Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 67 / Thursday, April 7, 2011 / Proposed Rules 19305 

will be available for public inspection 

on http://www.regulations.gov at Docket 

No. FWS–R2–ES–2010–0041, or by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, New Mexico Ecological 

Services Field Office (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). You may obtain 

copies of the proposed rule on the 

Internet at http://www.regulations.gov at 

Docket Number FWS–R2–ES–2010– 

0041, or by mail from the New Mexico 

Ecological Services Field Office (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section). 

Background 

It is our intent to discuss only those 

topics directly relevant to the proposed 

rule to list the dunes sagebrush lizard as 

endangered in this document. 

On December 14, 2010, we published 

a proposed rule (75 FR 77801) to list the 

dunes sagebrush lizard, a lizard known 

from southeastern New Mexico and 

adjacent west Texas, as endangered 

under the Act. For a description of 

previous Federal actions concerning the 

dunes sagebrush lizard (formerly known 

as the sand dunes lizard), please refer to 

the proposed rule. In response to 

comments received during the initial 

public comment period, we have 

decided to allow the public more time 

to submit comments and to hold 

informational sessions as described 

previously. 

If we finalize the rule as proposed, it 

would extend the Act’s protections to 

this species. We have determined that 

critical habitat for the dunes sagebrush 

lizard is prudent but not determinable at 

this time. The final decision on whether 

to list the dunes sagebrush lizard as 

endangered will be based on the best 

scientific data available, including 

information obtained during the 

comment period. 

Authors 

The primary authors of this notice are 

the staff members of the New Mexico 

Ecological Services Field Office, Region 

2, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Dated: March 11, 2011. 

Will Shafroth, 

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 

Parks. 

[FR Doc. 2011–7339 Filed 4–6–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 110311194–1193–02] 

RIN 0648–BA88 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Northeast Multispecies 

Fishery; Notice of a Control Date for 

the Purpose of Limiting Excessive 

Accumulation of Control in the 

Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery; 

NE Multispecies Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP) 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed 

rulemaking (ANPR); request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: At the request of the New 

England Fishery Management Council 

(Council), this notification announces 

that the Council and NMFS is 

considering and seeking public 

comment on, potential changes to the 

Northeast Multispecies Fishery 

Management Plan that would be 

implemented through proposed 

rulemaking, under the authority of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act), to limit the 

accumulation of excessive control or 

ownership of fishing privileges in the 

NE multispecies groundfish fishery. The 

date of publication of this notification, 

April 7, 2011, shall be known as the 

‘‘control date,’’ and may be used as a 

reference date for future management 

measures related to such rulemaking. In 

particular this notification is intended 

to promote awareness of this possible 

rulemaking; provide notice to the public 

that any current or future accumulation 

of fishing privilege interests in the NE 

multispecies fishery may be affected, 

restricted, or even nullified; and to 

discourage speculative behavior in the 

market for fishing privileges while the 

Council considers whether and how 

such limitations on accumulation of 

fishing privileges should be developed. 

This notification also gives the public 

notice that interested participants 

should locate and preserve records that 

substantiate and verify their ownership 

or control of groundfish permits and 

other fishing privileges in the NE 

multispecies fishery in Federal waters. 

DATES: April 7, 2011, shall be known as 

the ‘‘control date’’ and may be used as 

a reference date for future management 

measures related to the maintenance of 

a fishery with characteristics consistent 

with the Council’s objectives and 

applicable Federal laws. Written 

comments must be received on or before 

5 p.m., local time, May 9, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 0648–BA88, by any 

one of the following methods: 

• Written comments (paper, disk, or 

CD–ROM) should be sent to Paul J. 

Howard, Executive Director, New 

England Fishery Management Council, 

50 Water Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, 

MA 01950. Mark the outside of the 

envelope, ‘‘Comments on Multispecies 

Accumulation Limits Control Date.’’ 

• Comments also may be sent via 

facsimile (fax) to (978) 465–3116. 

• Submit all electronic public 

comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking 

Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 

Instructions: Comments will be 

posted for public viewing as they are 

received. All comments received are a 

part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All Personal Identifying Information (for 

example, name, address, etc.) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit Confidential Business 

Information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. 

