[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 103 (Wednesday, May 28, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30598-30599]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-11880]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

RIN 0648-AR72


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Improved 
Retention/Improved Utilization

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

ACTION: Notice of availability of a proposed amendment to a fishery 
management plan; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has 
submitted Amendment 72 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of 
the Gulf of Alaska (FMP) to NMFS for review. If approved, Amendment 72 
would revise the FMP to state that the Council will annually review 
information on the discard of shallow-water flatfish in Gulf of Alaska 
(GOA) groundfish fisheries. After review of this annual information, 
the Council may recommend revisions to retention and utilization 
requirements if the discard rate for shallow-water flatfish falls above 
or below a specified threshold. This action is necessary to support the 
Council's initiatives to monitor and reduce bycatch in the GOA 
groundfish fisheries. The intended effect of this action is to conserve 
and manage the groundfish resource in the GOA in accordance with the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

DATES: Comments on Amendment 72 must be received on or before July 28, 
2008.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional 
Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, 
Attn: Ellen Sebastian. You may submit comments, identified by ``RIN 
0648-AR72'', by any one of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal website at http://www.regulations.gov.
     Mail: P. O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.
     Fax: (907) 586-7557.
     Hand delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th 
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK.
    Instructions: All comments received are a part of the public record 
and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without 
change. 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: Jeff Hartman, 907-586-7442.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires that each regional 
fishery management council submit any fishery management plan or 
fishery management plan amendment that it prepares to NMFS for review 
and approval, disapproval, or partial approval by the Secretary of 
Commerce. The Council has submitted Amendment 72 to NMFS for review. If 
approved, Amendment 72 would revise the FMP to state that the Council 
will annually review the discards of shallow-water flatfish in GOA 
groundfish fisheries. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, 
upon receiving an FMP amendment, publish a notice in the Federal 
Register to notify the public that the FMP amendment is available for 
review and comment. This notice of availability for Amendment 72 
satisfies this requirement.
    The Secretary of Commerce approved Amendment 49 to the FMP in 1997 
(62 FR 65379) to improve the retention and utilization (IR/IU) of 
shallow-water flatfish. The Council recommended IR/IU measures for this 
species group after determining that the percentage of shallow-water 
flatfish catch that was discarded was greater than the percentage of 
most other GOA groundfish species catch that was discarded. However, 
implementation of IR/IU measures for shallow-water flatfish in the GOA 
was delayed by Amendment 49 until January 1, 2003, to provide vessels 
additional time to make vessel or plant modifications to meet IR/IU 
requirements.
    Groundfish species included in the GOA shallow-water flatfish group 
primarily include flathead sole, rock sole, yellowfin sole, butter 
sole, starry flounder, English sole, sand sole, and Alaska plaice. 
Regulations at 50 CFR 679.27(c)(2) establish the IR/IU requirements for 
shallow-water flatfish implemented under Amendment 49. When shallow-
water flatfish are open to directed fishing, a catcher vessel must 
retain all fish of that species brought onboard the vessel, and a 
catcher/processor must make and retain a primary product from all fish 
of that species brought onboard the vessel. When shallow-water flatfish 
are closed to directed fishing, a catcher vessel must retain all 
shallow-water flatfish up to the maximum retainable amount (MRA), and a 
catcher/processor must make and retain a primary product from all fish 
of that species brought onboard the vessel up to the point that the 
round-weight equivalent of primary products onboard equals the MRA for 
that species. These shallow-water flatfish IR/IU requirements currently 
apply to all vessels with Federal fishing permits participating in any 
GOA groundfish fishery, regardless of the gear type used.
    In 2003, after implementation of Amendment 49 provisions for 
shallow-water flatfish IR/IU, the Council again reviewed discard data 
on shallow-water flatfish in each GOA target fishery. This review 
revealed that discards of shallow-water flatfish between 1995 and 2001 
were less than 5 percent in all GOA groundfish target fisheries with 
the exception of the Western GOA flathead sole, Western GOA offshore 
Pacific cod, and Central GOA shallow-water flatfish fisheries. Because 
three target fisheries exceeded shallow-water flatfish discards of 5 
percent in some years but did not exceed average shallow-water flatfish 
discards of 20 percent, the Council expressed interest in tracking 
fisheries that exceeded a 5 percent discard threshold for shallow-water 
flatfish. Since implementation of shallow-water flatfish IR/IU in 2003, 
shallow-water flatfish discards have not exceeded 5 percent of the 
total groundfish catch in any GOA groundfish fishery. The highest 
shallow-water flatfish discard rates in these years have been in the 
trawl fisheries for Pacific cod in the Western GOA (2.9 percent in 2003 
and 2.1 percent in 2006) and shallow-water flatfish fisheries in the 
Central GOA ( 2.4 percent in 2004 and 2.9 percent in 2005).
    While many groundfish vessels are able to meet a long-term goal of 
reducing shallow-water flatfish discards

