[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 212 (Wednesday, November 3, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 59730-59731]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-28643]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 102699G]


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

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

ACTION: Notification of draft alternatives; extension of scoping and 
comment period.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is publishing draft alternatives to be analyzed in a 
programmatic supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) on 
Federal groundfish fishery management in the Exclusive Economic Zone 
(EEZ) off Alaska. This document also provides an extension of the 
scoping period from November 15 until December 15, 1999.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before December 15, 
1999.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Lori Gravel, Sustainable 
Fisheries Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, P.O. Box 21668, 
Juneau, AK 99802. Comments may also be hand delivered to Room 457-1 
Federal Office Building, 907 West 9 Street, Juneau, AK.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Davis, NMFS, (907) 271-3523 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS published in the Federal Register, a 
notice of intent to prepare an SEIS on Federal groundfish fishery 
management in the EEZ off Alaska and announced scoping meetings (64 FR 
53305, October 1, 1999). The reason for undertaking the analysis, and 
the issues to be analyzed, are detailed in the notice of intent and are 
not repeated here. In the notice, NMFS indicated that, prior to the 
scoping meetings, NMFS will publish in the Federal Register draft 
alternatives to be developed further during the scoping process.
    NMFS manages the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and Gulf of 
Alaska (GOA) groundfish fisheries to achieve the goals and objectives 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) for the 
Groundfish Fisheries in the BSAI Area, and the Groundfish of the GOA. 
The goals and objectives reflect the complicated array of often 
competing concerns that affect the Alaska groundfish fisheries. In some 
instances, contradictory objectives are articulated within a single 
goal. For example, paraphrasing from the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the 
FMPs, we find they generally contain the following goals and 
objectives: Assure continuing availability of food supply and 
recreational opportunities; minimize irreversible adverse effects on 
fishery resources and the marine environment, including essential fish 
habitat; maximize economic benefits to the Nation and to the states; 
provide for sustained participation of fishing communities; minimize 
waste, reduce bycatch and the mortality of bycatch, encourage 
development of underused fisheries; control effort; promote equitable 
allocations; keep management options open for the future; prevent 
overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks; manage stocks as a unit; 
promote protection of the safety of human life at sea; promote 
regulatory and fishing efficiency; use the best available data; account 
for all fishery related removals. In deciding on particular new 
management measures, NMFS and the North Pacific Fishery Management 
Council review reasonable alternatives for achieving one or more of 
those goals and objectives, then base decisions according to the views 
of competing interests and concerns.
    With this programmatic environmental impact analysis, NMFS will 
evaluate how successfully the current management regime achieves those 
goals and objectives. The SEIS will support these determinations by 
presenting an analysis of the environmental impacts of the current 
regime and compare them to configurations of alternatives management 
measures that would also achieve those goals and objectives.

Alternatives

    NMFS has chosen to analyze broad thematic alternatives that will 
provide, in a programmatic sense, a conceptual framework for 
understanding how effectively alternative harvest management regimes 
achieve the articulated goals and objectives and what their 
environmental impacts would be. The SEIS will look at the themes: (1) 
Who harvests groundfish; (2) what groundfish is harvested; (3) when and 
where is groundfish harvested; and (4) how groundfish is harvested. 
Sub-alternatives will be developed for each theme. The alternatives and 
sub-alternatives NMFS is currently considering include the following:

Allocative Schemes (Who harvests groundfish?)

    Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Allocation of groundfish harvest is 
currently based on the species or species group and is made to 
individuals, cooperatives, and Olympic-style fisheries (i.e., non-
Community Development Quota (CDQ), non-Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) 
fisheries) by sector.
    Sub-alternative 2 - IFQ: Expand or reduce allocations to 
individuals by species or species group.
    Sub-alternative 3 - Cooperatives: Expand or reduce allocations to 
cooperatives by species or species group.
    Sub-alternative 4 - Open access: Reduce or remove limited access 
systems.

[[Page 59731]]

    Sub-alternative 5 - Allocation: Expand or reduce the use of sector 
allocations or alter the amounts of allocations.
    Sub-alternative 6 - License Limitation: Expand or reduce the use of 
license limitation.

Harvest Level (What is harvested?)

    Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Total Allowable Catch levels (TACs) 
are set by species or species group and the sum of the TACs must stay 
within the OY of the groundfish complex.
    Sub-alternative 2 - Increase the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal 
to the maximum acceptable biological catch (going above OY of the 
groundfish complex).
    Sub-alternative 3 - Decrease the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal 
to 50 percent of the maximum acceptable biological catch.
    Sub-alternative 4 - Stabilize the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal 
to the 1994-1998 average fishing mortality.
    Sub-alternative 5 - Authorize zero harvest: Set the TACs at zero.

Time/Area Closures (When and Where does harvest occur?)

    Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Numerous time/area closure schemes 
are currently in use serving to achieve various conservation 
objectives. Among the purposes served are closures to minimize fishery 
interactions with species listed under the Endangered Species Act, 
prohibited species, and crab habitat.
    Sub-alternative 2 - Steller sea lion focus: Add additional closures 
based on their potential to minimize indirect interactions with Steller 
sea lion foraging habitat.
    Sub-alternative 3 - Prohibited species focus: Add additional 
closures based on their potential to minimize take of prohibited 
species.
    Sub-alternative 4 - Habitat focus: Add additional closures based on 
their potential to minimize disturbance of marine substrates.
    Sub-alternative 5 - Market focus: Modify seasonal and area 
restrictions to increase value of harvest and/or improve the efficiency 
of fishing operations.

Gear Limitations (How is groundfish harvested?)

    Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo. Fishing gear as described in 
regulations with sector allocations made in annual total allowable 
catch specifications.
    Sub-alternative 2 - Further restrict fishing gear contact with the 
sea floor by banning non-pelagic trawl gear in flatfish fisheries.
    Sub-alternative 3 - Restrict use of trawl, longline, and/or pot 
gear to habitat areas with substrates composed of unconsolidated 
sediments.
    Sub-alternative 4 - Restrict authorized fishing gear to those 
capable of minimizing bycatch significantly below levels presently 
considered clean for each directed fishery.
    Sub-alternative 5 - Allow all gear types and allow fishermen to 
select the most effective type.

Public Involvement

    Scoping for the programmatic SEIS began with publication of a 
Notice of Intent in the Federal Register on October 1, 1999. This 
notice extends the scoping period from November 15, to December 15, 
1999, to provide the public and NMFS with additional time to refine 
these alternatives.

    Dated: October 27, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-28643 Filed 11-2-99; 8:45 am]
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