[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 35 (Thursday, February 22, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7955-7956]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-2963]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 021507C]


Fisheries Off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; 
Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Application for an Exempted Fishing 
Permit

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

ACTION: Notice; receipt of an exempted fishing permit application 
(EFP); intent to issue the EFP; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces the receipt of an exempted fishing permit (EFP) 
application, and the intent to issue EFPs for vessels participating in 
an observation program to monitor the incidental take of salmon and 
groundfish in the shore-based component of the Pacific whiting fishery. 
The EFPs are necessary to allow trawl vessels fishing for Pacific 
whiting to delay sorting their catch, and thus to retain prohibited 
species and groundfish in excess of cumulative trip limits until the 
point of offloading. These activities are otherwise prohibited by 
Federal regulations. The EFPs will be effective no earlier than April 
1, 2007, and would expire no later than December 31, 2007, but could be 
terminated earlier under the terms and conditions of the EFPs and other 
applicable laws.

DATES: Comments must be received by March 9, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Send comments or request for copies of the EFP application 
to Gretchen Arentzen, Northwest Region, NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way N.E., 
Bldg. 1, Seattle, WA 98115 0070 or email [email protected]. 
Comments sent via email, including all attachments, must not exceed a 
10 megabyte file size.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gretchen Arentzen or Becky Renko at 
(206)526 6140.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This action is authorized by the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act provisions at 50 CFR 
600.745, which state that EFPs may be used to authorize fishing 
activities that would otherwise be prohibited. At the November 2006 
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) meeting in Del Mar, 
California, NMFS received an application for these EFPs from the States 
of Washington, Oregon, and California. An opportunity for public 
testimony was provided during the Council meeting. The Council 
recommended that NMFS issue the EFPs, as requested by the States, and 
forwarded the EFP applications to NMFS.
    Each year since 1992, EFPs have been issued to vessels in the 
Pacific whiting shoreside fishery to allow unsorted catch to be landed. 
Without an EFP, groundfish regulations at 50 CFR 660.306(a) require 
vessels to sort their catch at sea. The vessels fishing under the EFPs 
are required to deliver catch to designated processors. EFPs have been 
used to: track the incidental take of Chinook salmon as required in the 
Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 Biological Opinion for Chinook 
salmon catch in the Pacific whiting fishery; and to track the catch of 
whiting and other groundfish species such that the fishing industry is 
not unnecessarily constrained and that the OYs, harvest guidelines, 
sector allocation and overfished species bycatch limits are not 
exceeded.
    Over the past five years, the number of vessels issued these EFPs 
has been between 31 and 38 vessels. Issuance of the 2007 EFPs, to 
approximately 40 vessels, will allow samplers located at the shoreside 
processing facilities to collect information on the incidental catch of 
salmon and groundfish in unsorted whiting deliveries. Unlike the at-sea 
sectors of the Pacific whiting fishery, where catch is sorted and 
processed shortly after it has been taken, vessels in the shoreside 
fishery must hold primary season Pacific whiting on the vessel for 
several hours or days until it can be offloaded at a shoreside 
processor. Pacific whiting deteriorates rapidly, so it must be handled 
quickly and immediately chilled to maintain product quality. This is 
particularly true if the Pacific whiting is to be used to make surimi 
(a fish paste product). The quality or grade of surimi is highly 
dependent on the freshness of the Pacific whiting, which demands 
careful

[[Page 7956]]

handling and immediate cooling or processing for the fishery to be 
economically feasible. Because rapid cooling can retard flesh 
deterioration, most vessels prefer to dump their unsorted catch 
directly below deck into the refrigerated salt water tanks. However, 
dumping the unsorted catch into the refrigerated salt water tanks 
precludes the immediate sorting or sampling of the catch. As a primary 
season fishery, fishers prefer to quickly and efficiently handle the 
catch so they can return to port for offloading.
    In 2004, 2005, and 2006, NMFS provided electronic monitoring 
systems to catcher vessels fishing under the whiting EFP as part of a 
pilot study to evaluate if these systems would be useful tools to 
verify retention and/or document discard at sea. Based on the results 
from the 2004, 2005, and 2006 pilot studies, NMFS has determined that 
an EFP is an effective tool for monitoring maximized retention in the 
whiting fishery.
    In addition to providing information that will be used to monitor 
the attainment of the shore-based whiting allocation, information 
gathered through these EFPs is expected to be used in a future 
rulemaking. The Council recommended using EFPs only until a permanent 
monitoring program can be developed and implemented. For 2008, NMFS 
intends to implement, through federal regulation, a monitoring program 
for the shore-based Pacific whiting fleet. At its September 2006 
meeting, the Pacific Council was provided with a joint agency report on 
whiting fishery monitoring and management, and subsequently provided 
guidance to NMFS on development of draft alternatives for the 
monitoring program. Based on information learned during the 2004, 2005 
and 2006 EFPs, guidance from the Pacific Council, and informational 
meetings between Federal and state agencies and industry members, NMFS 
developed a draft set of monitoring program alternatives and 
accompanying draft regulations to be implemented in the 2008 fishery. 
These draft alternatives and regulations were presented to the Pacific 
Council at their November 2006 meeting. An opportunity for public 
testimony was provided during the Council meeting. NMFS will complete 
the EA and provide a final draft to the Council in April 2007, at which 
time the Council will take final action on the proposed alternatives. 
NMFS will then publish the proposed rule prior to the start date of the 
2008 shore-based primary Pacific whiting season. Given this timeline, 
2007 will serve as a transition year, in which the EFPs issued to 
participating vessels will have requirements as similar as possible to 
the proposed Federal regulations. In addition, NMFS intends to 
implement, through notice and comment rulemaking, temporary processor 
regulations for 2007. That action is intended to address catch 
accounting difficulties that occurred during the 2006 Pacific whiting 
shoreside fishery and to improve the agency's ability to monitor the 
attainment of allocations, bycatch limits, and prohibited species take. 
The proposed action defines requirements for recordkeeping, reporting, 
catch sorting, and weighing that apply to individuals who receive, buy, 
or accept Pacific whiting from a vessel using midwater trawl gear 
during the primary season for the shore-based sector. NMFS anticipates 
publishing shortly a proposed rule to implement this action in the 
Federal Register.

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

    Dated: February 15, 2007.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-2963 Filed 2-21-07; 8:45 am]
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