[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 24 (Thursday, February 5, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 5481-5482]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-2534]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 300

[I.D. 013004D]


Public Scoping Meetings on the Management of Antarctic Marine 
Living Resources Within the Area of the Convention on the Conservation 
of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

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

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact 
statement (EIS); notice of scoping meetings; request for written 
comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intent to prepare an EIS in accordance with 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) on the Federal 
management of Antarctic marine living resources (AMLR) pursuant to 
conservation and management measures adopted by the Commission for the 
Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (the Commission or 
CCAMLR.) NMFS will convene public scoping meetings in Silver Spring, 
MD, and Long Beach, CA, to solicit comments on AMLR fishery issues and 
potential management options related to these resources. The scope of 
the EIS analysis will, among other things, describe activities related 
to the management, monitoring, and conduct of the fisheries; the 
ecological relationships between harvested, dependent and related 
populations of AMLR; the potential impacts to protected species, non-
target species, and fish habitat. The scoping meetings will provide for 
public input on the issues, range of alternatives, and impacts the EIS 
should consider. Written comments will also be accepted concerning the 
various management options the EIS should consider.

DATES: Public scoping meetings will be held in Silver Spring, MD, on 
March 1, 2004, and in Long Beach, CA, on March 3, 2004. Written 
comments must be submitted by March 22, 2004. See SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION for specific dates, times, and locations.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the issues, range of alternatives, and 
impacts that should be discussed in the EIS may be sent to Robert 
Gorrell, Office of Sustainable Fisheries--F/SF3, National Marine 
Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 or 
via facsimile (fax) at 301-713-1193 and must be received by March 22, 
2004. Comments may also be submitted by e-mail. The mailbox address for 
providing e-mail comments is [email protected]. Include in the 
subject line of the e-mail comment the following document identifier: 
I.D. 013004D, Scoping for CCAMLR.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Gorrell, 301-713-2341 Ext. 150.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Antarctic Marine Living Resources 
Convention Act of 1984 (AMLRCA) (16 U.S.C. 2431 et seq.; see 50 CFR 
part 300, Subparts A and G), the United States implements the 
conservation and management decisions of CCAMLR for the harvesting and 
importation of all AMLR other than whales and seals found within the 
Area of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living 
Resources (the Convention Area). The management of AMLR is vested in 
the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). The Secretary is directed by the 
AMLRCA to consult

[[Page 5482]]

with the Secretary of State, the agency in which the Coast Guard is 
operating, and other appropriate departments and agencies of the United 
States in promulgating regulations implementing the AMLRCA and CCAMLR 
measures.
    NEPA requires preparation of an EIS for major Federal actions 
significantly impacting the quality of the human environment. 
Regulations implementing NEPA at 40 CFR 1502.4(b) state: 
``Environmental impact statements may be prepared, and are sometimes 
required, for broad Federal actions such as adoption of new agency 
programs or regulations. Agencies shall prepare statements on broad 
actions so that they are relevant to policy and are timed to coincide 
with meaningful points in agency planning and decision making.'' NMFS 
has decided to prepare a programmatic EIS for all activities regulated 
by the United States pursuant to the conservation and management 
measures adopted by CCAMLR.

