Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 210 / Monday, November 1, 2004 / Proposed Rules 63341

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 

83.100, ‘‘Flood Insurance.’’)

Dated: October 26, 2004. 

David I. Maurstad, 

Acting Director, Mitigation Division, 

Emergency Preparedness and Response 

Directorate.

[FR Doc. 04–24332 Filed 10–29–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–12–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 041021287–4287–01; I.D. 

101804E]

RIN 0648–AS82

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery; 

Control Date

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed 

rulemaking; notice of a control date for 

the purposes of controlling entry in the 

general category Atlantic sea scallop 

fishery.

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that it is 

considering, and is seeking public 

comment on, proposed rulemaking to 

control future access to the open access 

vessel permit category (general category) 

Atlantic sea scallop fishery if a 

management regime is developed and 

implemented under the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens 

Act) to limit the number of participants 

in this sector of the scallop fishery. This 

sector of the fishery includes vessels 

with general category permits, as well as 

vessels with limited access scallop 

permits that land scallops while not on 

a scallop day-at-sea (DAS). This 

announcement is intended, in part, to 

promote awareness of potential 

eligibility criteria for future access so as 

to discourage speculative entry into the 

fishery while the New England Fishery 

Management Council (Council) 

considers whether and how access to 

the general category sea scallop fishery 

should be controlled. The date of 

publication of this notice, November 1, 

2004, shall be known as the ‘‘control 

date’’ and may be used for establishing 

eligibility criteria for determining levels 

of future access to the sea scallop 

fishery subject to Federal authority.

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before 5:00 p.m., local 

time, December 1, 2004.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods:

• E-mail: sccontroldate@NOAA.gov. 

Include in the subject line the following: 

‘‘Comments on the Atlantic Sea Scallop 

Control Date Notice.’’

• Federal e-Rulemaking Portal:

http://www.regulations.gov.

• Mail: Paper, disk, or CD-ROM 

comments should be sent to Patricia A. 

Kurkul, Regional Administrator, 

National Marine Fisheries Service, One 

Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. 

Mark the outside of the envelope, 

‘‘Comments on the Atlantic Sea Scallop 

Control Date Notice.’’

• Fax: (978) 281–9135.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Peter W. Christopher, Fishery Policy 

Analyst, 978–281–9288; fax 978–281–

9135. email: 

peter.christopher@noaa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Atlantic sea scallop is a benthic bivalve 

shellfish that supports a major 

commercial fishery on the Atlantic 

coast. Its distribution in Federal waters 

ranges from the international boundary 

with Canada, west to Georges Bank and 

southern New England, and then south 

to near the North Carolina/Virginia 

border. Sporadic concentrations of 

scallops are also found in the Gulf of 

Maine and south to areas off North 

Carolina. As scallop populations have 

rebuilt from being overfished, inshore 

areas have become more important to 

smaller commercial scallop fishing 

vessels. Notable areas where this 

inshore fishery takes place include the 

Gulf of Maine; the Great South Channel 

near Cape Cod, Massachusetts; the 

Nantucket Lightship Area; off Long 

Island, New York; off the central New 

Jersey coast; and off the Delmarva 

Peninsula.

Landings of scallop meats were 54.9 

million lb (24.9 million kg) in 2003 (an 

increase of 8.1 percent compared to 

2002), with a dockside value of $224.3 

million. Of this amount, 1.9 million lb 

(861,826 kg) (3.5 percent) of scallop 

meats were landed by 335 vessels with 

general category scallop permits. Of this 

general category fishing activity, 175 

vessels with general category permits 

used scallop dredges to land 1.3 million 

lb (589,670 kg) of scallops, according to 

Federal dealer reports. In addition to the 

660,000 lb (299,371 kg) that vessels with 

general category permits were reported 

to have landed during March 1 to 

December 31, 2002, limited access 

vessels landed an additional 96,000 lb 

(43,545 kg)(12.7 percent of the general 

category landings) while fishing under 

general category rules, according to the 

analysis in the Atlantic Sea Scallop 

Fishery Management Plan (FMP) 

Amendment 10 document.

