Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 105 / Wednesday, May 31, 2000 / Proposed Rules 34633

equipment authorization apply to the

Commission, and instead propose that

they apply to designated

Telecommunications Certification

Bodies. The Commission is proposing

that instead of submitting part 68

application information to the

Commission, the TCBs would be

required to submit the data to a

nationwide database instead, which

shall be administered by a private

entity. The Commission is also

proposing to offer responsible parties

the option to use either a SelfDeclaration of Conformity or a

verification process for equipment

authorization. Such parties would have

to submit data concerning their

equipment to a nationwide database.

26. Further, the Commission is

proposing to privatize development and

maintenance of technical criteria for

terminal equipment, other than those

technical criteria required for

compliance with the HAC/VC and

consumer protection rules, which the

Commission proposes to retain. Small

entities with an interest in the

development, interpretation, and waiver

of such technical criteria would be

required to seek the ruling of the

standard development organization

responsible for the standard at issue in

the first instance. The Commission,

however, proposes to retain full

de novo review procedures for any

industry decision.

27. The Commission also proposes to

require that certain information

regarding the equipment authorized

under part 68 would be placed into a

publicly available database. This

information would be available for

review of technical parameters of

specific equipment, including

parameters required for compliance

with hearing aid compatibility, volume

control, and other HAC/VC

requirements. This requirement would

not be a new information requirement

since application data is currently

required and kept in a Commission

database.

28. Finally, the Commission proposes

to unify the numbering system and the

logo that must be imprinted on

customer premises equipment.

Currently, part 15 and part 68 have

different labeling and different

registration numbering systems.

29. Steps Taken to Minimize

Significant Economic Impact on Small

Entities, and Significant Alternatives

Considered. The RFA requires an

agency to describe any significant

alternatives that it has considered in

reaching its proposed approach, which

may include the following four

alternatives: (1) the establishment of

differing compliance or reporting

requirements or timetables that take into

account the resources available to small

entities; (2) the clarification,

consolidation, or simplification of

compliance or reporting requirements

under the rule for small entities; (3) the

use of performance, rather than design,

standards; and (4) an exemption from

coverage of the rule, or any part thereof,

for small entities.

30. The proposals in this Notice are

designed to reduce the length of time for

new technology to reach the market.

This may benefit small entities

especially because the proposals would

cut any manufacturer’s cost to bring an

equipment design to market.

Alternatives for making these reductions

are included in the form of options for

different methods of (1) industry

development and maintenance of

technical standards and (2) equipment

registration. The Commission requests

comment on these options.

31. The Commission requests

comment on whether small entities

would be adversely affected by the

proposals herein, particularly whether

the proposed enforcement procedures or

any of the proposed options for

establishing technical criteria would

have a significant economic impact. The

Commission believes that the proposals

would have either no impact, or would

reduce, any economic burdens on small

entities.

32. Federal Rules that May Duplicate,

Overlap, or Conflict With the Proposed

Rules. None.

C. Comment Filing Procedures

33. Interested parties may file

comments on or before June 23, 2000

and reply comments on or before July 7,

2000. Parties must file an original and

four copies of each filing. All filings

must be sent to the Commission’s

Secretary, Magalie Roman Salas, Office

of the Secretary, Federal

Communications Commission, 445

Twelfth Street, SW, Room TW–B204F,

Washington, DC 20554. Comments may

be filed using the Commission’s

Electronic Comment Filing System

(ECFS) or by filing paper copies. See

Electronic Filing of Documents in

Rulemaking Proceedings, 68 FR 24,121

(1998). Comments filed through the

ECFS can be sent as an electronic file

via the Internet to http://www.fcc.gov/efile/ecfs.html. Generally, only one copy

of an electronic submission must be

filed. In completing the transmittal

screen, commenters should include

their full name, Postal Service mailing

address, and the applicable docket

number, CC Docket No. 99–216.

34. Written comments must be

submitted by the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) on the proposed

information collections on or before July

31, 2000. In addition to filing comments

with the Secretary, a copy of any

comments on the information

collections contained herein should be

submitted to Judy Boley, Federal

Communications Commission, Room 1–

C804, 445 12th Street, SW., Washington,

DC 20554, or via the Internet to

jboley@fcc.gov and to Edward C.

Springer, OMB Desk Officer, Room

10236 NEOB, 725 17th Street, NW.,

Washington, DC 20503 or via the

Internet to

edward.springer@omb.eop.gov.

35. Parties should also file one copy

of any documents filed in this docket

with the Commission’s copy contractor,

International Transcription Services,

Inc., 1231 20th Street, NW, Washington,

DC 20036. Comments and reply

comments will be available for public

inspection during regular business

hours in the FCC Reference Center, 445

12th Street, SW., Washington, DC

20554.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 68

Administrative practice and

procedure, Communications common

carriers, Communications equipment,

Labeling, Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements, Telephone.

Federal Communications Commission.

Magalie Roman Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–13588 Filed 5–30–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 052300A]

New England Fishery Management

Council; Public Meeting

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notification of public meeting.

