[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 9, 2002)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 1163-1164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-554]


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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: Approval of fishery management plan amendment.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the approval of 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 
implement 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 fisheries 
under its jurisdiction.

DATES: The amendment was approved on January 2, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Copies of Amendment 6 to the salmon 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 published a notice of availability for 
Amendment 6, which described the proposed amendment and invited 
comments from the public, in the Federal Register on October 5, 2001 
(66 FR 51001). Comments were invited until December 4, 2001. NMFS 
received no public comments.
    The Council and NMFS prepared an EA for Amendment 6 that describes 
the management background, the purpose and need for action, the 
management alternatives, and the environmental and the socio-economic 
impacts of the alternatives. A copy of the EA can be obtained from NMFS 
(see ADDRESSES).
    Amendment 6 to the salmon FMP implements overfishing definitions in 
compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The 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, 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 the 
Secretary 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 fishery management plans contain 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 fishery management plans 
and 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).
    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. The State 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 salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and coho 
salmon (O. kisutch), 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-

[[Page 1164]]

Canada boundaries are managed by the PSC under the Pacific Salmon 
Treaty.
    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 State 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 and coho salmon 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.
    Amendment 6 amends the salmon FMP by providing overfishing 
definitions, consistent with the national standard guidelines and the 
salmon FMP's policy of Federal/State coordination. The overfishing 
definitions are based on State salmon management and the Pacific Salmon 
Treaty. The State's policy for management of mixed-stock salmon 
fisheries is consistent with sustained yield of wild fish stocks and is 
sufficiently conservative to satisfy the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
    The Director of the AFSC, NMFS, has certified without reservations 
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.
    NMFS determined that Amendment 6 to the salmon FMP is consistent 
with the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws and, therefore, 
approved Amendment 6 on January 2, 2002. Additional information is 
contained in the October 5, 2001, notice of availability (66 FR 51001). 
No regulatory changes are necessary to implement this FMP amendment.

    Dated: January 3, 2002.
Jonathan M. Kurland,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 02-554 Filed 1-8-02; 8:45 am]
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