Further, the number of general 

category scallop permits issued between 

2000 and 2004 is higher than the 

number of permits issued between 1994 

and 1999. During the years 1994 to 1999 

the number of permits issued ranged 

from 1,960 (in 1994) to 2,074 (in 1999). 

During the years 2000 to 2004 the 

number of permits issued ranged from 

2,247 (in 2000) to 2,536 (in 2003). Since 

March 1, 2004, general category permits 

issued during the 2004 fishing year 

stand at 2,367.

According to the stock projections in 

the Framework 16 to the Atlantic Sea 

Scallop FMP and Framework 39 to the 

Northeast Multispecies FMP analysis, 

the current sea scallop Maximum 

Sustainable Yield (MSY) estimate is 

about 55 million lb (25 million kg) of 

meats. Annual landings are expected to 

vary considerably from this amount at 

times, due to natural variability in 

scallop recruitment. The Council notes 

that current capacity in the scallop 

fishery is sufficient to harvest or exceed 

MSY, and additional fishing by vessels 

that fish under general category rules 

has the potential to cause overfishing. 

The Council is also concerned that such 

fishing may change the historic 

distribution of landings among vessels, 

reduce the number of fishing days 

allocated to limited access vessels, and 

allow vessels that are not traditional 

participants in the scallop fishery to 

enter the fishery in response to 

improving scallop resource conditions 

coupled with increasing restrictions and 

declining prices in other fisheries.

The Council’s original intent in 

establishing the general category scallop 

permit implemented in 1994 through 

Amendment 4 to the Atlantic Sea 

Scallop FMP, was to accommodate 

customary scallop bycatch in other 

fisheries and allow a flexible program 

for seasonal or opportunistic fisheries 

targeting inshore scallops. In response 

to recent concerns raised to the Council 

about expansion of directed scallop 

fishing under general category rules, the 

Council may consider development of 

an amendment to the Atlantic Sea 

Scallop FMP or framework action that 

could restrict access in the general 

category scallop fishery to control 

harvest capacity. Future entry into the 

general category fishery may be based 

on levels of participation (e.g., permit 

categories based on historic harvest 

levels of a vessel) or other criteria 

related to overall harvest capacity.

63342 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 210 / Monday, November 1, 2004 / Proposed Rules 

The control date is intended to 

discourage speculative entry into the 

general category scallop fishery while 

controlled access restrictions are 

considered by the Council. The control 

date will help to distinguish established 

participants from speculative entrants to 

the fishery. Although entering the 

fishery after the control date will not 

ensure fishing vessels of future access to 

the sea scallop resource on the grounds 

of previous participation, additional 

and/or other qualifying criteria may also 

be applied. The Council may choose 

different and variably weighted methods 

to qualify participants based on the type 

and length of participation in the 

general category scallop fishery.

This notification established 

November 1, 2004, as the control date 

for potential use in determining 

historical or traditional participation in 

the general category scallop fishery. 

Consideration of a control date does not 

commit the Council or NMFS to develop 

any particular management system or 

criteria for participation in this fishery. 

The Council may choose a different 

control date, or may choose a 

management program that does not 

make use of such a date.

Fishers are not guaranteed future 

participation in the fishery, regardless of 

their entry dates or level of participation 

in this fishery before or after the control 

date. The Council may choose to give 

variably weighted consideration to 

fishers active in the fishery before and 

after the control date. The Council may 

also choose to take no further action to 

control entry or access to the fishery, in 

which case the control date may be 

rescinded. Any action by the Council 

will be taken pursuant to the 

requirements for the development of 

FMP amendments established under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act.

This notification also gives the public 

notice that interested participants 

should locate and preserve records that 

substantiate and verify their 

participation in the general category 

scallop fishery in Federal waters.

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

Dated: October 27, 2004.

Rebecca Lent,

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 04–24344 Filed 10–29–04; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S