[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 93 (Monday, May 15, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27995-27996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7362]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 050806A]


New England Fishery Management Council; Northeast Multispecies; 
Small-mesh Multispecies; Scoping Process

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

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement (SEIS) and notice of scoping meetings; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) announces 
its intent to prepare, in cooperation with NMFS, an SEIS to assess the 
potential effects on the human environment of alternative measures for 
managing the small-mesh multispecies fishery pursuant to the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. This notice announces 
a public process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed 
and for identifying the significant issues relating to management of 
the small-mesh multispecies fishery. The Council will use the scoping 
process and the SEIS to develop Amendment 14 to the Northeast (NE) 
Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Small-Mesh Multispecies.

DATES: The Council will discuss and take scoping comments at public 
meetings in May and June 2006. For specific dates and times of the 
scoping meetings, see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. Written scoping 
comments must be received on or before 5 p.m., local time, June 16, 
2006.

ADDRESSES: The Council will take scoping comments at public meetings in 
Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New 
Jersey. For specific locations, see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. Written 
comments and requests for copies of the scoping document and other 
information should be directed to Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, 
Newburyport, MA 01950, telephone (978) 465-0492. Comments may also be 
sent via facsimile (fax) to (978) 465-3116 or via e-mail to [email protected]. Include in the subject line the following identifier: 
``MUL Amendment 14 Scoping Comments.'' The scoping document is 
accessible electronically via the Internet at http://www.nefmc.org.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, 
New England Fishery Management Council, (978) 465-0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The small-mesh multispecies fishery includes silver hake 
(Merluccius bilinearis, also known as whiting), offshore hake 
(Merluccius albidus, also know as blackeye whiting) and red hake 
(Urophycis chuss, also known as ling and mud hake) and is managed under 
the Council's NE Multispecies FMP. Silver hake is a widely distributed, 
slender, swiftly swimming species whose range extends from Newfoundland 
to South Carolina. Offshore hake, often referred to as another species 
of silver hake, co-occur with silver hake over the continental shelf 
and slope of the northwest Atlantic Ocean and are often 
indistinguishable from silver hake in commercial landings. Red hake are 
distributed from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to North Carolina but are 
most abundant between Georges Bank and New Jersey. The Council has 
managed these species as a unit under the NE Multispecies FMP since 
1999. Currently, the small-mesh multispecies fishery is an open access 
fishery. Management measures for these species include retention limits 
based on net mesh size, seasonal fishing areas, and requirements for 
fishing gear to ensure escapement of other groundfish species.

Purpose of Action

    An amendment and SEIS to the NE Multispecies FMP to address the 
small-mesh multispecies fishery is being considered due to concerns 
that the small mesh multispecies fishery may be, or may become, 
overcapitalized as a result of shifts in the distribution of fishing 
effort that followed recent changes to the management measures of other 
New England fisheries. While overfishing currently is not occurring on 
stocks of silver hake and red hake, the threat of overfishing exists as 
long as an unlimited number of vessels may enter the fishery and 
increase landings beyond sustainable levels.
    In January 2006, a stock assessment was completed for silver hake. 
This assessment indicates that the abundance index for the northern 
stock of silver hake has declined since 1999 due to low recruitment and 
the abundance index for the southern stock of silver hake remains below 
the target level. In the most recent Stock Assessment and Fishery 
Evaluation report published in 2003, the members of the Council's 
Whiting Monitoring Committee indicated concerns about declining survey 
mean weights for both red and offshore hake in portions of their stock 
areas.

Measures Under Consideration

    The Council may consider several types of management measures to 
improve the effectiveness of small-mesh multispecies management 
including, but not limited to:

[[Page 27996]]

     Limited entry for commercial vessels;
     Hard total allowable catch (TAC) output controls;
     Dedicated Access Privileges (DAPs); and
     Recreational measures for the these species.
    Further information regarding each issue follows. Detailed 
information on each of these potential measures, including specific 
topics for which the Council is soliciting comment, are in the scoping 
document, available on the Council web site http://www.nefmc.org.

