[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 1024-1025]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-143]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 0912081428-91437-01]
RIN 0648-AY44


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Mackerel, 
Squid, and Butterfish Fisheries; Control Date for Loligo and Illex 
Squid

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

ACTION:  Advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR); notice to 
reaffirm the control date for the Loligo squid (Loligo) and Illex squid 
(Illex) fisheries.

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SUMMARY:  NMFS announces a future proposed rulemaking for the Atlantic 
mackerel, squid, and butterfish (MSB) fisheries. This rulemaking could 
institute catch share programs in the Loligo and Illex fisheries to 
manage future access in these fisheries in order to control capacity. 
NMFS also reaffirms the most recent control date of May 20, 2003, for 
the Loligo and Illex fisheries, which may be used for establishing 
eligibility criteria for determining levels of future access to the 
squid fisheries. This announcement alerts interested parties of 
potential eligibility criteria for future access so as to discourage 
speculative entry into the squid fisheries while the Mid-Atlantic 
Fishery Management Council (Council) considers if and how access to the 
squid fisheries should be controlled with catch share programs.

DATES:  Public comments on the ANPR must be received no later than 5 
p.m., eastern standard time, on February 8, 2010.

ADDRESSES:  You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-AY44, by 
any one of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking portal http://www.regulations.gov;
     Fax to Daniel T. Furlong, 302-674-5399; or
     Mail or hand deliver to Daniel T. Furlong, Executive 
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Room 2115 Federal 
Building, 300 South New Street, Dover, DE 19904-6790. Mark the outside 
of the envelope ``Comments on Squid Catch Share Programs.''
    Instructions: No comments will be posted for public viewing until 
after the comment period has closed. 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 (e.g., 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 wish to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to 
electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF 
file formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Carrie Nordeen, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, 978- 281-9272, fax 978-281-9135.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Loligo and Illex support important 
commercial fisheries along the Atlantic coast of the United States. The 
Council has

[[Page 1025]]

considered additional capacity controls in the Loligo and Illex 
fisheries since 2003. On May 20, 2003 (68 FR 27516), NMFS published, at 
the request of the Council, an ANPR indicating that the Council 
intended to consider alternative allocation schemes to further control 
capacity in the Loligo and Illex fisheries. Accordingly, May 20, 2003, 
was termed a ``control date,'' and notice was provided that the control 
date may be used for establishing eligibility criteria for determining 
levels of future access to the Loligo and Illex fisheries subject to 
Federal authority.
    At its August 2009 meeting, the Council voted to reaffirm the May 
20, 2003, control date for the Loligo fishery and to initiate an 
amendment to the MSB Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which would 
consider catch shares for the Loligo and Illex fisheries. The term 
``catch share'' describes a fishery management program that allocates a 
portion of the total fishery catch to individuals, cooperatives, 
communities, or other entities. Such programs also specify the rules of 
operation for the program. At its October 2009 meeting, the Council 
clarified that its vote to reaffirm the May 20, 2003, control date also 
applied to the Illex fishery. This notice reaffirms the Council's 
intent to consider use of the May 20, 2003, Loligo and Illex control 
date in the upcoming amendment to the MSB FMP. Reaffirming the squid 
control date is intended to strongly discourage speculative entry into 
the squid fisheries while catch share measures are developed and 
considered by the Council. The Council could use the squid control date 
to reduce potential excess capacity and/or latent capacity by 
distinguishing established participants from speculative entrants to 
the fishery. Additional and/or other qualifying criteria may also be 
applied. Consideration of a control date does not commit the Council or 
NMFS to develop any particular management system or criteria for 
participation in the squid fisheries. The Council may choose a 
different control date, or may choose a management program that does 
not use such a date. This notification also reminds the public that 
interested participants should locate and preserve records that 
substantiate and verify their participation in the Loligo and Illex 
fisheries in Federal waters.

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

    Dated: January 4, 2010.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-143 Filed 1-7-10; 8:45 am]
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