[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 3 (Thursday, January 4, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 742-746]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-205]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 091900B]
RIN 0648-A027


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Rebuilding 
Overfished Fisheries

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

ACTION: Approval of a fishery management plan amendment.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the approval of Amendment 14 to the Fishery 
Management Plan for the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner 
Crabs (FMP). This amendment contains a rebuilding plan for the 
overfished stock of Bering Sea snow crab. This action is necessary to 
ensure that conservation and management measures continue to be based 
upon the best scientific information available. It is intended to 
enhance the Council's ability to achieve, on a continuing basis, 
optimum yield from fisheries under its authority.

DATES: The amendment was approved on December 28, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Copies of Amendment 14 to the FMP and the Environmental 
Assessment (EA) prepared for the amendment are available from the 
Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, 
Juneau, AK 99802-1668, Attn: Lori Gravel.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gretchen Harrington, 907-586-7228 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS declared the Bering Sea stock of snow 
crab (Chionoecetes opilio) overfished on September 24, 1999, because 
the spawning stock biomass was below the minimum stock size threshold 
defined in the FMP. On September 24, 1999, NMFS notified the Council 
that the stock was overfished (64 FR 54791, October 8, 1999). The 
Council then took action to develop a rebuilding plan within 1 year of 
notification as required by section 304(e)(3) of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
    In June 2000, the Council adopted Amendment 14, the rebuilding plan 
to accomplish the purposes outlined in the national standard guidelines 
to rebuild the overfished stock. Amendment 14 specifies a time period 
for rebuilding the stock that satisfies the requirements of the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act. Under the rebuilding plan, the Bering Sea snow 
crab stock is estimated to rebuild, with a 50 percent probability, 
within 10 years. The stock will be considered ``rebuilt'' when it 
attains the maximum sustainable yield stock size level for 2 
consecutive years.
    The rebuilding plan consists of a framework that references the 
State of Alaska's harvest strategy, bycatch control measures, and 
habitat protection measures. The plan uses the harvest strategy 
developed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The harvest 
strategy was reviewed and adopted by the Alaska Board of Fisheries. The 
FMP defers development of harvest strategies to the State of Alaska, 
with oversight by NMFS and the Council. The rebuilding harvest strategy 
should result in more spawning biomass because more large male crab 
would be conserved and fewer juveniles and females would die due to 
incidental catch and discard mortality. More spawning biomass would be 
expected to produce larger year-classes when environmental conditions 
are favorable. Protection of habitat and reduction of bycatch may 
reduce mortality of juvenile crabs, thus allowing a higher percentage 
of each year-class to contribute to spawning and future landings.
    The Council prepared an EA for Amendment 14 that describes the 
management background, the purpose and need for action, the management 
alternatives, and the environmental and the socio-economic impacts of 
the

[[Page 743]]

alternatives. A copy of the EA can be obtained from NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES).
    A notice of availability for the proposed Amendment 14 to the FMP, 
which described the proposed amendment and invited comments from the 
public, was published in the Federal Register on September 29, 2000 (65 
FR 58501). Comments were invited until November 28, 2000. NMFS received 
two comments.

