[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 4, 2002)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 56500-56502]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-22546]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 020412086-2194-02; I.D. 010202C]
RIN 0648-AJ08


Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Western Pacific Pelagics Fisheries; Pacific Remote Island Areas; Permit 
and Reporting Requirements for the Pelagic Troll and Handline Fishery

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues a final rule that establishes Federal permit and 
reporting requirements for any U.S. fishing vessel that uses troll or 
handline fishing gear to harvest pelagic management unit species in 
waters of the U.S. exclusive economic zone (U.S. EEZ) around Howland 
Island, Baker Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, 
Palmyra Atoll, Wake Island and Midway Atoll. These islands are referred 
to as the Pacific remote island areas (PRIA). The intent of this rule 
is to monitor participation in the fishery, collect fish catch and 
fishing effort data (including bycatch data), and obtain information on 
interactions between fishing gear and protected species. This would 
enable management decisions for this fishery to be based on the best 
scientific information available.

DATES: This final rule is effective October 4, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Copies of a Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 
Fishery Management Plan for the Pelagic Fisheries of the Western 
Pacific Region (FEIS) and the Record of Decision (ROD) for this FEIS 
are available from Dr. Charles Karnella, Administrator, NMFS, Pacific 
Islands Area Office (PIAO), 1601 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1110, Honolulu, 
HI 96814-4700. See also http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov to view the FEIS and 
ROD.
    Copies of the regulatory impact review prepared for this action may 
be obtained from Ms. Kitty Simonds, Executive Director, Western Pacific 
Fishery Management Council, Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 96813.
    Send comments on the reporting burden estimate or other aspect of 
the collection-of-information requirements in this final rule to NMFS, 
PIAO and to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Washington, DC 20503 (Attn: 
NOAA Desk Officer). Comments will not be accepted if submitted via e-
mail or the internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alvin Katekaru, PIAO, 808-973-2937.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The collection and analysis of reliable data 
are needed to assess the status and health of fishery stocks, evaluate 
the effectiveness of management measures, determine the need for 
changes in the management regime, prevent overfishing, determine and 
minimize bycatch, document protected species interactions with fishing 
gear, and assess the potential impact of fishery interactions. Other 
than for vessels registered for use with Federal Hawaii longline 
limited access permits or with Federal Western Pacific longline general 
permits, there are no specific regulations under the Fishery Management 
Plan for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region (FMP) 
applicable to vessels targeting pelagic species in the U.S. EEZ waters 
around the PRIA. The PRIA or ``U.S. island possessions in the Pacific'' 
are the distant and mostly uninhabited U.S. islands in the central and 
western Pacific Ocean consisting of Howland Island, Baker Island, 
Jarvis Island, Wake Island, Kingman Reef, Johnston Atoll, Palmyra 
Atoll, and Midway Atoll. Midway Atoll, although located in the 
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, is not part of the State of Hawaii and 
is treated as one of the PRIA.
    In recent years, several troll and handline fishing vessels from 
Hawaii have targeted pelagic fish stocks off Palmyra Atoll and Kingman 
Reef. This expansion of troll and handline fishing activity beyond the 
Hawaiian Archipelago to the U.S. EEZ around certain PRIA created the 
need to put reporting procedures in place in order to collect catch and 
bycatch data for these fisheries. The establishment of a permit 
requirement for the PRIA pelagic troll/handline fishery serves to 
identify actual or potential participants in the fishery. This is an 
``open access'' fishery, meaning any U.S. vessel is eligible to receive 
a permit.
    The Council recommended the establishment of a reporting 
requirement for all vessel operators who participate in the PRIA 
pelagic troll/handline fishery, except at Midway Atoll. They are 
required to use a new NMFS fish catch and effort reporting form created 
especially for the PRIA. At Midway Atoll, troll/handline vessel 
operators (i.e., charter boat captains), who operate under the Midway 
Atoll National Wildlife Refuge program, administered by the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service (USFWS), must continue to report their catch and 
effort data on existing fish catch reporting forms provided by the 
USFWS. NMFS and USFWS will coordinate their efforts to obtain the 
necessary data from fishermen at Midway Atoll and avoid duplication of 
reporting regimes.
    This rule requires vessel operators, except operators of vessels 
operating in the U.S. EEZ around Midway Atoll, to submit their catch 
reports to NMFS within 10 days after the completion of each fishing 
trip to the U.S. EEZ around the PRIA. The 10-day requirement is to 
allow vessels to make fish landings at Palmyra Atoll and to potentially 
conduct another fishing trip enroute to the vessel's homeport. By 
landing at Palmyra Atoll, these vessels need not return to their home 
ports between trips, and, in that case, the prompt transmittal of catch 
reports to NMFS would be infeasible. For this reason NMFS allows

[[Page 56501]]

the operators whose vessels are registered for use with PRIA troll/
handline pelagic permits an extended reporting window.