Background

    AMLR other than whales and seals in the Convention Area are managed 
pursuant to the conservation and management decisions of CCAMLR. The 
Convention Area is the area south of 60 South latitude 
and between that latitude and the Antarctic Convergence forming part of 
the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Conservation and management decisions 
for AMLR within the Convention Area are made by consensus during annual 
meetings of the Commission created by the Convention. The United States 
is a contracting party and a member of the Commission. The Commission 
adopted its first conservation measures during its third annual meeting 
in 1984.
    With respect to the measures adopted by CCAMLR at each of its 
annual meetings, the Convention provides that if a member of the 
Commission, within ninety days of the notification of measures adopted 
by the Commission, notifies the Commission that it is unable to accept 
any measure, in whole or in part, the measure, shall not, to the extent 
stated, be binding upon that member of the Commission.
    Pursuant to AMLRCA, the Secretary of State, with the concurrence of 
the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the National Science 
Foundation, appoints the U.S. representative to the Commission. The 
AMLRCA requires the Secretary of State to publish a Federal Register 
notice of the conservation and other measures adopted annually by the 
Commission and solicits public comments on those measures.
    In 1986, NMFS prepared an environmental assessment (EA) that 
analyzed the effects on the human environment of the regulations that 
implemented AMLRCA. In 2000, NMFS prepared an EA that analyzed the 
effects of CCAMLR's toothfish Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) on the 
importation of toothfish into the United States. As a part of that 
analysis, NMFS looked at the fishery-wide effects on the human 
environment of the harvesting and trade sectors for toothfish. This 
analysis was critical to the implementation of the CDS, a scheme 
developed by CCAMLR to curtail the negative effects on toothfish stocks 
of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing for toothfish. In 2003, 
NMFS prepared an EA that also analyzed the fishery-wide effects on the 
human environment. The 2003 EA focused on a preapproval process for the 
importation of toothfish into the United States. The process was 
created by NMFS to streamline the administration of the CDS and enhance 
efforts to prevent and discourage unlawful harvest and trade in 
toothfish.
    Each of these EAs led to a finding of no significant impact to the 
human environment and, thus, no EIS was prepared. However, based on 
information presented to CCAMLR by its Scientific Committee in the 
years since 1986, trade tracking and monitoring of toothfish, and an 
increase in the number of U.S. participants in fisheries in the 
Convention Area, NMFS intends to prepare an EIS examining the effects 
of these changes to the fishery on the human environment.

Public Involvement

    Public scoping is an early and open process for determining the 
scope of issues to be addressed. A principle objective of the scoping 
and public involvement process is to identify possible regulatory 
alternatives that, with adequate analysis, will delineate critical 
issues and provide a clear basis for distinguishing between those 
alternatives and selecting a preferred alternative.
    In developing a draft EIS, NMFS seeks public comment for possible 
alternatives to implement the conservation and management measures 
adopted by CCAMLR. Those measures include: Compliance and enforcement 
(including permitting by CCAMLR members); the toothfish catch 
documentation scheme; gear regulations; data reporting; research and 
experiments; minimization of incidental mortality; general measures for 
new and exploratory fisheries; fishing seasons, closed areas and 
prohibitions of fishing; bycatch limits; and CCAMLR Ecosystem 
Monitoring and Management sites. Current measures can be found at 50 
CFR part 300, Suparts A and G. In addition to developing possible 
alternatives to these management components of the CCAMLR program, 
scoping meetings will serve to identify any issues that may improve or 
otherwise support U.S. participation in CCAMLR. For example, should the 
United States take stronger measures than those adopted by the 
Commission to address illegal, unregulated or unreported (IUU) fishing? 
In summary, public input is sought on possible alternatives to current 
regulations, on fishery or other issues, and on impacts the EIS should 
consider with a focus on increased U.S. fishing participation and 
contemporary scientific information.
    After scoping meetings are concluded, NMFS will prepare a Draft 
Environ- mental Impact Statement (DEIS) and file it with the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA will then publish a 
notice of availability (NOA) for the DEIS in the Federal Register with 
a 45-day public comment period. After considering all public comments, 
NMFS will prepare a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and 
file it with the EPA. The EPA will then publish a NOA for the FEIS. At 
this time NMFS is unaware of the need to change the way in which it 
implements the conservation and management measures adopted by CCAMLR; 
however, the NEPA review may cause NMFS to reconsider the need for 
change.

Dates, Times, and Locations for Public Scoping Meetings

March 1, 2004, 2-4 p.m., Room 2358, SSMC2, 1325 East-West Highway, 
Silver Spring, MD 20910.
March 3, 2004, 2-5 p.m., Room 3300, Glen Anderson Federal Building, 501 
W. Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, CA 90802.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to, in Long Beach, Svein Fougner, 
Phone 562-980-4040, Fax 562-980-4047 or, in Silver Spring, Robert 
Gorrell, Phone 301-713-2341 Ext. 150, Fax 301-713-1193 at least five 
days prior to the meeting date.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 2431 et seq.

    Dated: February 2, 2204.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 04-2534 Filed 2-4-04; 8:45 am]
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