[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 17 (Monday, January 27, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3873-3874]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-1894]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 011597A]


Pacific Salmon Fisheries off the Coasts of California, Oregon, 
Washington, Alaska and in the Columbia River Basin

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

ACTION: Notice of intent; scoping meetings; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intention to prepare an environmental 
impact statement (EIS) on ocean and in-river fisheries that may result 
in the incidental take of Pacific salmonids either currently listed or 
proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
    NMFS will also prepare four environmental assessments (EAs) for the 
1997 salmon fisheries.
    NMFS will hold scoping meetings to provide for public input into 
the range of actions, alternatives, and impacts that the EIS should 
consider. In addition to holding the scoping meetings, NMFS is 
accepting written comments on the range of actions, alternatives, and 
impacts it should be considering for this EIS and on the scope of the 
EAs.

DATES: Written comments will be accepted through February 28, 1997. See 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for meeting times and special accommodations.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests to be included on a mailing 
list of persons interested in the EIS should be sent to Joseph R. Blum, 
Office of Protected Resources, Endangered Species Division (PR3), 
National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver 
Spring, MD 20910.
    See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for meeting locations and special 
accommodations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph R. Blum (301) 713-1401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since 1989 Sacramento River winter run 
chinook salmon; since 1991 Snake River sockeye salmon; since 1992 Snake 
River spring/summer chinook salmon and Snake River fall chinook salmon; 
and since 1996 Umpqua River cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki 
clarki) and central California coastal coho salmon (Oncorhynchus 
kisutch) have been listed as either threatened or endangered under the 
ESA. The several populations of chinook salmon are all distinct 
population segments of Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and the Snake River 
sockeye salmon is a distinct population segment of Oncorhynchus nerka. 
Annually the Pacific Fisheries Management Council and the North Pacific 
Fisheries Management Council have recommended, and NMFS has approved, 
salmon fisheries for the West Coast and Alaska. As a part of that 
process, NMFS has prepared biological opinions and issued incidental 
take statements for these fisheries, in compliance with section 7 of 
the ESA.
    NMFS is proposing to list 2 additional Evolutionarily Significant 
Units (ESUs) of West Coast coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), the central 
Oregon ESU and the Southern Oregon/Northern California ESU and 10 ESUs 
of West Coast steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The salmon fisheries EIS 
will include discussions of impacts of each alternative for each of 
those ESUs.
    The listed salmon and salmon proposed to be listed are born in the 
tributaries of the Sacramento and Snake Rivers as well as the coastal 
rivers of central and northern California and southern and central 
Oregon. They travel down river to the Pacific Ocean before returning 2 
to 6 years later to their natal streams to spawn.
    During their journey down and up these rivers and through the ocean 
they travel along thousands of miles of waterways, around or over 
numerous hydroelectric and agricultural diversion dams, past thousands 
of acres of private and public lands and across at least two 
international boundaries and up to five state boundaries and come under 
a vast array of agencies and legal regimes. The following is a partial 
list of agencies, bodies and governments that manage Pacific salmon: 
U.S. Department of Commerce; States of California, Oregon, Washington, 
Idaho and Alaska; over thirty Native American tribal jurisdictions; 
Pacific Fisheries Management Council; North Pacific Fisheries 
Management Council; and the Pacific Salmon Commission.
    In September of 1996 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 
Ramsey v. Kantor that certain Federal actions in managing or ruling on 
some Columbia River and Alaskan salmon fisheries constitute major 
Federal action for purposes of the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA). The Court concluded that under NEPA, NMFS was required to 
prepare an EA and possibly an EIS.
    As a result of this ruling, and because of the complex management 
regimes governing Pacific salmon fisheries, NMFS has determined that an 
EIS that covers all the salmon fisheries affecting both the listed and 
proposed salmonids is the most appropriate means to provide full 
analysis and consideration of the environmental effects of these 
fisheries. Since the EIS is not expected to be completed by the time 
the 1997 fisheries are conducted, NMFS will prepare EAs on the 1997 
Columbia River and Alaska salmon fisheries. Because of the timing of 
the Columbia River fisheries and the urgency to prepare an EA, the 
Columbia River salmon fisheries will be treated in two EAs, based on 
season of fishing and listed species affected. The West Coast salmon 
fisheries are managed under a fishery management plan that was adopted 
in 1984, in consideration of an EIS. A West Coast salmon fisheries EA 
will be prepared in 1997 in the normal course of Pacific Fisheries 
Management Council management.
    Given the complex but interwoven nature of West Coast, Alaskan and 
Columbia River salmon management, NMFS will develop an EIS with each 
major geographic fishery constituting a part of the EIS. There will be 
separate West Coast, Alaskan and Columbia River parts in which the full 
range of appropriate management alternatives will be discussed. In 
addition to the mandated No Action Alternative (no fishery authorized, 
no ESA consultation conducted, or no ESA incidental take permit issued) 
each part will include at least the following alternatives: Selective 
fisheries using contemporary methods, in which listed species will be 
avoided; selective fisheries using historic methods and means, such as 
fish traps or fish wheels; and current line and/or net fisheries. NMFS 
is seeking suggested additional alternatives from the public through 
the scoping process and written responses to this notice.

[[Page 3874]]

    The scoping meetings for Portland, Boise, Seattle and Santa Rosa 
will be held at the following times and locations:
    Portland, OR--February 3, 1997, 6-9 p.m., Federal Complex 
Auditorium, 911 NE. 11th Avenue, Portland, OR
    Boise, ID--February 4, 1997, 6-9 p.m., Interagency Fire Center 
Auditorium, 3905 Vista Avenue, Boise, ID
    Seattle, WA--February 5, 1997, 6-9 p.m., Building 9, A&B Seminar 
Rooms, NMFS, Northwest Regional Office, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, 
Seattle, WA
    Santa Rosa, CA--February 18, 1997, 7-10 p.m., Doubletree Hotel, 
3555 Round Barn Blvd., Santa Rosa, CA

Special Accommodations

    Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed (for California) to Rod McInnis (310) 980-4040 or 
(for all other meetings) to Robert Bayley (503) 230-5432 at least 5 
days before the meeting dates.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et. seq.; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et. seq.

    Dated: January 22, 1997.
George H. Darcy,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 97-1894 Filed 1-24-97; 8:45 am]
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