Changes From the Proposed Rule

    The regulatory text for this rule corrects a typographical error in 
the prohibition on longline fishing within longline fishing areas at 
Sec. 660.22(i) to reference Sec. 660.27 instead of a redundant 
reference to Sec. 660.17. Also, a cross reference in Sec. 660.21(l)(1) 
is revised to comport with the redesignation of paragraphs in 
Sec. 660.21.
    No comments were received on the proposed rule. Therefore, the 
final rule contains no substantive changes to the proposed rule.

Clarification

    This final rule includes a clarification affecting the Hawaii-based 
pelagic longline fishery. NMFS issued a final rule of June 12, 2002, 
(67 FR 40232), implementing the reasonable and prudent alternative of 
the March 29, 2001 biological opinion under the Endangered Species Act 
for the fishery. The June 12, 2002, final rule supplanted and 
incorporated most of the provisions of an emergency rule first 
published at 66 FR 31561, June 12, 2001, and extended at 66 FR 63630, 
December 10, 2001 until June 8, 2002. The preamble to the June 12, 
2002, final rule discussed that the final rule would ``allow the 
processing of applications for the re-registration of a vessel that has 
been de-registered from a Hawaii longline limited access permit after 
March 29, 2001, only during the month of October and require that 
applications must be received or post-marked between September 15 and 
October 15 to allow sufficient time for processing...'' The regulatory 
language that established October as the month for re-registration, as 
it had appeared in the emergency rule, was inadvertently not included 
as part of the June 12, 2002, final rule, although regulatory language 
establishing the application timeframe was included. This clarification 
reinstates the regulatory language as it appeared in the emergency rule 
and retains the language of the June 12, 2002, final rule.

Classification

    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    On March 30, 2001, NMFS issued an FEIS that analyzes the 
environmental impacts of U.S. pelagic fisheries in the western Pacific 
region. That analysis includes the pelagic troll and handline fisheries 
in the PRIA and filed with the Environmental Protection Agency; a 
notice of availability was published on April 6, 2001 (66 FR 18243). On 
May 30, 2002, NMFS issued a Record of Decision that documents the 
agency's final decision concerning the management of fisheries, 
including the PRIA pelagic troll and handline fisheries, governed by 
the FMP. In August 2000, the Council prepared a document analyzing the 
specific measures in this rule. That analysis is available from the 
Council (see ADDRESSES).
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that this rule would not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities. The factual basis for 
the certification was published in the proposed rule. No comments were 
received regarding this certification. As a result, a regulatory 
flexibility analysis was not prepared.
    This rule contains collection-of-information requirements subject 
to the Paperwork Reduction Act. The collection of this information has 
been approved by OMB under OMB Control Numbers 0648-0204 and 0648-0214. 
Public reporting burden for these collections of information is 
estimated at 30 minutes for a permit application and 5 minutes for a 
daily troll/handline log sheet. These estimates include the time for 
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and 
maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the 
collection of information. Send comments on the reporting burden 
estimate or any other aspect of the collection-of-information 
requirements in this rule to NMFS and OMB (see ADDRESSES).
    Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is 
required to respond to, and no person shall be subject to penalty for 
failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the 
requirements of the PRA, unless that collection of information displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

    Administrative practice and procedure, American Samoa, Fisheries, 
Fishing, Fishing Gear, Guam, Hawaiian Natives, Indians, Northern 
Mariana Islands, Reporting and record keeping requirements.

    Dated: August 28, 2002.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs,National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 660 is amended 
to read as follows:

PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES AND IN THE WESTERN 
PACIFIC

    1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as 
follows:

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

    2. In Sec. 660.12, the definitions for ``Pacific remote island 
areas (PRIA, or U.S. island possessions in the Pacific 
Ocean)'',``Pelagic handline fishing'', and ``Pelagic troll fishing'' 
are added in alphabetical order to read as follows:


Sec. 660.12  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Pacific remote island areas (PRIA, or U.S. island possessions in 
the Pacific Ocean) means Palmyra Atoll, Kingman Reef, Jarvis Island, 
Baker Island, Howland Island, Johnston Atoll, Wake Island, and Midway 
Atoll.
* * * * *
    Pelagic handline fishing means fishing for pelagic management unit 
species from a stationary or drifting vessel using hook and line gear 
other than longline gear.
    Pelagic troll fishing (trolling) means fishing for pelagic 
management unit species from a moving vessel using hook and line gear.
* * * * *

    3. In Sec. 660.14, paragraph (a) is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 660.14  Reporting and recordkeeping.

