[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 212 (Wednesday, November 3, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 59730-59731]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-28643]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 679
[I.D. 102699G]
Groundfish Fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea/
Aleutian Islands Area
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notification of draft alternatives; extension of scoping and
comment period.
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SUMMARY: NMFS is publishing draft alternatives to be analyzed in a
programmatic supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) on
Federal groundfish fishery management in the Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) off Alaska. This document also provides an extension of the
scoping period from November 15 until December 15, 1999.
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before December 15,
1999.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Lori Gravel, Sustainable
Fisheries Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, P.O. Box 21668,
Juneau, AK 99802. Comments may also be hand delivered to Room 457-1
Federal Office Building, 907 West 9 Street, Juneau, AK.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Davis, NMFS, (907) 271-3523 or
steven.k.davis@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS published in the Federal Register, a
notice of intent to prepare an SEIS on Federal groundfish fishery
management in the EEZ off Alaska and announced scoping meetings (64 FR
53305, October 1, 1999). The reason for undertaking the analysis, and
the issues to be analyzed, are detailed in the notice of intent and are
not repeated here. In the notice, NMFS indicated that, prior to the
scoping meetings, NMFS will publish in the Federal Register draft
alternatives to be developed further during the scoping process.
NMFS manages the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and Gulf of
Alaska (GOA) groundfish fisheries to achieve the goals and objectives
of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
(Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) for the
Groundfish Fisheries in the BSAI Area, and the Groundfish of the GOA.
The goals and objectives reflect the complicated array of often
competing concerns that affect the Alaska groundfish fisheries. In some
instances, contradictory objectives are articulated within a single
goal. For example, paraphrasing from the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the
FMPs, we find they generally contain the following goals and
objectives: Assure continuing availability of food supply and
recreational opportunities; minimize irreversible adverse effects on
fishery resources and the marine environment, including essential fish
habitat; maximize economic benefits to the Nation and to the states;
provide for sustained participation of fishing communities; minimize
waste, reduce bycatch and the mortality of bycatch, encourage
development of underused fisheries; control effort; promote equitable
allocations; keep management options open for the future; prevent
overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks; manage stocks as a unit;
promote protection of the safety of human life at sea; promote
regulatory and fishing efficiency; use the best available data; account
for all fishery related removals. In deciding on particular new
management measures, NMFS and the North Pacific Fishery Management
Council review reasonable alternatives for achieving one or more of
those goals and objectives, then base decisions according to the views
of competing interests and concerns.
With this programmatic environmental impact analysis, NMFS will
evaluate how successfully the current management regime achieves those
goals and objectives. The SEIS will support these determinations by
presenting an analysis of the environmental impacts of the current
regime and compare them to configurations of alternatives management
measures that would also achieve those goals and objectives.
Alternatives
NMFS has chosen to analyze broad thematic alternatives that will
provide, in a programmatic sense, a conceptual framework for
understanding how effectively alternative harvest management regimes
achieve the articulated goals and objectives and what their
environmental impacts would be. The SEIS will look at the themes: (1)
Who harvests groundfish; (2) what groundfish is harvested; (3) when and
where is groundfish harvested; and (4) how groundfish is harvested.
Sub-alternatives will be developed for each theme. The alternatives and
sub-alternatives NMFS is currently considering include the following:
Allocative Schemes (Who harvests groundfish?)
Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Allocation of groundfish harvest is
currently based on the species or species group and is made to
individuals, cooperatives, and Olympic-style fisheries (i.e., non-
Community Development Quota (CDQ), non-Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ)
fisheries) by sector.
Sub-alternative 2 - IFQ: Expand or reduce allocations to
individuals by species or species group.
Sub-alternative 3 - Cooperatives: Expand or reduce allocations to
cooperatives by species or species group.
Sub-alternative 4 - Open access: Reduce or remove limited access
systems.
[[Page 59731]]
Sub-alternative 5 - Allocation: Expand or reduce the use of sector
allocations or alter the amounts of allocations.
Sub-alternative 6 - License Limitation: Expand or reduce the use of
license limitation.
Harvest Level (What is harvested?)
Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Total Allowable Catch levels (TACs)
are set by species or species group and the sum of the TACs must stay
within the OY of the groundfish complex.
Sub-alternative 2 - Increase the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal
to the maximum acceptable biological catch (going above OY of the
groundfish complex).
Sub-alternative 3 - Decrease the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal
to 50 percent of the maximum acceptable biological catch.
Sub-alternative 4 - Stabilize the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal
to the 1994-1998 average fishing mortality.
Sub-alternative 5 - Authorize zero harvest: Set the TACs at zero.
Time/Area Closures (When and Where does harvest occur?)
Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Numerous time/area closure schemes
are currently in use serving to achieve various conservation
objectives. Among the purposes served are closures to minimize fishery
interactions with species listed under the Endangered Species Act,
prohibited species, and crab habitat.
Sub-alternative 2 - Steller sea lion focus: Add additional closures
based on their potential to minimize indirect interactions with Steller
sea lion foraging habitat.
Sub-alternative 3 - Prohibited species focus: Add additional
closures based on their potential to minimize take of prohibited
species.
Sub-alternative 4 - Habitat focus: Add additional closures based on
their potential to minimize disturbance of marine substrates.
Sub-alternative 5 - Market focus: Modify seasonal and area
restrictions to increase value of harvest and/or improve the efficiency
of fishing operations.
Gear Limitations (How is groundfish harvested?)
Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo. Fishing gear as described in
regulations with sector allocations made in annual total allowable
catch specifications.
Sub-alternative 2 - Further restrict fishing gear contact with the
sea floor by banning non-pelagic trawl gear in flatfish fisheries.
Sub-alternative 3 - Restrict use of trawl, longline, and/or pot
gear to habitat areas with substrates composed of unconsolidated
sediments.
Sub-alternative 4 - Restrict authorized fishing gear to those
capable of minimizing bycatch significantly below levels presently
considered clean for each directed fishery.
Sub-alternative 5 - Allow all gear types and allow fishermen to
select the most effective type.
Public Involvement
Scoping for the programmatic SEIS began with publication of a
Notice of Intent in the Federal Register on October 1, 1999. This
notice extends the scoping period from November 15, to December 15,
1999, to provide the public and NMFS with additional time to refine
these alternatives.
Dated: October 27, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-28643 Filed 11-2-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
