shrimp FMP that 
proposes to add rock shrimp to the management unit, prohibit trawling 
for rock shrimp in designated areas, and implement mandatory permitting 
and reporting requirements for vessels fishing for and dealers handling 
rock shrimp in the South Atlantic region. In addition, a mandatory 
vessel operator license and other management measures to enhance law 
enforcement are under consideration.
    Public scoping meetings will be held to solicit comments on the 
development of an FMP for the calico scallop fishery. The Council may 
consider the following measures as possible management options for this 
fishery: (1) No action; (2) prohibit calico scallop trawling (trawling) 
south of 28 deg.30' N. lat.; (3) prohibit trawling south of 28 deg. N. 
lat.; (4) allow trawling south of Cape Canaveral only with 
transponders; (5) prohibit trawling west of Oculina Bank; (6) prohibit 
trawling south of Bethal Shoals; (7) prohibit trawling in depths less 
than 120 ft. (8) allow trawling with transponders only from Duval 
through St. Lucie Counties; (9) limit trawling to Duval through St. 
Lucie Counties; and (10) prohibit trawling south of Cape Canaveral, 
Florida (i.e., south of 28 deg.35.1' N. lat).
    The Council will also hold public scoping meetings to solicit 
comments on Amendment 2 to the Shrimp FMP to address the issue of 
finfish bycatch in the shrimp trawl fishery. The Shrimp FMP was 
prepared by the Council in 1992 and approved and implemented by NMFS in 
1993. At the time of FMP implementation, the Council was concerned 
about finfish bycatch in the shrimp trawl fishery and intended, at that 
time, to begin developing management measures through an FMP amendment 
that would reduce bycatch. The Council's goal for bycatch reduction was 
affected by the 1990 Amendments to the Magnuson Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act that mandated a 3-year research program to assess 
the impacts of shrimp trawl bycatch on fishery resources under 
management of the Council before management action is taken. The 
results of this research program have been recently summarized in a 
NMFS report to Congress titled ``A Report to Congress--Cooperative 
Research Program Addressing Finfish Bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico and 
South Atlantic Shrimp Fisheries--April 1995.''
    These research results will be considered by the Council as an 
important basis for any specific management actions. Recent advances in 
gear development through cooperative efforts of Federal and state 
governments and the shrimp industry have produced Bycatch Reduction 
Devices (BRDs) that successfully exclude juvenile fish from shrimp 
trawls with a minimum of shrimp loss. At its October 1994 meeting in 
Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, the Council recommended that NMFS 
emphasize the development of efficient and effective BRDs in its 
bycatch reduction research efforts in the South Atlantic; this would 
provide the Council and the South Atlantic states with expanded options 
to reduce finfish bycatch in the shrimp trawl fishery. Both the Council 
and the South Atlantic states have requested that NMFS proceed as 
rapidly as possible to obtain the research information needed to 
identify and assess options for requiring the use of BRDs under the 
Shrimp FMP and under coastal fishery management plans (CFMPs) developed 
by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) under 
provisions of the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act 
of 1993 (Atlantic Coastal Act).
    The Council has asked NMFS to conduct a bycatch characterization of 
the rock shrimp fishery off Cape [[Page 26404]] Canaveral, Florida. 
Concerns still exist relative to the impacts of shrimp bycatch on the 
Spanish and king mackerel resources. In addition, under the current 
Amendment 2 to the CFMP for Weakfish, prepared by the Commission under 
the Atlantic Coastal Act, all South Atlantic states must implement 
management measures to reduce the bycatch of weakfish by 50 percent in 
the shrimp trawl fisheries for the 1996 fishing season. Bycatch 
reduction plans must be submitted to the Commission's Weakfish 
Technical Committee by October 1, 1995.
    The Council is closely coordinating their efforts with the marine 
resource agencies of the South Atlantic states and has also initiated 
action on the shrimp trawl bycatch issue by beginning the scoping 
process on the development of Amendment 2 to the Shrimp FMP. Among 
several management alternatives under consideration by the Council are 
the use of BRDs by season and/or area as well as areal or seasonal 
closures.
    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to the Council office by May 19, 
1995. For special accommodations regarding the hearings and meetings, 
contact the Council (see ADDRESSES).

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

    Dated: May 11, 1995.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Fisheries Conservation and Management, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 95-12027 Filed 5-16-95; 8:45 am]
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