[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 67 (Tuesday, April 8, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 17004-17005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-8554]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 600

[I.D. 032803C]


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic 
Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs)

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

ACTION: Notification of a proposal for EFPs to conduct experimental 
fishing; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional 
Administrator) has made a preliminary determination that the subject 
EFP application contains all the required information and warrants 
further consideration. The Regional Administrator has also made a 
preliminary determination that the activities authorized under the EFP 
would be consistent with the goals and objectives of the Northeast (NE) 
Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). However, further review and 
consultation may be necessary before a final determination is made to 
issue the EFP. Therefore, NMFS announces that the Regional 
Administrator proposes to issue an EFP that would allow one vessel to 
conduct fishing operations that are otherwise restricted by the 
regulations governing the fisheries of the Northeastern United States. 
The EFP would allow for exemptions from the requirement to count DAS 
under this EFP against his NE multispecies DAS allocation; the fishing 
restrictions imposed by the GOM rolling closure areas; and the minimum 
fish size requirements for the temporary retention of undersized fish 
for data collection purposes. The EFP would allow these exemptions for 
not more than 20 days of sea trials. All experimental work would be 
monitored by a UNH Cooperative Extension technician.
    Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act require publication of this notification to provide 
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for 
proposed EFPs.

DATES: Comments on this document must be received on or before April 
23, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Patricia A. Kurkul, 
Regional Administrator, NMFS, Northeast Regional Office, 1 Blackburn 
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope 
``Comments on UNH Cooperative Extension Shallow Gillnet Selectivity EFP 
Proposal.'' Comments may also be sent via facsimile (fax) to (978) 281-
9135.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Hooker, Fishery Management 
Specialist, phone 978-281-9220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The UNH Cooperative Extension submitted an 
application for an EFP on January 24, 2003, with final revisions 
received on March 21, 2003. The experimental fishing application 
requests authorization to allow the collection of data on the 
performance of two gillnet designs that are intended to utilize 
differences in behavior and closeness to the seabed between flatfish 
and cod. It is hypothesized that the shallower nets will have better 
species and size selectivity than either regular roundfish gillnets, 
tie-down gillnets, and foam-core flatfish gillnets, thereby reducing 
discards of GOM cod and allowing fishermen to continue to fish for 
flatfish without exceeding the cod possession limits. The time period 
for this experiment would be May 1-August 31, 2003. The location of the 
experiment would be bounded by the New England shoreline, west of 
69[deg] W. long., and north of 42[deg] N. lat. The experiment would use 
a total of 40 gillnets, 300 ft (91.44 m) in length with 7-inch (17.7 
cm) mesh. The control group nets would be 25 meshes deep while the 
experimental group nets would be 12 and 8 meshes deep.
    The applicant has requested an exemption from 20 NE multispecies 
DAS to conduct the experiment. The applicant has also requested an 
exemption from GOM rolling closures III and IV. The applicant has also 
requested that the vessel be allowed to land any legal-sized fish for 
which he is permitted, for commercial sale within GOM possession 
limits. There would be some bycatch of sub-legal sized fish

[[Page 17005]]

associated with the experiment (approximately 420 lb (190.5 kg) of cod, 
1,740 lb (789 kg) of dogfish and 100 lb (45.36 kg) of mixed fluke, 
dabs, mackerel and pollock). All undersized fish will be returned to 
the water as soon as practicable after the measurements are recorded. 
Estimated total landings, excluding discards, is approximately 20,000 
lb (9,072 kg) of mixed multispecies (9,000 lb (4,082 kg) cod, 10,000 lb 
(4,536 kg) dogfish, and 1,000 lb (454 kg) of mixed fluke, dabs, 
mackerel, and pollock) based upon 50 percent of the commercial catch 
rate. A technician from the UNH Cooperative Extension would be on the 
vessel for all of the trips associated with this EFP. The participating 
vessel would be required to comply with applicable state landing laws 
and report all landings on the Federal Fishing Vessel Trip Report.
    Based on the results of this EFP, this action may lead to future 
rulemaking.

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

    Dated: April 2, 2003.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-8554 Filed 4-7-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S