[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 68 (Friday, April 10, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 16363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-8236]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XO41


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic 
Fisheries; Application for Exempted Fishing Permits

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

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Northeast Region, NMFS (Assistant Regional Administrator), 
has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit 
(EFP) application contains all of the required information and warrants 
further consideration. This EFP would allow two commercial fishing 
vessels to temporarily retain undersize fish and fish in excess of 
possession limits for the purpose of data collection in support of 
research conducted by the University of Rhode Island (URI). The 
Assistant Regional Administrator has made a preliminary determination 
that the activities authorized under this EFP would be consistent with 
the goals and objectives of the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea 
Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP). However, further review and 
consultation may be necessary before a final determination is made to 
issue an EFP. Therefore, NMFS announces that the Assistant Regional 
Administrator proposes to recommend that an EFP be issued.
    Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act require publication of this notification to provide 
interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for 
proposed EFPs.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 27, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by any of the following 
methods:
     Email: [email protected]. Include in the subject line 
``Comments on URI TED EFP.''
     Mail: Patricia A. Kurkul, Regional Administrator, NMFS, NE 
Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark 
the outside of the envelope ``Comments on URI TED EFP.''
     Fax: (978) 281-9135.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ryan Silva, Cooperative Research 
Liaison, 978-281-9326.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Southern New England Collaborative 
Research Initiative, URI was selected by the Commercial Fisheries 
Research Foundation to conduct a study titled, ``Evaluation of a 
Modified Turtle Excluder Device (TED) Design in the Southern New 
England and Mid-Atlantic Summer Trawl Fisheries.'' The primary 
objective of this experiment is to evaluate the catch performance of a 
summer flounder trawl fitted with a TED. This objective would be 
accomplished through comparative tows between two summer flounder 
trawls, one of which has the experimental TED.
    URI proposes to employ two commercial vessels that operate in the 
summer flounder fishery to conduct this research. Investigators propose 
to conduct approximately 80, 90-minute tows (40 paired tows) in the New 
England and Mid-Atlantic regions over the course of 22 sea days in the 
summer of 2009, starting in early June. Investigators would collect 
data on estimated total catch weight, and weight and length 
measurements on summer flounder and other bycatch species. All legal 
catch would be sold.
    URI submitted a complete EFP application on March 26, 2009, 
requesting exemption from minimum fish size and possession limit 
regulations for the purpose of data collection prior to discarding 
undersize fish and fish above the vessel's possession limit. Aside from 
these exemptions, all other elements of these fishing trips would 
comply with fishing regulations.
    The applicant may request minor modifications and extensions to the 
EFP throughout the year. EFP modifications and extensions may be 
granted without further notice if they are deemed essential to 
facilitate completion of the proposed research and have minimal impacts 
that do not change the scope or impact of the initially approved EFP 
request. Any fishing activity conducted outside the scope of the 
exempted fishing activity would be prohibited. If the research project 
is terminated for any reason prior to completion, any unused funds 
collected from catch sold to pay for research expenses may be refunded 
to NOAA.

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

    Dated: April 3, 2009.
Kristen C. Koch,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E9-8236 Filed 4-9-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S