[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 36 (Friday, February 23, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8150-8151]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-3147]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 060824225-6225-01; I.D. 021207A]


Fisheries in the Western Pacific; Western Pacific Crustacean 
Fisheries; 2007 Harvest Guideline

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

ACTION: Notification of harvest guideline for crustaceans.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the annual harvest guideline for the 
commercial lobster fishery in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) 
for calendar year 2007 is established at zero lobsters.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Harman, NMFS Pacific Islands 
Region, 808-944-2271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NWHI commercial lobster fishery is 
managed under the Fishery Management Plan for the Crustacean Fisheries 
of the Western Pacific Region (Crustaceans FMP). The regulations at 50 
CFR 665.50(b)(2) require NMFS to publish an annual harvest guideline 
for lobster Permit Area 1, comprised of Federal waters around the NWHI.
    The NWHI commercial lobster fishery, which operates almost 
exclusively within 50 nm of the NWHI archipelago, has been closed since 
2000, initially as a precautionary action to prevent overfishing of 
spiny and slipper lobster resources while NMFS conducted biological 
research and assessed the status of the lobster stocks. In 2001, the 
U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii ordered the fishery to 
remain closed until an environmental impact statement and a biological 
opinion were prepared for the Crustaceans FMP. Also in December 2000 
and January 2001, the NWHI Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve (Reserve) was 
established by Executive Order which, among other provisions, 
prohibited commercial lobster fishing in the Reserve. The boundary of 
the Reserve extended to a distance of 50 nm seaward from the islands of 
the NWHI. On June 15, 2006, Presidential Proclamation No. 8031 
established the NWHI Marine National Monument. The Proclamation 
requires that any commercial lobster fishing permit shall be subject to 
a zero annual harvest limit. The Proclamation also prohibited 
unpermitted removal, moving, taking, harvesting, possessing, injuring, 
disturbing, or damaging; or attempting to remove, move, take, harvest, 
possess, injure, disturb, or damage any living or nonliving monument 
resource. Subsequently, NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
jointly promulgated regulations implementing the Proclamation, 
including these measures (71 FR 51134, August 29, 2006), to be codified 
at 50 CFR part 404.
    Consistent with the regulatory provisions that establish the 
unpermitted removal of monument resources and zero annual harvest 
guideline (50 CFR 404.7 and 404.10(a), respectively), NMFS establishes 
the harvest guideline at zero lobsters for the NWHI commercial lobster 
fishery for calendar year 2007; thus, no harvest of NWHI lobster 
resources is allowed.

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


[[Page 8151]]


    Dated: February 16, 2007.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-3147 Filed 2-22-07; 8:45 am]
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