[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 6, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 614-618]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-229]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 031218322-3322-01; I.D. 111903A]
RIN 0648-AR73


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone off Alaska; Skates 
Management in the Groundfish Fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues a proposed rule that would implement Amendment 63 
to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska 
(FMP). Amendment 63, if approved, would move skates from the ``other 
species'' list to the ``target species'' list in the FMP. By listing 
skates as a target species, a directed fishery for skates in the Gulf 
of Alaska (GOA) may be managed to reduce the potential for overfishing 
skates. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-
Stevens Act), the FMP, and other applicable laws.

DATES: Comments must be received by February 20, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802, Attn: Lori Durall, or delivered to 
room 420 of the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK. 
Comments may also be sent via facsimile (fax) to 907-586-7557. Comments 
will not be accepted if submitted via e-mail or Internet. Copies of the 
Environmental Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis (EA/RIR/IRFA) prepared for the proposed rule may 
be obtained from the same address.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The groundfish fisheries in the exclusive 
economic zone of the GOA are managed under the FMP. The North Pacific 
Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared the FMP under the 
authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801, et seq. 
Regulations implementing the FMP appear at 50 CFR part 679. General 
regulations governing U.S. fisheries also appear at 50 CFR part 600.
    The Council has submitted Amendment 63 for review by the Secretary 
of Commerce, and a Notice of Availability of the FMP amendment was 
published in the Federal Register on December 2, 2003 (68 FR 67390), 
with comments on the FMP amendment invited through February 2, 2004.
    Comments may address the FMP amendment, the proposed rule, or both, 
but must be received by February 2, 2004, to be considered in the 
approval/disapproval decision on the FMP amendment. All comments 
received by that time, whether specifically directed to the FMP 
amendment or to the proposed rule, will be considered in the approval/
disapproval decision on the FMP amendment.

Background

    Amendment 63 is intended to respond to concerns that the rapidly 
developing skate fishery in the GOA may result in overfishing of 
skates. Amendment 63 to the FMP would move skates from the ``other 
species'' list to the ``target species'' list, allowing for the 
management of skates as a target species. Skates currently are managed 
as part of the other species complex with sharks, sculpins, octopus, 
and squid. The total allowable catch limit (TAC) for this complex is 
five percent of the aggregate of all TACs for groundfish of the GOA. 
Target species TACs are established for an individual species or 
species group and NMFS manages the directed fishery for each species to 
avoid exceeding the specified TACs. TACs usually are set at or below 
the acceptable biological catch (ABC) amount, which are below the 
overfishing levels (OFLs) for each target species or species group. The 
other species complex does not have an OFL or ABC amount due to the 
lack of biomass information for most of the species in the complex.
    In 2003, a directed fishery for skates rapidly developed in the 
GOA. The 2003 skate harvest was 3,042 metric tons (mt), compared to 782 
mt of skates harvested in 2002. Because skates are managed within the 
other species complex, the full TAC for the other species complex is 
available for a directed fishery for skates.
    To reduce the potential for overfishing, the Council recommended 
that skates be managed as a target species. As a target species, OFL, 
ABC, and TAC amounts for skates would be established by annual harvest 
specifications, allowing for more effective management of skates based 
on the best available scientific information. The development of OFL, 
ABC, and TAC amounts for the 2004 harvest specifications for skates 
would be based on scientific survey and harvest information from 2003 
and prior years. Managing a directed fishery for skates so that OFL, 
ABC, and TAC amounts are not exceeded would reduce the potential for 
overfishing and would meet the conservation objectives of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act.
    This action proposes to implement Amendment 63. This action also 
would revise Table 10 of 50 CFR 679 to establish maximum retainable 
amounts (MRAs) of skates in other directed groundfish fisheries and to 
establish MRAs for other target groundfish in the directed fishery for 
skates. The listing of species groups under footnote 7 to the table for 
the other species complex would be revised to remove skates from the 
listing. A footnote 11 would be added to the MRAs column and row for 
skates to identify the managed skate species and the reporting codes. 
These changes are necessary to properly manage the retention of skates 
incidentally caught in other directed groundfish fisheries and the 
retention of other groundfish taken incidentally in the directed 
fishery for skates.
    The definition of other species in the regulations also would be 
revised to reference 50 CFR 679.20(e) for Tables 10 and 11 instead of 
50 CFR 679.20(c), which does not apply to Tables 10 and 11.

