[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 67 (Thursday, April 6, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18028-18030]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-8576]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 032800B]


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Amendments 
61/61/13/8 to Implement Major Provisions of the American Fisheries Act

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

ACTION: Notice of intent; scoping period; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intent to prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) on proposed Amendment 61 to the Fishery Management Plan 
for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area, 
proposed Amendment 61 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of 
the Gulf of Alaska, proposed Amendment 13 to the Fishery Management 
Plan for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crab, and 
proposed Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Scallop 
Fishery off Alaska (FMPs). These fishery management plan (FMP) 
amendments would incorporate the provisions of the American Fisheries 
Act (AFA) into the FMPs and their implementing regulations. The scope 
of the analysis will include all proposed regulations and activities 
that would be implemented under the proposed FMP amendments.

DATES: Written comments will be accepted through May 8, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests to be included on a mailing 
list of persons interested in the EIS should be sent to Lori Gravel, 
NMFS, Alaska Region, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802, or delivered to 
the Federal Office Building, Room 457-1, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, 
AK, and marked Attn: Lori Gravel.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kent Lind, NMFS, (907) 586-7228 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the U.S. groundfish fisheries 
in the exclusive economic zone of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 
Management Area (BSAI) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) under the FMPs for 
groundfish in the respective areas. With Federal oversight, the State 
of Alaska (State) manages the commercial king crab and Tanner crab 
fisheries in the BSAI and the commercial scallop fishery off Alaska 
under the FMPs for those fisheries. The North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council (Council) prepared, and NMFS approved, the FMPs 
under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. Regulations implementing the 
FMPs appear at 50 CFR part 679. General regulations governing U.S. 
fisheries also appear at 50 CFR part 600.
    EISs were prepared and filed when the FMPs for the groundfish 
fisheries of the BSAI and GOA were prepared and approved by NMFS in 
1978 and 1981, respectively. On October 1, 1999, NMFS announced its 
intent to prepare a programmatic supplemental environmental impact 
statement that defined the Federal action under review as, among other 
things, all activities authorized and managed under the FMPs and all 
amendments thereto, and that addresses the conduct of the BSAI and GOA 
groundfish fisheries as a whole. Work on this programmatic SEIS

[[Page 18029]]

