[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 26 (Monday, February 9, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 6510]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-3103]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 648
[I.D. 020298A]
RIN-0648-AF41
Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Amendment 10 to the
Fishery Management Plan for the Atlantic Surf Clam and Ocean Quahog
Fisheries
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management
plan; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 10 to the Fishery Management
Plan for the Atlantic Surf Clam and Ocean Quahog Fisheries (FMP) for
Secretarial review and is requesting comments from the public.
Amendment 10 would provide management measures for the fishery for
small ocean quahogs (mahogany quahogs) that occurs off the coast of
Maine, north of 43 deg.50' N. latitude.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 10, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, Regional
Administrator, NMFS, Northeast Regional Office, One Blackburn Drive,
Gloucester, MA 01930-3799. Mark the outside of the envelope ``Comments
on Amendment 10 to the Surf Clam and Ocean Quahog Plan.''
Copies of Amendment 10 including the environmental assessment and
regulatory impact review are available from David R. Keifer, Executive
Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Room 2115 Federal
Building, 300 S. New Street, Dover, DE 19904-6790.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Myles Raizin, Fishery Policy Analyst,
508-281-9104.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Amendment 10 proposes to (1) establish a
Maine mahogany quahog management zone north of 43 deg. 50' north
latitude (zone), (2) establish a Maine mahogany quahog moratorium
permit, (3) establish an initial annual quota of 100,000 Maine bushels
(35,150 hectoliters (hL)), (4) establish a Maine Mahogany Quahog
Advisory Panel to make management recommendations to the Council, (5)
allow for the revision of the annual quota within a range of 17,000 and
100,000 Maine bushels (5,975 and 35,150 hL), (6) require vessels
harvesting ocean quahogs from the zone to fish only in areas that have
been certified by the State of Maine to be within Interstate Shellfish
Sanitation Conference limits for the toxin responsible for paralytic
shellfish poisoning (PSP), (7) require vessels fishing under a Maine
mahogany quahog permit to land ocean quahogs in Maine, (8) require
vessels fishing in the zone under an individual transferrable quota and
landing their catch outside of Maine to land at a facility that
utilizes safety-based procedures including sampling and analyzing for
PSP toxin consistent with those safety-based procedures used by the
State of Maine for such purpose and, (9) give the Regional
Administrator the authority to suspend the existing vessel notification
requirement for vessels possessing a Maine mahogany quahog permit and
fishing in the zone, if he determines it is not necessary for
enforcement.
The transmit date for Amendment 10 is February 2, 1998. A proposed
rule that would implement the amendment may be published in the Federal
Register within 15 days of the transmit date, following an evaluation
by NMFS under the procedures of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries
Conservation and Management Act. Public comments on the proposed rule
must be received by the end of the comment period on Amendment 10,
which is April 10, 1998 in order to be considered in the decision
concerning approval or disapproval of the amendment.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 3, 1998.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 98-3103 Filed 2-6-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
