[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 1 (Monday, January 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 99-100]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-33101]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-BA52


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
Amendment 24 to the Fishery Management Plan for Snapper Grouper 
Resources of the South Atlantic

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

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS); notice of scoping meetings; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS, Southeast Region, in collaboration with the South 
Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), intends to prepare an 
EIS to describe and analyze a range of alternatives for management 
actions to be included in an amendment to the Fishery Management Plan 
for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP). 
These alternatives will consider measures to establish a rebuilding 
plan for the red grouper stock, while setting annual catch limits 
(ACLs), accountability measures (AMs), allocations, maximum sustainable 
yield (MSY), and optimum yield (OY) for red grouper. The purpose of 
this NOI is to solicit public comments on the scope of issues to be 
addressed in the EIS.

DATES: Written comments on the scope of issues to be addressed in the 
EIS will be accepted from January 12 to February 14, 5 p.m., eastern 
time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-BA52, 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: Rick DeVictor, 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 is over. 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.
    To submit comments through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov, enter ``NOAA-NMFS-2010-0263'' 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kim Iverson; phone: (843) 571-4366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The red grouper stock in the south Atlantic 
was assessed through the Southeast, Data, Assessment, and Review 
(SEDAR) process in 2010. The assessment indicates that the stock is 
experiencing overfishing and is overfished. Overfishing is a condition 
when fishing pressure is beyond the allowable level. Overfishing may 
lead to an overfished condition. A stock is overfished when the biomass 
is below an identified minimum stock size threshold. Due to low biomass 
levels, an overfished stock has increased vulnerability to 
environmental variables and cannot produce the MSY.
    As directed by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the Council and NMFS must 
implement a rebuilding plan, through an FMP Amendment or proposed 
regulations, which ends overfishing immediately and provides for 
rebuilding the fishery. The intent of a rebuilding plan is to increase 
biomass of overfished stocks to a sustainable level within a specified 
period of time. A plan should achieve conservation goals, while 
minimizing to the extent practicable adverse socioeconomic impacts. 
NMFS notified the Council of the stock status on June 9, 2010; the 
Magnuson-Stevens Act

[[Page 100]]

specifies that measures to end overfishing and rebuild the stock must 
be implemented within two years of notification.
    A reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act in 2007 introduced 
new tools that, when implemented, would end and prevent overfishing in 
order to achieve the OY from a fishery. The requirements are referred 
to as ACLs and AMs. An ACL is the level of annual catch of a stock 
that, if met or exceeded, triggers some corrective action. AMs are 
management controls to prevent ACLs from being exceeded and to correct 
overages of ACLs if they occur. Two examples of AMs include an in-
season closure if catch approaches the ACL and reducing the ACL by an 
overage that occurred the previous fishing year. The EIS will include 
alternatives that would establish ACLs and AMs for red grouper in the 
South Atlantic region.
    The Council and NMFS are also considering a division of the red 
grouper ACL into sector-ACLs based upon allocation decisions. A 
``sector'' means a distinct user group to which separate management 
strategies and separate catch quotas apply. Examples of sectors include 
commercial and recreational; the recreational sector may also be 
divided into for-hire and private recreational groups. The Council and 
NMFS have determined that sector-ACLs and sector-AMs are important 
components of red grouper management as each sector differs in 
scientific and management uncertainty. A range of options will be 
evaluated in the EIS, including those that base allocation decisions on 
historical landings.
    NMFS, in collaboration with the Council, will develop an EIS to 
describe and analyze alternatives to address the management needs 
described above. Those alternatives will include a ``no action'' 
alternative for each action.
    In accordance with NOAA's Administrative Order 216-6, Section 
5.02(c), Scoping Process, NMFS, in collaboration with the Council, has 
identified preliminary environmental issues as a means to initiate 
discussion for scoping purposes only. These preliminary issues may not 
represent the full range of issues that eventually will be evaluated in 
the EIS.
    Copies of an information packet will be available from NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES).
    After the draft EIS (DEIS) associated with Amendment 24 is 
completed, it will be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA). The EPA will publish a notice of availability of the DEIS for 
public comment in the Federal Register. The draft EIS will have a 45-
day comment period. This procedure is pursuant to regulations issued by 
the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for implementing the 
procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 
40 CFR parts 1500-1508) and to NOAA's Administrative Order 216-6 
regarding NOAA's compliance with NEPA and the CEQ regulations.
    Following publication of this NOI, the Council will conduct public 
scoping meetings to determine the range of issues to be addressed in 
the DEIS and the associated Amendment 24. A Federal Register notice 
will announce the availability of the DEIS associated with this 
amendment, as well as a 45-day public comment period. The Council will 
consider public comments received on the DEIS in developing the final 
environmental impact statement (FEIS), and before voting to submit the 
final amendment to NMFS for Secretarial review, approval, and 
implementation. NMFS will announce in the Federal Register the 
availability of the final amendment and FEIS for public review during 
the Secretarial review period, and will consider all public comments 
prior to final agency action to approve, disapprove, or partially 
approve the final amendment.

Scoping Meetings, Times, and Locations

    All meetings will begin at 3 p.m. In addition to Amendment 24, the 
Council intends to scope additional amendments at this series of 
meetings. Separate NOIs will be prepared for each amendment. The 
meetings will be physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for information packets or for sign language interpretation or 
other auxiliary aids should be directed to the Council (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT).
    Monday, January 24, 2011--Hilton New Bern/Riverfront, 100 Middle 
Street, New Bern, NC 28560; phone 252-638-3585.
    Wednesday, January 26, 2011--Crowne Plaza Charleston Airport, 4831 
Tanger Outlet Boulevard, North Charleston, SC 29418; phone 843-744-
4422.
    Thursday, January 27, 2011--Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, 175 
Bourne Avenue, Pooler, GA 31322; phone 912-748-8888.
    Monday, January 31, 2011--Jacksonville Marriott, 4670 Salisbury 
Road, Jacksonville, FL 32256; phone 904-296-2222.
    Tuesday, February 1, 2011--International Palms Resort, 1300 N. 
Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach, FL 32931; phone 321-783-2271.
    Thursday, February 3, 2011--Key Largo Grande Resort, 97000 Overseas 
Resort, Key Largo, FL 33037; phone 305-852-5553.

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

    Dated: December 28, 2010.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-33101 Filed 12-30-10; 8:45 am]
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