[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 1 (Monday, January 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 100-101]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-33102]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-BA59


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
Amendment 21 to the Snapper-Grouper Fishery Management Plan of the 
South Atlantic

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS); request for comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS, Southeast Region, in collaboration with the South 
Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), intends to prepare an 
EIS to describe and analyze a range of alternatives for management 
actions to be included in Amendment 21 to the Snapper-Grouper Fishery 
Management Plan for the South Atlantic Region (Amendment 21). These 
alternatives will consider several management approaches for limiting 
effort in the snapper-grouper fishery, including: trip limits, 
endorsements, cooperatives, catch shares, regional quotas, and State-
by-State quotas. The purpose of this amendment is to rationalize effort 
in the commercial snapper-grouper fishery in order to achieve and 
maintain optimum yield (OY), prevent overfishing, and rebuild 
overfished stocks. Rationalizing effort is expected to mitigate some of 
the problems resulting from derby fishing conditions or at least 
prevent the condition from becoming more severe. The purpose of this 
NOI is to solicit public comments on the scope of issues to be 
addressed in the EIS.

DATES: Written comments on the scope of issues to be addressed in the 
EIS will be accepted from January 12 to February 14, 5 p.m., Eastern 
time.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-BA59, by any 
one of the following methods:
    <bullet> Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the

[[Page 101]]

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
    <bullet> Mail: Karla Gore, Southeast Regional Office, NMFS, 263 
13th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.
    Instructions: No comments will be posted for public viewing until 
after the comment period is over. 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.
    To submit comments through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov, enter ``NOAA-NMFS-2010-0278'' in the keyword 
search, then select ``Send a Comment or Submission''. 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: Karla Gore; phone: (727) 824-5305.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Currently, nine snapper-grouper stocks are 
undergoing overfishing and five stocks are overfished. The Council and 
NMFS have implemented numerous regulatory changes in recent years in an 
effort to end and prevent overfishing and rebuild depleted snapper-
grouper stocks. These regulatory measures have resulted in decreases to 
commercial quotas for several species, which has lead to derby fishing 
conditions. As a result, the length of time it takes for the quota for 
some species (e.g., golden tilefish, vermilion snapper, and black sea 
bass) to be reached, has decreased significantly, resulting in lengthy 
commercial sector closures.
    It is anticipated that, under status quo management, incentives for 
derby behavior will persist in the snapper-grouper fishery, resulting 
in continued overcapitalization and derby fishery conditions. The 
fishery is expected to continue to be characterized by higher than 
necessary levels of capital investment, increased operating costs, 
increased likelihood of shortened seasons, reduced at-sea safety, wide 
fluctuations in domestic snapper-grouper supply and depressed ex-vessel 
prices, which may lead to deteriorating working conditions and lower 
profitability for participants.
    For these reasons, the Council is considering several management 
approaches for limiting effort in the snapper grouper fishery, 
including: trip limits, endorsements, cooperatives, catch shares, 
regional quotas, and State-by-State quotas.
    An NOI was previously published on January 22, 2008 (73 FR 3701) to 
develop an EIS for Amendment 18 to the Snapper-Grouper FMP to consider 
alternatives to establish a limited access privilege program for the 
snapper-grouper fishery. However, the Council postponed consideration 
of this action to a future amendment.
    NMFS, in collaboration with the Council will develop an EIS to 
describe and analyze management alternatives to address the management 
needs described above. Those alternatives will include a ``no action'' 
alternative regarding each action.
    In accordance with NOAA's Administrative Order 216-6, Section 
5.02(c), Scoping Process, NMFS, in collaboration with the Council, has 
identified preliminary environmental issues as a means to initiate 
discussion for scoping purposes only. These preliminary issues may not 
represent the full range of issues that eventually will be evaluated in 
the EIS.
    Copies of an information packet will be available from NMFS (see 
ADDRESSES).
    Following publication of this NOI, the Council will conduct public 
scoping meetings to determine the range of issues to be addressed in 
the DEIS and the associated Amendment 21.
    After the draft EIS (DEIS) associated with Amendment 21 is 
completed, it will be filed with the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA). The EPA will publish a notice of availability of the DEIS for 
public comment in the Federal Register. The DEIS will have a 45-day 
comment period. This procedure is pursuant to regulations issued by the 
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for implementing the procedural 
provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 40 CFR parts 
1500-1508) and to NOAA's Administrative Order 216-6 regarding NOAA's 
compliance with NEPA and the CEQ regulations.
    The Council will consider public comments received on the DEIS in 
developing the final environmental impact statement (FEIS), and before 
voting to submit the final amendment to NMFS for Secretarial review, 
approval, and implementation. NMFS will announce in the Federal 
Register the availability of the final amendment and FEIS for public 
review during the Secretarial review period, and will consider all 
public comments prior to final agency action to approve, disapprove, or 
partially approve the final amendment.

Scoping Meetings, Times, and Locations

    All meetings will begin at 3 p.m. In addition to Amendment 21, the 
Council intends to scope additional amendments at this series of 
meetings. Separate NOIs will be prepared for each amendment. The 
meetings will be physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for information packets or for sign language interpretation or 
other auxiliary aids should be directed to the Council (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT).
    Monday, January 24, 2011--Hilton New Bern/Riverfront, 100 Middle 
Street, New Bern, NC 28560; phone 252-638-3585.
    Wednesday, January 26, 2011--Crowne Plaza Charleston Airport, 4831 
Tanger Outlet Boulevard, North Charleston, SC 29418; phone 843-744-
4422.
    Thursday, January 27, 2011--Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, 175 
Bourne Avenue, Pooler, GA 31322; phone 912-748-8888.
    Monday, January 31, 2011--Jacksonville Marriott, 4670 Salisbury 
Road, Jacksonville, FL 32256; phone 904-296-2222.
    Tuesday, February 1, 2011--International Palms Resort, 1300 N. 
Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach, FL 32931; phone 321-783-2271.
    Thursday, February 3, 2011--Key Largo Grande Resort, 97000 Overseas 
Resort, Key Largo, FL 33037; phone 305-852-5553.

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

    Dated: December 28, 2010.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-33102 Filed 12-30-10; 8:45 am]
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