[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 52 (Monday, March 18, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 11971-11972]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-6469]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[I.D. 030702C]
RIN 0648-AM97


Fisheries of West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Fishery Management Plan

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of a fishery management plan; request 
for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Western Pacific Fishery Management 
Council (Council) has submitted a Coral Reef Ecosystems Fishery 
Management Plan for the Western Pacific Region (CREFMP) for Secretarial 
review under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The CREFMP, an ecosystem-based plan, is 
intended to conserve and manage the coral reef ecosystems and 
associated habitats in the U.S. exclusive economic zones (EEZ) around 
American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands (CNMI), and the remote U.S. Pacific island areas (PRIAs) in the 
Pacific Ocean. Its goal is to maintain sustainable coral reef fisheries 
while protecting stocks, habitat, protected species, and coral reef 
ecosystems from adverse impacts.

DATES: Comments on the CREFMP must be received no later than 5 p.m., 
Hawaii Standard Time May 17, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Dr. Charles Karnella, 
Administrator, Pacific Islands Area Office, NMFS, 1161 Kapiolani Blvd, 
Suite 110, Honolulu, HI 96815. Comments will not be accepted if 
submitted via e-mail or the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Kitty Simonds, Executive Director, 
Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, at (808) 522-8220. The 
CREFMP is available at the Council's website, www.wpcouncil.org.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As authorized under the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act, the Council has developed and submitted for Secretarial review a 
CREFMP and associated amendments to the fishery management plans for 
western Pacific bottomfish and seamount groundfish fisheries (Amendment 
7), crustacean fisheries (Amendment 11), precious coral fisheries 
(Amendment 5,) and pelagic fisheries (Amendment 10). The CREFMP is an 
ecosystem-based fishery management plan that covers the coral reef 
ecosystems and adjacent marine habitats in the EEZ around American 
Samoa, Guam, Hawaii (main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or NWHI), 
CNMI, and the mostly uninhabited PRIAs. The PRIAs consist of Johnston 
and Palmyra Atolls, Kingman Reef, Jarvis, Howland, Baker and Wake 
Islands, and Midway Atoll. The vast majority of the total area covered 
by coral reefs under U.S. jurisdiction is located in the western 
Pacific region and would be covered by this FMP.
    Development of the CREFMP began in 1996. The Council held scoping 
hearings in June 1999 to obtain public input on a new fishery 
management plan. On January 10, 2001, NMFS published a Notice of 
Availability (66 FR 1945) of a draft CREFMP. Public meetings and 
hearings were held on the draft CREFMP between January 16 and February 
5, 2001. At its 110th meeting (June 21, 2001), the Council took final 
action on the FMP and approved its submission to NMFS for Secretarial 
review.
    The conservation and management measures would: (1) Establish no-
take marine protected areas (MPAs) (where the harvest of any management 
unit species listed under any FMP is prohibited) within Federal waters 
from 0-50 fathoms (fm) (0-50 91.5 m) (around French Frigate Shoals and 
Laysan Island (NWHI), Rose Atoll (American Samoa), the north half of 
Midway Atoll, Jarvis, Howland, and Baker Islands, and Kingman Reef 
(PRIAs), and from 0-10 fm throughout the remaining NWHI, except around 
Midway Atoll; (2) establish low-use MPAs (where the harvest of CREFMP 
management unit species is allowed on a case-by-case basis only after a 
review and determination that proposed activities would not harm the 
ecosystem) within Federal waters from 10-50 fm (18.3 m-91.5 m) around 
all other NWHI, and from 0-50 fm (0-91.5 m) around Palmyra, Johnston, 
and Wake, and the south half of Midway Atoll; (3) require special 
permits for the harvesting of any CREFMP management unit species in 
low-use MPAs, and for the harvesting of Potentially Harvested Coral 
Reef Taxa throughout the EEZ, except for (a) Incidental harvests by 
other western Pacific fisheries management plan permit holders and, (b) 
any harvest within three nautical miles (nm) of the CNMI; (4) restrict 
the use of fishing gear

