[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 12, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19054-19057]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-7313]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 032105A]


Antarctic Marine Living Resources Convention Act of 1984; 
Conservation and Management Measures

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notice to notify the public that the United 
States has accepted conservation and management measures pertaining to 
fishing in Antarctic waters managed by the Commission for the 
Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (Commission or 
CCAMLR). The Commission adopted these measures at its twenty-third 
meeting in Hobart, Tasmania, October 25 to November 5, 2004. The 
measures have been agreed upon by the Member countries of CCAMLR, 
including the United States,in accordance with Article IX of the 
Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources 
(the Convention). The accepted conservation and management measures: 
restrict overall catches and bycatch of certain species of fish, krill 
and crab; limit participation in several exploratory fisheries; 
restrict fishing in certain areas and to certain gear types; set 
fishing seasons; require the use of a centralized Vessel Monitoring 
System (C-VMS); and urge the Members of CCAMLR as a matter of priority 
to adopt and use the electronic Dissostichus catch document. The 
Commission also adopted a number of non-binding resolutions urging 
action by Commission Members and Contracting Parties.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the CCAMLR conservation and management measures 
may be obtained from the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, 
National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315

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East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robin Tuttle, 301-713-2282.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Individuals interested in CCAMLR and the Convention Area should see 
the U.S. Department of State's January 26,2005 Federal Register notice 
(70 FR 3772) and 50 CFR part 300, subpart G - Antarctic Marine Living 
Resources.
    The conservation and management measures and resolutions adopted at 
the twenty-third meeting of CCAMLR: restrict overall catches and 
bycatch of certain species of fish, krill and crab; limit participation 
in several exploratory fisheries; restrict fishing in certain areas and 
to certain gear types; set fishing seasons; require the use of a C-VMS; 
and urge the Members of CCAMLR as a matter of priority to adopt and use 
the electronic Dissostichus catch document. The Commission also adopted 
a number of non-binding resolutions urging action by Commission Members 
and Contracting Parties.
    The full text of the measures and resolutions were included in a 
notice published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2005 (70 FR 
3772) by the Department of State. Public comments were invited on the 
notice, but no public comments were received. Through this action, NMFS 
notifies the public that the United States has accepted the measures 
adopted at CCAMLR's twenty-third meeting, and that pursuant to the 
Convention and 16 U.S.C. 2434 et seq., these measures are in effect. 
NMFS provides the following summary of the conservation and management 
measures as a courtesy.

