[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 222 (Monday, November 17, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 67809-67811]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-27227]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Parts 600, 622, and 679

[Docket No. 0809101190-81192-01]
RIN 0648-AX26


General Provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act; Minor Amendments to Regulations

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues minor amendments to update regulations pertaining 
to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act). The updated regulations reflect amendments to 
the Magnuson-Stevens Act by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (MSRA) so that regulations 
are consistent with the revised statutory text. The effect of this 
action is to update Magnuson-Stevens Act regulations where only minor 
changes to revise language or insert new provisions of the amended 
Magnuson-Stevens Act are needed. Additional actions interpreting and 
implementing the requirements of the MSRA are being addressed as 
separate rulemakings.

DATES: Effective November 17, 2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William D. Chappell at 301-713-2337.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In title 50, parts 600, 622, and 679 contain 
regulations issued under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. On 
January 12, 2007, the President signed into law the MSRA (Public Law 
109-479), which

[[Page 67810]]

amended the Magnuson-Stevens Act and set forth, among other things, 
general and more specialized provisions pertaining to parts 600, 622, 
and 679. NMFS makes minor changes to these parts to resolve 
inconsistencies between the specified regulations and the governing 
changes presented in the MSRA that have a direct bearing on the 
regulations. This final rule makes changes following the provisions of 
the Magnuson-Stevens Act as amended by the MSRA in the order of their 
presentation in the regulations. The applicable Magnuson-Stevens Act 
citation is in parentheses.
    In Sec.  600.10 the definition of term ``limited access system'' is 
added, as this term is used very often in current fishery management 
plans and regulations (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 3(27)).
    Section 600.345 is modified to add the MSRA requirement to National 
Standard 8 -- Communities, that fishery conservation and management 
measures take into account the importance of fishery resources to 
fishing communities by using economic and social data that is based on 
the best scientific information available (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 
301(a)(8)).
    Section 600.350 revises National Standard 9 -- Bycatch, by 
reformatting paragraph (c), the definition, and adding an exclusion of 
``bycatch'' scientifically tagged and released highly migratory species 
fish harvested in a commercial fishery managed by a Council or the 
Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act 
(Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 304(g)(2)).
    Section 600.516 updates the language and specifies that allocations 
of the total allowable level of foreign fishing are discretionary and 
such allocations shall be zero for fisheries that have adequate or 
excess domestic harvest capacity (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 201(d)).
    Section 622.2, revises the definition of ``Caribbean'' to reflect 
the extended jurisdiction of the Caribbean Fishery Management Council 
to the U.S. waters surrounding all U.S. territories in the Caribbean 
Sea (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 302(a)(1)(D)). Previously, Council 
jurisdiction was only over fisheries seaward of the U.S. Virgin Islands 
and Puerto Rico.
    Section 218 of the MSRA amended section 802 of the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act of 2004 (Public Law 108--199; section 802) to extend 
the duration of the Central Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Rockfish Program from 
two to five years. In section 802, Congress required the Secretary in 
consultation with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to 
establish a management program for Central GOA rockfish and other 
groundfish fisheries with specific provisions. Section 802 states in 
part, ``...The pilot program will sunset when a GOA groundfish 
comprehensive rationalization plan is authorized by the Council and 
implemented by the Secretary, or 2 years from date of implementation, 
whichever is earlier.''
    The North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted the Central 
GOA Rockfish Program on June 6, 2005. NMFS approved the amendment to 
the Gulf of Alaska Groundfish Fishery Management Plan and adopted 
regulations establishing the Program beginning in 2007 and expiring 
December 31, 2008. Section 218 of the MSRA has now extended the 
expiration date to five years after implementation. The GOA groundfish 
comprehensive rationalization plan is not yet complete.
    This rule amends regulations at 50 CFR 679.80(a)(2) to be 
consistent with the statutory requirements of section 218 of the MSRA 
that the Central GOA Rockfish Program be extended from December 31, 
2008 (i.e., two years after implementation by the Secretary), to 
December 31, 2011 (i.e., five years after implementation by the 
Secretary).

Classification

    The Office of Management and Budget has determined that this final 
rule is not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.
    Through this action, NMFS seeks to ensure that the regulations 
implementing the Magnuson-Stevens Act conform to the statutory 
requirements. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), the NOAA Assistant 
Administrator for Fisheries finds good cause to waive prior notice and 
an opportunity for public comment on this action, as notice and comment 
are unnecessary for the following reasons. First, the actions taken in 
this final rule are non-discretionary. As noted previously in the 
preamble, these actions either change current regulations to conform to 
the statute or add definitions that exist in the statute to the 
regulations. Since these changes are non-discretionary, notice and 
comment on them would not allow the agency to make any changes to them, 
making notice and comment unnecessary. Second, the regulations as they 
exist present out-of-date information, due to the MSRA amendments. This 
situation causes confusion to the public as they try to reconcile the 
requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act with those of the regulations. 
Bringing the regulations in line with the overriding requirements of 
the statute is consistent with the public interest. Further, because 
the rule is only administrative in nature, is non-discretionary, and 
imposes no new substantive requirements or restrictions on the public, 
the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, under 5 U.S.C. 
553(d)(3), finds inapplicable the requirement to delay its effective 
date for 30 days.

