01-31975. Permits; Foreign Fishing

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice of receipt of foreign fishing applications.

SUMMARY:

NMFS publishes for public review and comment a summary of applications submitted by the Government of the Russian Federation requesting authorization to conduct fishing operations in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 2002 under provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

ADDRESSES:

Comments may be submitted to NMFS, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, International Fisheries Division, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910; and/or to the Regional Fishery Management Councils listed here:

Paul J. Howard, Executive Director, New England Fishery Management Council, 50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01905, Phone [phone], Fax [phone];

Daniel T. Furlong, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Federal Building, Room 2115, 300 South New Street, Dover, DE 19904, Phone [phone], Fax [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robert A. Dickinson, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretary of State, NMFS publishes, for public review and comment, summaries of applications received by the Secretary of State requesting permits for foreign fishing vessels to fish in the U.S. EEZ under provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.).

This notice concerns the receipt of two applications from the Government of the Russian Federation requesting authorization to conduct joint venture (JV) operations in 2001 in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean for Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel. The stern trawler/processors KAPITAN GORBACHEV, PATROKL and RYBACHIY are identified as the Russian vessels that would receive Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel from U.S. vessels in JV operations. The applications also request allocations totaling 4,500 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic herring and 3,500 mt of Atlantic mackerel for harvest by the named vessels in 2001.

Dated: December 20, 2001.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.