Compliance

    The Commission adopted a conservation measure requiring additional 
details on every vessel a member country licenses to fish in the 
Convention Area, including: the name of the fishing vessel (any 
previous names, if known); registration number; vessel's International 
Maritime Organization (IMO) number, if issued; external markings and 
port registry; the nature of the authorization to fish granted by the 
Flag State, specifying time periods authorized for fishing; areas of 
fishing; species targeted; gear used; previous flag, if any; 
international radio call sign; the name and address of the vessel's 
owner(s) and any beneficial owner(s), if known; name and address of 
license owner, if different from vessel owner; type of vessel; where 
and when built; length; three color photographs of the vessel; and 
where applicable, details of the implementation of the tamper-proof 
requirements on the satellite-linked vessel monitoring device.
    The Commission requested, to the extent practicable, the following 
additional information for vessels notified for fishing in exploratory 
fisheries: name and address of operator, if different from vessel 
owner; name and nationality of master and, where relevant, of fishing 
master; type of fishing method or method; beam in meters; gross 
registered tonnage; vessel communication types and numbers; normal crew 
complement; power of main engine or engines in kilowatts; carrying 
capacity in tons; number of fish holds and their capacity in cubic 
meters; and any other information in respect of each licensed vessel 
considered appropriate (e.g., ice classification) for the purposes of 
the implementation of the conservation measure.
    The requirements for the information specified in the two vessel 
information measures will not enter into force until August 1, 2005. A 
list of licensed vessels will be placed on the CCAMLR website at 
www.ccamlr.org. NMFS proposes to require all of this information 
through a future amendment to the reporting requirements on the 
Antarctic Marine Living Resources harvesting permit application.
    Based upon the results of a trial-run of a C-VMS conducted by the 
CCAMLR Secretariat during the 2003/2004 fishing season, the Commission 
revised the requirements for its vessel monitoring system (VMS) and 
adopted a conservation measure to implement C-VMS. This conservation 
measure requires a vessel fishing in CCAMLR managed waters to use a VMS 
that automatically transmits the vessel's position at least every four 
hours to a land-based fisheries monitoring center of its Flag State. 
Each Contracting Party to the Convention must forward the VMS reports 
and messages received to the CCAMLR Secretariat as soon as possible, 
but not later than four hours after receipt for exploratory longline 
fisheries or following departure from the Convention Area for all other 
fisheries. The conservation measure requires the CCAMLR Secretariat to 
place a list of vessels submitting VMS reports on a password-protected 
section of the CCAMLR website. The list will be divided into subareas 
and divisions, without indicating the exact position of vessels. The 
conservation measure also requires the CCAMLR Secretariat to transmit 
VMS data and reports using secure Internet protocols Secure Socket 
Layer (SSL), Data Encryption Standard (DES) or verified certificates 
obtained from the Secretariat. These protocols are similar to those in 
use by the North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO). The United 
States informed CCAMLR that although the new conservation measure only 
requires C-VMS reporting in the CCAMLR Convention Area, the United 
States will continue to require its flagged vessels to have on board a 
VMS unit which transmits the vessel's position from port to port every 
four hours. The United States will also require, as a condition of 
import, that vessels of other flagging States seeking to import 
toothfish into the United States have on board a VMS unit which 
transmits the vessel's position from port to port every four hours.
    The Commission adopted amendments to its conservation measures 
delineating a process for the listing of vessels suspected of illegal, 
unregulated or unreported (IUU) fishing or trading (the IUU Vessel 
List). The Commission will require additional detail on any vessel 
proposed by a Member for inclusion on the CCAMLR IUU Vessel List 
including previous names, flags, owners, and operators and a summary of 
activities that justify inclusion of the vessel on the list. All CCAMLR 
members are urged to prohibit trade with the vessels on the CCAMLR IUU 
Vessel List. NMFS may implement a prohibition on the importation of 
toothfish harvested by vessels identified on the CCAMLR IUU Vessel List 
in a future rulemaking.

Vessel Safety

    The Commission adopted a resolution urging Members to promote the 
safety of all those on board vessels fishing in the Convention Area by 
assuring that fishing crews and scientific observers receive survival 
training and are provided with appropriate and well maintained 
equipment and clothing.

Exploratory Fisheries

    The Commission revised its conservation measure on exploratory 
fisheries to require specific and detailed information on the vessels 
that are notified for participation in exploratory fisheries. A vessel 
on the IUU Vessel List established by the Commission will not be 
permitted to participate in exploratory fisheries.

Data Reporting

    The Commission revised its conservation measure requiring that 5-
day catch and effort reports reach the CCAMLR Secretariat not later 
than two working days after the end of the

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reporting period for exploratory fisheries to apply to all other 
fisheries reporting under the 5-day catch and effort system. The 
conservation measure also permits Contracting Parties to authorize its 
vessels to report directly to the Secretariat. The Commission noted in 
a report of its meeting its agreement that monthly catches in krill 
fisheries should continue to be reported using the format and deadline 
specified in the monthly catch and effort reporting system.

Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS)

    The Commission adopted a resolution noting the successful 
completion of the electronic toothfish document trial and urging CCAMLR 
Contracting and Non-Contracting Parties to adopt the electronic format 
as a matter of priority. The United States indicated its intention, 
through future rulemaking, to require that all imports of toothfish 
into the United States be documented using the electronic format.

