[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 26, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72994-72996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-24953]


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

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XD93


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish 
Fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands

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

ACTION:  Notice; request for written comments.

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

SUMMARY: NMFS, in consultation with the North Pacific Fishery 
Management Council, announces its intent to prepare an Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) on salmon bycatch reduction measures in the 
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI), in accordance 
with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The proposed action 
would replace the current Chinook and Chum Salmon Savings Areas in the 
BSAI with new regulatory closures, salmon bycatch limits, or a 
combination of both. These management measures could incorporate 
current or new bycatch reduction methods. The scope of the EIS will be 
to determine the impacts to the human environment resulting from these 
salmon bycatch reduction measures. NMFS will accept written comments 
from the public to determine the issues of concern and the

[[Page 72995]]

appropriate range of management alternatives for analysis in the EIS.

DATES:  Written comments must be received by February 15, 2008.

ADDRESSES:  Written comments on issues and alternatives for the EIS 
should be sent to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional Administrator, 
Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn: Ellen 
Sebastian. Comments may be submitted by
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include in 
the subject line the following document identifier: Salmon Bycatch EIS. 
E-mail comments, with or without attachments, are limited to 5 
megabytes;
     Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802;
     Hand Delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK; or
     Fax: 907-586-7557.
    All Personal Identifying Information (e.g., name, address) 
voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do 
not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or 
protected information.
    NMFS will accept anonymous comments. Attachments to electronic 
comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or 
Adobe portable document file (pdf) formats only.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the United 
States has exclusive fishery management authority over all living 
marine resources found within the exclusive economic zone. The 
management of these marine resources, with the exception of certain 
marine mammals and birds, is vested in the Secretary of Commerce. The 
North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has the 
responsibility to prepare fishery management plans for those marine 
resources off Alaska requiring conservation and management. Management 
of the Federal groundfish fishery in the BSAI is carried out under the 
Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian 
Islands Management Area (FMP). The FMP, its amendments, and 
implementing regulations (found at 50 CFR part 679) are developed in 
accordance with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other 
applicable Federal laws and executive orders, notably the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
    The Council is considering replacing the current Chinook and Chum 
Salmon Savings Areas in the BSAI with new regulatory closures, salmon 
bycatch limits, or a combination of both. These management measures 
could incorporate current or new bycatch reduction methods. NMFS and 
the Council have determined the preparation of an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) may be required for this action because some important 
aspects of the impacts of salmon bycatch in the BSAI on the salmon 
stocks of origin and users of these salmon are uncertain or unknown and 
may result in significant impacts on the human environment not 
previously analyzed. Thus, NMFS and the Council are initiating scoping 
for an EIS in the event that an EIS is needed.
    NMFS and the Council are seeking information from the public 
through the EIS scoping process on the range of alternatives to be 
analyzed, and on the environmental, social, and economic issues to be 
considered in the analysis. Written comments generated during this 
scoping process will be provided to the Council and incorporated into 
the EIS.

Chinook and Chum Salmon Savings Areas

    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 61215, November 29, 1995). Under Amendment 21b, the Chinook 
Salmon Savings Area closed when the bycatch 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 Council also adopted a time-area closure designed to reduce 
overall non-Chinook 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 non-
Chinook salmon are caught in the Catcher Vessel Operational Area during 
the period August 15 through October 14, the area remains closed for 
the remainder of the calendar year.
    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 non-
Chinook annually. Recently, however, salmon bycatch numbers have 
increased substantially. The numbers of Chinook and non-Chinook salmon 
bycatch in the BSAI groundfish fisheries from 2003 through December 7, 
2007, are shown in the following table:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                  Number of   Number of
                      Year                         Chinook   non-Chinook
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      2003                           55,422      197,287
                      2004                           63,188      457,817
                      2005                           74,967      711,938
                      2006                           87,730      326,445
             2007 through December 7                130,246       97,904
------------------------------------------------------------------------

NMFS and the Council are concerned with this level of salmon bycatch 
because of the potential negative impacts on salmon stocks in general, 
and on western Alaska salmon stocks in particular.

Recent Salmon Bycatch Management Measures

    To address these increasing salmon bycatch amounts, the Council 
adopted, and NMFS implemented on October 29, 2007, Amendment 84 to the 
FMP (72 FR 61070, October 29, 2007). Spatial and temporal comparisons 
of non-community development quota (CDQ) vessels fishing outside of the 
salmon savings areas with CDQ vessels fishing inside of the salmon 
savings areas indicated that salmon bycatch rates were much higher 
outside of the savings areas, and closures were displacing vessels to 
higher bycatch areas. Amendment 84 exempts non-CDQ and CDQ pollock 
vessels participating in a salmon bycatch reduction inter-cooperative 
agreement (ICA) from closures of the Chinook and Chum Salmon Savings 
Areas in the BSAI. Additionally, vessels participating in trawl 
fisheries for species other than pollock are exempt from Chum Salmon 
Savings Area Closures
    The purpose of the salmon bycatch avoidance ICA is to use real-time 
salmon bycatch information to avoid areas of high non-Chinook and 
Chinook

