[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 37 (Friday, February 23, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6953-6954]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-3965]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 675

[Docket No. 951128281-5281-01;I.D. 112795A]


Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area, 
Trawl Closure to Protect Red King Crab

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

ACTION: Inseason adjustment; response to comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS responds to comments received on an inseason adjustment 

[[Page 6954]]
closing a portion of the Bering Sea to all trawl vessels to protect red 
king crab. NMFS published this inseason adjustment in the Federal 
Register on December 11, 1995, for a 30-day comment period. No change 
in the trawl closure was made as a result of the comments received.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The inseason adjustment is effective January 20, 1996, 
through March 31, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kaja Brix, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    NMFS published an inseason adjustment in the Federal Register on 
December 11, 1995 (60 FR 63451) that implemented a closure to all trawl 
vessels in part of the Bristol Bay area located in the Bering Sea. The 
closure area encompasses an area between 56 deg. and 57 deg. N. lat. 
and between 162 deg. and 164 deg. W. long., and is intended to protect 
female red king crab, in view of the declining Bristol Bay red king 
crab stocks. One letter of comments on the inseason adjustment was 
received within the comment period, which ended January 10, 1996, and 
is summarized in the ``Response to Comments'' section, below. After 
review of the comments received, NMFS determined that no change to the 
inseason adjustment is warranted.

Response to comments

    Comment 1: Closure of areas that experience high red king crab 
bycatch rates is supported.
    Response: NMFS agrees.
    Comment 2: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council), 
NMFS, and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) should consider 
implementing regulations that provide appropriate management tools for 
controlling bycatch of crab in the crab fisheries as well as other 
causes of crab mortality.
    Response: The current Fishery Management Plan for the Commercial 
King and Tanner Crab Fisheries (FMP) defers the right to implement 
bycatch limits of other species of crab in the directed crab fisheries 
to the State of Alaska. Proposals to implement crab bycatch limits in 
directed crab fisheries could be addressed to the State of Alaska Board 
of Fisheries and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game or proposals 
could be made to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for 
amendments to the current FMP.
    Comment 3: Regulations that authorize inseason adjustments at 
Sec. 675.20(e) specify that the selection of inseason management 
measures, including time/area closures, must be based on the least 
restrictive action necessary to protect the species in need of 
conservation protection and allow fisheries to continue for other 
species. Therefore, the trawl closure implemented under the December 
11, 1995, inseason adjustment should prohibit only bottom trawling, not 
pelagic trawling, in the closed area. The seasonal timing of the 
closure is supported to allow other fisheries with low bycatch of red 
king crab to be prosecuted later in the year.
    Response: The authority for various types of inseason adjustments 
is provided in regulations at 50 CFR 675.20(e). However, the specific 
regulatory authority under which the December 11, 1995, inseason 
closure was promulgated (Sec. 675.20(e)(1)(iv)) does not require that 
the least restrictive action be implemented. Furthermore, justification 
for applying the interim closure to pelagic trawl operations is 
provided in the publication of the inseason adjustment.
    Comment 4: NMFS and the Council should begin to collect data and 
pursue analyses of conservation benefits of red king crab bycatch 
reduction measures, impacts on groundfish target fisheries that may be 
affected by time/area closures, and impacts on bycatch of other species 
by potentially displaced groundfish fisheries.
    Response: NMFS collects a variety of fisheries data that may be 
used to analyze the impacts of bycatch of groundfish and non-groundfish 
species. These data were used as the basis for the analysis supporting 
the inseason adjustment and are provided in the environmental 
assessment/regulatory impact review/initial regulatory flexibility 
analysis prepared for this action.

    Dated: February 16, 1996.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Fisheries Conservation and Management, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 96-3965 Filed 2-22-96; 8:45 am]
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