[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 184 (Thursday, September 24, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48719-48720]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-23064]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XR53


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

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

ACTION:  Notification of a proposal for an EFP to conduct exempted 
fishing; request for comments.

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SUMMARY:  The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable 
Fisheries, Northeast Region, NMFS (Assistant Regional Administrator), 
has made a preliminary determination that the subject EFP application 
that was submitted by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk 
County Marine Program (CCE) warrants further consideration and should 
be issued for public comment. The EFP would exempt participating 
vessels from summer flounder size restrictions and summer flounder 
mesh-size restrictions. The Assistant Regional Administrator has also 
made a preliminary determination that the activities authorized under 
the EFP would be

[[Page 48720]]

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.

DATES:  Comments must be received on or before October 9, 2009.

ADDRESSES:  Comments may be submitted by e-mail. The mailbox address 
for providing e-mail comments is [email protected]. Include in the 
subject line of the e-mail comment the following document identifier: 
``Comments on CCE Offshore Fluke Discard EFP.'' Written comments should 
be sent to Patricia A. Kurkul, Regional Administrator, NMFS, Northeast 
Regional Office, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark 
the outside of the envelope, ``Comments on CCE Offshore Fluke Discard 
EFP.'' Comments may also be sent via facsimile (fax) to (978) 281-9135.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Sarah Bland, Fishery Management 
Specialist, (978) 281-9257.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A complete application for an EFP was 
submitted by CCE on August 31, 2009, for a study that would evaluate 
summer flounder discard mortality in the offshore winter trawl fishery 
off Long Island, NY. The EFP would be issued to an initial list of 
seven vessels.
    Research trips would be conducted as normal fishing operations, 
modified only by standardized tow times and deck cull times, in the 
offshore winter trawl fishery off Long Island, NY. Research trips would 
occur south and east of Long Island, NY, between Veatch Canyon and 
Hudson Canyon, in statistical areas 616, 526, 537, 613, and 611. One to 
two trips would be made each month, beginning in October 2009, and 
continuing through April 2010, for a total of eight trips. Four trips 
would occur during normal fishing operations targeting Loligo squid 
using small-mesh gear, and four trips would target summer flounder 
using large-mesh gear. Trips are expected to take 2 days due to 
steaming time to and from winter fishing grounds; however, poor weather 
conditions may lengthen trip times.
    For each trip, vessels would conduct three tows of 1, 2, and 3-hr 
durations. For each tow, two culls would be performed; an immediate 
cull and a delayed 30-min cull. Ten legal-sized summer flounder and 10 
sub-legal sized summer flounder would be randomly collected from each 
cull, for a total of 20 fish per tow. If there are not 10 sub-legal 
sized summer flounder available, additional legal-sized summer flounder 
would be kept to maintain the random sampling at 20 fish per tow. 
Summer flounder would be randomly selected using sub-sampling and 
random sampling guidelines established by the NMFS At-Sea Observer 
Program. In addition to the random sample, 10 jumbo market category 
summer flounder (greater than 4 lb (1.81 kg) or 55 cm) would be 
collected per tow.
    Summer flounder collected would be measured, weighed, and their 
physical condition noted. Fish would be tagged at the dorsal area of 
the eyed-side anterior of the caudal peduncle with a Floy-FD-94 Super 
Heavy Duty T-Bar Anchor Tag and transferred to an on-board holding 
tank. During the time it takes to clear the deck of catch, summer 
flounder would be sorted into live and dead components on set time 
intervals, in addition to immediate and delayed cull times. Information 
on tow duration, location, boat and gear specifics, fishing speed, 
total volume of the catch and discards, depth and surface water 
temperatures, and on-deck air temperature would be recorded. The 
applicant anticipates that catch species would include a mix of summer 
flounder, scup, black sea bass, butterfish, whiting, and Loligo squid.
    Collected fish would be transported from the on-board holding tanks 
to the Multi Aquaculture Systems, Inc., facility. Fish would be 
monitored for a 14-day period. Any fish still alive after the 
monitoring period would be examined and ranked according to a health 
index, and blood would be drawn for cortisol analysis. These fish would 
then be released into Gardiners Bay from the holding facility. The 
applicant anticipates that, although fish would be released inshore 
during winter or early spring, some of these fish would survive. Scales 
and otoliths would be taken from those fish not surviving the 
monitoring period. Up to 180 fish would be landed for the extended 
mortality monitoring period, and the applicant anticipates the 
mortality rate would be between 75 and 90 percent.
    The applicant has requested an exemption from the summer flounder 
size restrictions at Sec.  648.103 to allow sub-legal sized fish to be 
retained for data collection purposes. The applicant has also requested 
an exemption from the summer flounder mesh size restrictions at Sec.  
648.104(a)(1) to allow vessels targeting squid in the small-mesh 
fishery to retain more than the incidental limit of summer flounder. In 
addition, the applicant requested an exemption from the summer flounder 
fishery closure restrictions at Sec.  648.101(a) and (b) to allow 
summer flounder to be landed during a closure and transported to the 
Multi Aquaculture Systems facility for mortality observations. However, 
the regulations at Sec.  648.12(a)(2) prevent NMFS from issuing an EFP 
that would cause a quota to be exceeded; therefore, unless research 
set-aside quota is made available to this project, no exemption from 
fishery closure restrictions would be granted.
    The applicants may request minor modifications and extensions to 
the EFP throughout the course of research. EFP modifications and 
extensions may be granted without further public notice if they are 
deemed essential to facilitate completion of the proposed research and 
result in only a minimal change in the scope or impacts of the 
initially approved EFP request.

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

    Dated: September 21, 2009.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E9-23064 Filed 9-23-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S