[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 5177]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-1560]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XF19


Fisheries in the Western Pacific; Western Pacific Crustacean 
Fisheries; 2008 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 2008 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 2006, 
Presidential Proclamation No. 8031 established the NWHI Marine National 
Monument (later renamed the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National 
Monument). Regulations implementing the Proclamation, promulgated 
jointly by NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, prohibit the 
unpermitted removal of monument resources (50 CFR 404.7) and establish 
a zero annual harvest guideline for lobsters (50 CFR 404.10(a)). 
Accordingly, NMFS establishes the harvest guideline at zero lobsters 
for the NWHI commercial lobster fishery for calendar year 2008; thus, 
no harvest of NWHI lobster resources is allowed.

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

    Dated: January 24, 2008
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-1560 Filed 1-28-08; 8:45 am]
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