25116 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 82 / Friday, April 27, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

X. Authority 

We publish this notice under the 

authority of the Endangered Species Act 

of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 

seq.). 

Dated: March 30, 2012. 

Margaret T. Kolar, 

Acting Regional Director, Pacific Southwest 

Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–10212 Filed 4–26–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 640 

RIN 0648–BB44 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Spiny 

Lobster Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico 

and South Atlantic; Amendment 11 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic 

Fishery Management Councils 

(Councils) have submitted Amendment 

11 to the Fishery Management Plan for 

the Spiny Lobster Fishery of the Gulf of 

Mexico and South Atlantic (FMP) for 

review, approval, and implementation 

by NMFS. Amendment 11 proposes to 

limit spiny lobster fishing using trap 

gear in certain areas in the exclusive 

economic zone off the Florida Keys to 

protect threatened species of corals. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before June 26, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the amendment identified by 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2011–0223’’ by any of 

the following methods: 

• Electronic submissions: Submit 

electronic comments via the Federal 

e-Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

‘‘Instructions’’ for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Susan Gerhart, Southeast 

Regional Office, NMFS, 263 13th 

Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. 

Instructions: 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 field if you wish to 

remain anonymous). 

To submit comments through the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov, enter ‘‘NOAA– 

NMFS–2011–0223’’ in the search field 

and click on ‘‘search.’’ After you locate 

the document ‘‘Fisheries of the 

Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South 

Atlantic; Spiny Lobster Fishery of the 

Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic; 

Amendment 11,’’ click the ‘‘Submit a 

Comment’’ link in that row. This will 

display the comment web form. You can 

then enter your submitter information 

(unless you prefer to remain 

anonymous), and type your comment on 

the web form. You can also attach 

additional files (up to 10MB) in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or 

Adobe PDF file formats only. 

Comments received through means 

not specified in this notice will not be 

considered. 

For further assistance with submitting 

a comment, see the ‘‘Commenting’’ 

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

#!faqs or the Help section at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

Electronic copies of Amendment 11 

may be obtained from the Southeast 

Regional Office Web site at http:// 

sero.nmfs.noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Susan Gerhart, telephone: 727–824– 

5305, or email: 

Susan.Gerhart@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The spiny 

lobster fishery of the Gulf of Mexico 

(Gulf) and the South Atlantic is 

managed under the FMP. The FMP was 

prepared by the Councils and 

implemented through regulations at 50 

CFR parts 622 and 640 under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). 

Background 

As required under the Endangered 

Species Act (ESA), NMFS completed a 

formal consultation, and resulting 

biological opinion, on the continued 

authorization of the Gulf of Mexico and 

South Atlantic spiny lobster fishery in 

2009 (http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/esa/

Fishery%20Biops/Final%20SL%20

BO.pdf). The biological opinion 

contained specific terms and conditions 

required to implement the prescribed 

reasonable and prudent measures 

(RPMs), including creation of new or 

expansion of existing closed areas to 

protect coral and implementation of trap 

line-marking requirements. These 

actions were originally included in 

Amendment 10 to the FMP; however, 

the Councils chose to take no action in 

Amendment 10 to the FMP to allow for 

additional stakeholder input into the 

development of any potential areas 

closed to spiny lobster harvest and trap 

line-marking requirments. 

Actions Contained in Amendment 11 

Amendment 11 considered actions to 

prohibit spiny lobster trap fishing in 

designated areas in the Florida Keys to 

protect threatened Acropora species of 

coral and to require markings on lobster 

trap lines unique to the spiny lobster 

fishery. 

Lobster Trap Gear Closed Areas 

The ESA requires analyses to 

determine whether, and to what extent, 

fishing operations impact threatened 

species such as threatened staghorn and 

elkhorn corals. The 2009 biological 

opinion on the spiny lobster fishery 

requires NMFS and the Councils to 

work together to protect areas of 

staghorn and elkhorn coral. RPMs 

included expansion of existing or 

creation of new areas closed to lobster 

trap fishing where colonies of these 

threatened coral species are present. 

Staff from the Councils and NMFS 

worked with various stakeholders to 

develop the proposed lobster trap gear 

closed areas. Areas were chosen to 

protect colonies with high conservation 

value and areas of high coral density. 

Lobster trap fishing would be prohibited 

in the proposed closed areas. The 60 

proposed closed areas would cover 5.9 

mi 2 (15.3 km 2) and are distributed 

throughout the Florida Keys. 

