[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 21, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69796-69797]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-28323]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XC309


Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Application 
for an Exempted Fishing Permit

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

ACTION: Notice; public comment on an application for exempted fishing 
permit.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces receipt of an application and the public 
comment period for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from Mr. John 
Gauvin of Gauvin and Associates, LLC. If granted, this permit would 
allow the applicant to develop and test a salmon excluder device for 
the Central Gulf of Alaska pollock trawl fishery. This activity is 
intended to promote the objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for 
Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP) by reducing salmon bycatch in 
the Central Gulf of Alaska pollock trawl fishery.

DATES: Comments must be received by 5 p.m., Alaska local time (A.l.t.), 
December 14, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2012-0208, by any of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site at http://www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the e-Rulemaking Portal, 
first click the ``submit a comment'' icon, then enter NOAA-NMFS-2012-
0208 in the keyword search. Locate the document you wish to comment on 
from the resulting list and click on the ``Submit a Comment'' icon on 
the right of that line.
     Mail: Address written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region 
NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, 
AK 99802-1668.
     Fax: Address written comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant 
Regional Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region 
NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. Fax comments to 907-586-7557.
     Hand delivery to the Federal Building: Address written 
comments to Glenn Merrill, Assistant Regional Administrator, 
Sustainable Fisheries Division, Alaska Region NMFS, Attn: Ellen 
Sebastian. Deliver comments to 709 West 9th Street, Room 420A, Juneau, 
AK.
    Comments must be submitted by one of the above methods to ensure 
that the comments are received, documented, and considered by NMFS. 
Comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, 
or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered. 
All comments received are a part of the public record and will 
generally be posted for public viewing on www.regulations.gov without 
change. All personal identifying information (e.g., name, address) 
submitted voluntarily by the sender will 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). 
Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word 
or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.
    Electronic copies of the EFP application and the environmental 
assessment (EA) may be obtained from http://www.regulations.gov or from 
the Alaska Region Web site at http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff Hartman, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS manages the domestic groundfish 
fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) under the FMP. The North Pacific 
Fishery Management Council (Council) prepared the FMP under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Regulations 
governing the groundfish fisheries of the GOA appear at 50 CFR parts 
600 and 679. The FMP and the implementing regulations at Sec. Sec.  
600.745(b) and 679.6 authorize issuance of EFPs to allow fishing that 
would otherwise be prohibited. Procedures for issuing EFPs are 
contained in the implementing regulations.
    NMFS received an application for an EFP from Mr. Gauvin in 
September 2012. The purposes of the EFP research would be to improve 
the performance of the salmon excluder device developed under EFP 11-
01, from 2011 to 2012, and to validate the performance of this device 
for pollock trawl gear used in the Central GOA. The goal is to develop 
a device for pollock trawl gear that reduces salmon bycatch without 
significantly lowering catch rates of pollock. Previous EFP 
applications, permits and final reports for salmon excluder experiments 
conducted in Alaska are available at: https://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/ram/efp.htm.
    The EFP would allow for development and testing of the salmon 
excluder device for two years from January 2013 through December 2014, 
during the pollock A through D seasons. Testing in each season would 
allow the device to be used under salmon occurrence and pollock fishing 
practices specific to each season. Testing in the A season would catch 
primarily Chinook salmon and roe-bearing pollock, while testing in the 
B through D seasons would catch Chinook salmon and pollock that are not 
likely to be roe-bearing. EFP fishing would be conducted by one to two 
vessels in each season.
    To test the salmon excluder device, exemptions would be necessary 
from regulations for Central GOA Chinook salmon prohibited species 
catch (PSC) limits, retention requirements and trip limits for pollock, 
halibut PSC limits, selected observer requirements, closures for the 
pollock directed fishery, and specified total allowable catch amounts 
(TACs) for pollock. The taking of Chinook salmon during the experiment 
is crucial for determining the effectiveness of the salmon excluder 
device to allow Chinook salmon to escape from a pelagic trawl cod end. 
Chinook salmon taken during the experiment would not be counted toward 
the Chinook salmon PSC limits under Sec.  679.21(h)(2)(i). The amount 
of Chinook salmon bycatch by the pollock trawl fishery during the EFP 
period could potentially approach the Central GOA Chinook salmon PSC 
limits of 18,316 Chinook salmon. If the EFP Chinook salmon were counted 
toward the Chinook salmon PSC limits, those