Response to Comments

    Comment 1: The rebuilding plan does not contain meaningful bycatch 
reduction measures and habitat protection measures. Given the large 
amount of information that is unknown about the biology of the stock, 
the amount of bycatch mortality from the various sources, and habitat 
needs of the stock, it is imperative that NMFS employ a large amount of 
precaution in this rebuilding plan. The commenter advanced these 
particular concerns about the rebuilding plan: (1) The discussion in 
the EA of higher probabilities of rebuilding under the alternatives is 
insufficient; (2) NMFS should reduce the snow crab bycatch limit in the 
trawl fisheries and should comprehensively study the bycatch mortality 
of snow crab captured in trawl gear; (3) NMFS should study snow crab 
bycatch mortality in the snow crab fishery and the effects of ghost 
fishing and the impacts of pot gear on snow crab and their habitat; (4) 
NMFS should determine the bycatch mortality for snow crab in the 
longline, groundfish pot, and scallop fisheries; (5) NMFS should study 
the habitat needs of snow crab to best protect essential habitats for 
the stock and the annual NMFS Eastern Bering Sea trawl survey is 
inadequate for providing information on snow crab habitat; (6) NMFS 
should study the current and potential effects of trawling on snow crab 
habitat; and (7) The preferred alternative for habitat protection does 
not provide meaningful habitat protection. In light of the 
uncertainties, NMFS must be precautionary and protect any possible snow 
crab habitat from adverse impacts. NMFS should consider a seasonal 
bottom-trawl closure from March to June in areas of highest trawl 
bycatch to protect snow crab during sensitive life-stages and a 
permanent bottom-trawl closure north of 58 deg. N lat., protecting 82 
percent of female crabs.
    Response: NMFS agrees uncertainties exist about the biology of snow 
crab and that more scientific research needs to be conducted on its 
habitat, bycatch mortality in all fisheries, and the effects of all 
types of fishing gear on habitat. The EA highlights all of the areas 
where more research is needed, including those research needs 
identified by the commenter. The scientific uncertainties were 
adequately considered and accounted for in developing alternatives for 
the rebuilding plan. The rebuilding plan incorporates these 
uncertainties, provides for protection and rebuilding of the snow crab 
stock, and provides for a modest fishery.
    NMFS has determined that the current rebuilding plan is 
sufficiently precautionary. The EA identifies all known sources of snow 
crab mortality, analyzes each one, and examines the most effective 
measures to rebuild the stock. By far, the largest source of mortality 
and bycatch of snow crab is in the directed snow crab fishery. In 1999, 
the directed fishery accounted for approximately 95 percent of the 
total snow crab bycatch in all fisheries. As the EA illustrates, the 
rebuilding plan greatly curtails the directed fishery. By comparison, 
all other sources of bycatch and bycatch mortality are minimal and 
amount to less than 1 percent of the snow crab population, even when 
assuming 100 percent mortality. Likewise, existing evidence does not 
indicate that the decline in snow crab abundance is due to habitat 
destruction by fishing gear. The vast majority of female and juvenile 
snow crab live in the northern regions of the Bering Sea where few or 
no fisheries operate.
    Responses to each specific point made by the commenter are as 
follows: The rebuilding time period satisfies the requirements of 
section 304(e)(4)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The rebuilding plan 
is estimated to allow snow crab to rebuild, with a 50 percent 
probability, to the Bmsy level within 10 years. A 50 percent rebuilding 
probability within 10 years is the estimated probability recommended in 
the NMFS technical guidance for rebuilding overfished stocks. This 
probability of rebuilding includes the conservative parameter that the 
stock will be considered `rebuilt' when the stock size reaches the Bmsy 
in 2 consecutive years. NMFS and ADF&G stock assessment experts, who 
developed the model used to estimate the rebuilding times and 
probabilities, determined that a 50 percent probability best 
represented reality given the biology of the species and the current 
level of scientific information.
    The EA estimates the rebuilding time of each alternative at a 10 
percent, 50 percent, and 90 percent probability. The alternatives range 
from zero catch (no directed catch and no bycatch in the trawl 
fisheries) to the traditional harvest rate of 58 percent of males 
greater than or equal to 4 inches (102 mm). None of the alternatives, 
including zero catch, would achieve rebuilding at a 90 percent 
probability within 10 years.
    The exercise of estimating rebuilding probabilities provides 
managers with an idea of the potential outcomes of different 
alternatives and helps managers predict whether the alternatives will 
rebuild the stock within 10 years. However, the components of the 
rebuilding plan were developed, taking into consideration the full 
breadth and depth of current scientific understanding and not solely 
based on the results of the models.
    The EA analyzes the option of reducing the snow crab bycatch limit 
in the trawl fisheries. Under the existing program, NMFS closes trawl 
fisheries when they reach their snow crab bycatch limits. The Council 
considered the following points when it determined that the existing 
snow crab bycatch controls for the trawl fisheries are sufficient. 
First, reductions in bycatch most likely would not result in measurable 
improvements to snow crab abundance because the 7-year average annual 
bycatch of snow crab in the trawl fishery is only about 0.1 percent of 
the total abundance. Second, current bycatch limits provide incentives 
for the trawl fleet to avoid concentrations of snow crab, thus keeping 
bycatch rates well below the limit. Finally, reductions in limits would 
disadvantage specific sectors of the trawl fleet because of the way 
bycatch limits are apportioned by fishery before the fishing season. 
Therefore, the Council determined that the very small potential for 
measurable improvements in snow crab abundance did not justify the 
disproportional economic disadvantages that would have resulted from 
bycatch limit reductions.
    NMFS concurs that more studies need to be conducted to determine 
the mortality of snow crab caught as bycatch in the trawl fisheries. 
Given this lack of information, a very conservative mortality rate of 
80 percent was used in the analyses of alternatives. In addition, 
assuming that all snow crab caught in the trawl fisheries die, crab 
mortality caused by the trawl fisheries would equal about 0.1 percent 
of the total abundance of snow crab.
    NMFS concurs that additional research is needed on snow crab 
bycatch in the directed snow crab fishery, the effects of ghost fishing 
(lost pots that continue to catch crab and other species), and the 
impacts of pot gear on habitat. As noted by the commenter, State 
regulations require all pots to have degradable mesh that acts as an 
escape mechanism to prevent ghost fishing. Also, as noted in the EA,