Spiny Lobster Trap Line Markings 

As described in Amendment 11, trap 

lines or rope are consistently found as 

marine debris and most frequently 

recovered without the buoys or traps 

still attached. These conditions cause 

significant difficulty for NMFS and 

other agencies when determining if line 

found in the environment, or entangling 

protected species, originated from the 

spiny lobster trap fishery. Trap line 

marking requirements are intended to 

allow greater accuracy in identifying 

fishery interaction impacts to benthic 

habitats and protected species by 

leading to more targeted measures to 

reduce the level and severity of those 

impacts. However, costs and labor for 

the spiny lobster fishery to mark their 

lobster trap gear could be high, with 

little evidence of the durability of the 

markings. The Florida Fish and Wildlife 

Conservation Commission is currently 

conducting a study of various methods 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 82 / Friday, April 27, 2012 / Proposed Rules 25117 

for marking lobster trap lines that 

should be completed during 2013. The 

Councils intend to revisit the spiny 

lobster trap gear marking issue when the 

results of that study are available. The 

biological opinion, as amended, requires 

implementation of the terms and 

conditions regarding lobster trap line 

marking by August 6, 2017. 

Proposed Rule for Amendment 11 

A proposed rule that would 

implement measures outlined in 

Amendment 11 has been drafted. In 

accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, NMFS is evaluating the proposed 

rule to determine whether it is 

consistent with the FMP, the MagnusonStevens Act, and other applicable law. 

If that determination is affirmative, 

NMFS will publish the proposed rule in 

the Federal Register for public review 

and comment. 

Consideration of Public Comments 

The Councils submitted Amendment 

11 for Secretarial review, approval, and 

implementation on April 05, 2012. 

NMFS’ decision to approve, partially 

approve, or disapprove Amendment 11 

will be based, in part, on consideration 

of comments, recommendations, and 

information received during the 

comment period on this notice of 

availability. 

Public comments received on or 

before June 26, 2012, will be considered 

by NMFS in its decision to approve, 

partially approve, or disapprove 

Amendment 11. All comments received 

by NMFS on Amendment 11 or the 

proposed rule for Amendment 11 during 

their respective comment periods will 

be addressed in a final rule. 

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

Dated: April 24, 2012. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–10248 Filed 4–26–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 120417417–2417–01] 

RIN 0648–BB35 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Northeast Multispecies 

Fishery; Exempted Fishery for the 

Southern New England Skate Bait 

Trawl Fishery 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule, request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes to modify the 

regulations implementing the Northeast 

(NE) Multispecies Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP) to allow vessels issued a 

Federal skate permit and a Skate Bait 

Letter of Authorization to fish for skates 

in a portion of southern New England 

from July through October of each year, 

outside of the NE multispecies days-atsea (DAS) program. This action would 

allow vessels to harvest skates in a 

manner that is consistent with the 

bycatch reduction objectives of the NE 

Multispecies FMP. 

DATES: Comments must be received no 

later than 5 p.m., eastern daylight time, 

on May 14, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: An environmental 

assessment (EA) was prepared for the 

Secretarial Amendment that describes 

the proposed action and other 

considered alternatives, and provides an 

analysis of the impacts of the proposed 

measures and alternatives. Copies of the 

Secretarial Amendment, including the 

EA and the Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (IRFA), are available on 

request from Daniel Morris, Acting 

Regional Administrator, Northeast 

Regional Office, 55 Great Republic 

Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. These 

documents are also available online at 

http://www.nero.noaa.gov. 

You may submit comments, identified 

by FDMS docket number NOAA– 

NMFS–2012–0098, 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 Skate Bait 

Exempted Fishery.’’ 

• 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; email: travis.ford@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Current regulations, implemented 

under Framework Adjustment 9 (60 FR 

19364, April 18, 1995) and expanded 

under Amendment 7 to the FMP (61 FR 

27710, May 31, 1996), contain a NE 

multispecies fishing mortality and 

bycatch reduction measure that is 

applied to the Gulf of Maine (GOM), 

Georges Bank (GB), and Southern New 

England (SNE) Exemption Areas found 

in 50 CFR 648.80. A vessel may not fish 

in these areas unless it is fishing under 

a NE multispecies or a scallop DAS 

allocation, is fishing with exempted 

gear, is fishing under the Small Vessel 

Handgear (A or B) or Party/Charter 

permit restrictions, or is fishing in an 

exempted fishery. The procedure for 

adding, modifying, or deleting fisheries 

from the list of exempted fisheries is 

found in § 648.80. A fishery may be 

exempted by the Regional Administrator 

(RA), after consultation with the New 

England Fishery Management Council 

(Council), if the RA determines, based 

on available data or information, that 

the bycatch of regulated species is, or 

can be reduced to, less than 5 percent 

by weight of the total catch and that 

such exemption will not jeopardize the 

fishing mortality objectives of the FMP. 

Representatives from the NE 

multispecies sector fleet submitted an 

exempted fishery request to the RA on 

April 1, 2011. The petitioners requested 

that NMFS consider an exempted 

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