[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 225 (Friday, November 21, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 65676-65677]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-29173]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 110303B]


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 
Alaska

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

ACTION: Notification of a call for proposals for Habitat Areas of 
Particular Concern (HAPCs) and associated fishery management measures.

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SUMMARY: NMFS and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council are 
soliciting proposals for specific HAPCs that could be identified and 
managed within Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) pursuant to the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). 
The Council has identified two priority habitat types for consideration 
during this call for proposals, and the Council plans to solicit 
additional proposals every three years.

DATES: Proposals must be submitted by January 10, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Proposals should be submitted to the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council, 605 W. 4th Ave., Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 99501-
2252.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cathy Coon, (907) 271-2809.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulatory guidelines for implementing 
the EFH provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act encourage Fishery 
Management Councils to identify specific types or areas of habitat 
within EFH as HAPCs based on one or more of the following 
considerations: (1) The importance of the ecological function provided 
by the habitat; (2) The extent to which the habitat is sensitive to 
human-induced environmental degradation; (3) Whether, and to what 
extent, development activities are, or will be, stressing the habitat 
type; and (4) The rarity of the habitat type (50 CFR 600.815(a)(8)). 
HAPC designations provide an opportunity for Councils to highlight 
especially valuable and/or vulnerable areas within EFH that warrant 
priority consideration for conservation and management.
    NMFS and the Council are developing an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) for the EFH components of Council fishery management 
plans (FMPs). As discussed in a previous notification published in the 
Federal Register (August 20, 2003, 68 FR 50120), the EIS will evaluate 
alternative approaches for identifying HAPCs, and NMFS and the Council 
will consider specific HAPC designations in separate National 
Environmental Policy Act analyses.
    The Council has identified the following two HAPC priority areas 
for 2003:
    1. Seamounts in the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska, named on 
NOAA nautical charts, that provide important habitat for managed 
species.
    2. Largely undisturbed, high relief, long lived hard coral beds, 
with particular attention in the Aleutian Islands, which provide 
habitat for life stages of rockfish or other important managed species. 
Based upon best available scientific information, nominated coral sites 
must have likely or documented presence of Council managed rockfish 
species, must be largely undisturbed, and must occur outside core 
fishing areas.
    NMFS and the Council are soliciting proposals for specific HAPCs. 
Proposals will be ranked according to how many of the four HAPC 
considerations they meet, with the highest ranking given to proposals 
that meet all four. The Council determined that successful proposals 
must meet at least two of the four HAPC considerations, and that rarity 
of the habitat type will be a mandatory criterion of all HAPC 
proposals. Proposals will be screened by Council staff and reviewed by 
Council Plan Teams, and then the Council will decide which proposals 
warrant detailed analysis and public comment. NMFS will promulgate any 
resulting regulations, supported by appropriate analyses, no later than 
August 13, 2006. The Council plans to solicit additional HAPC proposals 
every three years.
    Proposals should include the following information:
    1. Name of proposer, address, and affiliation;
    2. Title of proposal and a single, brief paragraph concisely 
describing the proposed action;
    3. Identification of the habitat and FMP species the HAPC proposal 
is intended to protect;
    4. Statement of purpose and need;
    5. Description of whether and how the proposed HAPC addresses the 
four considerations set out in the EFH regulations;
    6. Specific objectives for the proposal, including proposed 
management measures and their specific objectives, if appropriate;
    7. Proposed solutions to achieve these objectives (how might the 
problem be solved);
    8. Methods of measuring progress towards those objectives;
    9. Expected benefits to the FMP species of the proposed HAPC, and 
supporting information or data;

[[Page 65677]]

    10. Identification of the fisheries, sectors, stakeholders and 
communities to be affected by the establishment of the proposed HAPC 
and any available information on socioeconomic costs, including catch 
data from the proposed area over the last five years;
    11. Clear geographic delineation for proposed HAPC (written 
latitude and longitude reference points and delineation on an 
appropriately scaled NOAA chart); and
    12. Best available information and sources of such information to 
support the objectives for the proposed HAPC (citations for common 
information or copies of uncommon information).

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

    Dated: November 17, 2003.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-29173 Filed 11-20-03; 8:45 am]
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