[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 5, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 480]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-139]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 122898H]


Endangered and Threatened Species; Retention of Species on 
Candidate Species List Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)

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

ACTION: Notice of retention of the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy 
population of harbor porpoise on the ESA candidate species list.

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SUMMARY: NMFS retains the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy (GOM/BOF) 
population of harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) on the ESA list of 
candidate species. Retention on the ESA candidate species list will 
serve to notify the public of NMFS' concern regarding this population, 
and it will ensure continued monitoring of the species' status.

DATES: Effective January 5, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Margot Bohan, 301/713-2322.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a separate document published today in 
the Federal Register, NMFS withdrew its January 7, 1993, proposal to 
list the GOM/BOF population of harbor porpoise as threatened under the 
ESA. Taking into account the implementation of bycatch reduction 
measures in the GOM by the New England Fishery Management Council, the 
Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Plan in the Gulf of Maine and Mid-
Atlantic waters, pursuant to section 118 of the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act, and a similar harbor porpoise bycatch mitigation 
program that is being implemented by the Department of Fisheries and 
Oceans-Canada, NMFS concluded that listing the GOM/BOF population of 
harbor porpoise as threatened under the ESA is not warranted at this 
time.
    NMFS will retain the GOM/BOF population of harbor porpoise on the 
ESA list of candidate species in order to continue to monitor the 
species' status. The ESA candidate species list serves to notify the 
public that NMFS has concerns regarding these species/vertebrate 
populations that may warrant listing it as a threatened or endangered 
species in the future; this list may also facilitate voluntary 
conservation efforts.

    Dated: December 30, 1998.
Andrew A. Rosenberg,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-139 Filed 1-4-99; 8:45 am]
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