[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 140 (Thursday, July 22, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39479-39480]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-18737]



[[Page 39479]]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[I.D. 071299A]


Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Proposed Coral Reef 
Ecosystem Fishery Management Plan (Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP) of the 
Western Pacific Region; for the Fishery Management Plan for the 
Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish of the Western Pacific Region; 
(Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish FMP)

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

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare EISs; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NOAA announces its intention to prepare an EIS in accordance 
with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the proposed 
Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP, and an EIS for the Bottomfish and Seamount 
Groundfish Fisheries FMP. The Western Pacific Fishery Management 
Council (Council) will hold public scoping hearings in Guam and the 
Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan) on management alternatives to be 
analyzed under both EISs.

DATES: Written comments on the intent to prepare the two EISs will be 
accepted on or before July 29, 1999. Public scoping meetings are 
scheduled for July 28 and 29, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on suggested alternatives and potential 
impacts should be sent to Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director, Western 
Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, 1164 Bishop St., Suite 
1400, Honolulu, HI 96813, and to Charles Karnella, Administrator, NMFS, 
Pacific Islands Area Office, 1601 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1110, Honolulu 
HI 96814.
    The following locations and times have been set for scoping 
meetings:
    1. Guam, scoping meeting/public hearing, July 28, 1999, 6 - 8 p.m., 
Asan Community Center, Asan Village, GU. Phone contact c/o Guam Dept. 
of Commerce, 671-475-0321.
    2. Saipan, scoping meeting/public hearing, July 29, 1999, 6 - 9 
p.m., Carolinian Utt Pavilion (across from Bank of Guam and Ocean View 
Hotel), Garapan, Saipan CNMI, Phone Division of Fish and Wildlife 
Resources, 670-322-9627 for information.
    3. Additional field hearings for public scoping are tentatively 
planned for August in American Samoa and Hawaii (details regarding 
times and locations will follow in a separate Federal Register 
announcement).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kitty M. Simonds, at 808-522-8220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A summary of the Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP 
will be presented, including initial recommendations for management 
action, as described here. Comments will be solicited from the public 
on these and any other management alternatives the public cares to 
offer.
    Management measures that might be adopted in the Coral Reef 
Ecosystem FMP include permit and reporting requirements for non-
subsistence harvest of coral reef resources, marine protected areas to 
ensure greater conservation and management to special locations, 
allowable gear types to harvest coral reef resources in the U.S. 
exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prohibition on use of gear in ways 
destructive to habitat and a framework management process to add future 
new measures. It would also include essential fish habitat and habitat 
areas of particular concern, including fishing and non-fishing threats, 
as well as other components of FMPs required under the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). An 
additional measure, still under consideration for possible inclusion, 
is a ban on the possession or collection for commercial purposes of 
wild ``live rock'' and coral (other than coral covered by the Fishery 
Management Plan for the Precious Corals Fisheries of the Western 
Pacific Region). The collection of live rock or coral for scientific 
and research purposes and the collection of small amounts of live coral 
as brood-stock for captive breeding/aquaculture would be allowed by 
permit.
    The Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP, and its associated EIS, would be the 
Council's fifth FMP for the EEZ for all U.S. Pacific Islands. This area 
includes nearly 11,000 km2 (4,000 square miles) of coral 
reefs. Development of the FMP is timely, considering such new mandates 
and initiatives as the April 1999 report to Congress by the Ecosystem 
Principles Advisory Panel on Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management, the 
President's 1998 Executive Order on Coral Reefs (E.O. 13089), and 
priorities of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and the U.S. Coral Reef 
Initiative, as well as the provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 
including provisions of the Sustainable Fisheries Act. The draft Coral 
Reef Ecosystem FMP describes the importance of coral reef resources to 
the region and current and potential threats that warrant a management 
plan at this time. Information regarding the harvest of these resources 
in the EEZ is largely unknown. Potential for unregulated harvest and 
bio-prospecting for reef fish, live grouper, live rock and coral exists 
throughout the region. Marine debris, largely from fishing gear, is 
impacting reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
    The public is also invited to assist the Council to develop the 
scope of alternatives and impacts that should be analyzed in an EIS for 
the Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish FMP. An EIS has not been 
prepared for the FMP. Since the FMP was implemented in 1986, many 
changes have occurred in the fishery, stocks and management regimes. As 
part of the scoping process for the EIS on the bottomfish fisheries, 
the public is also invited to comment on an alternative being 
considered for the addition of bottomfish species in the EEZ around 
CNMI and the U.S. Pacific Island possessions to the management unit of 
the Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish FMP. Federal regulations for the 
EEZ off the CNMI and U.S. Island possessions that would provide basic 
protection and conservation measures are already established in the EEZ 
for other parts of the Western Pacific Region, and include no taking 
with explosives, poisons, trawl nets or bottom-set gillnets. A 
framework would also be included to implement future management 
measures in the bottomfish fishery. A definition of overfishing for a 
list of identified management unit species would be established and 
evaluated annually, with required action if violated.

Public Information Meetings

    Additional public information meetings and public hearings on the 
proposed EISs will be held in various locations around the region later 
in the year. These meetings will be advertised in the Federal Register 
and the local newspapers.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to Kitty M. Simonds, (see ADDRESSES), 
808-522-8220 (voice) or 808-522-8226 (fax), at least five days prior to 
the meeting date.


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    Dated: July 16, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-18737 Filed 7-19-99; 4:06 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F