[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 9, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 45445-45447]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-17044]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Parts 600 and 697

[I.D. 060502A]


Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; 
Application for Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP)

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

ACTION: Notification of a request for an EFP to harvest horseshoe 
crabs; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Director, Office of Sustainable 
Fisheries, is considering issuing an EFP to Limuli Laboratories to 
conduct a second year of an experimental fishing operation otherwise 
restricted by regulations prohibiting the harvest of horseshoe crabs in 
the Carl N. Schuster Jr. Horseshoe Crab Reserve (Reserve) located 3 
nautical miles (nm) seaward of the mouth of Delaware Bay. NMFS is 
considering issuing an EFP for the harvest of 10,000 horseshoe crabs 
for biomedical purposes and requiring as a condition of the EFP the 
collection of data related to the status of Delaware Bay horseshoe 
crabs within the Reserve. Therefore, this document invites comments on 
the issuance of an EFP to Limuli Laboratories.

DATES: Comments on this action must be received on or before July 24, 
2002.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to John H. Dunnigan, 
Director,

[[Page 45446]]

Office of Sustainable Fisheries, NMFS, 1315 East West Highway, Room 
13362, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Mark the outside of the envelope 
``Comments on Horseshoe Crab EFP Proposal.'' Comments may also be sent 
via facsimile (fax) to (301) 713-0596. Comments will not be accepted if 
submitted via e-mail or the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Meyer, Fishery Biologist, (301) 
713-2334.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The regulations that govern exempted fishing, at 50 CFR 600.745(b) 
and 697.22 allow a Regional Administrator or the Director of the Office 
of Sustainable Fisheries to authorize for limited testing, public 
display, data collection, exploration, health and safety, environmental 
clean-up and/or hazardous removal purposes, the targeting or incidental 
harvest of managed species that would otherwise be prohibited. An EFP 
to authorize such activity may be issued, provided there is adequate 
opportunity for the public to comment on the EFP application, the 
conservation goals and objectives of the fishery management plan are 
not compromised, and issuance of the EFP is beneficial to the 
management of the species.
    The Reserve was established on February 5, 2001 (66 FR 8906), to 
provide protection for the Atlantic coast stock of horseshoe crabs, and 
to promote the effectiveness of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 
Commission's (Commission) Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP) 
for horseshoe crab. The final rule prohibited fishing for horseshoe 
crabs in the Reserve and the possession of horseshoe crabs on a vessel 
with a trawl or dredge aboard while in the Reserve. The rule did not 
allow for any biomedical harvest or the collection of fishery dependent 
data. However, in the comments and responses section, NMFS stated that 
it would consider issuing EFPs for the biomedical harvest of horseshoe 
crabs from the Reserve.
    The biomedical industry collects horseshoe crabs, removes 
approximately 30 percent of their blood, and returns them alive to the 
water. Approximately 10 percent do not survive the bleeding process. 
The blood contains a reagent called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) that 
is used to test injectable drugs and medical devices for bacteria and 
bacterial by-products. Presently, there is no alternative to LAL 
derived from the horseshoe crab.
    NMFS manages horseshoe crabs in the exclusive economic zone in 
close cooperation with the Commission. The Commission's Horseshoe Crab 
Management Board met on April 21, 2000, and recommended that biomedical 
companies with a history of collecting horseshoe crabs in the Reserve 
be given an exemption to continue their historic levels of collection 
not to exceed a combined harvest total of 10,000 crabs annually. The 
Commission's Horseshoe Crab Plan Review Team has reported that 
biomedical harvest of up to 10,000 horseshoe crabs should be allowed to 
continue in the Reserve given that the resulting mortality should be 
only about 1,000 horseshoe crabs (10 percent mortality during bleeding 
process). Also, the Commission's Horseshoe Crab Stock Assessment 
Committee Chairman recommended that, in order to protect the Delaware 
Bay horseshoe crab population from over-harvest or excessive collection 
mortality, no more than a maximum of 20,000 horseshoe crabs should be 
collected for biomedical purposes from the Reserve. In addition to the 
direct mortality of horseshoe crabs that are bled, it can be expected 
that more than 20,000 horseshoe crabs will be trawled up and examined 
for LAL processing. This is because horseshoe crab trawl catches 
usually include varied sizes of horseshoe crabs and large female 
horseshoe crabs are the ones selected for LAL processing. The 
unharvested horseshoe crabs are released at sea with some unknown 
amount of mortality, but this mortality is expected to be negligible.
    Collection of horseshoe crabs for biomedical purposes from the 
Reserve is necessary because of the low numbers of horseshoe crabs 
found in other areas along the New Jersey Coast from July through 
October and in light of the critical role horseshoe crab blood plays in 
proper health care. In conjunction with the biomedical harvest, NMFS is 
considering requiring that scientific data be collected from the 
horseshoe crabs taken in the Reserve as a condition of receiving an 
EFP. Since the Reserve was established on February 5, 2001, the only 
fishery data from this area were collected under an EFP issued to 
Limuli Laboratories on September 28, 2001, which allowed collections 
until October 31, 2001. Further data are needed to improve the 
understanding of the horseshoe crab population in the Delaware Bay area 
and to better manage the horseshoe crab resource under the cooperative 
state/Federal management program. The information collected through the 
EFP will be provided to NMFS, the Commission and to the State of New 
Jersey.

