[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 57 (Monday, March 26, 2007)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14069-14071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-5474]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 031407A]
RIN 0648-AU03


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Salmon 
Bycatch

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

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has 
submitted Amendment 84 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of 
the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). If approved, 
Amendment 84 would exempt vessels participating in an inter-cooperative 
agreement (ICA) to reduce salmon bycatch from Chinook and chum salmon 
savings area closures, and exempt vessels participating in non-pollock 
trawl fisheries from the chum salmon savings area. This action is 
intended to promote the goals and objectives of the FMP and Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). 
This action is necessary to reduce salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea and 
Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI).

DATES: Comments on Amendment 84 must be received on or before May 25, 
2007.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
Attn: Ellen Sebastian, Records Officer. Comments may be submitted by:
     Mail to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802;
     Hand delivery to the Federal Building, 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK;
     FAX to 907-586-7557;
     E-mail to [email protected] and include in the subject 
line of the E-mail comment the document identifier: Amendment 84. E-
mail comments, with or without attachments, are limited to 5 megabytes; 
or
     Webform at the Federal eRulemaking Portal: 
www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions at that site for 
submitting comments.
    Copies of Amendment 84 and the Environmental Assessment/Regulatory 
Impact Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (EA/RIR/IRFA) 
prepared for this action may be obtained from the NMFS Alaska Region at 
the address above, from the Alaska Region website at http://www.fakr.noaa.gov or by calling the Sustainable Fisheries Division, 
Alaska Region, NMFS, at (907) 586-7228.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jason Anderson, 907-586-7228, or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that each 
regional fishery management council submit any FMP or FMP amendment it 
prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial 
approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon 
receiving an FMP amendment, immediately publish a notice in the Federal 
Register that the FMP or amendment is available for public

[[Page 14070]]