NMFS will accept anonymous 

comments (enter N/A in the required 

fields, if you wish to remain 

anonymous). You may submit 

attachments to electronic comments in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or 

Adobe PDF file formats only. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Travis Ford, Fishery Management 

Specialist, 978–281–9233; fax 978–281– 

9135; e-mail: travis.ford@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NE 

Multispecies FMP manages 20 

individual stocks comprised of the 

following species: Cod, haddock, white 

hake, pollock, Acadian redfish, 

yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, 

witch flounder, American plaice, 

windowpane flounder, Atlantic halibut, 

ocean pout, and Atlantic wolffish. The 

Council has managed most of these 

species as a unit under the FMP since 

1985. Many of these stocks remain 

overfished, and strict regulations have 

been adopted to control catch and 

promote stock rebuilding. Current 

management measures include limited 

and open-access permit categories, 

limits on fishing time through days-atsea (DAS) allocations, gear 

requirements, closed areas, retention 

limits, and sector allocation. These 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with PROPOSALS
19306 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 67 / Thursday, April 7, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

measures have been adopted through a 

series of amendments and adjustments 

to the original FMP. The most recent 

amendment, Amendment 16, 

implemented on May 1, 2010 (75 FR 

18262), expanded the use of sectors to 

manage the fishery. Sectors are 

voluntary, self-selected groups of 

fishermen that are allocated a portion of 

the available catch. Amendment 16 also 

implemented Annual Catch Limits 

(ACLs). Exceeding these limits triggers 

responsive management actions referred 

to as Accountability Measures (AMs). 

In the most recent specification 

process (Framework Adjustment 44 (75 

FR 18356)), ACLs for many NE 

multispecies stocks were set at very low 

levels. For certain stocks, catch limits 

are expected to remain low for the near 

future. Some members of the fishing 

industry and the Council have 

expressed concern that the low catch 

limits, in conjunction with expanded 

sector management, will lead to 

excessive consolidation of fishing 

privileges and lack of diversity in the 

groundfish fleet. For example, for 

several stocks, the potential sector 

contribution (PSC) associated with a 

small number of vessel owners enrolled 

in a sector represents a large percentage 

of the total allocation to the fishery. In 

addition, NMFS, in its letter to the 

Council partially approving 

Amendment 16, requested the Council 

to consider developing measures that 

would mitigate potential negative 

impacts stemming from the 

consolidation of permits, both within 

sectors and among individual permit 

holders, as they relate to some of the 

social and economic objectives 

established in the NE multispecies FMP. 

In light of these concerns, the 

Council, at its January, 2011 meeting, 

requested that ‘‘NMFS publish in the 

Federal Register as soon as possible a 

control date to establish accumulation 

limits in the groundfish fishery.’’ The 

Council also indicated at the time that 

Council staff should coordinate with 

NMFS in drafting the ‘‘control date’’ so 

that it reflected Council concerns about 

accumulation limits. Based on this 

coordination, this notification 

announces that the Council is 

considering management measures that 

would address, but would not be 

limited to, concerns related to 

preventing excessive control or 

ownership of fishing privileges, 

maintaining the diversity of the fleet, 

addressing impacts of market forces on 

a highly regulated industry, and 

maintaining fishery infrastructure and 

fishing ports throughout New England. 

Fishing privileges include, but are not 

limited to, vessels, fishing permits, 

DAS, fishing quotas, PSCs, annual catch 

entitlements, sector allocations and any 

other type of catch share. 

The date of publication of this 

notification, April 7, 2011, shall be 

known as the ‘‘control date,’’ and may be 

used as a reference date for future 

management measures in determining 

how to treat fishing privileges acquired 

before this date and those acquired after 

this date, depending on the Council’s 

determinations on limiting control and 

ownership of such privileges. The 

establishment of a control date, 

however, does not obligate the Council 

to use this control date or take any 

action, nor does it prevent the Council 

from picking another control date or 

imposing limits on permits acquired 

prior to the control date. 

Accordingly, this notification is 

intended to promote awareness that the 

Council may be developing management 

measures to address these concerns, to 

provide notice to the public that any 

current or future accumulation of 

fishing privilege interests in the NE 

multispecies fishery may be affected, 

restricted, or even nullified, and 

discourage speculative behavior in the 

market for fishing privileges while the 

Council considers whether and how 

such limitations on accumulation of 

fishing privileges should be developed. 

Any measures the Council is 

considering may require changes to the 

NE multispecies FMP. Such measures 

may be adopted in a future amendment 

to the FMP, which would include 

opportunity for further public 

participation and comment. 

This notification also gives the public 

notice that interested participants 

should locate and preserve records that 

substantiate and verify their ownership 

or control of groundfish permits and 

other fishing privileges in the NE 

multispecies fishery in Federal waters. 

This notification and control date do not 

impose any legal obligations, 

requirements, or expectation. This 

ANPR has been determined to be not 

significant for purposes of Executive 

Order 12866. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: April 4, 2011. 

John Oliver, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Operations, National Marine Fisheries 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–8353 Filed 4–6–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with PROPOSALS