[[Page 30599]]

by consistently remaining under a 5 percent discard rate, members of 
the GOA fishing industry reported to the Council that complete 
elimination of shallow-water flatfish discards is costly if some 
vessels do not have viable markets for small retained amounts of these 
species. Furthermore, the sorting and retention of small amounts of 
shallow-water flatfish species can involve high handling costs onboard 
vessels.
    In recommending Amendment 72, the Council considered National 
Standard 9 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which requires that 
conservation and management measures minimize bycatch (discards) to the 
extent practicable. The Council recognized the benefits of continuing 
shallow-water flatfish IR/IU at 50 CFR 679.27(c)(2), and the groundfish 
retention that accrues from those regulations. However, the Council 
also recognized the benefits that would accrue from annually monitoring 
shallow water flatfish discards and evaluating whether IR/IU 
regulations continue to minimize discards and maximize catch 
utilization in the GOA groundfish fisheries to the extent practicable. 
The Council believed that this combination of regulations and annual 
review would provide an incentive for vessels in the GOA to maintain a 
high standard of retention for shallow-water flatfish.
    Amendment 72 would add the following text to the FMP: ``The Council 
will annually review the discards of shallow-water flatfish in all GOA 
fisheries. The Council may recommend that NMFS initiate rulemaking to 
add or remove a fishery from shallow-water flatfish improved retention/
improved utilization requirements if the three-year rolling average 
discard rate of shallow-water flatfish in any fishery falls above or 
below 5 percent.''
    Under Amendment 72, NMFS would provide an annual report to the 
Council that would estimate the discard of shallow-water flatfish as a 
percentage of total groundfish catch by area and target fishery. This 
report would identify shallow-water flatfish discard rates that exceed 
5 percent of total groundfish catch in a target fishery annually and 
over a three-year period. Based on that information, the Council could 
recommend a regulatory amendment to revise shallow-water flatfish IR/IU 
requirements.
    This FMP amendment does not require any new regulations or 
revisions to existing regulations. Shallow-water flatfish would 
continue to be one of three GOA IR/IU species categories in 50 CFR part 
679, along with pollock and Pacific cod. Any future revisions to 
shallow-water flatfish IR/IU regulations would be contingent on the 
Council establishing the need to modify these requirements, initiating 
an analysis, and proposing a regulatory amendment that could be 
approved by the Secretary of Commerce. Any subsequent recommendation by 
the Council to consider changing IR/IU requirements for shallow-water 
flatfish would need to clearly define the group of vessels that would 
be exempted from shallow-water flatfish IR/IU requirements, recognizing 
that IR/IU requirements are more effectively enforced if the vessels 
subject to these requirements can be clearly identified by vessel or 
gear characteristics. Enforcement of IR/IU requirements that differ by 
target fishery are more difficult to enforce because vessels may 
participate in multiple target fisheries at a time or switch between 
target fisheries.
    Public comments are being solicited on Amendment 72. Comments 
received by the closing date will be considered in the approval/
disapproval decision on the amendment. To be considered, written 
comments must be received by NMFS, not just postmarked or otherwise 
transmitted, by the close of business on the last day of the comment 
period.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq., 1801 et seq., 3631 et seq.; 
Pub. L. 108-447.

    Dated: May 22, 2008.
Samuel D. Rauch III
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-11880 Filed 5-27-08; 8:45 am]
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