[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 115 (Wednesday, June 16, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 34092]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-14541]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 697

[Docket No. 0912011421-0200-01]
RIN 0648-AY41


Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; 
Weakfish Fishery

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

ACTION: Proposed rule; re-opening of comment period.

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SUMMARY:  NMFS is reopening the comment period on the proposed rule to 
set the commercial possession limit for weakfish caught in the 
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) at 100 lb (45 kg) per day or trip, 
whichever is longer in duration, and set the recreational possession 
limit at 1 fish per person per day or trip, whichever is longer in 
duration. The intent of the proposed rule is to modify regulations for 
the Atlantic coast stock of weakfish to be more compatible with 
Addendum IV to Amendment 4 of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 
Commission's (Commission) Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP) 
for weakfish. Such action is authorized under the Atlantic Coastal 
Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (Atlantic Coastal Act).

DATES:  The deadline for written comments on the May 12, 2010 (75 FR 
26703), proposed rule is re-opened. Comments will be accepted through 
June 30, 2010.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-AY41, 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: Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Suite 13317, Silver Spring, 
MD 20910, Attn: State-Federal Team. Mark the outside of the envelope: 
AComments on Weakfish Addendum IV.@
     Fax: (301) 713-0596, Attn: State-Federal Team.
    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://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 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:  Brian Hooker, (301) 713-2334.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On November 3, 2009, the Commission adopted Addendum IV to 
Amendment 4 to the ISFMP for Weakfish (Addendum IV), in response to the 
stock status of weakfish. A recent peer-reviewed assessment found the 
weakfish stock to be depleted, with spawning stock biomass estimated to 
be three percent of an unfished stock, well below the 20-percent 
threshold and 30-percent target reference points approved by the 
Commission's Weakfish Management Board as part of Addendum IV. The 
decline in biomass reflects a sustained rise in natural mortality after 
1995, rather than an increase in fishing mortality, which has been 
modest and stable over the same time period. In response to these 
findings, the Commission's Weakfish Management Board approved 
management measures to reduce exploitation of weakfish by more than 50-
percent in both the recreational and commercial sectors. Addendum IV 
requires states to implement a one-fish recreational creel limit, 100 
lb (45 kg) commercial trip limit, and 100 lb (45 kg) commercial bycatch 
limit during closed seasons. Addendum IV maintains the current 12-inch 
(30.5 cm) minimum size for weakfish, and reduces the number of 
undersized fish that may be retained per commercial trip from 300 to 
100 fish. The sale of undersized fish continues to be prohibited. In 
implementing Amendment 4 to the weakfish plan, NMFS never adopted the 
300 undersized fish exception to the 12-inch (30.5 cm) minimum fish 
size in Federal waters. NMFS continues the policy of no exemptions to 
the minimum size limit in the weakfish fishery here by not proposing a 
100 undersized fish exception to the current minimum size limit in 
Federal waters. The Commission recommended in Addendum IV that NMFS 
promulgate all necessary regulations to implement complementary 
measures to those approved in the addendum.
    On May 12, 2010, NMFS published a proposed rule that would 
implement compatible management measures in the EEZ in the Federal 
Register (75 FR 26703) with a 30-day comment period that ended on June 
11, 2010. NMFS received a request from the State of North Carolina to 
extend the comment period for the proposed rule so that they could 
complete an analysis of the economic impacts of the proposed rule on 
North Carolina fisheries and submit that information as part of the 
State's comments on the rule. This additional information would be 
beneficial to our analysis of economic impacts of the proposed rule. 
Therefore, to allow for additional public comment to be submitted 
beyond the initial 30-day deadline, NMFS is reopening the comment 
period on the proposed rule through June 30, 2010.

    Dated: June 11, 2010.
Eric C. Schwab,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheies, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-14541 Filed 6-11-10; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S