[[Page 744]]

pot loss has greatly diminished since the State established pot limits 
in the crab fisheries in 1992. The rebuilding plan implements a 
precautionary harvest strategy that protects the stock at low abundance 
from the effects of the directed fishery. When abundance is very low, 
the rebuilding harvest strategy closes the fishery, which stops all 
snow crab bycatch in the snow crab fishery. Likewise, the harvest 
strategy provides for harvest at a reduced rate as abundance increases. 
A reduced harvest rate means a reduction in bycatch. In addition, 
because the fishing effort is greatly reduced with reductions in 
harvest levels, so presumably are the effects of the fishing gear on 
habitat. Further, the State's gear modification measures adopted under 
the rebuilding plan will reduce the number of females and small males 
caught per pot in the directed fishery. So, although scientific 
uncertainty exists on the effects of bycatch and pot gear on habitat, 
the rebuilding plan reduces bycatch and the amount of gear deployed by 
curtailing harvest when stock abundance is low. NMFS concurs that more 
research should be conducted on bycatch mortality of snow crab in the 
longline, groundfish pot, and scallop fisheries. However, according to 
observer data, bycatch of snow crab in these fisheries is minuscule. 
The 7-year combined average total bycatch for these fisheries is 
426,950 crabs, which is 0.013 percent of the 2000 abundance estimate of 
3.2 billion snow crabs. The commenter notes the increase in bycatch of 
snow crab in the scallop fishery. This is due to an expansion in the 
range of snow crabs into scallop fishery grounds during the mid-1990's 
when snow crab abundance was high, rather than to an expansion in the 
distribution of the scallop fishery. NMFS concurs that more research 
should be conducted on the habitat needs of snow crab. NMFS plans to 
conduct additional research on the habitat needs of snow crab as 
funding is available. NMFS also concurs that the NMFS trawl survey 
might be inadequate for providing information on snow crab habitat and 
that the survey does not cover the full extent of snow crab habitat. 
However, snow crab habitat that exists outside the survey area is not 
subject to any commercial fishing pressure. Because the survey is 
designed to estimate abundance of commercially important crab and 
groundfish species, it is conducted in those areas where commercial 
fishing occurs and it does not extend beyond the areas used for 
commercial fishing.
    NMFS concurs that additional research is needed on the current and 
potential effects of trawling on snow crab habitat. NMFS plans to 
conduct additional research on the effects of trawling on snow crab 
habitat as funding is available.
    NMFS believes the preferred alternative for habitat protection does 
provide adequate habitat protection. The Council may choose to develop 
new habitat protection measures in the future to incorporate into the 
rebuilding plan. However, as explained in the EA, the research 
conducted to date does not show substantial adverse impacts from 
trawling on snow crab habitat. The EA reaches this conclusion because 
(1) trawl effort is low in areas identified as important for females 
and juvenile snow crab, and (2) current bycatch control measures 
provide incentive for the trawl fleet to avoid areas of high 
concentration of snow crab, thus avoiding snow crab habitat.
    The Council considered a seasonal bottom-trawl closure from March 
to June in areas of highest trawl bycatch. It concluded that this 
closure may have many unintended consequences by displacing trawl 
effort, including moving trawl effort to areas of sensitive habitat for 
other crab species, increasing bycatch of other sensitive species like 
halibut and Tanner crab, and concentrating trawl effort. The reported 
high bycatch is a function of high trawl effort and not of high snow 
