[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 29 (Monday, February 12, 1996)] [Notices] [Pages 5385-5386] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 96-3014] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [I.D. 020696C] Pacific Offshore Fisheries Take Reduction Team Meeting AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Notice of public meeting. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Take Reduction Team (TRT) for the Pacific offshore cetacean/drift gillnet fishery will hold its first meeting to develop a Take Reduction Plan (TRP) as described in the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) focusing on reducing bycatch in the California/Oregon drift gillnet fishery for thresher shark and swordfish. DATES: The meeting will be held on February 13 and 14, 1996, at 10 a.m. and 9 a.m., until 5:30 p.m. ADDRESSES: The TRT meeting will be held at the Crown Sterling Suites Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport, 1440 East Imperial Avenue, El Segundo, CA 90245, (310) 640-3600. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Irma Lagomarsino, (310) 980-4016, or Victoria Cornish, (301) 713-2322. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 30, 1994, the 1994 Amendments to the MMPA were signed into law. Section 117 of the MMPA requires that NMFS complete stock assessment reports for all marine mammal stocks within U.S. waters. Each stock assessment report is required to categorize the status of the stock as one that either has a level of human-caused mortality and serious injury that is not likely to cause the stock to be reduced below its optimum sustainable population; or is a strategic stock, with a description of the reasons therefore; and estimate the potential biological removal (PBR) level for the stock, describing the information used to calculate it, including the recovery factor. Stock Assessment Reports and the calculated PBR were published by NMFS in July 1995. The MMPA defines a ``strategic stock'' as a marine mammal stock for which the level of direct human-caused mortality exceeds the PBR level; which, based on the best available scientific information, is declining and is likely to be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) within the foreseeable future; which is listed as a threatened species or endangered species under the ESA, or is designated as depleted under the MMPA. The MMPA further defines the term ``potential biological removal,'' or [[Page 5386]] PBR, as ``the maximum number of animals, not including natural mortalities, that may be removed from a marine mammal stock while allowing that stock to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population.'' The California/Oregon drift gillnet fishery for thresher shark and swordfish interacts with several strategic marine mammal stocks including: Several Mesoplodon species of beaked whales, Baird's beaked whale, Cuvier's beaked whale, the sperm whale, the humpback whale, the pygmy sperm whale, and the short-finned pilot whale. These stocks are considered strategic under the MMPA because they are either listed as an endangered or threatened species under the ESA or because the level of human-caused mortality is greater than their PBR levels. Section 118(f) of the MMPA requires NMFS to establish a TRT to prepare a draft TRP designed to assist in the recovery or prevent the depletion of each strategic marine mammal stock that interacts with certain fisheries. Section 118(f)(6)(C) requires that members of the TRTs have expertise regarding the conservation or biology of the marine mammal species that the TRP will address, or the fishing practices that result in the incidental mortality and serious injury of such species. The MMPA further specifies that members of the TRT shall include representatives of Federal agencies, each coastal state with fisheries that interact with the species or stock, appropriate Regional Fishery Management Councils, interstate fisheries commissions, academic and scientific organizations, environmental groups, all commercial and recreational fisheries groups and gear types which incidentally take the species or stock, Alaska Native organizations, or Indian tribal organizations, and others as the Secretary of Commerce deems appropriate. As a result of stock assessment reports developed under section 117 of the MMPA, and an extended interview process conducted by a NMFS- contracted facilitator, NMFS, through a letter dated February 1996, has asked the following individuals to be a member of the TRT, which will focus on reducing bycatch of the strategic marine mammals stocks taken as bycatch in the California/Oregon drift gillnet fishery for thresher shark and swordfish: Doyle Hanan, California Department of Fish and Game; Marilyn Beeson, California Department of Fish and Game; Dave Hanson, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission; Anthony West, California Gillnetters Association; Chuck Janisse, Pacific Offshore Fishermen's Association; Lynn Stephy, drift gillnet fisher; Oriville Gardner, drift gillnet fisher; John Heyning, Los Angeles Museum of Natural History; John Calambokidis, Cascadia Research Collective; Sus Kato, retired research fishery biologist; Marcie Glazer, Center for Marine Conservation; Ann Nothoff, Natural Resources Defense Council; Hannah Bernard, Hui Moana; Irma Lagomarsino, NMFS Southwest Regional Office; Jay Barlow, NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center; David Holts, NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center. The TRT will be facilitated by Alana Knaster, Mediation Institute, Woodland Hills, CA. NMFS fully intends to convene a TRT process in a way that provides for national consistency yet accommodates the unique regional needs and characteristics of any one team. TRTs are not subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 App. U.S.C.). Meetings are open to the public. Dated: February 6, 1996. Patricia A. Montanio, Acting Deputy Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. [FR Doc. 96-3014 Filed 2-9-96; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3510-22-F