[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 2, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31091-31092]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-12437]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 052604B]


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish 
Fisheries Management in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management 
Area and the Gulf of Alaska

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

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has 
submitted for Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) review Amendment 81 to 
the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the

[[Page 31092]]

Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area (BSAI) 
and Amendment 74 to the FMP for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). 
If approved, the amendments would implement a new management policy by 
revising the goals and objectives of the management of the groundfish 
fisheries. The goals and objectives would provide for a new ecosystem-
based management framework that would serve as the management policy 
for the groundfish fisheries into the future. This action will promote 
the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the FMPs, and other 
applicable laws. Comments from the public are welcome.

DATES: Comments on Amendments 81 and 74 must be submitted by August 2, 
2004.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
Attn: Lori Durall. Comments may be submitted by:
    [bul] Mail to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802;
    [bul] Hand delivery to the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street, 
Room 420A, Juneau, AK;
    [bul] Fax to 907-586-7557; or
    [bul] E-mail to [email protected]. Include in the subject 
line of the e-mail comments the following document identifier: 81-74 
NOA. E-mail comments, with or without attachments, are limited to 5 
megabytes.
    Copies of Amendments 81 and 74 and the Programmatic Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (PSEIS) for the Alaska Groundfish 
Fisheries may be obtained from the NMFS Alaska Region at the address 
above or from the Alaska Region website at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/sustainablefisheries/seis/default.htm.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each 
Regional Fishery Management Council submit any FMP amendment it 
prepares to the Secretary for review and approval, disapproval, or 
partial approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that the 
Secretary, upon receiving an FMP amendment, immediately publish a 
notice in the Federal Register that the amendment is available for 
public review and comment.
    The Council prepared and the Secretary approved the FMP for 
Groundfish of the GOA in 1978 and the FMP for the Groundfish Fishery of 
the BSAI in 1981. Both FMPs have been amended numerous times, and 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental documents have 
been prepared for each amendment.
    In December 1998, NMFS issued an SEIS for the groundfish fisheries 
authorized by the FMPs. The U. S. District Court, Western District of 
Washington at Seattle (NO. C98-0492Z) ruled in Greenpeace v. NMFS that 
the 1998 SEIS was legally inadequate, and remanded the document to NMFS 
for further action consistent with the requirements of NEPA. After an 
extensive development and public review process, NMFS has completed a 
new PSEIS for the groundfish fisheries (see ADDRESSES). Amendments 81 
and 74 are based on the preferred alternative in the PSEIS.
    Amendments 81 and 74 were unanimously recommended by the Council in 
April 2004. If approved by the Secretary, these amendments would revise 
the goals and objectives of the FMPs to implement a new management 
policy for the groundfish fisheries. The new management policy would 
include consideration of community-based or rights-based management and 
ecosystem-based management principles that protect managed species from 
overfishing, and where appropriate and practicable, increase habitat 
protection and bycatch constraints. All management measures would be 
based on the best scientific information available. The fishery 
management goals are: (1) sound conservation of the living marine 
resources, (2) socially and economically viable fisheries and fishing 
communities, (3) minimal human-caused threats to protected species, (4) 
healthy marine resource habitat, and (5) ecosystem-based considerations 
in management decisions. To meet these goals and to focus the Council's 
consideration of potential management measures, Amendments 81 and 74 
identify 45 objectives that are grouped under the following nine 
subjects: prevent overfishing; promote sustainable fisheries and 
communities; preserve the food web; manage incidental catch and reduce 
bycatch and waste; avoid impacts to seabirds and marine mammals; reduce 
and avoid impacts to habitat; promote equitable and efficient use of 
fishery resources; increase Alaska native consultation; and improve 
data quality, monitoring, and enforcement. The new management policy 
would begin to be implemented immediately upon Secretarial approval and 
would be applied to ongoing and future groundfish fisheries management. 
The new management policy also would include adaptive management with 
regular and periodic reviews, including annual review of the 
objectives.
    Public comments are being solicited on proposed Amendments 81 and 
74 through the end of the comment period stated (see DATES). All 
comments received by the end of the comment period on the amendments 
will be considered in the approval/partial approval/disapproval 
decision. Comments received after that date will not be considered in 
the approval/partial approval/disapproval decision on the amendments. 
To be considered, comments must be received not just postmarked or 
otherwise transmitted by the close of business on the last day of the 
comment period.

    Dated: May 26, 2004.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 04-12437 Filed 6-1-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S