[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 214 (Monday, November 6, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64941-64943]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-18682]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 102706B]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast 
Multispecies Fishery, Scoping Process

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

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact 
statement (SEIS) and hold 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, a supplemental 
environmental impact statement (SEIS) to assess the potential effects 
on the human environment of alternative measures for managing the 
Northeast (NE) 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 
multispecies fishery. The Council will use the scoping process and the 
SEIS to develop Amendment 16 to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management 
Plan (FMP).

DATES: The Council will discuss and take scoping comments at public 
meetings in November and December 2006 (see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION). 
Written scoping comments must be received on or before 5 p.m., local 
time, December 29, 2006.

[[Page 64942]]


ADDRESSES: The Council will take scoping comments at public meetings in 
Ellsworth, Maine; Portland, Maine; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; 
Gloucester, Massachusetts; Fairhaven, Massachusetts; South Kingstown, 
Rhode Island; Riverhead, New York; and New York City, New York. For 
specific locations and times, 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: ``Groundfish Amendment 16 Scoping Comments.'' The scoping 
document is/will be 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 NE Multispecies FMP manages cod (Gadus morhua), haddock 
(Melanogrammus aeglefinus), white hake (Urophycis tenuis), pollock 
(Pollachius virens), Acadian redfish (Sebastes fasciatus), yellowtail 
flounder (Limanda ferrugineus), winter flounder (Psuedopleuronectes 
americanus), witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus), American 
plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides), windowpane flounder (Scopthalmus 
aquosos), Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), and ocean pout 
(Macrozoarces americanus). These species are managed as 19 individual 
stocks. The Council has managed these species as a unit under the FMP 
since 1985. Management measures include limited and open access permit 
categories, limits on fishing time through days-at-sea (DAS) 
allocations, gear requirements, closed areas, and retention limits. 
These measures have been adopted through a series of amendments and 
adjustments to the original FMP. The most recent amendment (Amendment 
13, implemented on May 1, 2004) established rebuilding programs for 12 
stocks. For most of these overfished stocks, the goal is to rebuild to 
a biomass that will support maximum sustainable yield by 2014.

Purpose of Action

    Amendment 13 established a requirement and a process for a mid-
point review of rebuilding progress and adjustments to management 
measures as necessary to continue rebuilding. As part of this process, 
each groundfish stock will be assessed in 2008. Stock size and fishing 
mortality rates will be estimated, and status determination criteria 
will be reviewed. This information will be used to determine 
adjustments to Amendment 13 measures that are necessary to continue 
rebuilding and achieve optimum yield from the fishery. Amendment 16 to 
the FMP would implement any revisions to management measures necessary 
to continue the rebuilding programs adopted by Amendment 13. Amendment 
16 and its accompanying SEIS will be focused on the adjustments that 
are necessary to comply with the mid-term adjustment procedures of the 
FMP, to meet the fishing mortality rate objectives of the FMP, and to 
ensure that all groundfish stocks rebuild.
    In addition to considering adjustments to the current effort 
control management system as modified by Amendment 13 and subsequent 
frameworks, the Council may consider other management systems that may 
replace or supplement the existing effort controls. Members of the 
public are encouraged to submit proposals for alternative management 
schemes during the scoping process. The Council will evaluate proposals 
received and may develop them into alternatives that will be considered 
in Amendment 16. To guide in the development of proposals, the Council 
will specify in the scoping document the types of issues that must be 
addressed for a proposal to warrant further consideration. A workshop 
will be held at a Groundfish Oversight Committee meeting on November 3, 
2006, to develop advice on these standards. The Council will use the 
information from the workshop to establish the standards at the Council 
meeting on November 14 - 16, 2006. This information should be available 
shortly after the Council meeting. Proposals should be as fully 
developed as possible when submitted in order to facilitate a prompt 
review and decision on whether to include the proposal in the 
amendment. Because of the limited time available for the development of 
this amendment, the Council may not consider alternative management 
schemes that are suggested outside of the scoping process.
    The Northeast Fisheries Science Center is planning to assess stocks 
of wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) and cusk (Brosme brosme) in 2007. The 
Council will consider the results of those assessments when developing 
this action and may adopt measures necessary to manage those stocks.