review and comment. This requirement is satisfied by this notice of 
availability for Amendment 84.
    Pacific salmon are caught incidentally in the BSAI trawl fisheries, 
especially in the pollock fishery. Of the five species of Pacific 
salmon, Chinook salmon (Onchorynchus tshawytscha) and chum salmon (O. 
keta) are most often incidentally caught in the pollock fishery. 
Pacific salmon are placed into two categories for purposes of salmon 
bycatch management: Chinook and non-Chinook. The non-Chinook category 
is comprised of chum, sockeye (O. nerka), pink (O. gorbuscha), and coho 
(O. kisutch) salmon. However, from 2001 through 2004, chum salmon 
represented about 98 percent of non-Chinook salmon harvested 
incidentally in the pollock trawl fisheries. For convenience, all non-
Chinook salmon are referred to as chum salmon.
    To address Chinook salmon bycatch concerns, the Council adopted 
several management measures designed to reduce overall Chinook salmon 
bycatch in the BSAI trawl fisheries. In 1995, the Council adopted, and 
NMFS approved, Amendment 21b to the FMP. Based on historic information 
on salmon bycatch, Amendment 21b established a Chinook salmon savings 
area (60 FR 31215, November 29, 1995). Under Amendment 21b, the Chinook 
salmon savings area closed when the incidental catch of Chinook salmon 
in BSAI trawl fisheries reached 48,000 fish. Amendment 58 to the FMP 
revised the Chinook salmon savings area measures (65 FR 60587, October 
12, 2000). Amendment 58 reduced the Chinook salmon bycatch limit from 
48,000 fish to 29,000 fish, mandated year-round accounting of Chinook 
bycatch in the directed pollock fishery, revised the boundaries of the 
Chinook salmon savings area closure, and implemented new closure dates. 
The timing of the closure depends on when the limit is reached. If the 
limit is reached:
     Before April 15, the area closes immediately through April 
15. After April 15, the area re-opens, but closes again from September 
1 through December 31.
     Between April 15 and September 1, the area would close 
from September 1 through the end of the year.
     After September 1, the area closes immediately through the 
end of the year.
    The Chinook salmon savings area was further modified by Amendment 
82 to the FMP (70 FR 9856, March 1, 2005). Amendment 82 established a 
separate Aleutian Islands subarea bycatch limit that, when reached, 
closes the existing Chinook salmon savings area located in the Aleutian 
Islands subarea (Area 1). The Chinook salmon savings area located in 
the Bering Sea subarea remained unchanged, but was designated as Area 
2.
    The Council also adopted a time-area closure designed to reduce 
overall chum salmon bycatch in the BSAI trawl fisheries. In 1995, 
Amendment 35 to the FMP established the chum salmon savings area (60 FR 
34904, July 5, 1995). This area is closed to all trawling from August 1 
through August 31 of each year. Additionally, if 42,000 chum salmon are 
caught in the Catcher Vessel Operational Area (CVOA) during the period 
August 15 through October 14, the area remains closed for the remainder 
of the calendar year.
    Community development quota (CDQ) groups receive, along with 
allocations of groundfish CDQ, individual allocations of Chinook and 
non-Chinook annual bycatch amounts. Vessels groundfish CDQ fishing are 
not subject to the chum and Chinook salmon savings area closures that 
apply to the non-CDQ pollock fisheries. Rather, the Chinook salmon 
savings area closes to vessels directed fishing for pollock for a CDQ 
group once that CDQ group has reached its Chinook salmon bycatch limit. 
The chum salmon savings area closes to vessels using trawl gear to fish 
for groundfish CDQ once that CDQ group has reached its non-Chinook 
salmon bycatch limit. Thus, individual CDQ groups are subject to salmon 
savings area closures based on their respective catch of chum or 
Chinook salmon while groundfish CDQ fishing.
    The Chinook and chum salmon savings areas were adopted based on 
historic observed salmon bycatch rates and were designed to avoid high 
spatial and temporal levels of salmon bycatch. From 1990 through 2001, 
the BSAI salmon bycatch average was 37,819 Chinook and 69,332 chum 
annually. Recently, however, salmon bycatch numbers have increased 
substantially. In 2003, 54,911 Chinook salmon and 197,091 chum salmon 
were taken incidentally in the trawl fisheries. In 2004, salmon bycatch 
increased substantially to 62,493 Chinook and 465,650 chum salmon. 
Bycatch amounts remained high in 2005 and totaled 67,541 Chinook and 
116,999 chum salmon.
    Since its establishment in 1995, the Chinook salmon savings area 
closure only has been triggered since 2003. The Chinook salmon bycatch 
limit was not reached prior to 2003. In 2003, the Chinook salmon 
savings area closed to directed trawl fishing for non-CDQ pollock on 
September 1, with the closure remaining in effect until the end of the 
calendar year. In 2004, the Chinook salmon savings area closed to 
directed trawl fishing for non-CDQ pollock on September 5 through the 
end of the year. In 2005, the Chinook salmon savings area in the Bering 
Sea subarea was closed to directed trawl fishing for non-CDQ pollock on 
September 1 through the end of the year.
    Since establishment of the chum salmon savings area in 1995, the 
bycatch of non-Chinook salmon triggered closures in 2002, 2003, 2004, 
and 2005. In these years, the chum salmon savings area closed to non-
CDQ trawl fisheries in September and October.
    Anecdotal information from participants in the BSAI trawl fisheries 
indicated that salmon bycatch rates may be higher outside the Chinook 
and chum salmon savings area. In February 2005, the Council initiated 
an EA/RIR/IRFA to explore alternatives to the current salmon bycatch 
measures. Spatial and temporal comparisons of non-CDQ vessels fishing 
outside of the salmon savings areas with CDQ vessels fishing inside of 
the salmon savings areas indicated that bycatch rates were much higher 
outside of the savings areas.
    In October 2005, the Council adopted Amendment 84 to the FMP. 
Amendment 84 would exempt non-CDQ and CDQ pollock vessels participating 
in a salmon bycatch reduction ICA from closures of the Chinook and chum 
salmon savings areas in the Bering Sea. Additionally, vessels 
participating in trawl fisheries for species other than pollock would 
be exempt from chum salmon savings area closures. The Council intends 
to use NMFS salmon bycatch information to assess the effectiveness of 
regulations implementing Amendment 84 at reducing salmon bycatch in the 
directed pollock fisheries. The Council also asked for participants in 
the salmon bycatch reduction ICA to report annually on how effective 
the ICA appears to be at reducing salmon bycatch. The Council also will 
gather additional information to assess the effectiveness of the ICA in 
coordinating voluntary salmon bycatch reduction efforts by participants 
in the Bering Sea pollock fisheries. Additionally, this information 
could be used to further assess whether participants fishing in the 
current salmon savings areas continue to encounter lower salmon bycatch 
rates than participants fishing outside of salmon savings areas.
    The Council is also developing a separate FMP amendment that could 
result in additional management measures to reduce salmon bycatch.

[[Page 14071]]

These measures could include altering the geographic coordinates of the 
Chinook and chum salmon savings areas based on recent bycatch rates, 
and implementing an individual salmon bycatch accountability program. 
However, the Council determined that consideration of these management 
measures would require additional time and chose to expedite Amendment 
84 while the Council develops the second amendment.
    Public comments are being solicited on proposed Amendment 84 
through the end of the comment period stated (see DATES). A proposed 
rule that would implement Amendment 84 may be published in the Federal 
Register for public comment, following NMFS' evaluation under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act procedures. Public comments on the proposed rule 
must be received by the end of the comment period on Amendment 84 to be 
considered in the approval/disapproval decision of the amendment. All 
comments received by the end of the comment period on the amendment, 
whether specifically directed to the FMP amendment or the proposed 
rule, will be considered in the approval/disapproval decision. Comments 
received after that date will not be considered in that decision. To be 
considered, written comments must be received, not just postmarked or 
otherwise transmitted, by the close of business on the last day of the 
comment period.

    Dated: March 20, 2007.
Alan D. Risenhoover,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. E7-5474 Filed 3-23-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S