[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 147 (Thursday, July 31, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44927-44928]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-19520]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 061003A]


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska; Groundfish 
of the Gulf of Alaska; Exempted Fishing Permit

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

ACTION: Issuance of an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP).

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the issuance of EFP 03-01 to Mr. John Gauvin, 
principal investigator, and Mr. Brent Paine, Executive Director of the 
United Catcher Boats Association (applicants). The EFP authorizes the 
applicants to conduct an experiment in the Bering Sea that will test 
the effectiveness of salmon excluder devices to reduce salmon bycatch 
rates in the pollock trawl fishery without significantly lowering catch 
rates of pollock. This EFP is necessary to provide information not 
otherwise available through research or commercial fishing operations. 
The intended effect of this action is to promote the purposes and 
policies of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

ADDRESSES: Copies of the EFP and the Environmental Assessment (EA) 
prepared for the EFP are available from Lori J. Durall, Alaska Region, 
NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melanie Brown, 907-586-7228 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Fishery Management Plan for the 
Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management 
Area authorizes the issuance of EFPs to fish for groundfish in a manner 
that would otherwise be prohibited under existing regulations. The 
procedures for issuing EFPs are set out at 50 CFR 679.6 and 600.745(b).
    On April 15, 2003, NMFS announced in the Federal Register the 
receipt of an application for an EFP (68 FR 18187). The applicants 
requested authorization to test the effectiveness of salmon excluder 
devices intended to reduce salmon bycatch rates in the pollock trawl 
fishery, without reducing the catch of pollock. The purpose of this 
research is to assist industry in developing gear modifications that 
will reduce the bycatch of salmon in the pollock fishery in the Bering 
Sea. This EFP will provide information not otherwise available through 
research or commercial fishing operations because it is not 
economically feasible for vessels to participate in an experiment of 
this extent and rigor during the commercial fisheries.
    The Regional Administrator has approved the EFP application and has 
issued EFP 03-01 to the applicants. Details of the experiment are in 
the environmental assessment prepared for this action (see ADDRESSES). 
The experiment will take place in two parts to allow for testing of 
devices specific to chum salmon and chinook salmon for approximately 
12-15 days each. The chum salmon field test portion of the EFP is 
expected to occur mid-September through October 2003. The chinook 
salmon excluder test is expected to occur January 20, 2004, through 
March 31, 2004. The location for the test will be the common areas for 
catcher vessels to fish for pollock in the Bering Sea at those times of 
the year.
    In order to conduct the test in accordance with the experimental 
design developed in cooperation with NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science 
Center, the applicants are exempted from several groundfish fisheries 
regulations at 50 CFR part 679. Salmon taken during the experiment will 
not be counted toward the chinook and non-chinook bycatch limits under 
50 CFR 679.21(e)(1)(vii) and (viii). The majority of the non-chinook 
salmon taken is chum salmon. The taking of salmon during the experiment 
is crucial for determining the effectiveness of the device. The 
potential exists that the amount of pollock trawl salmon bycatch taken 
by the industry during the EFP period will approach or exceed the 
salmon bycatch limits. The additional salmon taken during the 
experiment would create an additional burden on the pollock trawl 
industry, if the EFP salmon is counted toward the salmon bycatch 
limits.
    Groundfish taken under the EFP will not be applied to the total 
allowable catch (TAC) limit specified in the annual harvest 
specifications (Sec.  679.20). The amount taken is expected to result 
in total harvests well below the acceptable biological catch (ABC) 
amounts for the BSAI. The applicants have also requested an exemption 
from closures of the Chinook Salmon Savings Area and the Chum Salmon 
Savings Area. (Sec. Sec.  679.21(e)(7)(vii) and (viii), and 
679.22(a)(10)). The experiment must be conducted in areas of salmon 
concentration to ensure a sufficient sample size. Known concentrations 
of

