[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 165 (Tuesday, August 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45233-45234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22602]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Marine Sanctuary Program
AGENCY: Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM),
National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is
withdrawing Norfolk Canyon from consideration as an Active Candidate
for designation as a National Marine Sanctuary. Norfolk Canyon is
located approximately 60 nautical miles east of the entrance to
Chesapeake Bay (offshore Virginia), and is a deep-water site. Norfolk
Canyon was identified by NOAA for further evaluation prior to the
development of the National Marine Sanctuary Program's Site Evaluation
List (SEL). For reasons related to limited agency resources, the remote
nature of the site, and the absence of known threats to the Canyon's
resources, NOAA has decided to withdraw Norfolk Canyon from Active
Candidate status, and terminate consideration of the site for possible
designation as a National Marine Sanctuary.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edward Lindelof, Manager, Atlantic,
Great Lakes and Gulf Branch, Sanctuaries and Reserves Division, Office
of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, at 301-713-3137 (ext. 131),
fax: 301-713-0404, e-mail: elindelof@ocean.nos.noaa.gov.
I. Background
The National Marine Sanctuaries Act, as amended, (Act), 16 U.S.C.
1431 et seq., authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to designate
discrete areas of the marine environment as national marine sanctuaries
if the designation will fulfill the purposes and policies of the Act
(set forth in section 301(b) (16 U.S.C. 1431(b)), and if: (1) The area
proposed for designation is of special national significance due to its
resource or human-use values; (2) existing state and federal
authorities are inadequate or should be supplemented to ensure
coordinated and comprehensive conservation and management of the area,
including resource protection, scientific research, and public
education; (3) designation of the area as a national marine sanctuary
will facilitate the coordinated and comprehensive conservation and
management of the area; and (4) the area is of a size and nature that
will permit comprehensive and coordinated conservation and management.
The Act is administered by NOAA through the National Ocean Service
(NOS), Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM),
Sanctuaries and Reserves Division (SRD).
II. Administrative History
In January 1982, NOAA published a Program Development Plan (PDP)
for the National Marine Sanctuary Program, describing the Program's
mission and goals, site identification and selection criteria, and the
nomination and designation process. Based on the PDP and Program
regulations, NOAA published a proposed SEL recommended to NOAA by
regional resource evaluation teams. At the time of development of the
SEL, Norfolk Canyon and five other sites were already under
consideration by NOAA for possible designation, and the regional
resource evaluation teams were instructed to not consider these sites.
On August 4, 1983, NOAA published the final SEL (48 FR 35568). The SEL
is described in the regulations for the National Marine Sanctuary
program at 15 CFR 922.10.
On September 1, 1985, NOAA published notice (50 FR 37760)
announcing preliminary consultation and inviting public comment on the
possible designation of Norfolk Canyon as a National Marine Sanctuary.
Norfolk Canyon became an Active Candidate for National Marine Sanctuary
designation
[[Page 45234]]
on February 28, 1986 (51 FR 7097). Public scoping meetings were
conducted pursuant to notice published on May 19, 1986 (51 FR 18352).
The scoping meetings were held to allow NOAA to gather information and
determine the range and significance of issues related to the potential
Sanctuary designation and management of the Norfolk Canyon site. A
preliminary draft resource assessment/environmental impact statement
was completed in 1992. No further significant action toward designation
has occurred since that time.
III. The Site
Norfolk Canyon is located approximately 60 nautical miles east of
the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay (offshore Virginia), and is the
southermost of a series of submarine canyons along the Atlantic
continental margin. This is a deep-water site, characterized as a non-
glaciated area that is influenced by a major drainage system (the
Chesapeake Bay), and is habitat for several alcyonarid and scleractinid
corals. The area is approximately positioned about the coordinates:
37 deg.03.3n by 74 deg.38.4W.
IV. Action
The SRD has been unuable to actively pursue designation of this
site for reasons pertaining to availability of resources and Program
priorities. NOAA has decided to focus its limited personnel and
budgetary resources on completion of Congressionally-designated sites;
on consideration of bio-geographic areas not well represented by the
Sanctuary Program; and on sites that are more significantly affected by
human activities. NOAA's resources are being directed at bringing the
management of designated sanctuaries up to levels consistent with
mandates of the Act. NOAA finds, through information gathered for the
preliminary draft resource assessment and environmental impact
statement, that there appears to be the minimal threat to the Norfolk
Canyon site, relative to other proposed and existing sites. Human
activites are limited primarily to low levels of commercial and
recreational fishing. No mineral mining or ocean disposal activity
occurs at the site, and the near-term prospects of such activities are
unlikely.
Accordingly, the site is withdrawn from Active Candidate status and
further consideration of Norfolk Canyon for designation as a National
Marine Sanctuary is discontinued.
(Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog Number 11.429 Marine Sanctuary
Program)
Dated: August 18, 1997.
Captain Evelyn J. Fields,
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Ocean Services and Coastal
Zone Management.
[ FR Doc 97-22602 Filed 8-25-97 8:45 am.]
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