[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 76 (Thursday, April 19, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 20129-20130]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-9733]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 622

[I.D. 040501C]


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Red Snapper

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

ACTION: Notice of receipt of petition for emergency rulemaking and 
request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NOAA announces receipt of a petition for emergency rulemaking 
or fishery management plan action under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Steven Act) and the 
Administrative Procedure Act. The Texas Shrimp Association (TSA) has 
petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce to promulgate an emergency 
rule to reduce the 2001 total allowable catch (TAC) in the directed 
commercial and recreational fisheries for red snapper in the Gulf of 
Mexico from 9.12 million lb (4.14 million kg) to not more than 3 
million lb (1.36 million kg). Also, the TSA petition requests that the 
emergency action shorten the recreational fishing season as part of the 
TAC reduction effort.

DATES: Comments will be accepted through May 21, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the petition are available, and written comments 
on the need for such a regulation, its objectives, alternative 
approaches, and any other comments may be addressed to Phil Steele, 
Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 9721 Executive Center Drive N., St. 
Petersburg, FL 33702; telephone 727-570-5305. Comments may also be sent 
via fax to 727-570-5583. Comments will not be accepted if submitted via 
e-mail or Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Phil Steele, telephone 727-570-5305, 
fax 727-570-5583, e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The petition filed by TSA maintains that 
overfishing has been occurring in the Gulf of Mexico red snapper 
fishery and will occur again in 2001, thereby necessitating emergency 
rulemaking to reduce the 2001 TAC for the directed fisheries. Included 
in the requested emergency action for TAC reduction is a request to 
shorten the recreational fishing season (currently April 21-October 31, 
2001).
    The TSA petition states that the following are causes of previous 
and continuing overfishing: (1) TSA asserts that the current definition 
of ``optimum yield'' (OY) in the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef 
Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico does not conform to the more 
rigorous definition of OY required by the Sustainable Fisheries Act of 
1996, which amended the Magnuson-Stevens Act; (2) TSA asserts that 
NMFS' scientific studies indicate that bycatch reduction devices 
required in shrimp trawls in the exclusive economic zone of the Gulf of 
Mexico west of Cape San Blas, Florida, have reduced juvenile red 
snapper mortality by 40 percent or less instead of the 50 to 60 percent 
reduction necessary as a basis for the present 9.12-million-lb (4.14-
million kg) TAC. Further, TSA asserts that NMFS and the Gulf of Mexico 
Fishery Management Council (Council) have greatly exaggerated the 
importance (positive impact) of bycatch reduction for rebuilding the 
red snapper stock; (3) TSA asserts that recent scientific information 
presented to the Council's Scientific Advisory Committee indicates that 
the overfished condition of the red snapper fishery is a result of 
excessive fishing pressure by the directed fisheries, in particular the 
recreational sector of the fishery, and not because of bycatch 
mortality associated with shrimp harvest; (4) TSA states that the 
recreational sector of the directed fishery continues to exceed its 
annual quota under the present season opening and closing dates; (5) 
TSA states that NMFS is significantly underestimating fishing effort in 
the recreational sector, which allows that sector to harvest red

[[Page 20130]]

snapper in excess of its share of the TAC; and (6) TSA asserts that 
NMFS has failed to make a reduction in the recreational sector's share 
of the TAC to account for these excessive harvests.
    NMFS will consider public comments received in determining whether 
or not to proceed with the development of the emergency regulations 
requested by TSA. Upon determining whether or not to initiate the 
requested rulemaking, the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, 
will publish a notice of the agency's final disposition of the TSA 
petition request in the Federal Register.

    Dated: April 13, 2001.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 01-9733 Filed 4-18-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S