crab abundance in that area. Further, the Council could not identify 
measurable benefits of this proposed time/area closure. It would not be 
in place during the snow crab molting and mating period. The proposed 
area is a relatively small portion of snow crab habitat and is not an 
area historically important for snow crab reproduction. The areas 
identified as important for snow crab reproduction extend north of 
58 deg. N lat., where some trawling occurs in limited areas. Thus the 
predicted benefits of closing this area would be small compared to the 
predicted consequences.
    The EA analyzes a possible bottom-trawl closure north of 58 deg. N 
lat. The commenter is correct in stating that a closure of the area 
north of 58 deg. N lat. would protect approximately 82 percent of 
female crabs. However, less than 2 percent of the trawl effort occurs 
above 58 deg. N lat. And that trawl effort occurs near the 58 deg. N 
lat. line. Most of the area above 58 deg. N lat. is not subject to any 
fishing effort. The Council could not find measurable benefits to 
moving this small amount of trawl effort to below 58 deg. N lat.
    Comment 2: NMFS should delay approving Amendment 14 until a 
thorough scientific analysis of the snow crab stock status and the 
rebuilding plan are complete because the rebuilding plan may be an 
over-reaction to a flawed definition of overfishing for snow crab. The 
commenter advanced these particular concerns about the rebuilding 
plan's conservative harvest strategy: (1) Snow crab are not 
``overfished'' because fishing did not cause the decline in abundance. 
Further, the commenter quotes the Council's Scientific and Statistical 
Committee's opinion that NMFS should change the national standard 
guidelines at 50 CFR 600.310 so that stocks with low abundance are not 
determined to be ``overfished'' when fishing had no demonstrable 
effect; (2) NMFS scientists acknowledge that the time constraints set 
by the Magnuson-Stevens Act for developing the rebuilding plan did not 
allow for the new harvest strategy to benefit from a thorough analysis 
of many aspects of snow crab biology and that a more thorough analysis 
may justify a less conservative harvest strategy; (3) The traditional 
harvest rate of 58 percent of males 4 inches (102 mm) or greater is 
precautionary because the legal size for snow crab is 3.1 inches (79 
mm). Thus, sexually mature males have years to fertilize females before 
they are captured by the fishery (The legal size limit for snow crab is 
3.1 inches (79 mm), based on the size at sexual maturity of male snow 
crab. For market reasons, the industry standard is to only harvest 
males 4 inches or greater.); (4) The reduction in the harvest rate 
under the rebuilding plan will only increase recovery time of the stock 
by 6 months compared to the rebuilding time under the traditional 
harvest rate, as shown in the rebuilding probability simulation; and 
(5) The cost of the rebuilding plan, which involves hundreds of 
millions of pounds of foregone catch, greatly outweighs the benefit of 
the rebuilding plan, which is a 6-month increase in rebuilding time. 
Therefore, the commenter concludes that NMFS does not have adequate 
scientific information to reduce the harvest rate for snow crab.
    Response: NMFS has determined that the rebuilding harvest strategy 
is based on the best scientific information available and is intended 
to rebuild snow crab to historic levels of abundance. As explained in 
the EA, existing scientific information supports a reduction in the 
harvest of snow crab to rebuild the stock.
    The commenter assumes that a delay in approving the rebuilding plan 
would result in a fishery under the traditional harvest rate of 58 
percent of males with a carapace width of 4 inches (102 mm) or greater. 
This is not the case because the harvest strategy in the rebuilding

