76682 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 245 / Wednesday, December 22, 2004 / Proposed Rules 

Classification

National Environmental Policy Act

The 1982 amendments to the ESA, in 

section 4(b)(1)(A), restrict the 

information that may be considered 

when assessing species for listing. Based 

on this limitation of criteria for a listing 

decision and the opinion in Pacific 

Legal Foundation v. Andrus, 675 F. 

2d825 (6th Cir. 1981), We have 

concluded that ESA listing actions are 

not subject to the environmental 

assessment requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). (See 

NOAA Administrative Order 216–6.)

Executive Order 12866, Regulatory 

Flexibility Act and Paperwork 

Reduction Act

As noted in the Conference Report on 

the 1982 amendments to the ESA, 

economic impacts cannot be considered 

when assessing the status of a species. 

Therefore, the economic analysis 

requirements of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act are not applicable to the 

listing process. In addition, this rule is 

exempt from review under Executive 

Order 12866. This proposed rule does 

not contain a collection-of-information 

requirement for the purposes of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act.

Federalism

In keeping with the intent of the 

Administration and Congress to provide 

continuing and meaningful dialogue on 

issues of mutual State and Federal 

interest, this proposed rule will be given 

to the relevant state agencies in each 

state in which the species is believed to 

occur, who will be invited to comment. 

We have conferred with the State of 

Washington in the course of assessing 

the status of Southern Resident killer 

whales, and considered, among other 

things, state and local conservation 

measures. Washington has listed killer 

whales under the Washington 

Administrative Code 232–12–014 and is 

coordinating with us to develop a State 

recovery plan. As the process continues, 

we intend to continue engaging in 

informal and formal contacts with 

Washington, and other affected local or 

regional entities, giving careful 

consideration to all written and oral 

comments received. We also intend to 

consult with appropriate elected 

officials in the establishment of a final 

rule.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 223

Endangered and threatened species, 

exports, imports, transportation.

Dated: December 15, 2004.

Rebecca Lent,

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 223 is proposed 

to be amended as follows:

PART 223—THREATENED MARINE 

AND ANADROMOUS SPECIES

1. The authority citation for part 223 

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531–1543 and 16 

U.S.C. 1361 et seq.

2. In § 223.102, paragraph (c), add the 

following to the List of Threatened 

Marine and Anadromous Species, in 

alphabetical order under MARINE 

MAMMALS:

§ 223.102 Enumeration of threatened 

marine and anadromous species.

* * * * *

(c) Marine Mammals.

* * * * *

Killer whale (Orcinus orca), Southern 

Resident population (DPS), which 

consists of whales from J, K and L pods.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 04–27929 Filed 12–21–04; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 041126332–4332–01; I.D. 

112204A]

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands; 2005 and 2006 

Proposed Harvest Specifications for 

Groundfish; Correction

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule; correction.

SUMMARY: This document corrects a 

proposed rule to implement 2005 and 

2006 harvest specifications and 

prohibited species catch (PSC) 

allowances for the groundfish fishery of 

the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

management area (BSAI). This 

document corrects errors in Table 8 to 

the proposed specifications.

DATES: Comments must be received by 

January 7, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue 

Salveson, Assistant Regional 

Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries 

Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn: 

Lori Durall. Comments may be 

submitted by:

• Mail to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 

99802;

• Hand Delivery to the Federal 

Building, 709 West 9th Street, Room 

420A, Juneau, AK;

• E-mail to 

2005AKgroundfish.tacspecs@noaa.gov

and include in the subject line of the email comments the document identifier: 

2005 Proposed Specifications. E-mail 

comments, with or without attachments, 

are limited to 5 megabytes;

• FAX to 907–586–7557; or

• Webform at the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions at that site for submitting 

comments.

Copies of the draft Environmental 

Assessment/Initial Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (EA/IRFA) prepared 

for this action are available from NMFS 

at the addresses above or from the 

Alaska Region website at 

www.fakr.noaa.gov. Copies of the final 

2003 Stock Assessment and Fishery 

Evaluation (SAFE) report for the 

groundfish resources of the BSAI, dated 

November 2003, are available from the 

North Pacific Fishery Management 

Council (Council), West 4th Avenue, 

Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 99510–2252 

(907–271–2809), or from its website at 

www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary Furuness, 907–586–7228, or email at mary.furuness@noaa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

proposed 2005 and 2006 harvest 

specifications and PSC allowances for 

the groundfish fishery of the BSAI on 

December 8, 2004 (69 FR 70974). That 

rule lists proposed pollock allocations 

to the seven inshore catcher vessel 

pollock cooperatives. Allocations in the 

proposed rule reflect cooperative 

applications for 2005 that are due to 

NMFS by December 1 of each year. All 

of the changes based on these 

applications were not reflected in the 

proposed Table 8. This document 

corrects the proposed rule by reflecting 

accurately all of the applications 

received for the 2005 year.

