[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 24 (Friday, February 4, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 5488-5489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-2573]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 012400B]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Sea Scallop 
Fishery

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

ACTION:  Notice of intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement (SEIS) and notice of scoping process; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY:  The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) 
announces its intention to prepare Amendment 10 to the Atlantic Sea 
Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to develop an area based 
management system that would, among other things, close areas with high 
concentrations of small scallops and open them later when the scallops 
are bigger. The Council also announces its intent to prepare an SEIS 
for the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to analyze the impacts of any 
management alternatives. The Council will hold public scoping meetings 
in Fairhaven, MA; Virginia Beach, VA; and Cape May, NJ; to determine 
the scope of issues to be addressed and for identifying the significant 
issues related to the management alternatives.

DATES:  Written comments on the intent to prepare the SEIS must be 
received on or before 5:00 p.m., local time, March 1, 2000. The 
meetings will held between Tuesday, February 15, 2000, and Thursday, 
February 18, 2000. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific dates and 
times.

ADDRESSES:  Written comments should be sent to Paul J. Howard, 
Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 
Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950. Comments may also be sent via 
fax to (978) 465-0492. The meetings will be held in Fairhaven, MA; 
Virginia Beach, VA; and Cape May, NJ. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for 
specific locations. Comments will not be accepted if submitted via e-
mail or Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council (978) 465-0492. Requests for 
special accommodations should be addressed to the New England Fishery 
Management Council, 50 Water St., Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950; 
telephone: (978) 465-0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Amendment 4 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP established a limited 
access program and a schedule of annual day-at-sea (DAS) allocations 
for full-time, part-time, and occasional vessels with limited access 
permits. Although Amendment 4 changed the restrictions on fishing gear 
and limited the number of crew aboard limited

[[Page 5489]]

access vessels, the primary management measure to control fishing 
mortality was the annual DAS allocation. The initial annual allocations 
in 1994 were 201 days for full-time vessels, 81 days for part-time 
vessels, and 17 days for occasional vessels. Amendment 4 furthermore 
established a schedule to reduce by 2000 the annual DAS allocations and 
fishing mortality. Overfishing was then defined to occur whenever 
fishing mortality exceeded 0.97. Amendment 4 also established the 
fishing year, when vessels receive new DAS allocations, as March 1 
through February 28/29, and established the annual framework adjustment 
procedure.
    Since 1994, NMFS has implemented several framework adjustments 
which, among other actions, reduced the crew limit from 9 to 7 persons 
and adjusted the annual DAS allocations. Closed Area I, Closed Area II, 
and the Nantucket Lightship Area were closed for scallop fishing 
through an action promulgated under the Northeast Multispecies FMP to 
protect groundfish and reduce groundfish bycatch.
    Amendment 7 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop FMP changed the overfishing 
definition to comply with new mandates of the Sustainable Fisheries Act 
and extended the DAS reduction schedule through 2008 to achieve a 10-
year biomass rebuilding objective. To comply with the new overfishing 
definition and implement the rebuilding schedule, Amendment 7 revised 
the DAS schedule beginning March 1, 1999. To allow time for industry 
adjustment to the new regulations, the initial DAS allocations in 1999 
were 120 days for full-time vessels, 48 days for part-time vessels, and 
10 days for occasional vessels. According to Amendment 7, the DAS 
allocations in 2000 would be reduced to 51 days for full-time vessels, 
20 days for part-time vessels, and 4 days for occasional vessels and 
would remain below these levels until 2007 when the FMP met the biomass 
rebuilding targets. The SEIS for Amendment 7 indicated that the 2000 
DAS allocations would have negative impacts on the economic viability 
of the vessels and the scallop fleet. Amendment 7 also modified the 
framework adjustment process to allow the Council to consider closing 
and re-opening areas as well as closing two areas in the Mid-Atlantic 
to protect small scallops that were prevalent there and promote 
rebuilding.
    The Council is considering development of Amendment 10 to develop 
an area based management system that would, among other things, close 
areas with high concentrations of small scallops and open them later 
when the scallops are bigger. The Council believes that shifting 
fishing effort in this manner could promote rebuilding, improve yield, 
and reduce the economic impacts of the low DAS allocations. Another 
purpose of Amendment 10 would be to change the fishing year to allow 
timelier use of the adjustment mechanism, taking into account when the 
results of the annual resource abundance survey and other data become 
available. Other management measures, including individual fishery 
quotas and transferability, could be considered during the development 
of Amendment 10 in place of or in addition to DAS allocations and area 
based management. More details of the issues and problems to be 
addressed by Amendment 10 are available in a document from the Council 
office. See ADDRESSES for details.

Public Meeting Schedule

    Tuesday, February 15, 2000, at 7:30 p.m.
    Location: Seaport Inn, 110 Middle Street, Fairhaven, MA 02719; 
telephone (508) 997-1281.
    Wednesday, February 16, 2000, at 7:30 p.m.
    Location: Holiday Inn, Executive Center, 5655 Greenwich Road, 
Virginia Beach, VA 23462; telephone (757) 499-4400.
    Thursday, February 17, 2000, at 7:30 p.m.
    Location: Grand Hotel, 1045 Beach Drive, Cape May, NJ 08204; 
telephone (609) 884-5611.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to Paul J. Howard (see ADDRESSES) at 
least 5 days prior to the meeting dates.

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

    Dated: January 31, 2000.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 00-2573 Filed 2-3-00; 8:45 am]
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