[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 194 (Friday, October 5, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51001-51003]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-25038]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 091301C]
RIN 00648-AL98


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Revision of 
Overfishing Definitions for the Salmon Fishery

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

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has 
submitted for Secretarial review Amendment 6 to the Fishery Management 
Plan for the Salmon Fisheries in the Exclusive Economic Zone off the 
Coast of Alaska (Salmon FMP). This amendment is necessary to revise the 
overfishing definitions for the salmon fishery authorized under the 
Salmon FMP. This action is intended to ensure that conservation and 
management measures continue to be based on the best scientific 
information available and to advance the Council's ability to achieve, 
on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from the salmon fisheries 
under its jurisdiction.

DATES: Comments on the amendments must be submitted on or before 
December 4, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments on this amendment should be submitted to Sue 
Salveson, Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, 
Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802-1668, Attn: Lori 
Gravel, or delivered to the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street, 
Juneau, AK. NMFS will not accept comments by e-mail or internet. Copies 
of Amendment 6 to the Salmon FMP, and the Environmental Assessment (EA) 
prepared for the amendment are available from NMFS.

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

[[Page 51002]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires that each regional 
fishery management council submit each fishery management plan (FMP) or 
FMP amendment it prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, 
or partial approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS 
immediately announce a submitted FMP or FMP amendment is available for 
public review and comment. This action constitutes such notice for 
Amendment 6 to the Salmon FMP. NMFS will consider the public comments 
received during the comment period in determining whether to approve 
this FMP amendment.
    On October 11, 1996, the President signed into law the Sustainable 
Fisheries Act (Pub. L. 104-297) which made numerous amendments to the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act. Section 3(29) of the amended Magnuson-Stevens Act 
defines the terms ``overfishing'' and ``overfished'' to mean a rate or 
level of fishing mortality that jeopardizes the capacity of a fishery 
to produce the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) on a continuing basis 
(Section 3(29)), and requires that all fishery management plans:
    ``specify objective and measurable criteria for identifying when 
the fishery to which the plan applies is overfished (with an 
analysis of how the criteria were determined and the relationship of 
the criteria to the reproductive potential of stocks of fish in that 
fishery) and, in the case of a fishery which the Council or NMFS has 
determined is approaching an overfished condition or is overfished, 
contain conservation and management measures to prevent overfishing 
or end overfishing and rebuild the fishery'' (Section 303(a)(10)).
    Section 301(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act establishes national 
standards for fishery conservation and management, and requires that 
all FMPs create management measures consistent with those standards. 
National standard 1 requires that conservation and management measures 
shall ``prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the 
optimum yield from each fishery for the United States fishing 
industry.'' Pursuant to section 301(b) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 
NMFS issued national standard guidelines to provide comprehensive 
guidance for the development of FMPs and FMP amendments that comply 
with the national standards (May 1, 1998, 63 FR 24212). These 
guidelines are codified in Title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, part 
600 (50 CFR 600.305-600.355).
    The Salmon FMP allows a commercial troll fishery in the exclusive 
economic zone (EEZ) off southeast Alaska (SEAK EEZ), and closes the 
remaining EEZ in central and western Alaska to commercial salmon 
fishing. All other salmon fishing occurs either in waters of the State 
of Alaska (State) or in one of three historical State-managed net 
fishing areas that extend into the EEZ. The fisheries in these three 
historical fishing areas are not covered by the Salmon FMP. The Salmon 
FMP defers management of the commercial troll fishery to the State and 
the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC).
    In June 1998, the Council adopted Amendment 6 to the Salmon FMP. In 
October 1998, the NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) stated it 
could not certify that the overfishing definitions comply with the 
national standard guidelines (50 CFR 600.310) without a considerably 
more explicit analysis. NMFS worked with scientists from the Alaska 
Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) to analyze how the State's policies 
comport with the national standard guidelines.
    In consultation with the Council and the State, NMFS revised the 
preferred alternative to include the status determination criteria 
recommended by the national standard guidelines. Using the State's 
sustainable salmon fisheries policy and salmon escapement goal policy 
and the June 1999 Amendment to the Pacific Salmon Treaty, NMFS 
developed an MSY control rule, fishing mortality rate, maximum fishing 
mortality threshold, and minimum stock size threshold for the chinook 
salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and coho salmon (O. kisutch) stocks 
caught in the troll fishery in the SEAK EEZ. The chinook and coho 
stocks serve as indicator stocks for the stock complex of salmon caught 
in this fishery. These status determination criteria specify objective 
and measurable criteria for identifying when the fishery to which the 
plan applies is overfished or when overfishing is occurring. This 
analysis is presented in the EA for Amendment 6 (see ADDRESSES).
    In June 2001, the Council and its Scientific and Statistical 
Committee reviewed the revised preferred alternative. The Council 
concurred that the revised preferred alternative is consistent with the 
alternative recommended by the Council in June 1998 in that it is 
consistent with State policies.
    The Director of the AFSC, NMFS, has certified without reservation 
that the proposed definitions of overfishing: (1) Have sufficient 
scientific merit; (2) contain the criteria for stock determination 
specified in 50 CFR 600.305 (d)(2); (3) provide a basis for objective 
measurement of the status of the stock against the criteria; and (4) 
are operationally feasible.
    Through the Salmon FMP, the Council intends to conserve and manage 
the salmon resources in the North Pacific Ocean and to allow the 
fisheries in State and EEZ waters to be managed as one fishery. 
Regulations for the Alaska salmon fishery are made by the Alaska Board 
of Fisheries (Board) consistent with State and Federal laws and with 
negotiated agreements of the PSC. ADF&G manages the fishery inseason 
and issues emergency regulations to achieve conservation objectives and 
to implement allocation policies established by the Board.
    The SEAK troll fishery is a mixed-stock, mixed-species fishery that 
primarily targets chinook and coho salmon, with pink salmon (O. 
gorbuscha), chum salmon (O. keta), and sockeye salmon (O. nerka) taken 
incidentally. The catch in this fishery represents approximately 6 
percent of the total chinook and coho salmon landed by all salmon 
fisheries in Southeast Alaska (1991-1996 average). This fishery 
harvests less than 1 percent of the total harvest of pink, chum, and 
sockeye salmon occurring in Southeast waters. The chinook salmon 
originate in the waters of British Columbia and the coho salmon 
originate mainly in Alaska waters. The chinook salmon stocks that 
originate in Canada or pass through U.S-Canada boundaries are managed 
by the PSC under the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
    Amendment 6 would amend the Salmon FMP by providing overfishing 
definitions, consistent with the national standard guidelines and the 
FMP's policy of Federal/State coordination. The overfishing definitions 
are based on State salmon management and the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
    The State manages Alaska's salmon fisheries to achieve MSY, to the 
extent possible, by maintaining a constant level of escapement on an 
annual basis regardless of run strength. The achievement of MSY 
requires a high degree of management precision and scientific 
information regarding the relationship between escapement and 
subsequent return. Escapement targets for major stocks of Alaska salmon 
are continuously evaluated based on new data and improved spawner-
recruit databases. To this end, the State aggressively pursues the 
further development of escapement enumeration programs, inseason 
fishery management programs, and scientific methods to determine 
escapement levels

