[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 120 (Friday, June 21, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42237-42238]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-15738]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 020611144-2144-01; I.D. 041102A]


Marine Mammal Authorization Program Integration of Registration 
for Selected Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Fisheries

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

ACTION: Notice of expansion of integrated registration program.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is providing notice that it is increasing the number of 
fisheries for which the Marine Mammal Authorization Program (MMAP) 
registration is integrated with existing state and Federal fishery 
licensing and permitting programs. NMFS is integrating MMAP 
registration at this time only for specific Category I or II fisheries 
with fishery management plans (FMP) administered by the Northeast 
Regional office of NMFS and the pelagic longline fishery administered 
under the Highly Migratory Species FMP. Fishers who participate in a 
Category I or II fishery for which registration is not integrated must 
continue to register as specified in the 2002 List of Fisheries.

ADDRESSES: For east coast fisheries, registration information and 
marine mammal injury/mortality reporting forms may be obtained from the 
following regional offices:
    NMFS, Northeast Region, Protected Resources Division, One Blackburn 
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-2298, Attn: Marcia Hobbs.
    NMFS, Southeast Region, 9721 Executive Center Drive North, St. 
Petersburg, FL 33702, Attn: Teletha Griffin.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Lawson, Office of Protected 
Resources, 301-713-2322; Kim Thounhurst, Northeast Regional Office, 
978-281-9138; or Teletha Griffin, Southeast Regional Office, 727-570-
5312. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf 
(TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 
between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday, 
excluding Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    According to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), all fishers 
who participate in a Category I or II fishery contained in the List of 
Fisheries (LOF) final rule (67 FR 2410, January 17, 2002) must be 
registered in the MMAP. The MMAP provides an authorization for 
commercial fishers which allows the incidental (i.e., non-intentional) 
taking of marine mammals pursuant to the MMPA during the course of 
commercial fishing operations. To qualify for this authorization, 
fishers who participate in a Category I or II fishery must register in 
the MMAP. (For a complete description of requirements for Category I 
and II fisheries, consult 50 CFR 229.4). Information collected under 
the MMAP, as well as from other sources, provides the basis for 
identifying and determining the level of incidental serious injury and 
mortality of marine mammals in commercial fishing operations relative 
to the allowable take level, or potential biological removal level, for 
each marine mammal stock.
    Section 118 (c)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1387 (c)(5)(A)) states 
that ``The Secretary shall develop, in consultation with the 
appropriate States, affected Regional Fishery Management Councils, and 
other interested persons, the means by which the granting and 
administration of authorizations under this section shall be integrated 
and coordinated, to the maximum extent practicable, with existing 
fishery licenses, registrations, and related programs.''
    In recent years, NMFS has integrated its MMAP with other licensing 
systems in the northeast for the state and Federal components of the 
American lobster trap/pot fishery, the Federal portion of the squid/
mackerel/butterfish trawl fishery, and the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic 
Federal gillnet fisheries. NMFS has also integrated several west coast 
fisheries, and NMFS is now integrating additional state and Federal 
fishery permitting and licensing systems in the eastern United States.
    The goals of the expanded integration program include assuring 
consistency in registration procedures across a greater number of east 
coast fisheries, increasing the number of registrants to better reflect 
the level of participation in the fisheries for monitoring purposes, 
and conducting outreach to the fishing industry with regard to MMPA 
requirements. By using data from existing fishery licensing programs, 
the MMAP integration will reduce the registration burden on the fishing 
industry while better facilitating the protection and conservation of 
marine mammals. In a licensing system that is integrated with the MMAP 
fishers will no longer have to submit an MMAP, current fishery permit 
holders registration form, renewal form, or processing fee to NMFS in 
order to receive or validate their MMAP Authorization. Certificates.
    NMFS is pursuing the integration of MMAP registration based on the 
fishery listings in the 2002 LOF. Many of these fisheries include both 
a state and a Federal component. For 2002, only the fisheries with a 
Federal FMP administered by the NMFS Northeast Regional Office and the 
pelagic longline fishery administered under the Highly Migratory 
Species FMP will be integrated. Northeast fisheries with FMPs to be 
integrated include the American Lobster, Atlantic Bluefish, Atlantic 
Herring, Monkfish, Northeast Multispecies, Spiny Dogfish, Squid/
Mackerel/Butterfish, Summer Flounder/Scup/Black Sea Bass, and Tilefish. 
Of those fisheries, only those permit holders who indicated use of gear 
types that fall within the 2002 LOF will be integrated. NMFS is 
continuing to work toward integrating the MMAP registration for fishers 
who participate

[[Page 42238]]

in the federal fisheries in the southeast region.
    In order to integrate state-managed fisheries, NMFS is obtaining 
fishery license-holder information from individual states. NMFS has 
requested and received data from the east coast states of Maine through 
Florida.
    Once a database is established with the license-holder information 
from the state and Federal permit databases, NMFS will mail MMAP 
Authorization Certificates and marine mammal injury/mortality reporting 
forms to each permit or license-holder. The certificates will provide a 
MMAP authorization for all fishers who participate in an integrated 
Category I or II fishery, provided that the fisher holds a valid state 
or Federal fishing permit or license for the affected regulated 
fishery.
    Since integration must be accomplished by linking existing state 
and Federal permit or license databases to the NMFS MMAP database, 
fishers who participate only in unregulated fisheries (i.e., fisheries 
for which there are currently no state or Federal permits), must still 
register according to the procedures specified in the 2002 LOF. For 
example, the hagfish trap/pot fishery in New England is currently an 
unregulated fishery, and it falls under the new Category II listing for 
the Northeast trap/pot fishery. Therefore, a fisher who participates 
only in the hagfish trap/pot fishery in New England will be required to 
send in the MMAP registration form. However, if a hagfish trap/pot 
fisher also participates in a regulated fishery which is integrated 
under the MMAP, such as the American lobster fishery, NMFS will 
integrate registration for that permit holder for the hagfish fishery 
along with the regulated fishery. Thus, it will not be necessary for 
these fishers to submit a second registration for hagfish. A fisher who 
participates in state and Federal fisheries not yet integrated with the 
MMAP registration system must continue to send in the registration form 
to NMFS.

    Dated: June 14, 2002.
Rebecca J. Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 02-15738 Filed 6-20-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S