[[Page 11972]]

types to allow only the following gears for the directed harvest of any 
CREFMP management unit species throughout the EEZ: Hand harvest, spear, 
slurp gun, hand/dip net, hoop net for Kona crab, throw net, barrier net 
for aquarium fish, surround/purse net for targeted schools (e.g., 
akule, baitfish, weke) with a minimum of bycatch, hook-and-line 
(including powered and unpowered handlines, rod and reel, and 
trolling), traps (with conditions), and remote operating vehicles/
submersibles; (5) prohibit nighttime spearfishing for CREFMP management 
unit species with SCUBA/hookah in the EEZ around the NWHI and PRIAs; 
(6) require that nets be attended at all times, except hoop nets for 
Kona crabs; (7) require that all traps on board a vessel must be 
permanently and legibly marked to identify the owner; (8) prohibit the 
take of live rock or live coral throughout the western Pacific EEZ, 
except for (a) incidental take by other fishery management plan permit 
holders, (b) take by indigenous people for traditional or ceremonial 
use, (c) use by aquaculture operations as seed stock, (d) science and 
management, and (e) bio-prospecting (note: takes of live coral or live 
coral under exceptions (b)-(e) require special permits); (9) require 
that all fishing vessels (including those permitted under fishery 
management plans for bottomfish/seamount ground fish, crustaceans, 
precious corals, pelagic) carry insurance as a condition for transiting 
or operating in all MPAs; (10) establish a no-anchoring zone on Guam's 
offshore Southern banks by fishing vessels greater than 50 ft (15.24 m) 
in length; (11) establish Federal reporting requirements (daily reports 
on catch, effort, discards, etc.) for special permit holders and 
transhipment permit holders, as well as notification requirements for 
vessel operators prior to entering any low-use MPA, or landing CREFMP 
management unit species harvested from these low-use MPAs; and (12) 
establish CREFMP framework procedures to facilitate implementation of 
future regulatory amendments.
    The Council initially identified some measures for possible 
framework action: (a) Designating zones in the U.S. EEZ where mooring 
buoys will be installed to protect essential fish habitat (EFH) from 
anchor damage; (b) requiring fishing vessels to carry remote electronic 
vessel monitoring systems as part of an effective monitoring and 
enforcement system for State and Federal agencies; (c) requiring 
permits to fish for Currently Harvested Coral Reef Taxa throughout the 
EEZ, in the event that regional management is determined to be 
inadequate to protect the species and/or ecosystem; (d) transferring 
CREFMP management unit species from the Potentially Harvested Coral 
Reef Taxa list to the Currently Harvested Coral Reef Taxa list when 
sufficient information has been gathered; and (e) designating a 
percentage of low-use MPA waters for sole use by indigenous people.
    The CREFMP also contains non-regulatory measures consistent with 
CREFMP objectives that would be undertaken by the Council outside of 
the regulatory regime. These include a process and criteria for EFH 
consultations; formal plan team coordination to identify and to address 
coral reef ecosystem impacts from existing fishery management plan 
fisheries; a system to facilitate consistent state and territorial 
level management; and research and education efforts.
    [Note: Executive Order 13178 (December 4, 2000) and Executive Order 
13196 (January 18, 2001) designated the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands 
Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve (Reserve) in those ocean waters that lie 
within 50 nm of the NWHI, excluding state waters and waters within the 
boundaries of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge and the 
Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. In compliance with Executive 
Order 13178 and Executive Order 13196, within the Reserve, NOAA is 
implementing a comprehensive management regime to govern fishing and 
protect coral reef resources. Because the CREFMP contains management 
measures governing activity in, among other areas, the same geographic 
area as the Reserve and several of those measures conflict with the 
management regime already existing pursuant to the NWHI Reserve 
established by Executive Order 13178 and Executive Order 13196, the 
Secretary of Commerce is likely to partially disapprove those parts of 
the CREFMP that govern fishing in the NWHI.]
    Public comments on CREFMP must be received by May 17, 2002, to be 
considered by NMFS in the decision whether to approve the CREFMP. A 
proposed rule to implement CREFMP has been submitted for Secretarial 
review and approval. NMFS expects to publish and request comments on 
the proposed regulations to implement CREFMP in the near future.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: March 12, 2002.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 02-6469 Filed 3-15-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S