[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 37 (Monday, February 26, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8352-8354]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-3240]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 021607H]


Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for 
Implementation of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of 
Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean

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

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare an environmental assessment; request 
for written comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intent to prepare an Environmental 
Assessment (EA) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969 (NEPA) on the immediate Federal actions required to 
implement the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly 
Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean 
(Convention). Although NEPA does not require publication of a notice-
of-intent (NOI) to prepare an EA or a formal scoping process, it 
encourages public input opportunities. Therefore, NMFS is issuing this 
NOI to facilitate public involvement. The scoping process for the EA 
will include a 30-day period for submission of written comments on 
issues the U.S. should consider when, once a party to the Convention, 
implementing its relevant provisions.

DATES: Comments must be received by 5 p.m., local time, on March 28, 
2007.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by any of the following 
methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include in the 
subject line the following document identifier: ``Scoping for Initial 
Action WCPFC''. E-mail comments, with or without attachments, are 
limited to 5 megabytes.
     Mail or Hand Delivery: William L. Robinson, Regional 
Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, Pacific Islands 
Region, 1601 Kapiolani Blvd. Suite 1110, Honolulu, HI 96814.
     Fax: (808) 973-2941.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Graham, NMFS, Pacific Islands 
Region; telephone: (808) 944-2200; fax: (808) 973-2941; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background on the Convention

    The Convention was opened for signature in Honolulu on September 5, 
2000, and entered into force in June 2004. The Convention established a 
management body called the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries 
Commission (Commission), comprised of those States and entities that 
are bound to the Convention. The United States played an active role 
during all of the negotiating sessions and the preparatory conferences 
prior to entry into force. Domestic procedures allowing for U.S. 
adherence to the Convention, and thus membership to the Commission, are 
currently being processed by the Administration. Upon completion of 
these procedures, and action by the President, the U.S. will deposit 
its instrument of accession with the Convention's depository in 2007, 
and become a party to the Convention and a Member of the Commission. 
The Territories of Guam and American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands will also be eligible to participate in the 
Commission, in accordance with provisions of the Convention and the 
Commission's Rules of Procedure governing the participation of 
territories.
    The current Parties to the Convention are: Australia, Canada, 
China, Cook Islands, European Community, Federated States of 
Micronesia, Fiji, France (extends to French Polynesia, New Caledonia 
and Wallis and Futuna), Japan, Kiribati, Korea, Marshall Islands, 
Nauru, New Zealand (extends to Tokelau), Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, 
Philippines, Samoa, Solomon

[[Page 8353]]

Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), as a 
fishing entity, has also agreed to be bound by the Convention.
    The Convention Area comprises approximately all waters of the 
Pacific Ocean to the west of the 150 meridian of west longitude. A map 
showing the exact boundaries of the Convention Area can be found on the 
Commission's website at: http://www.wcpfc.int/pdf/Map.pdf.

