[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 123-124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-22513]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 082906A]


Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS); Atlantic Shark 
Management Measures

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

ACTION: Notice of availability; notice of public scoping meetings.

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SUMMARY: NMFS published a notice of intent (NOI) to initiate an 
amendment to the Consolidated Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery 
Management Plan (FMP) on November 7, 2006. Today's notice announces the 
availability of an issues and options presentation describing potential 
measures for inclusion in the forthcoming Amendment 2 to the 
Consolidated HMS FMP and provides details for seven scoping meetings to 
discuss and collect comments on the issues described in the 
presentation. Comments received on the issues and options presentation, 
in the scoping meetings, and on the NOI will assist NMFS in developing 
Amendment 2 to the Consolidated HMS FMP. These scoping meetings will be 
combined with public hearings to gather comment on a proposed rule to 
utilize the North Atlantic swordfish quota. Those hearings are 
announced today in an separate Federal Register document.

DATES: Public scoping meetings will be held in January of 2007. These 
meetings will be combined with public hearings being held for a 
proposed rule to enable a more thorough utilization of the U.S. North 
Atlantic swordfish quota. For specific dates and times, see 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    As published on November 7, 2006 (71 FR 65086), written comments on 
the issues and options presentation and the NOI must be received no 
later than February 5, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Scoping meetings will be held in Madeira Beach, FL; Ft. 
Pierce, FL; Manteo, NC; Houma, LA; Gloucester, MA; Destin, FL; and, 
Manahawkin, NJ. For details, see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
    As published on November 7, 2006 (71 FR 65086), written comments on 
the issues and options presentation and the NOI should be sent to 
Michael Clark, Highly Migratory Species Management Division by any of 
the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include in the subject line 
the following identifier: ``I.D. 082906A''.
     Written: 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. 
Please mark the outside of the envelope ``Scoping Comments on Amendment 
2 to HMS FMP.''
     Fax: (301) 713-1917.
    For a copy of the stock assessments, please contact Michael Clark 
or Karyl Brewster-Geisz at (301) 713-2347.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Clark at (301) 713-2347 or 
Jackie Wilson at (404) 806-7622.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Atlantic shark fisheries are managed 
under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act. The HMS FMP is implemented by regulations at 50 CFR 
part 635.

[[Page 124]]

    On November 7, 2006 (71 FR 65086), NMFS published a NOI that 
summarized the recent stock assessments conducted for large coastal, 
blacktip, sandbar, porbeagle, and dusky sharks. The NOI also described 
NMFS' determination as to the status of these stocks based on the 
assessments. As a result of these assessments, NMFS needs to amend 
current shark management measures via an FMP amendment and anticipates 
completing this amendment and any related documents by January 1, 2008. 
The comment period on the NOI and the issues and options presentation 
ends on February 5, 2007.

Request for Comments

    Seven scoping meetings will be held in January 2007 to provide the 
public an opportunity to comment on potential shark management measures 
to be included in the upcoming amendment to the Consolidated HMS FMP. 
These public scoping meetings will be held simultaneously with public 
hearings for a proposed rule to gather comments on management measures 
to fully utilize the North Atlantic swordfish quota. The time allotted 
to swordfish and shark management measures will be distributed 
accordingly to provide ample opportunity for the public to comment on 
both topics. Time may be split equally or additional time may be 
allotted to either shark or swordfish measures, as necessary, depending 
on the attendees' primary interests.

Meeting Dates, Times, and Locations

    The public scoping meetings for this action will be conducted as 
follows:
    1. Wednesday, January 17, 2007, 6-9 p.m. Northeast Regional Office, 
One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930.
    2. Thursday, January 18, 2007, 6-9 p.m. City of Madeira Beach, 300 
Municipal Drive, Madeira Beach, Florida 33708.
    3. Thursday, January 18, 2007, 6-9 p.m. Manahawkin Public Library, 
129 North Main Street, Manahawkin, NJ 08050.
    4. Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 6-9 p.m. Destin Community Center, 101 
Stahlman Avenue, Destin, FL 32541.
    5. Thursday, January 25, 2007, 6-9 p.m. Bayou Black Recreational 
Center, 3688 Southdown Mandalay Road, Houma, LA 70360.
    6. Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 6-9 p.m. Fort Pierce Library, 101 
Melody Lane, Fort Pierce, FL 34950.
    7. Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 6-9 p.m. Manteo Town Hall, 407 
Budleigh Street, Manteo, NC 27954.

Scoping Meetings Code of Conduct

    The public is reminded that NMFS expects participants at the 
scoping meetings to conduct themselves appropriately. At the beginning 
of each meeting, a representative of NMFS will explain the ground rules 
(e.g., alcohol is prohibited from the hearing room; attendees will be 
called to give their comments in the order in which they registered to 
speak; each attendee will have an equal amount of time to speak; and 
attendees should not interrupt one another). The NMFS representative 
will attempt to structure the meeting so that all attending members of 
the public will be able to comment, if they so choose, regardless of 
the controversial nature of the subject(s). Attendees are expected to 
respect the ground rules, and, if they do not, they will be asked to 
leave the meeting.

Special Accommodations

    The meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Michael Clark (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT) at least 7 days prior to the meeting.

    Dated: December 26, 2006.
Karyl K. Brewster-Geisz,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E6-22513 Filed 12-29-06; 8:45 am]
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