[[Page 745]]

plan was adopted into regulation by the Alaska Board of Fisheries in 
March of 2000.
    Responses to each specific point made by the commenter are as 
follows: According to the national standard guidelines at 50 CFR 
600.310(d)(1)(iii), the term ``overfished'' is used to describe any 
stock or stock complex whose size is sufficiently small enough that a 
change in management practices is required in order to achieve an 
appropriate level and rate of rebuilding. Thus, NMFS determined snow 
crab is overfished because snow crab abundance was below the threshold 
established for the stock. The cause of the decline in snow crab 
abundance is irrelevant to a determination that a stock or stock 
complex is sufficiently small that management changes are needed.
    The 1-year requirement in section 304(e)(3) of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act is intended to assure that action is taken in a timely manner to 
protect depleted populations and populations vulnerable to overfishing. 
Notwithstanding the short time period to protect vulnerable 
populations, all management actions must be based on the best science 
available at the time of the decision. NMFS determined that the 
rebuilding plan for snow crab is based on the best available scientific 
information that shows the population sharply declined between 1998 and 
1999, that the snow crab population is aging, and that very few 
juvenile crab exist to grow into the fishery. In addition, as detailed 
in the EA, the scientific uncertainties were adequately considered and 
accounted for in developing alternatives for the rebuilding plan.
    The framework structure of the rebuilding plan is designed so that 
changes can be made to the plan based on analyses conducted by NMFS, 
the Council, and State scientists. If the results of these analyses 
indicate that the harvest strategy should be modified, then it will be 
modified through the Board process and reviewed by NMFS and the 
Council, as specified in the FMP.
    As explained in the EA, the traditional harvest rate of 58 percent 
of males 4 inches (102 mm)or greater is not precautionary and can 
result in overfishing during periods of poor recruitment, such as the 
stock has recently exhibited. Evidence suggests that continuing the 
previous 58 percent harvest rate on this stock may jeopardize its 
rebuilding by removing a majority of the largest males and causing high 
bycatch.
    High harvest rates on large mature males may also possibly impact 
reproductive potential of a stock by reducing the size of males 
available for breeding. The low stock levels observed for eastern 
Bering Sea snow crab during the 1999 survey were accompanied by 
indications of poor reproductive potential. Mature female snow crabs 
examined during the 1999 survey were barren at higher than normal rates 
and showed lower than normal rates of full clutches. Circumstantial 
evidence shows fishery-induced selection for reduced size or age at 
maturity in males. Any of these conservation concerns related to 
harvesting of large males would become more acute when stocks are low 
because of the greater impact of chance events at low stock levels. 
Thus, the condition and composition of the stock were the primary 
considerations that lead to the conservative harvest strategy.
    The rebuilding harvest strategy reduces the harvest rate because 
lower harvest rates must be applied to depleted stocks and those with 
high levels of uncertainty about their productive capacity. This 
reduction in the harvest rate is not only required, but it is also 
prudent for stocks with periodic recruitment, like snow crab. A reduced 
harvest rate also reduces snow crab bycatch in the directed snow crab 
fishery because the season is shorter and gear is on the grounds for a 
shorter amount of time.
    The commenter is correct in stating that the rebuilding time under 
the rebuilding harvest strategy is estimated to be 6 months shorter 
than under the traditional 58 percent harvest rate. This prediction is 
based on the outcomes of the recruitment models used to estimate the 
rebuilding times of the alternatives. The EA fully explains the length-
based simulation models used and the limits of the model results due to 
the lack of a stock-recruitment component. For these models, 
recruitment means the number of crab in cohort that survive from the 
time they are hatched until they reached 35 to 50 mm, the size at which 
there are abundance estimates.
    The time to rebuild is highly dependent on the model's assumptions 
about future recruitments. None of the recruitment models used in the 
analyses includes any role for the effects of the spawning stock on 
future reproduction. This is because the relationship between the 
existing spawning stock size and the number of recruits this stock will 
produce is not known. From analyzing historic information, variability 
in recruitment is known to be high. Large spawning stocks are known to 
produce small numbers of recruits. Likewise, small spawning stocks are 
known to produce large numbers of recruits. At present, no studies have 
been performed to identify and model the factors determining or 
influencing recruitment to the snow crab stock. Physical-oceanographic 
factors probably have a strong influence on recruitment of snow crab in 
the eastern Bering Sea. Biological factors that are unrelated to 
spawning stock size could also be important determinants of the 
strength of recruitment.
    The lack of a stock-recruitment component in the models reflects 
the inability of the analysts at the current time to specify a model 
relating spawning stock conditions to future recruitment, rather than 
any conclusion on the part of the analysts that no such relationship 
exists.
    Due to this lack of a stock-recruitment component, these models do 
not allow for any feedback from the effects of management measures to 
future recruitment. The models used here are adequate for modeling the 
short-term (the next 15 years) recovery of the stock, because the 
short-term stock dynamics will not be influenced by the present 
reproductive potential of the stock due to the time lag from spawning 
to recruiting. On the other hand, the models will not adequately 
represent any long-term effects due to harvesting mature males.
    Important conservation consequences may result from different 
harvest rates applied to large males. Those consequences are not 
revealed in the model results. First, given the nature of the 
recruitment models used, any conservation benefits that may result from 
preservation of large male crabs within the spawning population through 
more conservative management, will not be reflected in the model 
results. The rebuilding simulations were conducted to estimate 
rebuilding times given the current level of scientific information, not 
to model all of the possible effects of the alternative harvest 
strategies.
    Second, as shown in the EA, a high harvest rate on a stock with low 
population levels is risky for the long-term health of the stock. 
Research suggests that density dependent factors and other risks 
associated with harvesting a high rate of large males may exist when 
the stock is declining. Although environmental effects are important in 
effecting variation in recruitment and the snow crab fishery removes 
only the larger mature males from the stock, the possible effects on 
future recruitment due to the fishery should not be discounted.
    The assumption that the only benefit of the rebuilding harvest 
strategy is a savings of 6 months in rebuilding time is incorrect. NMFS 
expects that the

