[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 43 (Friday, March 5, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 10612-10613]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-5499]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 622

[I.D. 022599A]
RIN 0648-AL84


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for Species in the South Atlantic; 
Comprehensive Amendment to the Fishery Management Plans of the South 
Atlantic Region

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of a comprehensive amendment to fishery 
management plans for the South Atlantic Region; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the South Atlantic Fishery Management 
Council (Council) has submitted a Comprehensive Amendment to the 
Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) of the South Atlantic (Comprehensive 
Amendment) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. This 
Comprehensive Amendment would identify and describe Essential Fish 
Habitat (EFH) and habitat areas of particular concern (HAPC) for 
species under management by the Council, and would establish management 
measures designed to protect and conserve EFH. The Council also 
prepared a Habitat Plan for the South Atlantic Region (Habitat Plan), 
which serves as a source document for describing EFH. Written comments 
are requested from the public.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before May 4, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be mailed to the Southeast Regional Office, 
NMFS, 9721 Executive Center Drive N., St. Petersburg, FL 33702.
    Requests for copies of the Habitat Plan and the Comprehensive 
Amendment, which includes a final Environmental Assessment/Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement, a Regulatory Impact Review, and a 
Social Impact Assessment/Fishery Impact Assessment, should be sent to 
the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, One Southpark Circle, 
Suite 306, Charleston, SC 29407-4699; Phone: 843-571-4366; fax: 843-
769-4520.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael C. Barnette, NMFS, 727-570-
5305.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), as amended by the 
Sustainable Fisheries Act, requires each Regional Fishery Management 
Council (Regional Council) to submit a FMP or amendment to NMFS for 
review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The Magnuson-
Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an amendment, 
immediately publish a document in the Federal Register stating that the 
amendment is available for public review and comment.
    Section 303 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), 
as amended, requires that the Regional Councils submit, by October 11, 
1998, amendments to their FMPs that identify and describe EFH, 
including identification of adverse impacts from both fishing and non-
fishing activities on EFH and identification of actions required to 
conserve and enhance EFH for managed species.
    NMFS published guidelines to assist the Regional Councils in the 
description and identification of EFH in FMPs, including identification 
of adverse impacts from both fishing and non-fishing activities on EFH, 
and identification of actions required to conserve and enhance EFH (62 
FR 66531, December 19, 1997). The NMFS guidelines encourage ecosystem 
approaches to protecting and conserving EFH. Identification of 
ecological roles (i.e., prey, competitors, trophic links within 
foodwebs, and nutrient transfer between ecosystems) should be 
incorporated into EFH recommendations. The guidelines also specify that 
sufficient EFH be protected and conserved to support sustainable 
fisheries and managed species' contribution to a healthy ecosystem.
    The guidelines also encourage the identification of EFH that is 
judged to be particularly important to the long-term productivity of 
populations of one or more managed species or that is particularly 
vulnerable to degradation, as a HAPC. A HAPC may be identified based on 
the following criteria: (1) The importance of the ecological function 
provided by the habitat; (2) the extent to which the habitat is 
sensitive to human-induced environmental degradation; (3) whether and 
to what extent development activities are, or will be, stressing the 
habitat type; and (4) the rarity of the habitat type.
    The Comprehensive Amendment, using the Habitat Plan as a source 
document, addresses EFH for all species or species assemblages that are 
managed in all seven of the Council's FMPs and identifies HAPCs for all 
managed species or species assemblages except golden crab. A summary of 
the Comprehensive Amendment follows:
    1. EFH is identified and described based on areas important to each 
life stage of all managed species, including penaeid and rock shrimp (6 
species); red drum; snapper-grouper complex (73 species); coastal 
migratory pelagics (6 species); golden crab; spiny lobster; and coral, 
coral reefs and live/hard bottom habitat (8 species complexes).
    2. EFH is defined in the Magnuson-Stevens Act as ``those waters and 
substrates necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth 
to maturity.'' Based on the ecological relationships of species and the 
relationships between species and their habitat, the Council has taken 
an ecosystem approach in identifying EFH for managed species and 
species assemblages. The general distribution and geographic limits of 
EFH are divided into estuarine inshore habitat and marine offshore 
habitat. EFH for the estuarine inshore component is subdivided to 
include estuarine emergent, estuarine shrub/scrub (mangroves), 
seagrass, oyster reef and shell banks, intertidal flats, palustrine 
emergent and forested, aquatic beds, and the estuarine water column. 
EFH for the marine offshore habitat is subdivided to include live/hard 
bottom habitat, coral and coral reefs, artificial/manmade reefs, 
sargassum, and the water column.
    3. Threats to EFH from fishing and nonfishing activities are 
identified. Threats from non-fishing activities include agriculture; 
silviculture; urban development; commercial and industrial development; 
navigation and other hydrological alterations; recreational boating; 
mineral exploration, development, extraction, and transportation; ocean 
dumping; and natural events. Threats from fishing activities include 
physical alterations and damage to habitat from gear use and lost gear.
    4. Options to conserve and enhance EFH are provided, and research 
needs are identified, primarily focusing on the development of a better 
understanding of the biological and physical processes associated with 
EFH and the impacts that alterations of EFH have on the fauna and flora 
of the EFH.
    5. HAPCs are identified and defined for all managed species or 
species assemblages, except golden crab.
    The Comprehensive Amendment contains Amendment 3 to the Shrimp FMP, 
Amendment 1 to the Red Drum FMP, Amendment 10 to the Coastal Migratory 
Pelagics FMP, Amendment 1 to the Golden Crab FMP, Amendment 5

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to the Spiny Lobster FMP, and Amendment 4 to the Coral, Coral Reefs, 
and Live/Hard Bottom Habitat FMP.
    Amendment 4 contains a proposed measure to expand the boundaries of 
the current Oculina Bank HAPC and to create two satellite Oculina Bank 
HAPCs. In accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act, NMFS is evaluating 
the proposed rule for this measure to determine whether it is 
consistent with the EFH Amendment, the Coral FMP, the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act, and other applicable law. If that determination is affirmative, 
NMFS will publish it in the Federal Register for public review and 
comment.
    Comments received by May 4, 1999, whether specifically directed to 
the Comprehensive Amendment or to the proposed rule, will be considered 
by NMFS in its decision to approve, disapprove, or partially approve 
the Comprehensive Amendment. Comments received after that date will not 
be considered by NMFS in this decision. All comments received by NMFS 
on the Comprehensive Amendment or on the proposed rule during their 
respective comment periods will be summarized and addressed in the 
preamble of the final rule.

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

    Dated: March 1, 1999.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 99-5499 Filed 3-4-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F