[[Page 44928]]

salmon occur in the salmon savings areas which provide ideal locations 
for conducting the experiment and ensuring the vessel encounters 
concentrations of salmon.
    Because a large portion of the Chinook Salmon Savings Area and Chum 
Salmon Savings Area falls within the Steller Sea Lion Conservation Area 
(SCA), the EFP also allows for an exemption from the sector specific 
closure of the SCA (Sec.  679.22(a)(7)(vii)). This exemption applies 
only until the combined harvest of all sectors in the SCA exceeds the 
combined 28 percent of the annual TAC before April 1 (Sec.  
679.20(a)(5)(i)(B). In 2003 nearly 80,000 mt of pollock SCA quota was 
not harvested. The experiment will harvest approximately 1,300 mt of 
groundfish (mostly pollock) during the spring. Catcher vessels over 99 
ft (30.2 m) length overall (LOA) harvested all of the 2003 quota 
available to its sector. The vessel used for the research may be a 
catcher vessel over 99 ft (30.2 m) LOA, the sector that is likely to be 
closed out of the SCA based on reaching its quota. Because of the large 
amount of SCA pollock quota that will likely remain unharvested and 
limitations on the exemption if the combined sector SCA quota is 
reached, the exemption from the SCA sector specific closure will have 
no effect on Steller sea lions.
    The EFP also exempts the permit holders from the closure of the 
Catcher Vessel Operating Area (CVOA) at 50 CFR 679.22(a)(5)(ii). All of 
the Chum Salmon Savings Area is in the CVOA because of the high rates 
of chum salmon bycatch that are known to occur in this area. The CVOA 
is closed to catcher/processors during the pollock B season, June 10 
through November 1. If a catcher/processor is chosen to conduct the 
chum salmon portion of the research, it will need access to the CVOA 
during the pollock B season to ensure enough chum salmon is encountered 
to provide a sufficient sample size for the experiment.
    The EFP authorizes harvests up to 2,270 mt of groundfish in the 
Bering Sea in the fall of 2003 and the spring of 2004. These groundfish 
harvests will not be applied toward the groundfish TAC limits in 2003 
or 2004. Approximately 98 percent of the groundfish harvested will be 
pollock. The 2003 Bering Sea pollock TAC is 1,491,760 metric tons (mt) 
(68 FR 9907, March 3, 2003) and the 2004 TAC is likely to be over one 
million mt. The 2003 pollock acceptable biological catch (ABC) for the 
Bering Sea is 2.33 million mt, well above the TAC and additional 
harvest anticipated from the experiment. The vessel selected for 
participation will retain all pollock and may retain other groundfish 
species in accordance with the maximum retainable incidental catch 
amounts at Sec.  679.20(e) and (f), using only pollock as the basis 
species.
    Approximately 200 chum salmon and 30 chinook salmon are required to 
support the experiment, well below the BSAI limits of 33,000 chinook 
salmon in 2003, 29,000 chinook salmon in 2004, and the annual limit of 
42,000 non-chinook salmon (Sec.  679.21(e)(1)(vii) and (viii)). The 
authorized salmon bycatch for this experiment is 2,183 non-chinook 
salmon and 217 chinook salmon. This is above the amount needed to 
support the experiment, but is necessary to ensure the experiment is 
not prematurely ended before a sufficient amount of data are collected 
under conditions of higher than expected rates of salmon bycatch. If 
the salmon is of acceptable quality, the salmon bycatch will be 
retained for the Prohibited Species Donation Program under Sec.  
679.26. Otherwise, the salmon will be discarded in accordance with 
Sec.  679.21(b).
    The Regional Administrator may terminate the experiment if the 
groundfish or salmon bycatch limits specified in the permit are 
exceeded. To ensure no likelihood of adverse effects on Steller sea 
lions, the experiment may not be conducted in Steller sea lion 
protection areas that are closed to pollock trawling (68 FR 204, 
January 2, 2003, corrected 68 FR 24615, May 8, 2003), except as 
provided for in the SCA. A final report of the result of the experiment 
will be made available to the public at the end of 2004.
    Failure of the permittees to comply with the terms and conditions 
of the EFP and all applicable provisions of 50 CFR parts 600 and 679, 
the Magnuson-Stevens Act, or any regulations promulgated thereunder, or 
any other applicable laws, may be grounds for revocation, suspension, 
or modification of this permit as well as civil or criminal sanctions 
imposed under those laws.

Classification

    This action is exempt from review under Executive Order 12866 and 
the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). The analytical requirements of 
the RFA are inapplicable because prior notice and opportunity for 
public comment are not required for this notification.

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

    Dated: July 25, 2003.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-19520 Filed 7-30-03; 8:45 am]
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