[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 142 (Wednesday, July 23, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 42769-42770]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-16843]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 665

[Docket No. 080702817-8838-01]
RIN 0648-AX00


Fisheries in the Western Pacific; Western Pacific Pelagic 
Fisheries; Control Date; Northern Mariana Islands Pelagic Longline 
Fishery

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

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; notification of control 
date; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that anyone who enters the pelagic longline 
fishery in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) 
after June 19, 2008 (the ``control date''), is not guaranteed future 
participation in the fishery if the Western Pacific Fishery Management 
Council (Council) recommends, and NMFS approves, a program that limits 
entry into the fishery, or other fishery management measures. The 
Council is concerned about potentially-uncontrolled expansion of the 
CNMI-based pelagic longline fishery and the potential resultant 
interactions with and impacts on small-boat pelagic fisheries and 
localized depletion of pelagic fish stocks.

DATES: Comments must be submitted in writing by September 22, 2008.

[[Page 42770]]


ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this action, identified by 0648-
AX00, to either of the following addresses:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal www.regulations.gov; or
     Mail: William L. Robinson, Regional Administrator, NMFS, 
Pacific Islands Region (PIR), 1601 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1110, 
Honolulu, HI 96814-4700.
    Instructions: All comments received are a part of the public record 
and will generally be posted to www.regulations.gov without change. All 
personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.) submitted 
voluntarily 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 or Excel, 
WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brett Wiedoff, NMFS PIR, 808-944-2272.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At its 142nd meeting held from June 16-19, 
2008, the Council adopted a control date of June 19, 2008, applicable 
to persons who are contemplating entering the CNMI-based longline 
fishery for pelagic fishes. The purpose of the control date is to 
notify fishermen that after June 19, 2008, they may not be guaranteed 
access to the fishery if the Council recommends, and NMFS approves, 
establishing a limited entry program or other measures to manage the 
fishery. The Council has not yet recommended limiting new entry or 
imposing any other management measures in this fishery.
    This control date addresses the Council's concern over the 
potential for rapid and uncontrolled expansion of the CNMI longline 
fishery. This concern is based on previous rapid and uncontrolled 
expansions of the pelagic longline fisheries in Hawaii and American 
Samoa, and the resulting concerns about localized deletion of resources 
and impacts on small-boat fisheries. In Hawaii from 1988 to 1990, the 
longline fleet doubled from 50 to 100 vessels. In American Samoa from 
1996 to 1997, the fleet tripled from 7 to 21 vessels. To control these 
previous rapid expansions, the Council recommended and NMFS implemented 
limited entry programs in both of these fisheries (in 1993 and 2004, 
respectively). The Council adopted the June 19, 2008, control date to 
notify current and potential fishery participants that it may also 
consider limiting participation in the CNMI-based longline fishery, if 
necessary.
    Two domestic longline vessels began fishing in U.S. EEZ waters 
around CNMI in 2007, and other longline vessel operators have expressed 
interest in fishing there. Some of these other operators already hold 
the necessary general longline permits issued by NMFS allowing them to 
participate in the open-access CNMI fishery. If a rapid expansion of 
the fishery were to occur, there is a potential for gear conflicts 
between the longline fishery and the CNMI small-boat pelagic troll 
fishery, which harvests many of the same species targeted by longline 
vessels. A large and uncontrolled longline fishery could cause 
localized depletion of pelagic fish stocks, which would jeopardize the 
sustainability of the small trolling fleet. There is also a potential 
for longline vessels to fish at the CNMI's offshore seamounts. The 
seamounts are important to the pelagic trolling fleet, and localized 
depletion of fish stocks at the seamounts would have significant 
negative impacts on the troll fishery.
    The Council established a control date of June 2, 2005, for pelagic 
longline and purse seine fisheries in the U.S. EEZ of the western 
Pacific (70 FR 47782, August 15, 2005) in response to concerns about 
overfishing of bigeye tuna Pacific-wide and yellowfin tuna in the 
central and western Pacific. The June 19, 2008, control date supersedes 
the previous control date, as it applies to the CNMI longline fishery.
    The Council and NMFS seek public comment about whether or not a 
control date is needed, whether this is an appropriate control date, 
and how the control date might be applied to a future management 
program for the CNMI-based pelagic longline fishery, if such a program 
is developed by the Council and NMFS.
    Control dates are intended to discourage speculative entry into 
fisheries, as new participants entering the fisheries after the control 
date are put on notice that they are not guaranteed future 
participation in the fisheries. Establishment of this control date does 
not commit the Council or NMFS to any particular management regime or 
criteria for entry into the CNMI pelagic longline fishery. Fishermen 
are not guaranteed future participation in the fishery, regardless of 
their level of participation before or after the control date. The 
Council may choose a different control date, or it may choose a 
management regime that does not involve a control date. Other criteria, 
such as documentation of landings or sales, may be used to determine 
eligibility for participation in a limited access fishery. The Council 
or NMFS also may choose to take no further action to control entry or 
access to the fishery, in which case the control date may be rescinded.

Classification

    This advance notice of proposed rulemaking has been determined to 
be not significant for the purposes of Executive Order 12866.

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

    Dated: July 17, 2008.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator For Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-16843 Filed 7-22-08; 8:45 am]
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