is ongoing. However, the programmatic SEIS will not examine in detail a 
range of alternatives specific to proposed Amendments 61/61/13/8 and 
implementation of the AFA.
    The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires preparation 
of EISs for major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality 
of the human environment. NEPA regulations state: ``Environmental 
impact statements may be prepared, and are sometimes required, for 
broad Federal actions such as the adoption of new agency programs or 
regulations'' (40 CFR 1502.4). NMFS has determined that the new 
management programs mandated by the AFA and proposed to be implemented 
under Amendments 61/61/13/8 are of sufficient magnitude to warrant 
preparation of a separate EIS for these amendments.
    The AFA, Div. C, Title II, Subtitle II, Pub. L. No. 105-277, 112 
Stat. 2681 (1998), made profound changes in the management of the 
groundfish fisheries of the BSAI and, to a lesser extent, the 
groundfish fisheries of the GOA, crab fisheries of the BSAI, and 
scallop fishery off Alaska, and requires the adoption of new agency 
programs and regulations. With respect to the groundfish and crab 
fisheries off Alaska, the AFA--
    (1) Established a new allocation scheme for BSAI pollock that 
allocates 10 percent of the BSAI pollock total allowable catch (TAC) to 
the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program, and after allowance for 
incidental catch of pollock in other fisheries, allocates the remaining 
TAC as follows: 50 percent to vessels harvesting pollock for processing 
by inshore processors, 40 percent to vessels harvesting pollock for 
processing by catcher/processors, and 10 percent to vessels harvesting 
pollock for processing by motherships;
    (2) Provided for the buyout of nine pollock catcher/processors and 
the subsequent scrapping of eight of these vessels through a 
combination of $20 million in Federal appropriations and $75 million in 
direct loan obligations;
    (3) Required a fee of six-tenths (0.6) of one cent for each pound 
round weight of pollock harvested by catcher vessels delivering to 
inshore processors for the purpose of repaying the $75 million direct 
loan obligation;
    (4) Listed by name and/or provided qualifying criteria for those 
vessels and processors eligible to participate in the non-CDQ portion 
of the BSAI pollock fishery;
    (5) Increased observer coverage and scale requirements for AFA 
catcher/processors;
    (6) Established limitations for the creation of fishery 
cooperatives in the catcher/processor, mothership, and inshore industry 
sectors of the BSAI pollock fishery;
    (7) Required that NMFS grant individual allocations of the inshore 
BSAI pollock TAC to inshore catcher vessel cooperatives that form 
around a specific inshore processor and agree to deliver the bulk of 
their catch to that processor;
    (8) Required harvesting and processing restrictions (commonly known 
as ``sideboards'') on fishermen and processors who have received 
exclusive harvesting or processing privileges under the AFA to protect 
the interests of fishermen and processors who have not directly 
benefitted from the AFA; and
    (9) Established excessive share harvesting caps for BSAI pollock 
and directed the Council to develop excessive share caps for BSAI 
pollock processing and for the harvesting and processing of other 
groundfish.
    Since the passage of the AFA in October 1998, NMFS has begun to 
implement specific provisions of the AFA through a variety of 
mechanisms. For the 2000 fishing year, NMFS implemented AFA-related 
permit requirements through an emergency interim rule published on 
January 5, 2000 (65 FR 380). AFA-related pollock allocations, 
monitoring requirements, and sideboard restrictions were implemented 
through a second emergency rule published January 28, 2000 (65 FR 
4520). Required changes to the CDQ program were implemented through an 
emergency interim rule (64 FR 3877, January 26, 1999; extended at 64 FR 
34743, June 29, 1999). Since the passage of the AFA, the Council also 
has taken an active role in the development of management measures to 
implement the various provisions of the AFA. The Council began 
consideration of the implications of the AFA during a special meeting 
in November 1998, during which it discussed AFA-related actions that 
were required for the 1999 fishing year. At its December 1998 meeting, 
the Council began an analysis of a suite of AFA-related management 
measures that subsequently became known as Amendments 61/61/13/8. The 
Council conducted an initial review of Amendments 61/61/13/8 and 
related AFA measures at its April 1999 meeting, and took final action 
on these amendments at its June 1999 meeting. At its December 1999 
meeting, the Council reviewed the status of Amendments 61/61/13/8 and 
recommended that NMFS proceed immediately with an emergency interim 
rule to implement the Council's June 1999 recommendations so that AFA 
regulations could be in place prior to the start of the 2000 fisheries 
while Amendments 61/61/13/8 and the proposed rule to implement the 
amendments are under continued development and review by the Council 
and NMFS. In accordance with the Council's recommendation, NMFS has 
implemented the main provisions of Amendments 61/61/13/8 through the 
two emergency interim rules cited here to meet the statutory deadlines 
contained in the AFA for most management measures.
    With this document, NMFS announces its intent to prepare an EIS on 
proposed Amendments 61/61/13/8 that defines the proposed Federal action 
under review as the suite of regulations and management measures that, 
taken as a whole, would implement the required provisions of the AFA as 
recommended by the Council under proposed Amendments 61/61/13/8. NMFS 
will present in the EIS an overview and an assessment of all impacts 
(including environmental, biological, economic, and socio-economic) 
that result from fishing and processing activities that would be 
conducted under proposed Amendments 61/61/13/8 and all reasonable 
alternatives. The Responsible Program Manager for this EIS is Steven 
Pennoyer, Administrator, Alaska Region, NMFS.

Alternatives

    The EIS will consider a range of alternative management measures to 
implement the requirements of the AFA. The EIS will not consider 
detailed alternatives that are inconsistent with the statutory 
requirements of the AFA, or alternatives that would expand the 
provisions of the AFA into other groundfish or crab fisheries under the 
authority of the Council. This EIS also will not consider alternatives 
for the buyout and scrapping of ineligible catcher/processors or the 
0.6 cent/lb fee on inshore pollock because these two provisions of the 
AFA have already been permanently implemented by NMFS through separate 
actions.
    Alternatives will be grouped into three categories of management 
measures for the purpose of analysis: (1) Alternatives for allocating 
the BSAI pollock resource among industry sectors, vessels and 
processors, (2) alternatives for harvesting and processing sideboard 
limits for AFA vessels and processors in other fisheries, and (3) 
alternatives for monitoring and enforcement.

