[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 165 (Tuesday, August 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45233-45234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22602]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


National Marine Sanctuary Program

AGENCY: Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), 
National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is 
withdrawing Norfolk Canyon from consideration as an Active Candidate 
for designation as a National Marine Sanctuary. Norfolk Canyon is 
located approximately 60 nautical miles east of the entrance to 
Chesapeake Bay (offshore Virginia), and is a deep-water site. Norfolk 
Canyon was identified by NOAA for further evaluation prior to the 
development of the National Marine Sanctuary Program's Site Evaluation 
List (SEL). For reasons related to limited agency resources, the remote 
nature of the site, and the absence of known threats to the Canyon's 
resources, NOAA has decided to withdraw Norfolk Canyon from Active 
Candidate status, and terminate consideration of the site for possible 
designation as a National Marine Sanctuary.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward Lindelof, Manager, Atlantic, 
Great Lakes and Gulf Branch, Sanctuaries and Reserves Division, Office 
of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, at 301-713-3137 (ext. 131), 
fax: 301-713-0404, e-mail: [email protected].



I. Background

    The National Marine Sanctuaries Act, as amended, (Act), 16 U.S.C. 
1431 et seq., authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to designate 
discrete areas of the marine environment as national marine sanctuaries 
if the designation will fulfill the purposes and policies of the Act 
(set forth in section 301(b) (16 U.S.C. 1431(b)), and if: (1) The area 
proposed for designation is of special national significance due to its 
resource or human-use values; (2) existing state and federal 
authorities are inadequate or should be supplemented to ensure 
coordinated and comprehensive conservation and management of the area, 
including resource protection, scientific research, and public 
education; (3) designation of the area as a national marine sanctuary 
will facilitate the coordinated and comprehensive conservation and 
management of the area; and (4) the area is of a size and nature that 
will permit comprehensive and coordinated conservation and management. 
The Act is administered by NOAA through the National Ocean Service 
(NOS), Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), 
Sanctuaries and Reserves Division (SRD).

 II. Administrative History

    In January 1982, NOAA published a Program Development Plan (PDP) 
for the National Marine Sanctuary Program, describing the Program's 
mission and goals, site identification and selection criteria, and the 
nomination and designation process. Based on the PDP and Program 
regulations, NOAA published a proposed SEL recommended to NOAA by 
regional resource evaluation teams. At the time of development of the 
SEL, Norfolk Canyon and five other sites were already under 
consideration by NOAA for possible designation, and the regional 
resource evaluation teams were instructed to not consider these sites. 
On August 4, 1983, NOAA published the final SEL (48 FR 35568). The SEL 
is described in the regulations for the National Marine Sanctuary 
program at 15 CFR 922.10.
    On September 1, 1985, NOAA published notice (50 FR 37760) 
announcing preliminary consultation and inviting public comment on the 
possible designation of Norfolk Canyon as a National Marine Sanctuary. 
Norfolk Canyon became an Active Candidate for National Marine Sanctuary 
designation

[[Page 45234]]

on February 28, 1986 (51 FR 7097). Public scoping meetings were 
conducted pursuant to notice published on May 19, 1986 (51 FR 18352). 
The scoping meetings were held to allow NOAA to gather information and 
determine the range and significance of issues related to the potential 
Sanctuary designation and management of the Norfolk Canyon site. A 
preliminary draft resource assessment/environmental impact statement 
was completed in 1992. No further significant action toward designation 
has occurred since that time.

III. The Site

     Norfolk Canyon is located approximately 60 nautical miles east of 
the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay (offshore Virginia), and is the 
southermost of a series of submarine canyons along the Atlantic 
continental margin. This is a deep-water site, characterized as a non-
glaciated area that is influenced by a major drainage system (the 
Chesapeake Bay), and is habitat for several alcyonarid and scleractinid 
corals. The area is approximately positioned about the coordinates: 
37 deg.03.3n by 74 deg.38.4W.

IV. Action

    The SRD has been unuable to actively pursue designation of this 
site for reasons pertaining to availability of resources and Program 
priorities. NOAA has decided to focus its limited personnel and 
budgetary resources on completion of Congressionally-designated sites; 
on consideration of bio-geographic areas not well represented by the 
Sanctuary Program; and on sites that are more significantly affected by 
human activities. NOAA's resources are being directed at bringing the 
management of designated sanctuaries up to levels consistent with 
mandates of the Act. NOAA finds, through information gathered for the 
preliminary draft resource assessment and environmental impact 
statement, that there appears to be the minimal threat to the Norfolk 
Canyon site, relative to other proposed and existing sites. Human 
activites are limited primarily to low levels of commercial and 
recreational fishing. No mineral mining or ocean disposal activity 
occurs at the site, and the near-term prospects of such activities are 
unlikely.
    Accordingly, the site is withdrawn from Active Candidate status and 
further consideration of Norfolk Canyon for designation as a National 
Marine Sanctuary is discontinued.

(Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog Number 11.429 Marine Sanctuary 
Program)

    Dated: August 18, 1997.
Captain Evelyn J. Fields,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal 
Zone Management.
[ FR Doc 97-22602 Filed 8-25-97 8:45 am.]
 BILLING CODE 3510-08-M