[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 57 (Friday, March 22, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11749-11751]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-6855]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Parts 215 and 216

[Docket No. 960313071-6071-01; I.D. 022796E]
RIN 0648-AI20


Taking and Importing of Marine Mammals; Consolidation of 
Regulations

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: To simplify NMFS' Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), NMFS 
issues this final rule to redesignate those regulations governing the 
take of northern fur seals for subsistence purposes on the Pribilof 
Island and aspects of the administration of the Pribilof Islands. By 
this rule, an entire part within the CFR is removed. This final rule 
does not make substantive changes to the existing regulations. The 
purpose of this final rule is to make the regulations more concise, 
better organized, and thereby easier for the public to use. This action 
is consistent with the President's Regulatory Reform Initiative to 
simplify regulations and reduce the regulatory burden on the public.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This rule is effective March 22, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Margot L. Bohan, Office of Protected 
Resources, NMFS, (301) 713-2322.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    In March 1995, President Clinton issued a directive to Federal 
agencies regarding their responsibilities under his Regulatory 
Reinvention Initiative. This initiative is part of the National 
Performance Review and calls for comprehensive regulatory reform. The 
President directed all agencies to undertake a review of all their 
regulations, with an emphasis on eliminating or modifying those that 
are obsolete, duplicative, or otherwise in need of reform. This final 
rule is intended to carry out the President's directive with respect to 
those regulations implementing the annual Pribilof Island fur seal 
subsistence harvest.
    NMFS is consolidating the provisions of 50 CFR part 215, critical 
to the management of the northern fur seal subsistence harvest on the 
Pribilof Island, into 50 CFR part 216--Regulations Governing the Taking 
and Importing of Marine Mammals. This final rule moves definitions in 
Sec. 215.2 to Sec. 216.3 and makes definition additions and revisions 
in Sec. 216.3. Subparts C and D of part 215 are redesignated, 
respectively, as subpart G--Pribilof Island Administration and subpart 
F--Pribilof Islands, Taking for Subsistence Purposes of part 216, and 
part 215 is removed.

Classification

    This final rule is exempt from review under E.O. 12866. Because 
this rule makes only nonsubstantive changes to existing regulations, no 
useful purpose would be served by providing advance notice and 
opportunity for public comment. Accordingly, the Assistant 
Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), for good 
cause finds that it is unnecessary to provide prior notice and 
opportunity for public comment on this rule or to delay for 30 days its 
effective date. Because this rule is being issued without public 
comment, a regulatory flexibility analysis is not required under the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act, and none has been prepared. This final rule 
is expected to result in no economic costs to the public.
    This action is categorically excluded from the requirement to 
prepare an environmental assessment by section 6.02b.3(b)(ii)(aa) of 
NOAA Administrative Order 216-6 as revised. This final rule does not 
contain a collection-of-information requirement for purposes of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act.
    This rule does not directly affect the coastal zone of any state 
with an approved coastal zone management program.

List of Subjects

    50 CFR Part 215
    Administrative practice and procedure, Marine mammals, Penalties, 
Pribilof Islands, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
    50 CFR Part 216
    Adminstrative practice and procedure, Imports, Indians, Marine 
mammals, Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Transportation.

    Dated: March 15, 1996.
Charles Karnella,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR parts 215 and 216 
are amended as follows:

PART 215--PRIBILOF ISLANDS

    1. The authority citation for part 215 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1151-1175, 1361 et seq.

    2. In Sec. 215.2, paragraphs (d), (g) and (h) are redesignated to 
Sec. 216.3, in alphabetical order, and the paragraph designations are 
removed.
    3. Subpart C, consisting of Secs. 215.21 through 215.27, and 
subpart D, consisting of Secs. 215.31 through 215.34, of part 215 are 
redesignated as subpart G, Pribilof Islands Administration, consisting 
of Secs. 216.81 through 216.87, and subpart F, Pribilof Islands, Taking 
for Subsistence Purposes, consisting of Secs. 216.71 through 216.74, of 
part 216, respectively and the subpart headings are revised to read as 
set forth above.

PART 215--[REMOVED]

    4. Part 215 is removed.

PART 216--REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE 
MAMMALS

    5. The authority citation for part 216 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.

    6. In 216.3, the definition, ``Article of Handicraft'', is added 
and the definition, ``Wasteful Manner'', is revised, in alphabetical 
order, to read as follows:


Sec. 216.3  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Article of Handicraft means items made by an Indian, Aleut or 
Eskimo from the nonedible byproducts of fur seals taken for personal or 
family consumption which--
    (1) Were commonly produced by Alaskan Natives on or before October 
14, 1983;
    (2) Are composed wholly or in some significant respect of natural 
materials, and;
    (3) Are significantly altered from their natural form and which are 
produced, decorated, or fashioned in the exercise of traditional native 
handicrafts without the use of pantographs, multiple carvers, or 
similar mass copying devices. Improved methods of production utilizing 
modern implements such as sewing machines or modern tanning techniques 
at a tannery registered pursuant to Sec. 216.23(c) may be used so long 
as no large scale mass production industry results. Traditional native 
handicrafts include, but are not limited to, weaving, carving, 
stitching, sewing, lacing, beading, drawing, and painting. The 
formation of traditional

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native groups, such as a cooperative, is permitted so long as no large 
scale mass production results.
* * * * *
    Wasteful Manner means any taking or method of taking which is 
likely to result in the killing of marine mammals beyond those needed 
for subsistence, subsistence uses, or for the making of authentic 
native articles of handicrafts and clothing, or which results in the 
waste of a substantial portion of the marine mammal and includes, 
without limitation, the employment of a method of taking which is not 
likely to assure the capture or killing of a marine mammal, or which is 
not immediately followed by a reasonable effort to retrieve the marine 
mammal.
[FR Doc. 96-6855 Filed 3-21-96; 8:45 am]
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