[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 14, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13099-13101]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3628]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 030806B]


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

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

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare an environmental impact statement; 
request for written comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intent to prepare the Alaska Groundfish 
Harvest Specifications Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), in 
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 
for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and the Gulf of Alaska 
(GOA) groundfish fisheries. The scope of the EIS will be to determine 
the impacts to the human environment resulting from setting groundfish 
harvest specifications. NMFS will hold a public scoping meeting and 
accept written comments from the public to determine the issues of 
concern and the appropriate range of management alternatives to be 
addressed in the EIS.

DATES: Written comments must be received by May 15, 2006. A scoping 
meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, from 7 to 9 p.m., 
Alaska local time.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on issues and alternatives for the EIS 
should be sent to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional Administrator, 
Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn: Records 
Officer. Comments may be submitted by:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include in the 
subject line the following

[[Page 13100]]

document identifier: Harvest Specs. E-mail comments, with or without 
attachments, are limited to 5 megabytes.
     Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.
     Hand Delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK.
     Fax: 907-586-7557.
    Meeting address: The meeting will be held in the Dillingham/Katmai 
room at the Hilton Hotel, 500 West 3\rd\ Street, Anchorage, AK.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben Muse, (907) 586-7228 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS is initiating this scoping process for 
the Alaska Groundfish Harvest Specifications EIS. NEPA requires 
preparation of an EIS for major Federal actions that may significantly 
impact the quality of the human environment. NMFS will incorporate into 
the EIS the written comments on the scope of the analysis generated 
during this scoping process.
    Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act), the United States has exclusive fishery 
management authority over all living marine resources found within the 
exclusive economic zone. The management of these marine resources, with 
the exception of certain marine mammals and birds, is vested in the 
Secretary of Commerce (Secretary).
    NMFS is seeking information from the public through the EIS scoping 
process on the range of alternatives to be analyzed, and on the 
environmental, social, and economic issues to be considered in the 
analysis.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to set the harvest specifications in 
compliance with Federal regulations, the Fishery Management Plans 
(FMPs) for the BSAI and GOA groundfish fisheries, and the Magnuson-
Stevens Act. Harvest specifications include the establishment of annual 
total allowable catches (TACs), and their seasonal apportionments and 
allocations, and prohibited species catch limits. TACs are harvest 
quotas that include retained and discarded catch.
    Each year, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) 
recommends to the Secretary harvest specifications for the BSAI and the 
GOA groundfish fisheries. The Council establishes the harvest 
specifications using the overfishing levels and acceptable biological 
catches (ABCs) established by the Council's Groundfish Plan Teams and 
Scientific and Statistical Committee, and the optimum yield ranges 
established in the FMPs. After Secretarial review and approval, NMFs 
publishes the harvest specifications in the Federal Register. NMFS uses 
these harvest specifications to manage the groundfish fisheries.
    The intent of the harvest specifications is to balance fish harvest 
during the fishing year with established total optimum yields and 
ecosystem needs. The harvest specifications are necessary for the 
management of the groundfish fisheries and the conservation of marine 
resources, as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act and as described in 
the management policy, goals, and objectives in the groundfish FMPs.

Definition of Terms

    The following terms are defined to assist the public in 
understanding the proposed action. These definitions are summarized 
from the FMPs, please refer to the FMPs for the exact language and 
additional details.
    Optimum yield (OY) is the amount of fish that will provide the 
greatest overall benefit to the Nation, taking into account the 
protection of marine ecosystems.
    Overfishing level (OFL) is set annually for a stock or stock 
complex following the criteria in the FMPs. Overfishing occurs when the 
harvest exceeds the overfishing level.
    Acceptable biological catch (ABC) is an annual sustainable target 
harvest for a stock or stock complex. It is derived from the status and 
dynamics of the stock, environmental conditions, and other ecological 
factors, given the prevailing technological characteristics of the 
fishery.
    Total allowable catch (TAC) is the annual harvest limit for a stock 
or stock complex, derived from the ABC by considering social and 
economic factors.

