[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 193 (Friday, October 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53110-53111]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-21698]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 170718681-9471-01]
RIN 0648-XF575


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Species 
Act Listing Determination for Alewife and Blueback Herring; Correction

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

ACTION: Notice; correction.

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SUMMARY: We, NMFS, published in the Federal Register of June 19, 2019, 
a ``not warranted'' 12-month finding under the Endangered Species Act 
(ESA) for alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), four alewife distinct 
population segments (DPS), blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), and 
three blueback herring DPSs. This document corrects our significant 
portion of its range (SPR) analyses for blueback herring.

DATES: This finding was made on June 19, 2019.

ADDRESSES: The status review document for alewife and blueback herring 
is available electronically at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/not-warranted-listing-determination-alewife-and-blueback-herring. You 
may also obtain a copy by submitting a request to the Protected 
Resources Division, NMFS GARFO, 55 Great Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 
01930, Attention: Alewife and Blueback Herring 12-month Finding.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean Higgins, NMFS Greater Atlantic 
Regional Fisheries Office, 978-281-9345.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 19, 2019, we issued a ``not 
warranted'' finding for alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), four alewife 
distinct population segments (DPS), blueback herring (Alosa 
aestivalis), and three blueback herring DPSs (84 FR 28630). In making 
that finding, we determined that neither blueback herring nor any of 
the

[[Page 53111]]

DPSs, specifically the Bb-Canada/Northern New England, Bb-Mid-Atlantic, 
and Bb-Southern Atlantic DPSs, were threatened or endangered throughout 
all or a significant portion of their ranges. In the June 19, 2019 
Notice (hereafter Notice), we inadvertently omitted information related 
to the Status Review Team's (SRT) application of the SPR Policy (79 FR 
37578; July 1, 2014) to the blueback herring DPSs and our subsequent 
findings. Consistent with the SRT's application of the SPR Policy to 
the alewife rangewide and to the alewife DPSs, which is described in 
the Notice, the SRT also applied the SPR Policy to the blueback herring 
population rangewide and to the blueback herring DPSs. The Notice 
provides a thorough discussion of the SPR Policy as applied to the 
blueback herring rangewide and our additional considerations, 
independent of the definition of ``significant'' in the policy given 
that the threshold for ``significance'' had recently been invalidated. 
In the Notice, however, we failed to include a discussion of the SRT's 
SPR analyses for the Bb-Canada/Northern New England, Bb-Mid-Atlantic, 
and Bb-Southern Atlantic DPSs, through which they found no evidence of 
a heightened risk of extinction now or in the foreseeable future in any 
portion of the ranges of these DPSs. Furthermore, we failed to state 
that we agreed with the SRT's analyses. Here, we provide corrections to 
our 12-month finding and provide notice that these analyses have also 
been included in the Status Review Report.
    Additionally, in the SPR section of the Notice, within the 
rangewide analysis for blueback herring, our discussion of the Long 
Island Sound portion of the range requires clarification. Here, we 
clarify that the Long Island Sound portion of the range overlaps the 
Bb-Southern New England stock complex and the Bb-Mid-Atlantic DPS. As 
described in the Notice, some of the rivers in this portion occur 
within the Bb-Southern New England stock complex (the Gilbert-Stuart 
and Monument Rivers (Reid et al. 2018)), while other rivers are found 
in the Bb-Mid-Atlantic DPS (the Connecticut River and Mianus Rivers 
(Reid et al. 2018)). This clarifies that this portion does not exist 
solely within the Bb-Mid-Atlantic DPS.

Corrections

    In the Federal Register of June 19, 2019 in FR Doc. 2019-12908, 
beginning on page 28663, in the preamble section, make the following 
corrections:
    1. On page 28663, in the second column, in the first full 
paragraph, the first sentence is corrected to read:
    Additionally, because in 2011, the petitioner identified the Long 
Island Sound portion of the range as a potential DPS, the SRT 
considered if this portion, which overlaps the Bb-Southern New England 
stock complex and the Mid-Atlantic DPS, would be considered 
``significant'' under the SPR Policy.
    2. On page 28663, in the second column, in the second full 
paragraph, the second sentence is corrected to read:
    Notably, this area is found partially within the Bb-Mid-Atlantic 
DPS (discussed above and reviewed in Evaluation of Threats), and any 
information that may differ in the Long Island Sound portion of the 
range from other portions of the blueback herring range is expressed in 
the above descriptions with additional detail provided in the Status 
Review Report (NMFS 2019).
    3. On page 28665, in the second column, after the first full 
paragraph, is corrected by adding the following paragraphs to read:
    The SRT then applied the SPR Policy to each blueback herring DPS. 
In other words, the SRT evaluated whether there is substantial 
information indicating that any portions of any singular DPS may have a 
concentration of threats and should be further evaluated under the SPR 
Policy. After reviewing the best available data, the SRT found no 
information to suggest that any portion of the Bb-Canada/Northern New 
England, Bb-Mid-Atlantic, or Bb-Southern Atlantic DPSs stood out as 
having a heightened risk of extinction now or in the foreseeable 
future, and the SRT found no reason to further evaluate areas of any 
particular blueback herring DPS under the SPR Policy.
    After reviewing the SRT's findings, we agree that there is no 
evidence to suggest that blueback herring are at heightened risk of 
extinction, now or in the foreseeable future, in any particular area of 
a DPS. Thus, we find no evidence that a significant portion of one of 
the blueback herring DPSs is threatened or endangered and accordingly, 
consistent with the SPR Policy, we do not reach the second question 
identified in the SPR Policy of whether a portion of any blueback 
herring DPS is biologically significant.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.

    Dated: October 1, 2019.
Samuel D. Rauch, III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-21698 Filed 10-3-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P