[[Page 72996]]

salmon bycatch rates. The ICA utilizes a system of base bycatch rates, 
assignment of vessels to tiers based on bycatch rates relative to the 
base rate, a system of closures for vessels in certain tiers, and 
monitoring and enforcement through private contractual arrangements.
    Amendment 84 was adopted by the Council because it was perceived to 
be relatively simple to implement, with the potential to reduce salmon 
bycatch rates. Meanwhile, the Council also initiated analysis on this 
proposed action to further address salmon bycatch issues, and provide 
additional management measures should ICA members choose not to 
participate in the ICA in the future.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to replace the current Chinook and Chum 
Salmon Savings Areas in the BSAI with new regulatory closures, salmon 
bycatch limits, or a combination of both based on current salmon 
bycatch information. These management measures could incorporate 
current or new bycatch reduction methods. The purpose of the proposed 
action is to minimize non-Chinook and Chinook salmon bycatch to the 
extent practicable. The proposed action is necessary to maintain a 
healthy marine ecosystem, ensure long-term conservation and abundance 
of salmon, provide maximum benefit to fishermen and communities that 
depend on these resources, and comply with the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Alternative Management Measures

    NMFS, in consultation with the Council, will evaluate a range of 
alternative management measures for the BSAI groundfish fisheries. The 
Council's Salmon Bycatch Workgroup is reviewing the latest scientific 
information regarding the impacts of salmon interactions with 
groundfish fisheries and developing alternative salmon bycatch 
reduction measures. Alternatives may be formulated based on the 
elements identified here, and those developed through the public 
scoping and Council processes. Possible alternatives could be 
constructed from one or more of the following measures:
1.Prohibited Species Catch (PSC) limit Establish a PSC limit for non-
Chinook and Chinook salmon bycatch in the CDQ and non-CDQ pollock 
fisheries. PSC limits could be allocated among pollock fishery sectors 
or fishery cooperatives. Fishery participants would be required to stop 
fishing when a PSC limit is reached.
2.Fixed closures Establish one or more salmon savings area closures 
based on current salmon bycatch information. These closures would occur 
on an annual or seasonal basis regardless of salmon bycatch amounts at 
the time of the closure.
3.Triggered closures Establish one or more salmon savings area closures 
based on current salmon bycatch information. These closures would occur 
based on criteria evaluated in the EIS. Criteria could include a 
threshold salmon bycatch number or rate.
4.PSC accounting period Revise the current PSC accounting period to 
coincide with the salmon biological year to provide additional 
protections to salmon in the BSAI. Accounting would begin annually in 
the ``B'' season, and continue through the following ``A'' season.
    Additionally, the Council may incorporate the current or a new 
version of the salmon bycatch reduction ICA into one or more 
alternatives.

Preliminary Identification of Issues

    A principal objective of the scoping and public input process is to 
identify potentially significant impacts to the human environment that 
should be analyzed in the EIS. The analysis will evaluate the impacts 
of the alternatives for all resources, species, and issues that may be 
directly or indirectly affected by salmon bycatch in the BSAI pollock 
fisheries. The following components of the biological and physical 
environment may be evaluated: (1) target and non-target fish stocks, 
forage fish, and prohibited species, including salmon species; (2) 
species listed under the ESA and their critical habitat; (3) seabirds; 
(4) marine mammals; and (5) the ecosystem.
    Social and economic impacts also would be considered in terms of 
the effects that changes to salmon bycatch management measures would 
have on the following groups of individuals: (1) those who participate 
in harvesting pollock; (2) those who process and market pollock and 
pollock products; (3) those who consume pollock products; (4) those who 
rely on living marine resources caught in the management area, 
particularly salmon; (5) those who benefit from commercial, 
subsistence, and recreational salmon fisheries; and (6) fishing 
communities.

Public Involvement

    Scoping is an early and open process for determining the scope of 
issues to be addressed in an EIS and for identifying the significant 
issues related to the proposed action. A principal objective of the 
scoping and public involvement process is to identify a range of 
reasonable of management alternatives that, with adequate analysis, 
will delineate critical issues and provide a clear basis for 
distinguishing among those alternatives and selecting a preferred 
alternative. Through this notice, NMFS is notifying the public that an 
EIS and decision-making process for this proposed action have been 
initiated so that interested or affected people may participate and 
contribute to the final decision.
    NMFS is seeking written public comments on the scope of issues, 
including potential impacts, and alternatives that should be considered 
in revising salmon bycatch management measures. Written comments will 
be accepted at the address above (see ADDRESSES). Written comments 
should be as specific as possible to be the most helpful. Written 
comments received during the scoping process, including the names and 
addresses of those submitting them, will be considered part of the 
public record of this proposal and will be available for public 
inspection.
    The public is invited to participate and provide input at Council 
and Salmon Bycatch Workgroup meetings where the latest scientific 
information regarding salmon bycatch in the BSAI groundfish fisheries 
is reviewed and alternative salmon bycatch reduction measures are 
developed and evaluated. Notice of future Council and Salmon Bycatch 
Workgroup meetings will be published in the Federal Register and on the 
Internet at http://www.fakr.gov. Please visit this website for more 
information on this EIS and for guidance on submitting effective public 
comments.

    Dated: December 18, 2007.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E7-24953 Filed 12-21-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S