    (a) Fishing record forms. The operator of any fishing vessel 
subject to the requirements of Sec. 660.21, Sec. 660.41, or Sec. 660.81 
must maintain on board the vessel an accurate and complete record of 
catch, effort, and other data on report forms provided by the Regional 
Administrator. All information specified on the forms must be recorded 
on the forms within 24 hours after the completion of each fishing day. 
The original logbook form for each day of the fishing trip must be 
submitted to the Regional Administrator as required by this paragraph 
(a). Each form must be signed and dated by the fishing vessel operator.
    (1) The operator of any vessel subject to the requirements of 
Sec. 660.21(a) through (c), Sec. 660.41, or Sec. 660.81 must submit the 
original logbook form for each day of the fishing trip to the

[[Page 56502]]

Regional Administrator within 72 hours of each landing of management 
unit species.
    (2) Except for a vessel that is fishing in the U.S. EEZ around 
Midway Atoll as specified in paragraph (a)(3) of this section, any 
operator whose vessel is registered for use with a PRIA pelagic troll 
and handline fishing permit under Sec. 660.21(d) must submit the 
original logbook form for each day of fishing within the U.S. EEZ 
around the PRIA to the Regional Administrator within 10 days of each 
landing of management unit species.
    (3) The operator of a vessel fishing in the U.S. EEZ around Midway 
Atoll and registered for use with a PRIA pelagic troll and handline 
fishing permit under Sec. 660.21(d) must submit an appropriate 
reporting form as required and in a manner specified by the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service for each day of fishing within the U.S. EEZ around 
Midway Atoll, which is defined as an area of the Pacific Ocean bounded 
on the east by 177[deg]10' W. long., on the west by 177[deg]30' W. 
long., on the north by 28[deg]25' N. lat., and on the south by 
28[deg]05' N. lat.
* * * * *

    4. In Sec. 660.21, paragraph (l) is redesignated as paragraph (n), 
paragraphs (d) through (k) are redesignated as (e) through (l) 
respectively, newly redesignated paragraph (l)(1) is revised; and 
paragraphs (d) and (m) are added to read as follows:


Sec. 660.21  Permits.

* * * * *
    (d) A fishing vessel of the United States must be registered for 
use with a PRIA pelagic troll and handline fishing permit if that 
vessel is used to fish for Pacific pelagic management unit species 
using pelagic handline or trolling fishing methods in the U.S. EEZ 
around the PRIA.
* * * * *
    (l) * * *
    (1) Upon receipt of an appeal authorized by this section, the 
Regional Administrator may request additional information. Upon receipt 
of sufficient information, the Regional Administrator will decide the 
appeal in accordance with the criteria set out in this part and in the 
fishery management plans prepared by the Council, as appropriate, based 
upon information relative to the application on file at NMFS and the 
Council and any additional information available; the summary record 
kept of any hearing and the hearing officer's recommended decision, if 
any, as provided in paragraph (l)(3) of this section; and such other 
considerations as deemed appropriate. The Regional Administrator will 
notify the appellant of the decision and the reasons therefor, in 
writing, normally within 30 days of the receipt of sufficient 
information, unless additional time is needed for a hearing.
* * * * *
    (m) Except during October, NMFS will not register with a Hawaii 
longline limited access permit any vessel that is de-registered from a 
Hawaii longline limited access permit after March 29, 2001.

    5. In Sec. 660.22, the phrase ``U.S. possessions in the Pacific 
Ocean area'' is revised to read ``U.S. island possessions in the 
Pacific Ocean'' each place that it appears; paragraph (i) is revised; 
and new paragraph (vv) is added to read as follows:


Sec. 660.22  Prohibitions.

* * * * *
    (i) Fish with longline gear within a longline fishing prohibited 
area, except as allowed pursuant to an exemption issued under 
Sec. 660.17 or Sec. 660.27.
* * * * *
    (vv) Use a U.S. vessel employing pelagic handline or trolling 
methods to fish in the U.S. EEZ around the PRIA without a valid PRIA 
pelagic troll and handline fishing permit registered for use with that 
vessel.
[FR Doc. 02-22546 Filed 9-3-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S