[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 117 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35395-35396]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-12104]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 031705F]


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: Approval of amendments to fishery management plans.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the approval of Amendment 83 to the Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP) for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian 
Islands Management Area (BSAI) and Amendment 75 to the FMP for 
Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). The amendments make 
housekeeping revisions to the FMPs. The revisions update harvest, 
ecosystem, and socioeconomic information, consolidate text, and 
reorganize the documents. The intent of this action is to update 
information in the FMPs and to make them easier to read. This action 
promotes the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the FMPs, and 
other applicable laws.

DATES: The amendments were approved on June 13, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Copies of Amendments 83 and 75 are available from the 
Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, 
Juneau, AK 99802, Attn: Lori Durall, or from the Alaska Region website 
at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov.

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 NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial

[[Page 35396]]

approval by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). The North Pacific 
Fishery Management Council (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.
    Amendments 83 and 75 revise the FMPs by (1) updating harvest, 
ecosystem, and socioeconomic information, (2) consolidating text, and 
(3) reorganizing the documents. These revisions update information in 
the FMPs and make them easier to read.
    Amendments 83 and 75 also revise the harvest specifications process 
set forth in the FMPs to be consistent with Amendments 81 and 74 to the 
groundfish FMPs (69 FR 31091, June 2, 2004). Amendments 81 and 74 were 
approved by the Secretary on August 23, 2004, and added new policy 
objectives to the FMPs, including the objective to adopt conservative 
harvest levels for multi-species and single species fisheries. 
Amendments 83 and 75 revise the FMPs' description of the harvest 
specifications process by requiring total allowable catch for species 
or species groups to be set equal to or less than the acceptable 
biological catch. This revision ensures that harvest levels are 
conservative and consistent with the FMP management policy and 
objectives to prevent overfishing.

Response to Comments

    A notice of availability (NOA) for Amendments 83 and 75 to the 
FMPs, which described the proposed amendments and invited comments from 
the public, was published in the Federal Register on March 24, 2005, 
(70 FR 15067). The comment period ended May 23, 2005. NMFS received one 
comment which is summarized and responded to below.
    Comment: Insufficient information is provided in the NOA. This 
proposed action should be republished with more explanation.
    Response: The NOA provided a description of the action and several 
methods of receiving more detailed information. As explained in the 
NOA, the action is primarily housekeeping revisions that do not 
substantively change the FMPs. The only substantive change is the 
limitation on setting total allowable catch, which was explained in 
detail in the NOA.
    The intent of a NOA is to provide the public with notice of a 
pending decision by the Secretary and to allow for prior public review 
and comment. The details of proposed FMP amendments are readily 
available, if more information is needed beyond that provided in the 
NOA. Because the action was described in enough detail in the NOA to 
allow the public to understand the nature of the action and additional 
information was available by mail, phone, NMFS Alaska Region website, 
and NMFS staff contacts listed in the NOA, the NOA was sufficient to 
notify the public of the proposed action and to allow for public 
comments. Therefore, no additional Federal Register notice is needed 
for this action.

    Dated: June 14, 2005.
Anne M. Lange
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 05-12104 Filed 6-17-05; 8:45 am]
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