[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 105 (Friday, May 30, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31067-31069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-12129]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XI11


Pacific Fishery Management Council; Notice of Intent

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

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 
(EIS); request for comments; preliminary notice of public scoping 
meetings.

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SUMMARY: NMFS and the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific 
Council) announce their intent to prepare an EIS in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 to analyze fishing 
conducted under the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan.

DATES: Public scoping will be conducted through regular meetings of the 
Pacific Fishery Management Council and its advisory bodies. The Pacific 
Fishery Management Council is scheduled to consider actions and 
alternatives that are the subject of this proposed action at their June 
8-13, 2008, meeting. The details of this and any other meetings related 
to this action will be announced in the Federal Register. Written 
comments will be accepted at the Pacific Council office through June 3, 
2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, on issues and alternatives, 
identified by RIN: 0648-XI11 by any of the following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected]. Include 0648-XI11 and enter 
``Scoping Comments'' in the subject line of the message.
     Fax: 503-820-2299.
     Mail: Dr. Donald McIsaac, Pacific Fishery Management 
Council, 7700 NE Ambassador Pl., Suite 101, Portland, OR 97220.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. John DeVore, Pacific Fishery 
Management Council, phone: 503-820-2280, fax: 503-820-2299 and email: 
[email protected]; or Kathe Hawe, NMFS Northwest Region NEPA 
Coordinator; phone: 206-526-6161 and email: [email protected].

Electronic Access

    This Federal Register document is available on the Government 
Printing Office's Web site at: www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index/html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background and Need for Agency Action

    There are more than 90 species managed under the Pacific Coast 
Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (groundfish FMP), seven of which 
have been declared overfished. The groundfish stocks support an array 
of commercial, recreational, and Indian tribal fishing interests in 
state and federal waters off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and 
California. In addition, groundfish are also harvested incidentally in 
non-groundfish fisheries, most notably, the trawl fisheries for pink 
shrimp, ridgeback prawns, California halibut, and sea cucumber.
    The proposed action is needed to establish commercial and 
recreational harvests levels in 2009-2010 that will ensure groundfish 
stocks are maintained at, or restored to, sizes and structures that 
will produce the highest net benefit to the nation, while balancing 
environmental and social values.

The Proposed Action

    The proposed action is to implement management measures consistent 
with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) that constrain total fishing 
mortality during 2009-2010 within limits that maintain fish stocks at, 
or rebuild them to, a level capable of producing maximum sustained 
yield (MSY), or to a stock size less than this if such stock size 
results in long-term net benefit to the nation.
    These fishing mortality limits are harvest specifications that 
include acceptable biological catches (ABCs) and optimum yields (OYs) 
for

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groundfish species or species groups in need of particular protection; 
OYs may be represented by harvest guidelines or quotas for species that 
need individual management. Separate sets of ABCs and OYs will be 
specified for 2009 and 2010 as part of the multi-year management cycle 
for groundfish. The allocation of commercial OYs between the open 
access and limited entry segments of the fishery is also part of the 
proposed action.
    The FMP, as amended by Amendment 17, requires that the groundfish 
specifications be evaluated and revised as necessary every two years, 
with separate ABCs and OYs established for each of the two years in the 
biennial period. Management measures designed to achieve the OYs will 
be established for each year and, as in the past, may vary from period 
to period within any one year. These specifications and management 
measures will be published in the Federal Register and made effective 
by January 1 of the first fishing year in the biennium (2009). The 
Magnuson-Stevens Act and the groundfish FMP also require that NMFS 
implement actions to prevent overfishing and to rebuild overfished 
stocks. These specifications include fish caught in state ocean waters 
(zero to three nautical miles [nm] offshore) as well as fish caught in 
the U.S. exclusive economic zone (3 to 200 nm offshore).