List of Subjects

50 CFR Part 600

    Administrative practice and procedure, Confidential business 
information, Fisheries, Fishing, Fishing vessels, Foreign relations, 
Intergovernmental relations, Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Statistics.

50 CFR Part 622

    Fisheries, Fishing, Puerto Rico, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Virgin Islands.

50 CFR Part 679

    Alaska, Fisheries.

    Dated: November 10, 2008.
Samuel D. Rauch III
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.

0
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, NMFS amends 50 CFR parts 
600, 622, and 679 as follows:

Chapter VI

PART 600--MAGNUSON-STEVENS ACT PROVISIONS

0
1. The authority citation for part 600 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 561 and 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

0
2. In Sec.  600.10, the definition of ``Limited access system'' is 
added in alphabetical order to read as follows:


Sec.  600.10  Definitions.

    Limited access system means a system that limits participation in a 
fishery to those satisfying certain eligibility criteria or 
requirements contained in a fishery management plan or associated 
regulation.

0
3. In Sec.  600.345, paragraph (a) introductory text is revised to read 
as follows:


Sec.  600.345  National Standard 8--Communities.

    (a) Standard 8. Conservation and management measures shall, 
consistent with the conservation requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act (including the prevention of overfishing and rebuilding of 
overfished stocks), take

[[Page 67811]]

into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities 
by utilizing economic and social data that are based upon the best 
scientific information available in order to:

0
4. In Sec.  600.350, paragraph (c) is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  600.350  National Standard 9--Bycatch.

    (c) Definition--Bycatch. The term ``bycatch'' means fish that are 
harvested in a fishery, but that are not sold or kept for personal use.
    (1) Inclusions. Bycatch includes the discard of whole fish at sea 
or elsewhere, including economic discards and regulatory discards, and 
fishing mortality due to an encounter with fishing gear that does not 
result in capture of fish (i.e., unobserved fishing mortality).
    (2) Exclusions. Bycatch excludes the following:
    (i) Fish that legally are retained in a fishery and kept for 
personal, tribal, or cultural use, or that enter commerce through sale, 
barter, or trade.
    (ii) Fish released alive under a recreational catch-and-release 
fishery management program. A catch-and-release fishery management 
program is one in which the retention of a particular species is 
prohibited. In such a program, those fish released alive would not be 
considered bycatch.
    (iii) Fish harvested in a commercial fishery managed by the 
Secretary under Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 304(g) or the Atlantic Tunas 
Convention Act of 1975 (16 U.S.C. 971d) or highly migratory species 
harvested in a commercial fishery managed by a Council under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act or the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries 
Convention Implementation Act, that are not regulatory discards and 
that are tagged and released alive under a scientific tagging and 
release program established by the Secretary.

0
5. In Sec.  600.516, paragraph (a) is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  600.516  Total allowable level of foreign fishing (TALFF).

    (a) The TALFF, if any, with respect to any fishery subject to the 
exclusive fishery management authority of the United States, is that 
portion of the OY of such fishery, which cannot or will not be 
harvested by vessels of the United States. Allocations of TALFF are 
discretionary, except that the total allowable level shall be zero for 
fisheries determined by the Secretary to have adequate or excess 
domestic harvest capacity.

PART 622--FISHERIES OF THE CARIBBEAN, GULF, AND SOUTH ATLANTIC

0
6. The authority citation for part 622 continues to read as follows:

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

0
7. In Sec.  622.2, the definition of ``Caribbean'' is revised to read 
as follows:


Sec.  622.2  Definitions and acronyms.

    Caribbean means the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean seaward of 
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and possessions of the United 
States in the Caribbean Sea.

PART 679--FISHERIES OF THE EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF ALASKA

0
8. The authority citation for 50 CFR part 679 is revised to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 1540(f); 16 U.S.C. 
1801 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 3631 et seq.; Pub. L. 105-277; Pub. L. 106-
31; Pub. L. 106-554; Pub. L. 108-199; Pub. L. 108-447; Pub. L. 109-
241; Pub. L. 109-479.

0
9. In Sec.  679.80, paragraph (a)(2) is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  679.80  Initial allocation of rockfish QS.

    (a) * * *
    (2) Duration. The Rockfish Program authorized under this part 
expires on December 31, 2011.
[FR Doc. E8-27227 Filed 11-14-08; 8:45 am]
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