[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