Incidental Mortality Associated with Fishing

    The Commission endorsed the Scientific Committee's recommendations 
for a protocol for testing integrated weighted longlines in new and 
exploratory fisheries and revised the seabird mitigation conservation 
measures to require use of the protocol. The protocol was required in 
Subareas 88.1 and 88.2 during the 2003/2004 season as a part of an 
experimental trial. Under the revised conservation measure, fishers 
employing the protocol to test the sink rate of their longlines are now 
allowed to set lines in Subareas 48.6, 88.1 and 88.2 Divisions 58.4.1, 
58.4.2, 58.4.3a, 58.4.3b and 58.5.2 during daylight hours. Lines 
sinking at the rate specified in the protocol lessen the time during 
which bait on the lines is visible and attractive to seabirds. Fishers 
not employing the protocol are restricted to night setting to minimize 
seabird interaction. NMFS may propose to amend its regulations to allow 
the use of the protocol for using integrated weighted longlines and to 
restrict fishers choosing not to use the protocol to night settings in 
future rulemaking.
    The Commission confirmed that all seabird bycatch limits set in 
conservation measures include both the count of dead seabirds and those 
injured but released alive.
    The Commission agreed with the recommendation of its Working Group 
on the Incidental Mortality Associated with Fishing that ``offal'' be 
defined to include discarded bait and discarded fish bycatch.
    The Commission adopted a resolution inviting the Inter-American 
Tropical Tuna Commission, the International Commission for the 
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, The South East Atlantic Fisheries 
Organisation, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the Commission for the 
Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tunas, the Agreement on the 
Organization of the Permanent Commission on the Exploitation and 
Conservation of the Marine Resources of the South Pacific, the 
Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission, the Commission for Highly 
Migratory Species in the Central and Western Pacific, and the Western 
Indian Ocean Tuna to implement or develop mechanisms to require the 
collection, reporting and dissemination of data on incidental mortality 
of seabirds. CCAMLR Members who are also members of these Regional 
Fishery Management Organizations (RFMO)are urged to raise issues of 
seabird mortality within those organizations. The resolution also urges 
Flag States conducting longline and other fishing outside the CCAMLR 
Convention Area which incidentally take seabirds that breed inside the 
Convention Area in areas where such mechanisms requiring the 
collection, reporting and dissemination of data on incidental mortality 
of seabirds are unavailable or where systematic reporting has not 
commenced to provide the CCAMLR Secretariat with summary data. Finally, 
the resolution encourages Flag States involved with new and developing 
RFMOs to request that incidental mortality of seabirds and other taxa 
is adequately addressed and mitigated by the RFMO.
    The Scientific Committee recommended several seal bycatch 
mitigation measures to the Commission. The Commission endorsed these 
measures in its report but did not adopt them as a conservation 
measure. The mitigation measures were that: (1) information on all seal 
excluder devices be combined and circulated to CCAMLR member countries 
and other interested parties; (2) every vessel fishing for krill employ 
a device for excluding seals or facilitating their escape from the 
trawl net; (3) observers on krill vessels be required to collect 
reliable data on seal entrapment and on the effectiveness of mitigation 
devices; (4) all observers complete data forms accurately, consistently 
and comprehensively; and (5) the United Kingdom be requested to submit 
their observer data to the CCAMLR Secretariat. In a future rulemaking, 
NMFS will propose a requirement that all krill trawl vessels fishing in 
the Convention Area use a seal excluder device.

Protected Areas

    The Commission revised the conservation measure requirements for 
information to be detailed on maps appended to management plans for 
CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP) sites. The Commission 
amended the background information in the annexes to the conservation 
measures for the protection the Cape Shirreff and Seal Islands CEMP 
sites. The amendments were made to reflect the extent and development 
of human activities in the early 1880s.

Prohibitions on Directed Fishing

    The Commission revised the conservation measure prohibiting 
directed fishing for Dissostichus species to apply it from December 1, 
2004, to November 30, 2005, in Statistical Subarea 48.5 and continued 
the indefinite prohibitions on directed fishing for Dissostichus 
species and certain other finfish species in conservation measures 
adopted at earlier meetings.
    The Commission, through a new conservation measure, limited 
directed fishing in the 2004/2005 season in Division 58.5.2 to 
Dissostichus eleginoides and Champsocephalus gunnari and set bycatch 
limits for other species.