[[Page 69797]]

limits would impede the ability of the participating trawl vessels from 
obtaining a sufficient sample size of Chinook salmon required for 
testing the salmon excluder device and may cause the closure of the 
Central GOA pollock fishery. Information regarding the Chinook salmon 
PSC limits for Central and Western GOA established under Amendment 93 
was published in the Federal Register on July 20, 2012 (77FR 42629).
    Up to 2,400 Chinook would be required for each year (2013 and 2014) 
in the A through D seasons, for a total of 4,800 Chinook salmon over 
the two-year EFP. The experimental design requires this quantity of 
salmon to ensure statistically valid results. The applicant also has 
requested an exemption from inseason pollock closures (Sec.  
679.7(a)(2)), maximum retainable amounts for pollock (Sec.  
679.20(d)(1)(iii)(B)), halibut PSC limits (Sec.  679.21(d)(3)), daily 
pollock trip landing and retention limits (Sec.  679.7(b)(2)(i) and 
(b)(2)(ii)), selected observer requirements (Sec.  679.50), and 
proposed observer requirements. Additional exemptions from 50 CFR part 
679 are anticipated for amendments to observer regulations, following 
the publication of the final rule to restructure the North Pacific 
Groundfish Observer Program (Observer Program). The proposed rule was 
published in the Federal Register on April 18, 2012 (77 FR 23326). 
Implementation of the restructured Observer Program is scheduled for 
January 2013.
    EFP fishing would be conducted by one or two pelagic trawl catcher 
vessels. These vessels would be exempted from selected observer 
requirements at Sec.  679.50. The applicants would use ``sea samplers'' 
who are NMFS-trained observers. They would not be deployed as NMFS 
observers, however, at the time of the EFP fishing. The ``sea 
samplers'' would conduct the EFP data collection, collect tissue 
samples for genetic assessment of stock of origin, and perform other 
observer duties that normally would be required for vessels directed 
fishing for pollock.
    Groundfish taken under the EFP would be exempt from the TACs 
specified in the annual harvest specifications (Sec.  679.20). A total 
of 2,400 metric tons (mt) of groundfish (primarily pollock) would be 
taken during each of the two years (2013 through 2014) for a total of 
4,800 mt over the duration of the EFP. Approximately 2,304 mt of the 
groundfish harvested each year from the EFP is expected to be pollock. 
The experimental design requires this quantity of pollock to ensure a 
statistically adequate sample size for measuring pollock escapement 
through the salmon excluder device.
    Because very little groundfish incidental catch occurs in the 
pollock fishery, the harvest of other groundfish species during the EFP 
fishing is expected to be no greater than approximately 4 percent of 
the groundfish taken during the fishery (96 mt per year). The majority 
of these other groundfish species harvested under the EFP likely would 
be only small amounts of arrowtooth flounder, Pacific cod, shallow-
water flatfish, deep-water flatfish, and rex sole.
    The applicant reports that EFP fishing under this permit is likely 
to incidentally harvest up to approximately 4.0 mt of halibut each 
year. If the permit is issued, NMFS would exempt the vessels 
participating in the EFP from halibut PSC limits at Sec.  679.21, and 
as specified in the GOA 2013 and 2014 annual harvest specifications. A 
catch of 4.0 mt of halibut for this EFP would represent approximately 
0.2% of the annual GOA trawl apportionment.
    The experiment will not be conducted in Steller sea lion critical 
habitat, but will be in locations that historically produce high 
concentrations of Chinook salmon during pollock fishing, to ensure a 
statistically adequate sample size. In particular, some of the 
locations north, west, and east of Kodiak are ideal for conducting the 
experiment by ensuring that the vessel encounters sufficient 
concentrations of salmon and pollock for addressing experimental design 
criteria.
    The activities under the EFP are not expected to have a significant 
impact on the human environment as analyzed in the EA for this action 
(see ADDRESSES). The EFP would be subject to modifications pending any 
new relevant information regarding the 2013 or 2014 fishery, including 
pollock harvest specifications.
    In accordance with Sec.  679.6, NMFS has determined that the 
proposal warrants further consideration and has forwarded the 
application to the Council to initiate consultation. The Director of 
the Alaska Fisheries Science Center reviewed the EFP, determined that 
the research proposal represents a valid scientific study, and has 
expressed support for continuing this trawl bycatch research in the 
GOA. The Council will consider the EFP application during its meeting 
held December 3 through 12, 2012, at the Hilton Hotel in Anchorage, AK. 
The applicant has been invited to appear in support of the application.

Public Comments

    Public comments are being solicited on the application and the EA 
through the end of the comment period stated in this notice. To be 
considered, comments must be received by 5 p.m. A.l.t. on the last day 
of the comment period; that does not mean postmarked or otherwise 
transmitted by that date. Copies of the application and EA are 
available for review from NMFS (see ADDRESSES). Interested persons also 
may comment on the application and on the EA at the December 2012 
Council meeting during public testimony.
    Information regarding the meeting is available at the Council's Web 
site at http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/npfmc/.

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

    Dated: November 16, 2012.
Emily H. Menashes,
Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-28323 Filed 11-20-12; 8:45 am]
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