[[Page 746]]

conservative harvest strategy will increase the abundance of snow crab 
by the preservation of large male crab and the reduction of bycatch of 
female and sublegal male crab. The primary goal of a rebuilding plan is 
to rebuild the stock to a biomass level that will produce maximum 
sustainable yield. Maximum sustainable yield provides the greatest 
catch and the greatest income to the fishermen and fishery-dependent 
communities over the long-term. Often, foregone catch in the short-term 
is necessary to have a high sustainable yield in the future.
    The commenter states that the cost of the rebuilding harvest 
strategy is high levels of foregone catch. The commenter assumes that 
the snow crab stock would continue to support a fishery at a high 
harvest rate and that the fishery will rebuild if subject to a high 
harvest rate. As discussed above and detailed in the EA, scientific 
evidence shows otherwise. Continuing under the harvest rate of 58 
percent runs the risk of causing the further decline of the stock.
    The commenter estimates the future foregone catch based on a graph 
produced by ADF&G. From this graph, the commenter concludes that future 
harvest of snow crab will be hundreds of millions of pounds less that 
it would be under the traditional 58 percent harvest rate. The ADF&G 
graph compares the historic annual guideline harvest levels under the 
previous harvest rate to estimates of what the guideline harvest levels 
would have been if managers had applied the rebuilding harvest strategy 
in those years. As the graph shows, it does not model the potential 
increase in stock size due to greater carry-over of mature and 
harvestable stock that would have occurred from year-to-year under a 
more conservative harvest rate. This carry-over would have resulted in 
higher stock abundance, higher harvests than shown in the graph, and 
may have prevented the sharp declines in abundance that we saw under 
the previous harvest rate. Therefore, the assumption that, once the 
stock rebuilds, future harvest levels will be dramatically lower under 
the rebuilding harvest strategy than under the traditional 58 percent 
harvest rate is not accurate.
    The Council has met the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act 
and complies with the national standard guidelines by creating a 
rebuilding plan that reduces harvest when the stock is at low levels. 
The Magnuson-Stevens Act at section 303(a)(10) mandates that when the 
Secretary determines a stock is overfished, conservation measures to 
rebuild the fishery must be added to the FMP. These conservation 
measures are contained in the snow crab rebuilding plan.
    NMFS determined that Amendment 14 to the FMP is consistent with the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws and approved Amendment 
14 on December 28, 2000. Additional information on this action is 
contained in the September 29, 2000, notice of availability (65 FR 
58501).
    No regulatory changes are necessary to implement this FMP 
amendment.

    Dated: December 28, 2000.
William T. Hogarth,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
FR Doc. 01-205 Filed 1-3-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1510-22-S