Correction

As published, proposed rule FR Doc. 

04–26952, December 8, 2004 (69 FR 

70974) contains an error and needs to be 

corrected. The corrected table adds 

member vessel PACIFIC CHALLENGER 

to the Peter Pad Fleet Cooperative and 

corrects data in columns 2, 3, 4, and 5 

for the Westward Fleet Cooperative. The 

corrected table reads as follows:

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 245 / Wednesday, December 22, 2004 / Proposed Rules 76683

TABLE 8 (CORRECTED)—2005 AND 2006 PROPOSED BERING SEA SUBAREA INSHORE COOPERATIVE 

ALLOCATIONS 

[Amounts are in metric tons] 

Cooperative name and member vessels 

Sum of member vessel’s 

official catch 

histories1 (mt) 

Percentage of 

inshore sector 

allocation 

2005 Annual 

co-op allocation (mt) 

2006 Annual 

co-op allocation (mt) 

Akutan Catcher Vessel Association

ALDEBARAN, ARCTIC EXPLORER, ARCTURUS, BLUE FOX, CAPE 

KIWANDA, COLUMBIA, DOMINATOR, EXODUS, FLYING CLOUD, 

GOLDEN DAWN, GOLDEN PISCES, HAZEL LORRAINE, INTREPID 

EXPLORER, LESLIE LEE, LISA MELINDA, MAJESTY, MARCY J, MARGARET LYN, MARK I, NORDIC EXPLORER, NORTHERN PATRIOT, 

NORTHWEST EXPLORER, PACIFIC RAM, PACIFIC VIKING, PEGASUS, PEGGY JO, PERSEVERANCE, PREDATOR, RAVEN, ROYAL 

AMERICAN, SEEKER, SOVEREIGNTY, TRAVELER, VIKING EXPLORER

245,922 28.130% 180,110 180,055

Arctic Enterprise Association

BRISTOL EXPLORER, OCEAN EXPLORER, PACIFIC EXPLORER

36,807 4.210% 26,957 26,948

Northern Victor Fleet Cooperative

ANITA J, COLLIER BROTHERS, COMMODORE, EXCALIBUR II, 

GOLDRUSH, HALF MOON BAY, MISS BERDIE, NORDIC FURY, PACIFIC FURY, POSEIDON, ROYAL ATLANTIC, SUNSET BAY, STORM 

PETREL

73,656 8.425% 53,945 53,929

Peter Pan Fleet Cooperative

AJ, AMBER DAWN, AMERICAN BEAUTY, ELIZABETH F, MORNING 

STAR, OCEAN LEADER, OCEANIC, PACIFIC CHALLENGER, 

PROVIDIAN, TOPAZ, WALTER N

23,850 2.728% 17,467 17,462

Unalaska Cooperative

ALASKA ROSE, BERING ROSE, DESTINATION, GREAT PACIFIC, 

MESSIAH, MORNING STAR, MS AMY, PROGRESS, SEA WOLF, VANGUARD, WESTERN DAWN

106,737 12.209% 78,173 78,149

UniSea Fleet Cooperative

ALSEA, AMERICAN EAGLE, ARGOSY, AURIGA, AURORA, DEFENDER, GUN-MAR, MAR-GUN, NORDIC STAR, PACIFIC MONARCH, 

SEADAWN, STARFISH, STARLITE, STARWARD

213,521 24.424% 156,380 156,333

Westward Fleet Cooperative

ALASKAN COMMAND, ALYESKA, ARCTIC WIND, CAITLIN ANN, 

CHELSEA K, DONA MARTITA, FIERCE ALLEGIANCE, HICKORY 

WIND, OCEAN HOPE 3, PACIFIC KNIGHT, PACIFIC PRINCE, VIKING, 

WESTWARD I

173,744 19.874% 127,248 127,209

Open access AFA vessels 0 0% 0 0

Total inshore allocation 874,238 100% 640,280 640,085

1According to regulations at § 679.62(e)(1), the individual catch history for each vessel is equal to the vessel’s best 2 of 3 years inshore pollock 

landings from 1995 through 1997 and includes landings to catcher/processors for vessels that made 500 or more mt of landings to catcher/processors from 1995 through 1997.

All other information previously 

published remains the same.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. Dated: December 16, 2004.

William T. Hogarth,

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 04–27979 Filed 12–21–04; 8:45 am]

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