Initial Action by NMFS Necessary to Implement the Convention

    The United States will implement the provisions of the Convention 
within the area of application of the Convention (the Convention Area) 
under authority of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention 
Implementation Act (WCPFCIA), and possibly under authorities of the 
High Seas Fishing Compliance Act of 1995 (HSFCA), the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the South Pacific Tuna 
Act of 1988 (SPTA), and other applicable law.
    The HSFCA implements the Agreement to Promote Compliance with 
International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels 
on the High Seas, adopted by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture 
Organization of the United Nations on November 24, 1993, and 
establishes a system of permitting, reporting, and regulation for U.S. 
vessels fishing on the high seas. The MSA governs the conduct of U.S. 
fisheries that operate in federal waters (and in certain circumstances 
in both federal waters and beyond federal waters on the high seas), 
primarily through fishery management plans developed by the Regional 
Fishery Management Councils and approved by the Secretary of Commerce. 
The SPTA implements the Treaty on Fisheries between the Governments of 
Certain Pacific Island States and the Government of the United States 
of America, and includes licensing and other requirements and 
restrictions for U.S. purse seine vessels fishing in the area of 
application of the Treaty.
    The WCPFCIA, which implements the Convention, was enacted in 
January 2007. Authority to administer and enforce the WCPFCIA, 
including to promulgate regulations, is given to the Secretary of 
Commerce (Secretary). The Secretary is directed to consult with the 
Secretary of State, the agency in which the Coast Guard is operating, 
and other appropriate departments and agencies of the United States in 
promulgating regulations.
    To implement the Convention for the United States, NMFS will need 
to take some actions immediately and some actions in the future. 
Certain Convention provisions require no action on the part of NMFS 
because the United States is already compliant as a result of existing 
legal requirements.
    The actions considered in this EA, collectively referred to here as 
NMFS' ``initial action'', are limited to the Convention provisions that 
are ready for implementation. These are related to the basic and 
specific provisions and requirements in the Convention that require no 
further action by the Commission for NMFS to be able to develop and 
implement regulations. It is important that this initial action be 
taken immediately to ensure the United States is able to meet its 
obligations under the WCPFCIA and that U.S. vessels operating in the 
Convention Area are in compliance with the Convention.
    Examples of Convention provisions that NMFS considers ready for 
initial action include the following: authorizing vessels fishing for 
highly migratory fish stocks on the high seas in the Convention Area; 
requiring that vessels accommodate observers from the regional vessel 
observer program; requiring that U.S. vessels accept boarding and 
inspection by authorized inspectors of other members while on the high 
seas in the Convention Area; requiring vessels on the high seas in the 
Convention Area to carry and use position-fixing transmitters as part 
of a vessel monitoring system (VMS); and prohibiting (with certain 
exemptions) purse seine vessels from transshipping at sea within the 
Convention Area.
    In the case of the authorization-to-fish requirement, reasonable 
alternatives for agency action might include: rely solely on the 
current high seas permitting requirements under the HSFCA (no action 
alternative); develop a specific Convention-related endorsement 
requirement linked to the already-required HSFCA permits; or introduce 
a new stand-alone WCPFC permit requirement.
    Certain Convention provisions ready for initial action, such as the 
prohibition on at-sea transshipping by purse seiners (subject to any 
specific exemptions adopted by the Commission), leave no room for the 
development of reasonable alternatives. In such cases, that is, when 
the agency has no discretion in how to implement a provision, NEPA does 
not apply.
    The United States is currently partially compliant with some 
Convention provisions. The VMS requirements are an example. United 
States' purse seine and longline vessels operating in the Convention 
Area are currently required under the SPTA and MSA to carry VMS 
transmitters if directed by NMFS; provision of the transmitters' 
signals to the Commission is the only action needed for compliance. 
However, a small number of distant-water albacore troll vessels that 
operate in the Convention Area are not currently required to carry VMS 
transmitters. NMFS will likely need to consider alternatives related to 
the installation of the transmitters and their maintenance.
    While the initial action generally will not include the 
Commission's Conservation and Management Measures (CMMs), some CMMs 
adopted by the Commission are simply further elaborations on procedures 
for basic Convention provisions; for example, CMM 2006-08, on high seas 
boarding and inspection procedures, establishes the procedures needed 
to activate the Convention's basic provision on high seas boarding and 
inspection. CMMs such as this one are considered ready for initial 
action and will be considered with their underlying Convention 
provisions in this EA.
    Examples of Convention provisions that are not ready for initial 
action are those that require further elaboration by the Commission, 
and most CMMs adopted by the Commission. Some CMMs may be partially or 
fully implemented under the MSA. The roles of the Western Pacific, 
Pacific, and North Pacific Fishery Management Councils in such cases 
will be clarified, in part based on a memorandum of understanding 
between the Secretary and the councils, that is to be developed under 
the WCPFCIA. In any case, these actions are outside the scope of this 
EA.
    The full text of the Convention can be obtained from the 
Commission's website at: http://www.wcpfc.int/convention.htm.
    At this time, NMFS is not considering authorizing new fisheries and 
no major changes to the operations of current fisheries in the 
Convention Area are anticipated. The U.S. purse-seine, longline, and 
distant-water troll fleets that operate in the Convention Area are 
currently subject to permitting and other requirements under the HSFCA, 
MSA, and SPTA and the conduct of these fisheries has been analyzed 
elsewhere with respect to NEPA.

Public Involvement

    In late 2005, NMFS held scoping meetings to provide general 
information about, and seek public input on, potential regulatory and 
other actions to be taken by the Agency should the

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United States ratify the Convention and enact implementing legislation 
(notice published October 19, 2005, at 70 FR 60795). With the enactment 
of implementing legislation in the form of the WCPFCIA in January 2007, 
and, following action by the President, the need to fulfill the 
immediate obligations of the United States under the Convention, NMFS 
seeks to build on the earlier scoping process and is accepting 
additional comments on the scope of issues to be included in this EA.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 5501 et seq.; 16 
U.S.C. 973 et seq.; Pub. L. 109-479, 120 Stat. 3575.

    Dated: February 20, 2007.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-3240 Filed 2-23-07; 8:45 am]
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