Comment on FR Doc # E8-01900

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 665 [Docket No. 071211828?7557?01] RIN 0648?AU22 Fisheries in the Western Pacific; Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish Fisheries; Management Measures in the Main Hawaiian Islands I believe your proposed bottom fishing regulations to be excessive. I am against a daily log for commercial and non-commercial fishermen. For the people who propose these kinds of regulations, paperwork is a normal everyday part of doing their daily business. Fishermen on the other hand (for the most part) are used to working with fish, not with paper. The Hawaii CML report will attest to that fact. Why go to such extremes when other alternatives will accomplish the required ?deep 7? reduction? Your ?Alternative 2? seems to make the most sense to me. It fulfils the 25% decrease requirement and will probably prove to be even more effective in the future. One common concern of the seasonal closure regulation was that when the season was opened again, that there would be enough of an increased catch effort that it could possibly negate the result of the closure. From what I witnessed here on the Kona coast, that didn?t happen. A few new boats showed up on the good fishing grounds but after a few days, they found that there was no significant increase in the numbers to be caught. Nor did they have the skills working the area to know where the fish congregate. Within a little over a week, the regulars were back at work catching a normal amount of fish and the new boats that had previously showed up disappeared. It?s back to normal. As for myself, I am a fishing charter captain. I?m out there four days a week. I am rare in the industry in that I mix up my fishing day with both trolling and some bottom fishing. The type of bottom fishing that I do does not even target the ?deep 7? and is technically not even considered ?bottom fishing? by the standards set forth by the Hawaii DLNR as ?bottom fishing?. I am mostly targeting amberjack, almaco jack (I?m credited with their discovery in Hawaiian waters), giant trevally and sharks. I occasionally catch gray snapper and grouper as bycatch but I am in no way a threat to the ?deep 7?. I?m concerned that my type of fishery, which is now growing in popularity in Kona, will be affected as we get swept into the drag net of your fishing regulations. This upcoming fishery needs to somehow be kept separate from the ?deep 7? regulations so your ?bottomfish complex? definition, containing jacks as part of that complex concerns me. I?m all for conservation and protecting the fishing resource. In fact, I tag and release more fish than any other captain in Kona. What I don?t want is to have to fill out and send a report each day. That?s a ridicules concept for almost any fisherman. One more thing you may want to consider is that U.S. Coast Guard regulations require any vessel with a State or Federal commercial fishing license to comply with the Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Act (CFIVSA). When this act was imposed on Kona fishermen years ago, most captains, rather than spending the huge amount of money needed to be in compliance, chose instead to cancel their Hawaii commercial marine licenses. The effect of that decision is still being contended with today. I suggest you look up this requirement before you require all boats to obtain a ?permit?. Easily determined by the Coast Guard to be a license. Sincerely, Capt. Jeff Rogers http://FISHinKONA.com