Alternatives

    NEPA requires that agencies evaluate reasonable alternatives to the 
proposed action in an EIS. The purpose and need for agency action 
determines the range of reasonable alternatives. A preliminary set of 
alternatives was developed during the November 4-9, 2007, Council 
meeting. Alternatives are structured around a range of ABCs/OYs for 
assessed groundfish species. This range of ABCs/OYs is based on stock 
assessments, including new assessments for 16 of the groundfish species 
managed under the FMP.
    Seven groundfish species are currently declared overfished and 
subject to rebuilding plans previously adopted by the Council. Based on 
new stock assessments and rebuilding analyses, three of these stocks 
have a markedly different target year for rebuilding than previously 
estimated, if the current harvest rates are maintained. Rebuilding 
plans for these species may have to be revised in order to meet the 
statutory requirement to rebuild in as short a time as possible, taking 
into account the appropriate factors.
    For some species, ABC/OY ranges that would be used to develop 
alternatives may be based on consultations by the Council with state 
and federal agencies, Indian tribes, and the affected public on the 
allocation of harvest opportunity between sectors. Allocation decisions 
can affect OYs because different sectors may catch fish of different 
species and ages, allowing different sustainable harvest levels.
    Based on a range of ABCs/OYs alternatives adopted at the November 
2007 Council meeting, the Council chose a preliminary preferred ABCs/
OYs alternative at their April 2008 meeting; a range of alternative 
management measures was also identified that will constrain total 
harvest mortality (across all fisheries intercepting groundfish) to 
within the preferred OYs. The Council is then scheduled to take final 
action to choose a preferred alternative that includes ABCs/OYs and 
associated management measures at their June 2008 meeting.
    Restrictive management measures intended to rebuild overfished 
species have been adopted and implemented over the past several years 
for most commercial and recreational fishing sectors. Management 
measures intended to control the rate at which different groundfish 
species or species groups are taken in the fisheries include trip 
limits, bag limits, size limits, time/area closures, and gear 
restrictions. Large area closures, called Groundfish Conservation Areas 
(GCAs) or Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs), intended to reduce 
bycatch of overfished species, were first implemented in late 2002. A 
second important type of measure used to manage groundfish is the 
cumulative landing limit. Cumulative landing limits restrict the total 
weight of fish by species or species group that any one vessel may land 
during the limit period, which is normally two months. Different 
cumulative landing limits are established for areas north and south of 
40[deg] 10' N. lat. (near Cape Mendocino, California) and for limited 
entry trawl, limited entry fixed gear, and open access fishery 
participants.

Preliminary Identification of Environmental 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 depth in the EIS. NMFS staff conducted internal 
scoping to determine the likely impacts of the proposed action on the 
human environment and identify potentially significant impacts. Based 
on this internal scoping, the following environmental components have 
been identified for impact evaluation: overfished groundfish, 
groundfish at precautionary and healthy levels, no-groundfish species, 
listed salmonids, the marine ecosystem and fish habitat, community and 
economic impacts, and cumulative impacts.

Public Scoping Process

    Public scoping has already occurred as part of the Council's 
decision-making process and will continue through Council final action 
in June 2008. All decisions during the Council process benefit from 
written and oral public comments delivered prior to or during the 
Council meeting. These public comments are considered integral to 
scoping for developing this EIS. The Council chose the preliminary 
preferred ABCs/OYs alternative and refined the range of management 
measures at their April 5-12, 2008, meeting in Seattle, Washington at 
the Seattle Marriott Hotel-Sea Tac, 3201 S 176th Street, 98188-4094, 
206-241-2000 or 800-314-0925. The Council is scheduled to finalize 
their preferred alternative at their June 8-13, 2008, meeting at the 
Crowne Plaza Mid Peninsula, 1221 Chess Drive, Foster City, California, 
94404, 800-227-6963 or 650-570-5700. Public comment may be made under 
the agenda items when the Council will consider these proposed actions. 
The agendas for these meetings will be available from the Council 
website or by request from the Council office in advance of the meeting 
(see ADDRESSES). Written comments on the scope of issues and 
alternatives may also be submitted as described under ADDRESSES.
    NMFS invites comments and suggestions on the scope of the analysis 
to be included in the draft EIS (DEIS). The scope includes the range of 
alternatives to be considered and potentially significant impacts to 
the human environment that should be evaluated in the NEPA document. In 
addition, NMFS is notifying the public that, in conjunction with the 
Council, it is beginning a full environmental analysis and decision-
making process for this proposal, so interested or affected people may 
know how they can participate in the environmental analysis and 
contribute to the final decision.
    A DEIS will be prepared for comment after Council final action. The 
comment period on the DEIS will be 45 days from the date the 
Environmental Protection Agency's notice of availability appears in the 
Federal Register. It is very important that those interested in this 
proposed action participate at that time. To be most helpful, comments 
on the NEPA document should be as specific as possible and may address 
the

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adequacy of the statement or merits of the alternatives discussed. It 
is also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the 
NEPA document. Comments may also address the adequacy of the NEPA 
document or the merits of the alternatives formulated and discussed in 
the NEPA document. (Reviewers may wish to refer to the Council on 
Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing the procedural 
provisions of NEPA CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.) Comments 
received, including the names and addresses of those who comment, will 
be considered part of the public record on this proposal and will be 
available for public inspection.

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

    Dated: May 22, 2008.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-12129 Filed 5-29-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S