Bycatch

    The Commission, through a new conservation measure, revised the 
limitations on bycatch in new and exploratory fisheries in Statistical 
Division 58.5.2 for the 2004/2005 season.
    The Commission, through a new conservation measure, also revised 
the bycatch limits in all new and exploratory fisheries for the 2004/
2005 season in all areas containing SSRUs (Statistical Subareas 48.6, 
88.1 and 88.2, and Statistical Subdivisions 58.4.2, 58.4.3a, 58.4.3b) 
for all Macrourus, skates and rays, and other species.

Dissostichus Species

    The Commission extended the general measures in its conservation 
measure for exploratory fisheries for Dissostichus species in the 
Convention Area to the 2004/2005 season. The Commission also adopted 
area specific conservation measures for Dissostichus species for the 
2004/2005 season.
    The Commission set a catch limit of 3,050 tons for the longline 
fishery for D. eleginoides in Subarea 48.3 in the 2004/2005 season, set 
bycatch limits on other species and indicated that any catch of

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crab in any pot fishery will count against the catch limit for crab in 
Subarea 48.
    The Commission set a combined catch limit of 2,787 tons of D. 
eleginoides in Division 58.5.2 west of 79[deg]20' E from December 1, 
2004, to November 30, 2005, for trawl fishing and from May 1, 2005, to 
August 31, 2005, for longline fishing.
    The Commission designated several Dissostichus fisheries as 
exploratory fisheries for the 2004/2005 fishing season. These fisheries 
are total allowable catch fisheries and are open only to the flagged 
vessels of countries that notified CCAMLR of an interest by named 
vessels to participate in the fisheries.
    The exploratory fisheries for Dissostichus species authorized by 
the Commission for the 2004/2005 fishing season include the following: 
(1) longline fishing in Statistical Division 58.4.1 by Chile, Republic 
of Korea, New Zealand, Spain and Ukraine; (2) longline fishing in 
Statistical Subarea 48.6 by Japan, Republic of Korea and New Zealand; 
(3) longline fishing in Statistical Division 58.4.2 by Chile, Republic 
of Korea, New Zealand, Spain and Ukraine; (4) longline fishing in 
Statistical Division 58.4.3a (the Elan Bank) outside areas under 
national jurisdiction by Australia, Republic of Korea and Spain; (5) 
longline fishing in Statistical Division 58.4.3b (the BANZARE Bank) 
outside areas of national jurisdiction by Australia, Chile, Japan, 
Republic of Korea and Spain; (6) longline fishing in Statistical 
Subarea 88.1 by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, 
South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Uruguay; and (7) 
longline fishing in Statistical Subarea 88.2 by Argentina, New Zealand, 
Norway and Russia.

Champsocephalus gunnari

    The Commission adopted area specific conservation measures for C. 
gunnari for the 2004/2005 season.
    The Commission set the overall catch limit for the C. gunnari trawl 
fishery in Subarea 48.3 for the 2004/2005 season at 3,574 tons and 
continued previously adopted restrictions on the fishery.
    The Commission also set the catch limit for C. gunnari trawl 
fishery within defined areas of Division 58.5.2 for the 2004/2005 
season at 1,864 tons and continued previously adopted restrictions on 
and reporting requirements for the fishery.

Crab

    The Commission adopted area specific conservation measures for crab 
species for the 2004/2005 season. The Commission set the total 
allowable catch level for the pot fishery for crab for the 2004/2005 
fishing season at 1,600 tons and continued to limit participation to 
one vessel per member country conducted as an experimental harvest 
regime.

Squid

    The Commission also adopted area specific conservation measures for 
squid for the 2004/2005 season. The Commission set the total allowable 
catch limit for the exploratory jig fishery for Martialia hyadesi for 
the 2004/2005 fishing season at 2,500 tons.

Krill

    The Commission adopted area specific conservation measures for 
krill for the 2004/2005 season. The Commission carried forward the 
precautionary catch limits for krill in Statistical Area 48 at 4.0 
million tons overall and, as divided by subareas, at 1.008 million tons 
in Subarea 48.1, 1.104 million tons in Subarea 48.2, 1.056 million tons 
in Subarea 48.3, and 0.832 million tons in Subarea 48.4.

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

    Dated: April 7, 2005.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 05-7313 Filed 4-11-05; 8:45 am]
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