[[Page 51003]]

that produce MSY. In situations where the State lacks the necessary 
management program and scientific information to manage for MSY, 
fishery management measures are adopted to ensure that harvests are 
sustainable.
    The Pacific Salmon Treaty defines overfishing as fishing patterns 
that result in escapements significantly less than those required to 
produce MSY. The overfishing definition notwithstanding, management 
agencies recognize that failure to meet spawner escapements also may 
result from mortality unrelated to fishing and that fishery management 
actions alone may not adequately address the situation.
    The overfishing definitions proposed in Amendment 6 separate the 
salmon stocks caught in the SEAK EEZ into three tiers. The status 
determination criteria that are specified for the chinook and coho 
stocks serve as the criteria for the stock complex caught by the 
fishery. Tier 1 is chinook salmon stocks covered by the Pacific Salmon 
Treaty. The Pacific Salmon Treaty specifies a harvest based on a 
relationship between a pre-season abundance index generated by the 
PSC's Chinook Technical Committee and a harvest control rule specified 
in the Treaty. The Pacific Salmon Treaty also provides for an inseason 
adjustment to the harvest level based on an assessment of inseason 
data. In addition, decreases in the allowable catch are triggered by 
conservation concerns of specific stock groups. This abundance-based 
system reduces the risk of overharvest at low stock abundance while 
allowing increases in harvest with increases in abundance, as with the 
management of the other salmon fisheries in Alaska.
    Tier 2 and Tier 3 are salmon stocks that originate mainly in Alaska 
waters managed by the Board and ADF&G. Tier 2 are coho salmon stocks. 
Tier 3 stocks are coho, pink, chum, and sockeye salmon stocks managed 
as mixed-species complexes, with coho salmon stocks as indicator 
stocks.
    The overfishing definitions for Tiers 2 and 3 are based on the 
State's escapement goal policy. The coho salmon catch is managed to 
provide sustained yield of the many Alaska coho salmon stocks present 
in the area while minimizing the catch of chinook salmon during chinook 
salmon non-retention periods. ADF&G monitors all coho salmon fisheries 
to determine if the number of coho salmon reaching inside areas will be 
adequate to provide for spawning requirements. ADF&G closes the 
fisheries by emergency order if the escapement goals are not being met. 
Management of coho salmon is based on aggregate abundance because 
information on the status of the many coho salmon stocks in Southeast 
Alaska is limited and the lack of a general coho salmon stock 
identification technique prevents the assessment of run strength of 
individual stock groups contributing to these mixed-stock fisheries. 
Therefore, information available on individual coho salmon indicator 
stocks is considered in management actions.
    The Council and NMFS prepared an EA for Amendment 6 that describes 
the management background, the purpose and need for action, the 
management action alternatives, and the environmental and the socio-
economic impacts of the alternatives. A copy of the EA can be obtained 
from NMFS (see ADDRESSES).
    NMFS will consider the public comments received during the comment 
period in determining whether to approve Amendment 6 to the Salmon FMP. 
To be considered, a comment must be received by close of business on 
the last day of the comment period (see DATES), regardless of the 
comment's postmark or transmission date.

    Dated: Dated: September 28, 2001.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 01-25038 Filed 10-4-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S