[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 161 (Wednesday, August 20, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 50120-50121]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-21366]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 080703B]


Groundfish Fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area 
and the Gulf of Alaska, King and Tanner Crab Fisheries in the Bering 
Sea/Aleutian Islands, Scallop and Salmon Fisheries Off the Coast of AK

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

ACTION: Notification regarding the evaluation of potential habitat 
areas of particular concern (HAPCs) within essential fish habitat 
(EFH).

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SUMMARY: NMFS intends to evaluate alternative approaches for HAPC 
designation in the EFH Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) NMFS is 
preparing in conjunction with the North Pacific Fishery Management 
Council. Although NMFS' notice of intent to prepare the North Pacific 
EFH EIS implied that specific new HAPCs would be evaluated in the EIS, 
NMFS' current plan is to consider specific HAPC designations in 
separate National Environmental Policy Act analyses.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cindy Hartmann, (907) 586-7585.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act requires NMFS and the Council to identify EFH in 
fishery management plans. The EFH regulations at 50 CFR 600.815(a)(8) 
encourage Councils to identify HAPCs within EFH based on the ecological 
importance of the habitat, sensitivity to human-induced environmental 
degradation, stress to the habitat from development activities, and/or 
rarity of the habitat.
    On June 6, 2001, NMFS published a notice of intent to prepare an 
EIS for the EFH components of the following five management plans: the 
Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Groundfish Fishery of the Bering 
Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Area, the FMP for groundfish of the Gulf of 
Alaska, the FMP for BSAI Commercial King and Tanner Crabs, the FMP for 
the Scallop Fishery off Alaska, and the FMP for the Salmon Fishery in 
the EEZ off the Coast of Alaska (66 FR 30396). NMFS requested written 
comments and gave notice of six scoping meetings. NMFS noted that three 
types of actions will be analyzed in the EIS: (1) describe and identify 
EFH for the fisheries; (2) identify HAPCs within EFH; and (3) minimize 
to the extent practicable the adverse effects of fishing on EFH.
    On January 10, 2002, NMFS published a notification of preliminary 
alternative approaches for EFH and HAPC and requested written comments 
(67 FR 1325). Subsequently, based on public comment at the April, 2003, 
Council meeting, NMFS and the Council determined that it would be most 
effective to identify an approach to HAPC designation first, and then 
to consider specific candidate HAPCs through a separate process. For 
this first iteration of the HAPC process, any resulting HAPC 
designations and associated fishery management measures would be 
promulgated on the same time line as any measures resulting from the 
EFH EIS. The Council may also consider additional HAPCs in the future.
    The EFH EIS will evaluate five alternative approaches for 
identifying HAPCs. Under Alternative 1, the FMPs would be amended to 
remove the present identification of HAPCs. Under Alternative 2, HAPCs 
would remain as they are currently identified in the Council's FMPs: 
living substrates in

[[Page 50121]]

shallow waters, living substrates in deep waters, and freshwater areas 
used by anadromous fish. Under Alternative 3, HAPC designations would 
be constrained to explicit geographically defined sites or locations, 
such as a particular seamount. Under Alternative 4, habitat types would 
be selected based on the HAPC considerations in the regulations, and 
HAPC sites would then be selected within the habitat types. Under 
Alternative 5, HAPC areas would be identified for individual FMP 
species based on the productivity of the habitat.
    The timeline for completing the EFH EIS has been revised since the 
scoping meetings held in 2001. The current schedule is as follows: 
Council review of preliminary draft EIS from September 15 - October 14, 
2003; Draft EIS published for public comments by January 16, 2004; 
public comment period on draft EIS no later than January 16 - April 15, 
2004; Final EIS published by June 1, 2005; Record of Decision by August 
14, 2005; any resulting FMP amendments and final regulations by August 
13, 2006; concurrent HAPC process with any implementing regulations by 
August 13, 2006.

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

    Dated: August 14, 2003.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-21366 Filed 8-19-03; 8:45 am]
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