Measures Under Consideration

    The Council may consider several types of management measures to 
continue the multispecies rebuilding program including, but not limited 
to:
     Changes to the current DAS management system, such as 
modifications to DAS allocation and use, changes to gear requirements, 
modified possession limits, additions or changes to seasonal and year-
round closed areas, or changes to special management programs;
     Recreational fishery measures such as seasons, bag limits, 
or area closures;
     Total allowable catch management systems;
     Area management systems;
     Individual quota systems, including individual 
transferable quota systems; and
     Sector management systems.
    The types of measures under consideration include those described 
in Amendment 13 as well as alternative management systems that may be 
suggested during this scoping process. Information on specific topics 
for which the Council is soliciting comment is in the scoping document, 
which will be available on the Council web site (http://www.nefmc.org) 
on or about November 15.

Scoping Process

    It is the Council's and NMFS's intent to encourage all persons 
affected by or otherwise interested in the management of NE 
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 comment at 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 further 
detailed analysis issues that are not significant. After the scoping 
process is

[[Page 64943]]

completed, the Council will proceed with the development of Amendment 
16 and the Council will prepare an SEIS to analyze the impacts of the 
range of alternatives considered in the amendment.
    To ensure that the fishery continues to meet the Amendment 13 
rebuilding objectives, any revisions to management measures included in 
Amendment 16 need to be implemented by May 1, 2009. In order to 
incorporate the latest catch and survey data into the proposed 
adjustment, the assessment of groundfish stocks scheduled for 2008 (the 
Groundfish Assessment and Review Meeting, or GARM) cannot be conducted 
until August 2008. Therefore, because of the lengthy process involved 
with evaluating the impacts of any changes to the FMP, the Council and 
NMFS propose to start the environmental review process as early as 
possible. As such, it will be necessary to develop and publish a draft 
SEIS for Amendment 16 using the best available data prior to the August 
2008 GARM. The intent is to fully evaluate an adequate range of 
alternatives in the draft SEIS to project the full range of likely 
impacts resulting from any proposed adjustments to management measures. 
The Council will then hold public hearings to receive comments on the 
draft amendment and on the analysis of its impacts presented in the 
draft SEIS. Once the GARM has evaluated the status of groundfish stocks 
in August 2008, that information will be incorporated into the final 
SEIS to further refine the precision of the impact analysis presented 
in the draft SEIS.

Scoping Hearing Schedule

    The Council will discuss and take scoping comments at the 
followingpublic meetings:
    1. Monday, November 27, 2006, from 5 - 8 p.m.; Holiday Inn, US 
Route 1&3, Ellsworth, ME 04605; telephone:(207) 667-9341.
    2. Tuesday, November 28, 2006, from 5 - 8 p.m.; Eastland Park 
Hotel, 157 High Street, Portland, ME 04101; telephone: (207) 775-5411.
    3. Wednesday, November 29, 2006, from 5 - 8 p.m.; Urban Forestry 
Center, 45 Elwyn Road, Portsmouth, NH; telephone:(603) 431-6774.
    4. Thursday, November 30, 2006, from 5 - 8 p.m.; Massachusetts 
Department of Marine Fisheries Annisquam River Station, 30 Emerson 
Avenue, Gloucester, MA 01950; (978) 282-0308.
    5. Tuesday, December 5, 2006, from 5 - 8 p.m.; Best Western East 
End, 1830 Route 25, Riverhead, NY 11901; telephone: (631) 369-2200.
    6. Wednesday, December 6, 2006, from 5 - 8 p.m.; Holiday Inn South 
Kingstown, 3009 Tower Hill Road, So. Kingstown, RI 02674; telephone: 
(401) 789-1051.
    7. Thursday, December 7, 2006, from 5 - 8 p.m.; Holiday Inn 
Express, 110 Middle Street, Fairhaven, MA 02719; telephone: (508) 997-
1281.
    8. Wednesday, December 12, 2006, from 7 - 9 p.m.; Skyline Hotel,725 
10th Avenue, New York, NY 10019; telephone: (212) 586-3400.

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: October 30, 2006.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-18682 Filed 11-3-06; 8:45 am]
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