Classification

    NMFS has not yet determined whether the amendment that this 
proposed rule would implement is consistent with the national standards 
of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws. In making that 
determination, NMFS will take into account the data, views, and 
comments received during the comment period.
    This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for 
the purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    NMFS prepared an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) 
which describes any adverse impacts this proposed rule, if adopted, 
would have on directly regulated small entities. Because this action is 
closely linked to the annual harvest specifications, the EA/RIR/IRFA 
(see ADDRESSES) prepared for this action also analyzes the action to 
establish annual harvest specifications for the groundfish fisheries of 
the BSAI and GOA. The IRFA identifies two FMP change alternatives (no 
action and move skates

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to the target list), and three specifications options that may be 
considered with the action alternative. The specification options will 
be further analyzed and considered in separate rulemaking for the 
annual harvest specifications to be completed in early 2004. A summary 
of the IRFA, as it pertains to this action, follows:
    Amendment 63 amends the GOA FMP by moving skate species from the 
``other species'' list and adding it to the ``target species'' list. 
Skates would receive their own OFL, ABC, and TAC. This action is 
proposed to give fishery managers better tools to protect the skate 
biomass in the face of a directed fishery that developed rapidly in 
2003.
    The objective of this action is to increase the control managers 
have over the fishing mortality of skates, to prevent overfishing of 
skates, to maintain healthy skate stocks, and to make a sustainable 
fishery for skates more likely.
    The legal basis for this action is found in the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act and in the GOA groundfish FMP promulgated pursuant to that act.
    The IRFA for this action ascertained that 933 hook-and-line catcher 
vessels, 15 hook-and-line catcher-processors, 117 trawl catcher 
vessels, and four trawl catcher-processors, might be directly regulated 
by this action. All of these vessels are considered ``small entities'' 
as defined by the RFA. In 2001, average Alaskan groundfish revenues for 
the small entities were $70,000 for hook-and-line catcher vessels, 
$1.83 million for hook-and-line catcher-processors, $350,000 for trawl 
catcher vessels, and $1.8 million for trawl catcher-processors.
    This action has the potential to limit harvests and fishery gross 
revenues in the short run to protect the biomass and preserve the 
fishery for the long term. The actual impacts would depend on the way 
the Council chooses to incorporate skates into the specifications, and 
on the annual specifications recommendations made by the Council.
    Nothing in the proposed action would result in changes in reporting 
or recordkeeping requirements.
    The analysis did not reveal any Federal rules that duplicate, 
overlap, or conflict with the proposed action.
    The IRFA evaluated a no-action alternative to the preferred 
alternative. Under this no-action alternative, skates would have 
remained in the ``other species'' list. Since the ``other species'' 
complex TAC in 2003 (11,260 mt) is larger than the projected OFL for 
skates indicated in the EA (10,322 mt), harvest in a targeted skate 
fishery could drive down the skate biomass and reduce its reproductive 
potential. While revenues from the fishery would be higher in the short 
run, they would be lower in the longer run, as a reduced biomass 
supports a smaller (or perhaps no) commercial skate fishery. Thus, 
while this alternative may have imposed fewer short run restrictions on 
small fishing operations, it did not meet the objectives of providing 
protection to the skate stocks in the GOA and thereby protecting the 
future of a sustainable fishery.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries, Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

    Dated: December 30, 2003.
Rebecca Lent,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
    For reasons set out in the preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is proposed to 
be amended as follows:

PART 679--FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA

    1. The authority citation for part 679 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., 1801 et seq., and 3631 et 
seq.; Title II of Division C, Pub. L. 105-277; Sec. 3027, Pub L. 
106-31, 113 Stat. 57; 16 U.S.C. 1540(f).
    2. In Sec.  679.2, the definition ``Other species'' is revised to 
read as follows:


Sec.  679.2  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Other species is a category that consists of groundfish species in 
each management area that are not specified as target species (see 
Tables 10 and 11 to this part pursuant to Sec.  679.20(e)).
* * * * *
    3. Table 10 to part 679 is revised to read as follows:
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[FR Doc. 04-229 Filed 1-5-04; 8:45 am]
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