[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 213 (Monday, November 4, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 67139-67140]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-28007]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 300

[Docket No. I.D. 083002E]
RIN 0648-AP86


International Fisheries; Pacific Tuna Fisheries

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

ACTION:  Proposed rule; 2002 management measures for yellowfin and 
juvenile bigeye tuna; request for comments.

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SUMMARY:  NMFS proposes this rule to implement the 2002 management 
measures to prevent overfishing of eastern tropical Pacific ocean (ETP) 
tuna stocks, pursuant to recommendations by the Inter-American Tropical 
Tuna Commission (IATTC) that have been approved by the Department of 
State (DOS) under the terms of the Tuna Conventions Act. The purse 
seine fishery for tuna in the Convention Area would be closed for the 
month of December, 2002. This action is taken to limit total fishing 
mortality caused by purse seine fishing in the Convention Area and thus 
prevent overfishing and maintain the tuna stocks at levels that support 
healthy fisheries. In addition, the current bycatch reduction pilot 
program scheduled to run through 2002 would be extended through 2004.

[[Page 67140]]


DATES: Comments must be submitted in writing by November 19, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Svein Fougner, Sustainable Fisheries 
Division, Southwest Region, NMFS, 562-980-4040.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States is a member of the IATTC, 
which was established under the Convention for the Establishment of an 
IATTC signed in 1949. The IATTC was established to provide an 
international arrangement to ensure the effective international 
conservation and management of highly migratory species of fish in the 
Convention Area. The IATTC has maintained a scientific research and 
fishery monitoring program for many years and annually assesses the 
status of stocks of tuna and the fisheries to determine appropriate 
harvest limits or other measures to prevent overexploitation of the 
stocks and promote viable fisheries. The Convention Area is defined to 
include waters of the eastern Pacific ocean (EPO) bounded by the coast 
of the Americas, the 40[deg] N. and 40[deg] S. parallels, and the 
150[deg] W. meridian.
    At its annual meeting June 26-28, 2002, the IATTC adopted a 
resolution dealing with conservation of ETP tuna stocks. The IATTC 
considered the use of quotas and partial fishery closures as in 1999, 
2000, and 2001 but, after reviewing the history of administration of 
these quotas and partial closures and the occasions of non-compliance, 
the IATTC recommended that the Convention Area be closed to all purse 
seine fishing for the month of December 2002. This approach will 
provide substantial protection against overfishing in a manner that is 
fair and equitable manner and is readily enforceable. There will be no 
need to investigate catch records to determine if incidental catch 
limits have been exceeded or to distinguish between activities inside 
and outside the IATTC's Commission Yellowfin Regulatory Area. The DOS 
has approved this recommendation.
    The closure is based on 2002 assessments of the condition of the 
tuna stocks in the ETP and the administrative records relating to 
implementation of quotas in prior years. The assessments indicate that 
the stocks are healthy, though there is substantial uncertainty with 
respect to the bigeye assessment. The closure is believed to be 
sufficient to prevent overfishing of any tuna stock.

Classification

    This action is authorized by the Tuna Conventions Act, 16 U.S.C. 
951-961 and 971 et seq.
    NMFS prepared a biological opinion (BO) assessing the impacts of 
the fisheries as they would operate under the regulations (65 FR 47, 
January 3, 2000) implementing the International Dolphin Conservation 
Program. NMFS concluded that the fishing activities conducted under 
those regulations are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence 
of any endangered or threatened species under the jurisdiction of NMFS 
or result in the destruction or adverse modification of critical 
habitat. This rule will not result in any changes in the fisheries such 
that there would be impacts beyond those considered in that BO and 
further consultation is not necessary.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
as follows:
    The U.S. tuna purse seine fleet in the ETP consists of 10-20 
small vessels and 4-6 large vessels. The large vessels generally 
fish outside U.S. waters and deliver their catch to foreign ports or 
transship to processors outside the mainland United States. The 
small vessels fish most of the year for small pelagic fish (sardine, 
mackerel) but harvest tuna in the U.S. exclusive economic zone 
seasonally when they are available. The large vessels are 
categorized as large business entities. They have been actively 
regulated for many years and have complied with IATTC 
recommendations without difficulty. The closure may have less 
adverse impact than alternative conservation measures (e.g., a 
yellowfin quota) could have had because it will be uniformly applied 
to all purse seine fleets in all areas rather than being more 
selectively applied. There should be no substantial increase in 
costs due to the bycatch reduction program extension. The small 
fleet should not be affected at all by the closure. Tuna would only 
very rarely be available to these smaller vessels in December, and 
in December many if not most of the fleet will be targeting market 
squid. The bycatch reduction program also should not pose 
significant difficulties for this fleet, which uses smaller nets and 
generally harvests fairly discrete schools of bluefin tuna which 
would be expected to have relatively little bycatch. In the rest of 
the Convention Area however, fishing has often been heavy during the 
month of December. Therefore, the closure in the purse seine fishery 
will limit fishing mortality.
    As a result, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis was not 
prepared.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
the purposes of Executive Order 12866.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 951-961 and 971 et seq.

    Dated: October 30, 2002.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 02-28007 Filed 11-1-02; 8:45 am]
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