[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 140 (Thursday, July 22, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39479-39480]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-18737]
[[Page 39479]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
[I.D. 071299A]
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Proposed Coral Reef
Ecosystem Fishery Management Plan (Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP) of the
Western Pacific Region; for the Fishery Management Plan for the
Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish of the Western Pacific Region;
(Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish FMP)
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare EISs; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NOAA announces its intention to prepare an EIS in accordance
with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the proposed
Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP, and an EIS for the Bottomfish and Seamount
Groundfish Fisheries FMP. The Western Pacific Fishery Management
Council (Council) will hold public scoping hearings in Guam and the
Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan) on management alternatives to be
analyzed under both EISs.
DATES: Written comments on the intent to prepare the two EISs will be
accepted on or before July 29, 1999. Public scoping meetings are
scheduled for July 28 and 29, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on suggested alternatives and potential
impacts should be sent to Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director, Western
Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, 1164 Bishop St., Suite
1400, Honolulu, HI 96813, and to Charles Karnella, Administrator, NMFS,
Pacific Islands Area Office, 1601 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1110, Honolulu
HI 96814.
The following locations and times have been set for scoping
meetings:
1. Guam, scoping meeting/public hearing, July 28, 1999, 6 - 8 p.m.,
Asan Community Center, Asan Village, GU. Phone contact c/o Guam Dept.
of Commerce, 671-475-0321.
2. Saipan, scoping meeting/public hearing, July 29, 1999, 6 - 9
p.m., Carolinian Utt Pavilion (across from Bank of Guam and Ocean View
Hotel), Garapan, Saipan CNMI, Phone Division of Fish and Wildlife
Resources, 670-322-9627 for information.
3. Additional field hearings for public scoping are tentatively
planned for August in American Samoa and Hawaii (details regarding
times and locations will follow in a separate Federal Register
announcement).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kitty M. Simonds, at 808-522-8220.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A summary of the Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP
will be presented, including initial recommendations for management
action, as described here. Comments will be solicited from the public
on these and any other management alternatives the public cares to
offer.
Management measures that might be adopted in the Coral Reef
Ecosystem FMP include permit and reporting requirements for non-
subsistence harvest of coral reef resources, marine protected areas to
ensure greater conservation and management to special locations,
allowable gear types to harvest coral reef resources in the U.S.
exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prohibition on use of gear in ways
destructive to habitat and a framework management process to add future
new measures. It would also include essential fish habitat and habitat
areas of particular concern, including fishing and non-fishing threats,
as well as other components of FMPs required under the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). An
additional measure, still under consideration for possible inclusion,
is a ban on the possession or collection for commercial purposes of
wild ``live rock'' and coral (other than coral covered by the Fishery
Management Plan for the Precious Corals Fisheries of the Western
Pacific Region). The collection of live rock or coral for scientific
and research purposes and the collection of small amounts of live coral
as brood-stock for captive breeding/aquaculture would be allowed by
permit.
The Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP, and its associated EIS, would be the
Council's fifth FMP for the EEZ for all U.S. Pacific Islands. This area
includes nearly 11,000 km2 (4,000 square miles) of coral
reefs. Development of the FMP is timely, considering such new mandates
and initiatives as the April 1999 report to Congress by the Ecosystem
Principles Advisory Panel on Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management, the
President's 1998 Executive Order on Coral Reefs (E.O. 13089), and
priorities of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and the U.S. Coral Reef
Initiative, as well as the provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act,
including provisions of the Sustainable Fisheries Act. The draft Coral
Reef Ecosystem FMP describes the importance of coral reef resources to
the region and current and potential threats that warrant a management
plan at this time. Information regarding the harvest of these resources
in the EEZ is largely unknown. Potential for unregulated harvest and
bio-prospecting for reef fish, live grouper, live rock and coral exists
throughout the region. Marine debris, largely from fishing gear, is
impacting reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
The public is also invited to assist the Council to develop the
scope of alternatives and impacts that should be analyzed in an EIS for
the Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish FMP. An EIS has not been
prepared for the FMP. Since the FMP was implemented in 1986, many
changes have occurred in the fishery, stocks and management regimes. As
part of the scoping process for the EIS on the bottomfish fisheries,
the public is also invited to comment on an alternative being
considered for the addition of bottomfish species in the EEZ around
CNMI and the U.S. Pacific Island possessions to the management unit of
the Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish FMP. Federal regulations for the
EEZ off the CNMI and U.S. Island possessions that would provide basic
protection and conservation measures are already established in the EEZ
for other parts of the Western Pacific Region, and include no taking
with explosives, poisons, trawl nets or bottom-set gillnets. A
framework would also be included to implement future management
measures in the bottomfish fishery. A definition of overfishing for a
list of identified management unit species would be established and
evaluated annually, with required action if violated.
Public Information Meetings
Additional public information meetings and public hearings on the
proposed EISs will be held in various locations around the region later
in the year. These meetings will be advertised in the Federal Register
and the local newspapers.
Special Accommodations
These meetings are physically accessible to people with
disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aids should be directed to Kitty M. Simonds, (see ADDRESSES),
808-522-8220 (voice) or 808-522-8226 (fax), at least five days prior to
the meeting date.
[[Page 39480]]
Dated: July 16, 1999.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 99-18737 Filed 7-19-99; 4:06 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F
