[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 27, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 50585-50586]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-19874]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 600

[Docket No. 071102640-8952-01]
RIN 0648-AQ63


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; National Standard Guidelines

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.

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SUMMARY: NMFS withdraws a proposed rule for revisions to National 
Standard 1 (NS1) guidelines, which was published on June 22, 2005. 
Instead of going forward with a final rule directly resulting from the 
2005 proposed rule, NMFS published a new proposed rule for the NS1 
guidelines in the Federal Register on June 9, 2008, to address new 
provisions enacted in 2007 in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Reauthorization Act (MSRA). Because of new requirements 
for annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs), among 
other things, NMFS decided that it was better to proceed with a new 
proposed rule rather than try to revise a 3-year old action that 
preceded the MSRA. The new proposed rule provides guidance on ACLs and 
AMs and other requirements related to overfishing and rebuilding 
overfished stocks in the National Standard 1 (NS1) guidelines.

DATES: This proposed rule is withdrawn on August 27, 2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Mark R. Millikin, Senior Fishery 
Management Specialist, 301-713-2341, or via e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 301(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) states 
that any fishery management plan (FMP) prepared and any regulation 
promulgated to implement such a plan shall be consistent with the ten 
national standards described in that section. Section 301(b) states 
that the Secretary of Commerce should establish advisory guidelines 
(which shall not have the force and effect of law) based on the 
national standards to assist in development of FMPs.
    The guidelines for national standards of the Magnuson-Stevens Act 
were last revised through a final rule published in the Federal 
Register on May 1, 1998 (63

[[Page 50586]]

FR 24212), which brought them into conformance with the Sustainable 
Fisheries Act of 1996. The May 1998 final rule revised the guidelines 
for National Standards 1 (optimum yield), 2 (scientific information), 4 
(allocations), 5 (efficiency), and 7 (costs and benefits) and added new 
guidelines for National Standards 8 (communities), 9 (bycatch), and 10 
(safety of life at sea).
    National Standard 1 (NS1) states ``Conservation and management 
measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing 
basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the United States 
fishing industry.'' NMFS considered revising the NS1 guidelines when it 
published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in 2003 (68 FR 7492, 
February 14, 2003), and a proposed rule in 2005 (70 FR 36240, June 22, 
2005). NMFS received over 250,000 comments. NMFS reviewed all of the 
comments, and the majority consisted of one of ten different form 
letters, expressing concern that: (1) Overfishing is occurring for many 
stocks, (2) many fish stocks are overfished, (3) oceans and fish stocks 
are in trouble, and (4) at the rate fish stocks are being depleted, 
there could be severe impacts on future generations of people who enjoy 
eating fish. Almost all commenters stated that overfishing should be 
ended immediately. NMFS decided not to publish a final rule directly 
related to the 2005 proposed rule when it became clear that Congress 
was preparing an amendment to the Magnuson-Stevens Act that seemed 
likely to revise provisions related to overfishing and rebuilding 
overfished stocks.
    On January 12, 2007, President Bush signed into law the MSRA. MSRA 
revised the Magnuson-Stevens Act by adding section 303(a)(15), which 
requires that any FMP that is prepared by a regional fishery management 
council or the Secretary shall: ``establish a mechanism for specifying 
annual catch limits in the plan (including a multiyear plan), 
implementing regulations, or annual specifications, at a level such 
that overfishing does not occur in the fishery, including measures to 
ensure accountability.'' Because of this new requirement to use ACLs 
and AMs to end/prevent overfishing, NMFS published a proposed rule (73 
FR 32526, June 9, 2008) emphasizing new recommendations and 
requirements related to ACLs and AMs, as well as other issues related 
to NS1 (especially related to rebuilding overfished fisheries and the 
concepts of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and optimum yield (OY)). 
The 2008 proposed rule also contains guidance about four issues 
contained in the 2005 proposed rule. The issues covered in the 2005 
proposed rule, that are reconsidered in the 2008 proposed rule include: 
(1) Guidance on how to determine the target time to rebuild a stock; 
(2) action to take at the end of a rebuilding plan if a stock is no 
longer overfished, but not rebuilt yet; (3) the definition of several 
components of MSY; and (4) exceptions to the requirement to prevent 
overfishing. The four issues listed above contain different wording in 
the 2008 proposed rule. The remaining issues in the 2005 proposed rule 
are not covered in the 2008 proposed rule. NMFS' priority is to develop 
guidance on ACLs and AMs and make other related changes in the NS1 
guidelines as soon as possible, given the MSRA statutory requirements 
to use ACLs and AMs to end overfishing in 2010, and prevent overfishing 
beginning in 2011. Thus, NMFS' new proposed revisions to the NS1 
guidelines published in the Federal Register on June 9, 2008 (73 FR 
32526) focus on changes needed to address ACLs and AMs and other new 
MSRA requirements, and NMFS is withdrawing the 2005 proposed rule.
    The proposed revisions contained in the 2005 proposed rule that are 
not addressed in the 2008 proposed rule are not critical to 
accomplishing the new MSRA requirements related to ending/preventing 
overfishing and rebuilding overfished stocks, and include:
     Renaming ``minimum stock size threshold'' as ``minimum 
biomass limit (Blim)'';
     Renaming ``maximum fishing mortality threshold (MFMT)'' as 
``maximum fishing mortality limit'';
     Renaming ``overfished'' as ``depleted'';
     Specifying that FMPs may be revised so that species/stocks 
may be classified as ``core stocks'' or stocks falling within a ``stock 
assemblage'';
     Specifying that Blim should equal one-half of 
the biomass that produces MSY (Bmsy) as a default value and 
clarifying when exceptions greater than or less than the 1/2 
Bmsy value are appropriate for Blim;
     Revising the maximum rebuilding time horizon formula to 
remove the discontinuity that results from the formula in the current 
guidelines;
     Establishing a default value for the target time for 
rebuilding that equals a time value halfway between minimum time to 
rebuild (Tmin) and maximum time to rebuild 
(Tmax);
     Using MFMT to determine when a stock is rebuilt if the 
stock's Bmsy and Tmin are not known;
     Establishing guidance for how to revise rebuilding plans 
when a rebuilding plan has not shown adequate progress as described 
under section 304(e)(7) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act; and
     Revising the current requirement to develop ``target'' 
(OY) control rules in addition to limit (MSY) control rules from 
``may'' to ``must.''

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

    Dated: August 21, 2008.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator For Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-19874 Filed 8-26-08; 8:45 am]
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