[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 3, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51446-51447]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-20419]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XK12


Atlantic Pelagic Longline Take Reduction Team Meeting

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

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

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[[Page 51447]]

SUMMARY: NMFS is convening a meeting of the Atlantic Pelagic Longline 
Take Reduction Team (PLTRT). The PLTRT will discuss the proposed 
Atlantic Pelagic Longline Take Reduction Plan (RIN 0648-AV65) and 
provide updates to team members on recent research and actions.

DATES: The meeting will be held on September 8, 2008, from 1 p.m. to 6 
p.m., and on September 9, 2008, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The PLTRT meeting will be held at the Pier 5 Hotel, 711 
Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21202. Phone: (410) 539-2000, Fax: (410) 
783-1469.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin Fougeres: (727) 824-5312 or 
Kristy Long: (301) 713-2322.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Bycatch Reduction Requirements in the MMPA

    Section 118(f)(1) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) 
requires NMFS to develop and implement take reduction plans to assist 
in the recovery or prevent the depletion of each strategic marine 
mammal stock that interacts with Category I and II fisheries. It also 
provides NMFS discretion to develop and implement a take reduction plan 
for any other marine mammal stocks that interact with a Category I 
fishery, which the agency determines, after notice and opportunity for 
public comment, has a high level of mortality and serious injury across 
a number of such marine mammal stocks.
    The MMPA defines a strategic stock as a marine mammal stock: (1) 
for which the level of direct human-caused mortality exceeds the 
potential biological removal (PBR) level; (2) which is declining and is 
likely to be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the 
foreseeable future; or (3) which is listed as threatened or endangered 
under the ESA or as a depleted species under the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 
1362(2)). PBR is the maximum number of animals, not including natural 
mortalities, that can be removed annually from a stock, while allowing 
that stock to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population 
level. Category I or II fisheries are fisheries that, respectively, 
have frequent or occasional incidental mortality and serious injury of 
marine mammals. The immediate goal of a take reduction plan for a 
strategic stock is to reduce, within six months of its implementation, 
the incidental serious injury or mortality of marine mammals from 
commercial fishing to levels less than PBR. The long-term goal is to 
reduce, within five years of its implementation, the incidental serious 
injury and mortality of marine mammals from commercial fishing 
operations to insignificant levels approaching a zero serious injury 
and mortality rate, taking into account the economics of the fishery, 
the availability of existing technology, and existing state or regional 
fishery management plans. The insignificance threshold, or upper limit 
of annual incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammal 
stocks by commercial fisheries, has been defined at 50 CFR 229.2 as 10 
percent of the PBR for a stock of marine mammals.

History of the PLTRT

    The PLTRT was first convened on June 29, 2005 (70 FR 36120, June 
22, 2005) to address the incidental serious injury and mortality of 
short- and long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus and 
Globicephala melas) in the Atlantic region of the Pelagic Longline 
Fishery. Because the two species of pilot whales are difficult to 
differentiate at sea, abundance and total fishery-related mortality and 
serious injury cannot be estimated separately for each species. 
Therefore, in the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, these estimates are 
combined for both Globicephala species (i.e., Globicephala spp.). 
Globicephala spp. is then split into the western North Atlantic and 
Gulf of Mexico stocks. The western North Atlantic stocks of 
Globicephala spp. were identified as strategic in the 2003 Marine 
Mammal Stock Assessments report (SAR). However, NMFS revised the 
abundance estimates for pilot whales in the 2005 SAR and, just prior to 
convening the PLTRT, these stocks were no longer classified as 
strategic. More recently, the 2007 SAR also reports that the estimated 
average annual human-related mortality and serious injury for the last 
five years does not exceed PBR and the stocks remain non-strategic.
    The Atlantic Pelagic Longline Fishery also incidentally seriously 
injures and kills Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus). For Risso's 
dolphins and long-finned and short-finned pilot whales, estimated 
serious injury and mortality levels in the pelagic longline fishery 
exceed the insignificance threshold but do not exceed the PBR level for 
each stock. Because these species are below PBR and considered non-
strategic stocks but interact with a Category I fishery, NMFS directed 
the PLTRT to develop and submit a draft Take Reduction Plan to the 
agency within 11 months. In accordance with the long-term goal of MMPA 
section 118, this draft Take Reduction Plan would focus on reducing 
incidental mortalities and serious injuries of pilot whales and Risso's 
dolphins to a level approaching a zero mortality and serious injury 
rate within five years of implementation of the plan.
    As required under section 118 (f)(8) of the MMPA, the PLTRT 
developed a draft Take Reduction Plan (TRP) by consensus, and submitted 
this draft to NMFS. NMFS then published the TRP and implementing 
regulations proposed by the team in the Federal Register on June 24, 
2008 (73 FR 35623) for a public comment period of 90 days, ending on 
September 22, 2008. NMFS is convening a meeting of the PLTRT during the 
public comment period, which will be facilitated by Scott McCreary and 
Bennett Brooks, CONCUR, Inc., Berkeley, California. This meeting will 
occur September 8-9, 2008 in Baltimore, MD (see DATES and ADDRESSES). 
Take Reduction Teams are not subject to the Federal Advisory Committee 
Act (5 U.S.C. App.). Meetings are open to the public.

    Dated: August 27, 2008.
Helen Golde,
Deputy Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E8-20419 Filed 9-2-08; 8:45 am]
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