[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 186 (Monday, September 27, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 59204-59205]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-24185]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 100818375-0379-02]
RIN 0648-XX84


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Northeast (NE) 
Multispecies Fishery; Reopening of a Proposed Rule Comment Period 
Through October 1, 2010

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

ACTION: Proposed rule, reopening and extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is reopening the comment period for the proposed rule to 
Implement Addenda to 17 Fishing Year (FY) 2010 Northeast Multispecies 
Sector Operations Plans and Contracts. The comment period is being 
reopened and extended to provide additional opportunity for public 
comment.

DATES: Written comments must be received by 5 p.m., local time on 
October 1, 2010.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by 0648-XX84, by any one 
of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
     Fax: (978) 281-9135, Attn: Melissa Vasquez.
     Mail: Paper, disk, or CD-ROM comments should be sent to 
Patricia A. Kurkul, Regional Administrator, National Marine Fisheries 
Service, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the 
outside of the envelope: ``Comments on 2010 Sector Exemption Rule.''

[[Page 59205]]

     Instructions: All comments received are part of the public 
record and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov 
without change. No comments will be posted for public viewing until 
after the comment period has closed. 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. Copies of requests for addenda to the FY 2010 sector 
operations plans and contracts, and the supplemental environmental 
assessment (EA), are available from the NMFS NE Regional Office at the 
mailing address specified above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melissa Vasquez, Fishery Policy 
Analyst, phone (978) 281-9166, fax (978) 281-9135.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A final rule published April 9, 2010 (75 FR 
18113), approved FY 2010 sector operations plans and contracts and 
allocations of annual catch entitlement (ACE) for 17 NE multispecies 
sectors. Through this final rule, the Regional Administrator also 
approved exemptions for sector vessels from certain Federal fishing 
regulations for those sectors that requested them, in addition to the 
universal exemptions already approved for all sectors through Amendment 
16 to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP).
    A proposed rule published on September 2, 2010 (75 FR 53939), 
proposes to implement addenda to FY 2010 NE multispecies sector 
operations plans and contracts that would add certain exemptions from 
Federal fishing regulations for FY 2010 sectors. The proposed rule 
considers expanding exemptions already approved for some sectors to all 
those that request them to maximize flexibility and improve 
profitability for sector vessels. It also proposes approving two new 
exemption requests: The Gulf of Maine (GOM) Sink Gillnet exemption and 
the discarding exemption for unmarketable fish. The GOM Sink Gillnet 
exemption is based on a program originally considered and disapproved 
for the common pool fishery in Amendment 16 to the NE Multispecies FMP, 
and would allow sector vessels to use 6-inch (15.24-cm) mesh gillnets 
in the GOM Regulated Mesh Area January through April 2011, to target 
haddock. This action also proposes a partial exemption from the 
prohibition on discarding of legal-size allocated stocks to allow 
sector vessels to discard unmarketable fish at sea, to improve safety 
conditions and operational flexibility for sector vessels.
    The proposed rule published in the Federal Register with a 15-day 
comment period that closed on September 17, 2010. The New England 
Fishery Management Council (Council) will be discussing a number of 
important sector exemption requests from the proposed rule at their 
September 28-30, 2010, meeting. Reopening and extending the comment 
period to overlap with the Council meeting is necessary to provide 
additional time for the Council and any other interested parties to 
provide comment, after this proposed action is discussed at the Council 
meeting. Thus, NMFS is reopening and extending the comment period on 
the proposed rule through October 1, 2010.

    Dated: September 22, 2010.
Eric C. Schwaab,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-24185 Filed 9-22-10; 4:15 pm]
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