[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 21, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2999-3000]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-1313]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 622

[I.D. 011397D]


South Atlantic Fishery Management Council; Public Hearings

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

ACTION: Public hearing; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will

[[Page 3000]]

hold one public hearing on Draft Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management 
Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic (FMP) and 
its associated analyses of regulatory and environmental impacts, 
including a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (DSEIS).

DATES: Written comments on Amendment 8 will be accepted until January 
27, 1997. The public hearing will be held on January 24, 1997, at 6 
p.m. and will end when business is completed. Council staff members 
will be available at the hearing location from 5 p.m. to 6.p.m. (1 hour 
before the hearing) to answer any questions about the amendment.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Bob Mahood, Executive 
Director, South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, One Southpark 
Circle, Suite 306, Charleston, SC 29407-4699. Copies of the draft 
amendment and DSEIS are available from Susan Buchanan at 803-571-4366. 
The draft amendment and DSEIS will also be available to the public at 
the hearing. The hearing will be held at the Monroe County Regional 
Service Center, 2798 Overseas Highway (mile marker 47.5 Gulf side), 
Marathon, FL 33050; telephone: 305-289-2543.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Buchanan, 803-571-4366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Council is holding a public hearing on 
Draft Amendment 8 to the FMP and associated analyses of regulatory and 
environmental impacts, including a DSEIS. A January 10, 1997, hearing 
at the Banana Bay Resort was previously announced at 61 FR 67294 
(December 20, 1996) and 62 FR 384 (January 3, 1997). That hearing was 
cancelled and this document announces the rescheduled date of January 
24, 1997.
    Amendment 8 includes the following management measures:
    1. Limit permit holders to those who can demonstrate landings of at 
least 1,000 lb (454 kg) of snapper-grouper species in 2 of the 3 years, 
1993, 1994, and 1995, and have held a valid snapper-grouper permit for 
those years.
    2. Control fishing effort by establishing trip limits for 
identified sub-unit groups of species within the FMP's management unit.
    3. Redefine the FMP's definitions of overfishing and optimum yield 
for all species in the snapper-grouper management unit.
    4. Increase the red porgy minimum size limit from 12 inches (30.5 
cm) total length (TL) to 14 inches (36 cm) TL for recreational and 
commercial fishermen and establish a recreational fishery bag limit of 
two red porgy.
    5. Increase the black sea bass minimum size limit from 8 inches 
(20.3 cm) TL to 10 inches (25.4 cm) TL for both recreational and 
commercial fishermen.
    6. Designate a black sea bass Special Management Zone.
    7. Establish a recreational fishery bag limit of 10 black sea bass.
    8. Require escape vents and escape panels with degradable fasteners 
in black sea bass pots.
    9. Establish measures for greater amberjack that would extend the 
April closure throughout the South Atlantic EEZ and prohibit sale 
during April, reduce the recreational fishery bag limit to one fish per 
person per day, implement a commercial quota to reduce landings by 21 
percent based on average landings from 1986-1995, implement a 500-1,000 
lb (227-454 kg) trip limit, change the start of the fishing year from 
January 1 to July 1, and prohibit coring.
    10. Establish, effective January 1, 1998, an annual commercial 
quota for vermilion snapper of 600,000 lb (272,155 kg), a recreational 
fishery bag limit of five fish, and a recreational fishery minimum size 
limit of 12 inches (30.5 cm).
    11. Increase the gag minimum size limit from 20 inches (50.8 cm) TL 
to 24 inches (61 cm) TL for the commercial and recreational fisheries, 
and prohibit all harvest January through March.
    12. Require logbook reporting by the 10th of the month following 
the month of fishing activity.
    13. Establish a zone in the South Atlantic exclusive economic zone 
(EEZ) through which vessels carrying fish traps could transit if they 
have valid Gulf reef fish permits and fish trap endorsements.
    14. Restrict vessels with bottom longline gear on board to 
possessing only snowy grouper, warsaw grouper, yellowedge grouper, 
misty grouper, golden tilefish, blueline tilefish, and sand tilefish.
    15. Allow use of one bait net per boat, up to 50 ft (1,524 cm) long 
by 10 ft (305 cm) high with a stretched mesh size of 1.5 inches (3.75 
cm) or smaller; also, allow possession and use of cast nets for 
catching bait.
    16. Allow species within the snapper grouper fishery management 
unit (whether whole or fillets) caught in Bahamian waters in accordance 
with Bahamian law, to be possessed on board a vessel in the EEZ and 
landed in the United States, provided the vessel is in transit from the 
Bahamas and valid Bahamian fishing and cruising permits are on board.
    17. Establish an aggregate snapper-grouper recreational fishery bag 
limit of 20-25 fish inclusive of all species in the snapper-grouper 
fishery management unit.
    18. The Council is considering a number of options under this 
action to reduce fishing mortality, including establishing a closure of 
the South Atlantic EEZ for species in the snapper-grouper fishery 
management unit, implementing a trip limit for all temperate, mid-shelf 
snapper-grouper species, or establishing an aggregate temperate mid-
shelf species quota.
    This hearing is physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to the Council office (see ADDRESSES).

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

    Dated: January 14, 1997.
Bruce Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 97-1313 Filed 1-14-97; 4:45 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F