[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 49 (Monday, March 15, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12169-12170]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-5603]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 622

[Docket No. 100210083-0085-01]
RIN 0648-AY67


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and South 
Atlantic; Commercial King and Spanish Mackerel Fisheries of the Gulf of 
Mexico; Control Date

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

ACTION: Advanced notice of proposed rulemaking; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Gulf of Mexico Fishery 
Management Council (Council) is considering additional management 
measures to further limit the number of participants or levels of 
participation in the commercial king and Spanish mackerel components of 
the coastal migratory pelagic fishery operating in the exclusive 
economic zone (EEZ) of the Gulf of Mexico. If such management

[[Page 12170]]

measures are implemented, the Council is considering June 30, 2009, as 
a possible control date for king mackerel and March 31, 2010, as a 
possible control date for Spanish mackerel. These dates may serve to 
determine eligibility of catch histories in the commercial king and 
Spanish mackerel fisheries. NMFS invites comments on the revision of 
these control dates.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by April 14, 2010.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-AY67, by any 
one of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov
     Mail: Susan Gerhart, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 
13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
    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 (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. 
Comments should apply to the control date as an eligibility requirement 
for a catch share program, not the catch share program itself.
    To submit comments through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov, enter ``NOAA-NMFS-2010-0031'' in the keyword 
search, then select ``Send a Comment or Submission.'' 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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The commercial fishery for mackerel in the 
Gulf of Mexico is managed under the Fishery Management Plan for the 
Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and South 
Atlantic (FMP). The FMP was prepared jointly by the South Atlantic 
Fishery Management Council and the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management 
Council (Council), and implemented under the authority of the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).
    The Council anticipates that future action may be necessary to 
further control effort or participation of Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) king 
and Spanish mackerel through additional management actions. At its 
February 2010 meeting, the Council approved a motion to revise control 
dates for king and Spanish mackerel. Specifically, the Council may 
consider creating additional restrictions to limit participation 
including creating a catch share program. To discourage accelerated 
effort to develop a catch history before the program is implemented, 
the Council may establish eligibility criteria based on catch histories 
from, and before, the most recent full fishing seasons. The proposed 
control date for king mackerel would be June 30, 2009, and the proposed 
control date for Spanish mackerel would be March 31, 2010. Thus, 
landings of the respective species after these dates may not count 
toward potential eligibility under a future management program. The 
implementation of a future program to restrict access in the fishery 
would require preparation of an amendment to the FMP and publication of 
a notice of availability of the amendment with a comment period, 
publication of a proposed rule with a public comment period, approval 
of the amendment, and issuance of a final implementing rule.
    The current control date for both king and Spanish mackerel is 
October 16, 1995. This current notice proposes an adjustment of the 
control dates for these fisheries to the end of the most recent fishing 
year to allow incorporation of more recent as well as historical 
fishing activity.
    The revision of control dates for king and Spanish mackerel does 
not commit the Council or NMFS to any particular management regime. The 
Council may or may not make use of these control dates as part of the 
qualifying criteria for participation in any potential future catch 
share or fishery management program for Gulf group mackerel. Fishermen 
are not guaranteed future participation in the fishery, regardless of 
their entry date or intensity of participation in the fishery before or 
after the control dates under consideration. Future determinations of 
the Council may give variably weighted consideration to fishermen 
active in the fishery before and after the control dates. Other 
qualifying criteria, such as documentation of landings and sales, may 
be applied for entry into the fishery. Additionally, the Council may 
choose to take no further action to control entry or access to the 
fishery, in which case the control dates may be rescinded.
    This notification also gives the public notice that interested 
participants should locate and preserve records that substantiate and 
verify their participation in the commercial king and Spanish mackerel 
fisheries in the Gulf EEZ.

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

    Dated: March 9, 2010.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator For Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-5603 Filed 3-12-10; 8:45 am]
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