[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 6, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 20897-20898]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-10506]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No.090421699-9797-01]
RIN 0648-XO74


Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species 
Fisheries; Annual Specifications Modification

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

ACTION:  Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY:  NMFS proposes a regulation to adjust the harvest 
specifications for Pacific sardine in the U.S. exclusive economic zone 
(EEZ) off the Pacific coast for the fishing season of January 1, 2009, 
through December 31, 2009. The proposed action would increase the 
tonnage of Pacific sardine allocated for industry conducted research 
from 1200 metric tons (mt) to 2400 mt and decreases the second and 
third period directed harvest allocations by 750 mt and 450 mt, 
respectively.

DATES:  Comments must be received by June 5, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this proposed rule identified by 
0648-XO74 by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov
     Mail: Rodney R. McInnis, Regional Administrator, Southwest 
Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802.
     Fax: (562)980-4047
    Instructions: All comments received are a part of the public record 
and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without 
change. All Personal Identifying Information (for example, name, 
address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly 
accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information.
    NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required 
fields if you prefer to remain anonymous). Attachments to electronic 
comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or 
Adobe PDF file formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joshua Lindsay, Southwest Region, 
NMFS, (562) 980-4034.



[[Page 20898]]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    On February 20, 2009, NMFS published a final rule implementing the 
harvest guideline (HG) and annual specifications for the 2009 Pacific 
sardine fishing season off the U.S. West Coast (74 FR 7826) under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 U.S.C. 
1801 et seq (Magnuson-Stevens Act). These specifications and associated 
management measures were based on recommendations adopted by the 
Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) at their November 2008 
public meeting in San Diego, California (73 FR 60680). For the 2009 
Pacific sardine fishing season, the Council adopted, and NMFS approved, 
an acceptable biological catch (ABC) or maximum HG of 66,932 mt. This 
ABC/HG was determined according to the regulations implementing the 
Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP)(50 CFR part 
660, subpart I). The Council also recommended, and NMFS approved, that 
1,200 mt be initially subtracted from the ABC and reserved for an 
industry-conducted research project, which is planned but not yet 
approved. This 1,200 mt set-aside was intended to allow research 
fishing, which is planned for the second seasonal period (July 1--
September 15, 2009), to continue if that period's allocation is reached 
and directed fishing is closed. As stated in the final rule 
implementing the 2009 specifications, the use of the 1,200 mt would 
require NMFS to issue an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) because fishing 
would occur after the directed fishery is closed.
    At the Council's March 2009 public meeting the Council reviewed two 
industry research/EFP proposals for conducting Pacific sardine biomass 
surveys and moved the two proposals forward for public comment with the 
recommendation that industry combine the proposals to create a single 
EFP application to be reviewed for final adoption at the June 2009 
Council meeting. After hearing the research proposals and public 
comment, the Council then recommended that the original 1200 mt set-
aside be increased to 2400 mt. To account for the additional 1,200 mt, 
the Council recommended that the second and third period directed 
fishery allocations be reduced by 750 mt and 450 mt respectively. This 
is approximately a proportional reduction in the two allocations.
    NMFS will publish a notice in the Federal Register requesting 
comments on the proposed EFP in the near future and a decision on 
whether to issue an EFP for the use of the research set-aside will be 
made prior to the start of the second seasonal period (July 1, 2009). 
If NMFS determines that an EFP cannot be issued, then the set-aside -
either the current 1,200 mt or the proposed 2,400 mt-will be re-
allocated to the third period's directed harvest allocation.

Classification

    Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the 
NMFS Assistant Administrator has determined that this proposed rule is 
consistent with the CPS FMP, other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Act, and other applicable law, subject to further consideration after 
public comment.
    These proposed specifications are exempt from review under 
Executive Order 12866.
    The Chief Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration that this proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
as follows:
    The purpose of this proposed action is to make minor 
modifications to the 2009 Pacific sardine specifications. This 
proposed rule does not make significant changes to those 
specifications, which were implemented through proposed and final 
rulemaking and for which an Initial and a Final Regulatory 
Flexibility Analysis was completed.
    The small entities that would be affected by the proposed action 
are the 63 vessels that compose the West Coast CPS finfish fleet. 
These vessels are considered small business entities by the U.S. 
Small Business Administration because the vessels do not have annual 
receipts in excess of $4.0 million. Therefore, there would be no 
economic impacts resulting from disproportionality between small and 
large business entities under the proposed action.
    The profitability of these vessels as a result of this proposed 
rule is based on the average Pacific sardine ex-vessel price per mt. 
When the 2009 Pacific sardine specifications were implemented it was 
determined that if the fleet were to take the entire 2009 Pacific 
sardine HG of 65,732 metric tons (mt), the potential revenue to the 
fleet would be approximately $11 million. This proposed action has 
the potential, if an Exempted Fishing Permit is approved at a later 
date, to reduce the available HG by 1200 mt (750 mt in the second 
period and 450 mt in the third period) and potential fleet revenue 
by $168,000. However, over the course of the fishing season these 
amounts represent very small portions of the overall allowable 
harvest and equal less than half the amount taken by the fleet in a 
normal fishing day. Therefore the potential drop in profitability to 
fleet overall would be small. Furthermore, even the re-allocated 
1200 mt of sardine would be sold commercially by members of the 
fleet, also small business entities, operating under an exempted 
fishing permit.
    Based on the disproportionality and profitability analysis 
above, this rule if adopted, will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of these small entities.
    As a result, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is not 
required and none has been prepared.

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

    Dated: April 30, 2009.
James W. Balsiger,
Acting Assistant Administrator For Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. E9-10506 Filed 5-5-09; 8:45 am]
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