Alternatives

    NMFS will evaluate a range of alternative harvest levels. 
Alternatives may include those identified here, and those developed 
through the public scoping process and through the Council process.
    The alternatives in this analysis are based on a range of potential 
TACs because the harvest specifications are driven by the available 
ABCs and the Optimum Yield ranges that the Council considers each year 
when recommending TACs to NMFS. Each of the four alternatives 
represents different amounts of TAC that could be specified for managed 
species and species groups for each fishing year. The alternatives have 
been selected to display a wide range of TACs and their impacts on the 
environment. The four potential alternatives identified for analysis 
include:
    Alternative 1: Set TACs to produce harvest levels equal to the 
maximum permissible ABCs, unless the sum of the TACs is constrained by 
the Optimum Yield established in the FMPs.
    Alternative 2: Set TACs that fall within the range of ABCs 
recommended by the Council's Groundfish Plan Teams and TACs recommended 
by the Council.
    Alternative 3: For stocks with a high level of scientific 
information, set TACs to produce harvest levels equal to the most 
recent five-year average actual fishing mortality rates. For stocks 
with insufficient scientific information, set TACs equal to the most 
recent five-year average actual catch.
    Alternative 4: Set TACs equal to zero. This is the no action 
alternative, but does not reflect the status quo.

Preliminary Identification of Issues

    A principal objective of the scoping and public input process is to 
identify potentially significant impacts to the human environment that 
should be analyzed in the EIS process. NMFS has conducted an initial 
screening to identify potentially significant impacts resulting from 
the harvest specifications. The analysis will evaluate the effects of 
the alternatives for all resources, species, and issues that may 
directly or indirectly interact with the groundfish fisheries within 
the action area, as a result of specified harvest levels. Impacts to 
the following components of the biological and physical environment may 
be evaluated: (1) Essential fish habitat; (2) species listed under the 
Endangered Species Act and their critical habitat, and species 
protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act; (3) target and non-
target fish stocks, including forage fish and prohibited species; (4) 
seabirds; and (5) the ecosystem.
    Social and economic impacts also are considered in terms of the 
effects that changes in projected harvests will have on the following 
groups of individuals: (1) Those who participate in harvesting the 
fishery resources and other living marine resources; (2) those who 
process and market fish and fish products; (3) those who consume fish 
products; (4) those who rely on living marine resources in the 
management area, either for subsistence needs or for recreational 
benefits; (5) those who benefit from non-consumptive uses of living 
marine resources; and (6) fishing communities.

[[Page 13101]]

Public Involvement

    Scoping is an early and open process for determining the scope of 
issues to be addressed in an EIS and for identifying the significant 
issues related to the proposed action. A principal objective of the 
scoping and public involvement process is to identify a reasonable 
range of management alternatives that, with adequate analysis, will 
delineate critical issues and provide a clear basis for distinguishing 
between those alternatives and for selecting a preferred alternative. 
In addition, NMFS is notifying the public that it is beginning an EIS 
and decision-making process for this proposed action so that interested 
or affected people may participate in the EIS and contribute to the 
final decision.
    NMFS is seeking written public comments on the scope of issues that 
should be addressed in the EIS and alternatives that should be 
considered in establishing the harvest specifications. NMFS will accept 
comments in writing at the address above (see ADDRESSES). Written 
comments should be as specific as possible to be the most helpful. 
Written comments received during the scoping process, including the 
names and addresses of those submitting them, will be considered part 
of the public record on this proposal and will be available for public 
inspection.
    The public is invited to attend the scoping meeting on Tuesday, 
April 4, 2006, in Anchorage, AK. The scoping meeting will be held in 
conjunction with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting.
    Please visit the NMFS Alaska Region web page at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov for more information on this EIS, guidance for 
submitting effective public comments, and to order a draft EIS. NMFS 
estimates that a draft EIS will be available in September 2006.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are physically accessible to people with 
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other 
auxiliary aids should be directed to Ben Muse, NMFS, (see ADDRESSES), 
(907) 586 7228, at least five days prior to the meeting date.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: March 9, 2006.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-3628 Filed 3-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S