Results of Previous Year's EFP

    On April 11, 2001, Limuli Laboratories (Limuli) submitted an EFP 
application to collect horseshoe crabs for biomedical and data 
collection purposes from the Carl N. Schuster Jr. Horseshoe Crab 
Reserve (Reserve), and subsequently submitted a supplement on July 9, 
2001. An EFP was issued to Limuli on September 28, 2001, which allowed 
them to collect horseshoe crabs until October 31, 2001, in the Reserve. 
To complete the study proposed in the EFP application, Limuli needed to 
collect from August through October. The study was modified and 
conducted with some limitations because of the late start. Limuli 
Laboratory is operated seasonally and was closed down in mid-September; 
therefore, the horseshoe crabs collected during the EFP study were not 
bled for manufacture of LAL, but were used for data collection 
purposes. A total of 250 horseshoe crabs were collected and examined 
(133 females and 117 males) from the Reserve on three dates, October 
12th, 24th, and 29th, 2001. The specimens were sexed, measured, aged, 
tagged and released. The horseshoe crabs were aged in 4 categories 
using Dr. Schuster's criteria of aging by appearance: first year or 
virgin, young, medium and old age. When separated into age categories, 
62 percent were classified as young animals. The majority of the 
horseshoe crabs had encrusting slipper shells on their shells. The 
collected crabs were active with only one crab dying during the 
trawling process. Thirty percent of the horseshoe crabs showed sign of 
healed injuries/deformities and 3 percent had new injuries. Only one of 
the new injuries appeared life threatening. More females had injuries 
than males; 40 versus 25 percent. After tagging was performed, 
horseshoe crabs were released at the water's edge at Highs Beach, New 
Jersey. One added benefit of the study was an opportunity to 
photographically document the condition of horseshoe crabs (15 females 
and 15 males) after collection by the trawl, which is the primary 
method used to capture horseshoe crabs for the manufacture of LAL.

Proposed EFP

    Limuli proposes to conduct a second year of the study using the 
same means and methods used during year one.
    The proposed EFP would exempt one commercial vessel from 
regulations at 50 CFR 697.7(e), which prohibit fishing for horseshoe 
crabs in the Reserve described in Sec. 697.23(f)(1) and prohibit

[[Page 45447]]

possession of horseshoe crabs on a vessel with a trawl or dredge aboard 
in the same Reserve.
    Limuli Laboratories of Cape May Court House, in cooperation with 
the State of New Jersey's Division of Fish and Wildlife, submitted an 
application for an EFP on May 31, 2002, and a supplement on June 6, 
2002. NMFS has made a preliminary determination that the subject EFP 
contains all the required information and warrants further 
consideration. NMFS has also made a preliminary determination that the 
activities authorized under the EFP would be consistent with the goals 
and objectives of the Federal horseshoe crab regulations and the 
Commission's Horseshoe Crab ISFMP.
    The regulations at 50 CFR 600.745(b)(3)(v) authorize NMFS to attach 
terms and conditions to the EFP consistent with the purpose of the 
exempted fishery, the objectives of the horseshoe crab regulations and 
fisheries management plan, and other applicable law. NMFS is 
considering terms and conditions such as:
    (1) Limiting the number of horseshoe crabs collected in the Reserve 
to no more than 500 per day and to a total of no more than 10,000 per 
year;
    (2) Requiring collection under an EFP to take place over a total of 
approximately 20 days during the months of July, August, September, and 
October. Horseshoe crabs are readily available in harvestable 
concentrations nearshore earlier in the year, and offshore in the 
Reserve during July through October;
    (3) Requiring a 5 and one-half inch flounder net to be used by the 
vessel to collect the horseshoe crabs. This condition would allow for 
continuation of traditional harvest gear and adds to the consistency in 
the way horseshoe crabs are harvested for data collection;
    (4) Limiting trawl tow times to 30 minutes as a conservation 
measure to protect sea turtles, which are expected to be migrating 
through the area during the collection period, and are vulnerable to 
bottom trawling;
    (5) Restricting the hours of fishing to daylight hours only, 
approximately from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. to aid law enforcement. NMFS 
also is considering a requirement that the State of New Jersey Law 
Enforcement be notified daily when and where the collection will take 
place; and
    (6) Requiring that the collected horseshoe crabs be picked up from 
the fishing vessels at docks in the Cape May Area and transported to 
local laboratories, bled for LAL, and released alive the following 
morning into Lower Delaware Bay.
    Also as part of the terms and conditions of the EFP, for all 
horseshoe crabs bled for LAL, NMFS is considering a requirement that 
the EFP holder provide information on sex ratio and daily numbers, and 
tag 10 percent of the horseshoe crabs harvested. Also, the EFP holder 
may be required to examine at least 200 horseshoe crabs for:
    a. Morphometric data, by sex-e.g. interocular (I/O) distance and 
weight, and
    b. Level of activity, as measured by a response or by distance 
traveled after release on a beach.
    Based on the results of this EFP, this action may lead to future 
rulemaking.

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

Virginia M. Fay,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 02-17044 Filed 7-8-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S