Limited Entry for Commercial Vessels

    The Council voted to reaffirm the existing small-mesh multispecies 
control date of March 25, 2003, during their meeting on April 4, 2006. 
The purpose of this control date was to deter speculative entry into 
the fishery after its establishment. The Council is not obliged to 
limit entry into the commercial small-mesh fisheries, nor is it obliged 
to use participation before the control date as the basis for 
qualification. Qualification criteria may include such things as 
participation in the fishery prior to the control date, participation 
within a defined time period, historical landing levels by fishery 
participants, and dependency on the fishery.

Hard Total Allowable Catches

    Hard TACs are an output control measure that limit total harvest by 
closing the fishery when the TAC is reached. As such, TACs may be 
considered to reduce the likelihood that overfishing may occur in the 
fishery. Hard TACs may be developed for individual species, species 
assemblages, areas, seasons, commercial or recreational fisheries. Hard 
TACs may be developed in conjunction with individual harvesting 
privileges and could be developed wether the fishery becomes limited 
entry or remains open access.

Dedicated Access Privileges

    DAP programs may include such measures as fishing sector 
allocations, community quotas, harvesting cooperatives, or other group 
or individual access privileges. DAPs may provide for a management 
approach that can be tailored to a smaller number of vessels instead of 
developing an approach to accommodate several hundred vessels. DAPs may 
allow additional flexibility for participants to pool resources and 
maximize efficiency and economic benefits. If developed, the Council 
may consider safeguards to consolidation, transferability, allocation 
changes over time, and how DAPs may change the fishery and fishing 
communities.
    It is possible that during the scoping process other issues will be 
raised related to the purpose of this amendment, and if appropriate, 
those issues also will be considered by the Council.

Scoping Process

    It is the Council's and NMFS' intent to encourage all persons 
affected by or otherwise interested in the management of small-mesh 
multispecies to participate in the process to determine the scope and 
significance of issues to be analyzed in the SEIS and amendment. All 
such persons are encouraged to submit written comments (see ADDRESSES) 
or attend one of the scoping meetings. Persons submitting written 
comments may wish to address the specific measures introduced in the 
previous section. The scope of the SEIS consists of the range of 
actions, alternatives, and impacts to be considered. Alternatives may 
include the following: Not amending the FMP (taking no action); 
developing an amendment that contains management measures such as those 
discussed in this notice; or other reasonable courses of action. 
Impacts may be direct, indirect, or cumulative.
    This scoping process also will identify and eliminate from detailed 
analysis issues that are not significant. After the scoping process is 
completed, the Council will proceed with the development of an 
amendment to the NE Multispecies FMP and the Council will prepare an 
SEIS to analyze the impacts of the range of alternatives considered in 
the amendment. The Council will hold public hearings to receive 
comments on the draft amendment and on the analysis of its impacts 
presented in the draft SEIS.

Scoping Hearing Schedule

    The Council will discuss and take scoping comments at the following 
public meetings:
    1. Wednesday, May 24, 5 p.m., MA DMF of Marine Fisheries, Annisquam 
River Marine Station, 30 Emerson Avenue, Gloucester, MA 01930. 
Telephone (978) 282-0308.
    2. Thursday, May 25, 5 p.m., Casco Bay Lines, 56 Commercial Street, 
Portland, ME 04101. Telephone (207) 774-7871.
    3. Wednesday, May 31, 5 p.m., Narragansett Town Hall, 25 Fifth 
Avenue, Narragansett, RI 02882. Telephone (401) 789-1044.
    4. Tuesday, June 6, 5 p.m., Stonington Office of Public Safety, 173 
South Broad Street, Route 1, Stonington, CT 06378. Telephone (860) 599-
7510.
    5. Wednesday, June 7, 5 p.m., Riverhead Town Hall, 200 Howell 
Avenue, Riverhead, NY 11901. Telephone (631) 727-3200.
    6. Thursday, June 8, 5 p.m., Ferrara's Restaurant, 518 Arnold 
Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742. Telephone (732) 899-3900.

Special Accommodations

    These meetings are accessible to people with physical disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Paul J. Howard (see ADDRESSES) at least 5 days 
prior to the meeting date.

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

    Dated: May 08, 2006.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-7362 Filed 5-12-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S