[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 61 (Monday, March 31, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15151-15152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8059]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 032097E]


Groundfish Fisheries of the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Area and 
the Gulf of Alaska

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 a supplemental 
environmental impact statement (SEIS) on the Federal action by which 
total allowable catch (TAC) specifications and prohibited species catch 
limits in the groundfish fisheries that are conducted in the Bering Sea 
and Aleutian Islands Area (BSAI) and the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) are 
annually established and apportioned.
    NMFS will hold scoping meetings to provide for public input into 
the range of actions, alternatives, and impacts that the SEIS 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 SEIS.

DATES: Written comments will be accepted through July 1, 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 SEIS should be sent to Lori Gravel, 
Fisheries Management Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, P.O. 
Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.
    See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for meeting locations and special 
accommodations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tamra Faris, (907) 586-7645.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the United 
States has exclusive fishery management authority over all living 
marine resources, except for migratory species, found within the 
exclusive economic zone between 3 and 200 nautical miles from the 
baseline used to measure the territorial sea.
    The management of these marine resources is vested in the Secretary 
of Commerce (Secretary) and in eight Regional Fishery Management 
Councils. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has 
the responsibility to prepare fishery management plans (FMPs) for the 
marine resources, which it finds require conservation and management, 
in the Alaska region of responsibility. The Council consists of Federal 
and State officials having authority for fishery management and of 
private persons nominated by the governors of the States of Alaska,

[[Page 15152]]

Oregon, and Washington and appointed by the Secretary.
    The FMPs must specify the optimum yield from each fishery, which 
would provide the greatest benefit to the Nation, and must state how 
much of that optimum yield can be expected to be harvested by U.S. 
vessels. The FMPs must also specify the level of fishing that would 
comprise overfishing.
    The Council prepared and the Secretary approved the Fishery 
Management Plan for the Groundfish Fishery in the Bering Sea and 
Aleutian Islands Area in 1981. An environmental impact statement (EIS) 
was prepared for the action implementing the FMP and was filed in 1981. 
The BSAI FMP has been amended 42 times. National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA) environmental documents have been prepared for each 
amendment as well as for subsequent regulatory actions, including the 
annual process of establishing TAC specifications.
    The Council prepared and the Secretary approved the Fishery 
Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska in 1978. An EIS 
was prepared for the action implementing the FMP and was filed in 1978. 
The GOA FMP has been amended 45 times. NEPA environmental documents 
have been prepared for each amendment as well as for subsequent 
regulatory actions, including the annual process of establishing TAC 
specifications.
    The purpose of the original FMPs was to manage the groundfish 
fisheries for the optimum yield and to allocate harvest between 
domestic and foreign fishermen. The fisheries have evolved since then 
through the Council process including FMP amendments, regulations, and 
continued compliance with other Federal laws and executive orders. The 
frequencies of marine mammal, marine bird, and fish species in the 
biological assemblage present now are different from frequencies that 
existed and were displayed in 1978 and 1981 environmental analyses. 
Several marine species have been listed under the Endangered Species 
Act, some of which may be affected by fishery management actions. New 
information about the ecosystem, impacts of the fisheries, and 
management tools has become available since the EISs were prepared.
    For the above reasons, NMFS has determined that a SEIS shall be 
prepared that incorporates the following: The amendments to the 
groundfish FMPs; the annual process for determining the TAC 
specifications; and the public processes in place for implementing new 
regulations, revising existing ones, and incorporating new information. 
Because the BSAI and GOA groundfish fisheries utilize similar resources 
from adjacent locations in the large North Pacific ecosystem, use 
similar gear deployed by interrelated constituents, and are overseen by 
the same Fishery Management Council, NMFS has decided to display the 
impacts of both fisheries in one SEIS.
    The SEIS will analyze the process by which annual TAC 
specifications and prohibited species catch limits are determined, 
together with the procedures for implementing changes to those 
processes. The processes encompass decisions about location and timing 
of each fishery, harvestable amounts, exploitation rates, exploited 
species, groupings of exploited species, gear types and groupings, 
allocations, product quality, organic waste and secondary utilization, 
at-sea and on-land organic discard, species at higher and lower trophic 
levels, habitat alterations, and relative impacts to coastal 
communities, society, the economy, and the domestic and foreign 
groundfish markets. Effects of these decisions are manifested over many 
years in multifaceted social and biological arenas. Inherent in 
implementing any groundfish fisheries management regime are commitments 
to provide in-season management, enforcement, monitoring, stock 
assessment, and summary analyses. In addition to evaluating the 
mandated No Action Alternative (i.e., the management process that is in 
place now would continue to apply), the SEIS will include a full range 
of alternatives and discussions of their potential impacts on the 
biological and socioeconomic environments. NMFS is seeking suggested 
additional alternatives from the public through the scoping process and 
written responses to this document.
    Preparation of the SEIS is expected to take 1 year and include 
distribution of a draft SEIS and incorporation of comments on it into 
the final SEIS.
    The scoping meetings for Anchorage, Dutch Harbor, Juneau, 
Ketchikan, Kodiak, Portland, Seattle, and Sitka will be held at the 
following times and locations:
    1. Juneau--June 11, 1997, 1-3 p.m., Juneau Federal Building, Room 
445, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK.
    2. Anchorage--June 13, 1997, 2-5 p.m., Anchorage Federal Building 
Executive Dining Room, 222 West Seventh Avenue, Anchorage, AK.
    3. Dutch Harbor--June 16, 1997, 2-5 p.m., Grand Aleutian Hotel 100 
Salmon Way, Dutch Harbor, AK.
    4. Kodiak--June 18, 1997, 7-10 p.m., Westmark Hotel, 236 West 
Rezanof Drive, Kodiak, AK, in combination with meeting of the North 
Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting.
    5. Sitka--June 23, 1997, 1-3 p.m., University of Alaska, Sitka, 
Room 133, 1332 Seward Avenue (Duponski Island), Sitka, AK.
    6. Seattle--June 25, 1997, 2-5 p.m., Alaska Fisheries Science 
Center, 7600 Sand Point Way NE., Building 4, Room 2039, Seattle, WA.
    7. Portland--June 27, 1997, 7-10 p.m., Red Lion - Downtown, 310 SW. 
Lincoln, Portland, OR.

Special Accommodations

    Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Rebecca Campbell (907) 586-7228 at least 5 days 
before the meeting dates.

    Dated: March 25, 1997.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 97-8059 Filed 3-28-97; 8:45 am]
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