[[Page 18030]]

    Alternatives for allocating the BSAI pollock resource. The AFA 
provides an explicit formula for allocating the BSAI pollock resource 
among the CDQ, inshore, mothership, and catcher/processor sectors. The 
AFA further defines which vessels and processors are eligible to 
participate in the inshore, mothership, and catcher/processor sectors 
and sets an overall harvesting excessive share cap of 17.5 percent of 
the BSAI pollock directed fishery which no individual, corporation, or 
other entity may exceed. The AFA also provides guidelines for the 
formation of fishery cooperatives and for the allocation of BSAI 
pollock to fishery cooperatives. The EIS will examine the environmental 
and economic effects of proposed Amendments 61/61/13/8 that would 
allocate pollock according to the formulas set out in the AFA and 
contrast this allocation alternative against the no-action alternative 
(i.e., the pre-AFA regime). The EIS also will analyze various 
alternative mechanisms for allocating BSAI pollock to fishery 
cooperatives that have been proposed by the Council including 
alternatives that would modify the restrictions on inshore cooperative 
membership and requirements that tie inshore cooperatives to specific 
processors. However, the EIS will not examine, in detail, different 
sector allocation formulas or alternative qualification criteria for 
vessels and processors that would be inconsistent with the AFA and that 
would be outside the authority of the Council to recommend or NMFS to 
implement.
    Alternatives for harvesting and processing sideboards. Since 
November 1998, the Council has examined a wide range of alternative 
measures for harvesting and processing sideboards. At its June 1999 
meeting, the Council considered various options for establishing 
groundfish harvesting sideboard amounts for catcher/processors and 
groundfish and crab sideboard amounts for catcher vessels. The Council 
also considered various methods by which harvesting sideboards would be 
managed and considered various exemptions for catcher vessels that meet 
certain criteria. The full range of harvesting sideboard alternatives 
considered by the Council will be analyzed in the EIS including the 
Council's preferred alternative under proposed Amendments 61/61/13/8. 
The EIS will also examine the crab processing sideboard alternatives 
developed by the Council. However, the EIS will not examine 
alternatives for groundfish processing sideboards and excessive 
processing shares. The Council is currently examining groundfish 
processing sideboards and excessive processing share limits as a 
separate action and is preparing a separate analysis to examine those 
issues for initial review at its June 2000 Council meeting.
    Alternatives for monitoring and enforcement. A suite of new 
monitoring and enforcement measures are required to implement the 
limited access allocation program effectively for BSAI pollock and the 
accompanying sideboard measures proposed under Amendments 61/61/13/8. 
The AFA sets out new observer and scale requirements for catcher/
processors but is silent with respect to monitoring and enforcement of 
both BSAI pollock and sideboard fisheries in the mothership and inshore 
sectors. The EIS will examine a range of monitoring and enforcement 
options including electronic recordkeeping and reporting requirements, 
observer coverage requirements, and scale and catch weighing 
requirements for all three sectors of the BSAI directed pollock 
fishery.

Issues

    The environmental consequences section of the EIS will examine the 
impacts of fishing and processing under pre-AFA management regulations 
and under a range of representative alternative management alternatives 
to implement the requirements of the AFA. The environmental issues to 
be examined include: (1) marine habitat and water quality, (2) major 
fish species, (3) bycatch, (4) marine mammals, (5) seabirds, and (6) 
cumulative and synergistic impacts on species across the food web. In 
addition, the environmental consequences section will contain summary, 
interpretation, and predictions for economic and socioeconomic issues 
associated with the conduct of the BSAI pollock fishery on the 
following individuals and groups: (1) Those who participate in 
harvesting the fishery resources off Alaska, (2) those who process and 
market the fishery resources harvested off Alaska, (3) those who are 
involved in allied support industries, (4) those who consume these 
fishery products, (5) those who rely on these fishery resources for 
subsistence or recreational needs, (6) those who benefit from non-
consumptive uses of these living marine resources, (7) those involved 
in managing and monitoring these fisheries, and (8) affected fishing 
communities.
    NMFS requests public input on the range of environmental, economic 
and socioeconomic issues that should be considered in this EIS on 
proposed Amendments 61/61/13/8.

Public Involvement

    Scoping for the EIS begins with publication of this document. The 
Council will receive a presentation of the EIA project and the public 
will have opportunity to comment on the scope of the EIS at the 
Council's April 2000 meeting (Anchorage, AK, Hilton Hotel, April 12-17, 
2000). Additional scoping meetings are not scheduled. The proposed 
action has already been subject to a lengthy development process that 
has included early and meaningful opportunity for public participation 
in the development of the proposed action including eight Council 
meetings beginning with a special Council meeting on the AFA in 
November 1998, and including every Council meeting since that date. The 
Council also has formed special committees to examine specific aspects 
of the AFA in detail including the structure and management of inshore 
cooperatives and the issue of processor sideboards. The Council 
provided notice of these meetings and they were open to the public.

    Dated: April 3, 2000.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 00-8576 Filed 4-5-00; 8:45 am]
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