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery

Management Council (Council) will

hold a 2-day public meeting on June 14

and 15, 2000, to consider actions

affecting New England fisheries in the

exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

DATES: The meeting will be held on

Wednesday, June 14, 2000, beginning at

34634 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 105 / Wednesday, May 31, 2000 / Proposed Rules

9:30 a.m. and Thursday, June 15,

beginning at 8:30 a.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

the Sheraton Harborside Hotel, 250

Market Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801;

telephone (603) 431–2300. Requests for

special accommodations should be

addressed to the New England Fishery

Management Council, 50 Water Street,

Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950;

telephone (978) 465–0492.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul

J. Howard, Executive Director, New

England Fishery Management Council

(978) 465–0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Wednesday, June 14, 2000

After introductions, the meeting will

begin with a report from the Chairman

of the Council’s Magnuson-Stevens

Fishery Conservation and Management

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) Committee

(committee). The committee will seek

Council guidance on issues to be

considered for the development of

comments during the MagnusonStevens Act reauthorization process and

may ask for approval of preliminary

draft comments. This agenda item will

be followed by two presentations to be

discussed by NMFS staff: An overview

of the Vessel Monitoring System

Program in the Northeast; and

Applications of Vessel Monitoring

Systems for Improved Fisheries Science

and Management. Amendment 10 to the

Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery

Management Plan (FMP) and related

topics will be discussed during the

second half of the day. The Scallop

Committee will present proposed

Amendment 10 management

alternatives. Alternatives selected for

further development will be analyzed in

terms of their scallop, habitat, bycatch,

gear conflict, enforcement, and social

and economic impacts in a Draft

Supplemental Environmental Impact

Statement. Under consideration are

proposals for: Rotational area

management (which would also require

a re-estimation of the overfishing

definition reference points, consistent

with the expected change in size

selection and other factors); a

requirement for scallop nets to be

modified to achieve the same selectivity

and/or equivalent fishing mortality as

dredges; a change in the fishing year

and the annual review process; and

possibly adjusting the present crew size

limits. The Scallop Committee also will

provide an update on the development

of the annual adjustment to

management measures for the FMP

(Framework Adjustment 14) scheduled

to take effect in March 2001.

Thursday, June 15, 2000

The second day of the meeting will

begin with reports on recent activities

from the Council Chairman, Executive

Director, the Regional Administrator,

Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional

Administrator), Northeast Fisheries

Science Center and Mid-Atlantic

Fishery Management Council liaisons,

and representatives of the Coast Guard,

NMFS Enforcement, and the Atlantic

States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Announcement of Experimental Fishery

Application

The Regional Administrator will

discuss, during the reports portion of

the agenda, the receipt of an

experimental fishing proposal submitted

by the Massachusetts Division of Marine

Fisheries (MADMF) for which the

issuance of Exempted Fishing Permits

(EFPs) is required. The Regional

Administrator has made a preliminary

determination that the application is

complete and warrants further

consideration. The public may comment

during the discussion at the Council

meeting, or may submit comments in

writing. Written comments must be

received by June 15, 2000, and should

be submitted to: Patricia Kurkul,

Regional Administrator, NMFS,

Northeast Regional Office, 1 Blackburn

Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Written

comments may be submitted by

facsimile (fax) to (978) 281–9135, but

may not be submitted via e-mail or the

Internet. The proposal is summarized

here.

The MADMF proposes to continue the

work they conducted beginning in 1997

to show that small-mesh whiting fishing

with a raised footrope trawl

configuration can effectively target

whiting in areas east of Cape Cod. The

experimental area, formerly referred to

as Area 3 during the 1999 experiment,

is proposed to be modified this year by

shifting the western boundary farther

west to the port of Chatham, MA (see

coordinates below).

Point Number Latitude Longitude

4 ................................................................................................................................................................... 42°14.05’ 70°08.80’

7 ................................................................................................................................................................... 42°09.20’ 69°47.80’

8 ................................................................................................................................................................... 41°54.85’ 69°35.20’

9 ................................................................................................................................................................... 41°41.50’ 69°32.85’

10 ................................................................................................................................................................. 41°39.00’ 69°44.30’

11 ................................................................................................................................................................. 41°45.60’ 69°51.80’

12 ................................................................................................................................................................. 41°52.30’ 69°52.55’

13 ................................................................................................................................................................. 41°55.50’ 69°53.45’

4 ................................................................................................................................................................... 42°14.05’ 70°08.80’

This change in area would likely

expand the participating fleet and

improve our understanding of bycatch

levels in the area through increased data

collection and gear experimentation.

The industry cooperative experiment is

proposed to take place from September

1 to December 30, 2000. The experiment

is likely to involve approximately 20

vessels; 5 vessels in the early part of the

season (September through November)

and an additional 15 beginning in late

November through to December 2000.

Enrollment would be established by the

MADMF similar to last year, when

historical participation and previous

experience with the raised footope trawl

gear operation played a role in the

selection process conducted by the

MADMF. It is expected that 100 percent

of the participants would be vessels

from Chatham, MA, during the early

part of the season beginning in

September through to October. In

November and December, it is expected

that approximately 50 percent of the

participants would be from the ports of

Gloucester and Provincetown, MA, with

the remaining vessels continuing to be

from Chatham. The purpose of the

experimental fishery is to document

bycatch levels in this area. If they are

below the 5–percent regulated

multispecies bycatch standard, the

fishery could be found to be an

exempted fishery.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 105 / Wednesday, May 31, 2000 / Proposed Rules 34635

The Council approved an exemption

request for an area comprising the

experimental Areas 2B and 4 under

Framework 35 to the Northeast Fishery

Management Plan (Framework 35). The

MADMF did not request that Area 3 be

included in the exemption due to the

low sample size and inconclusive data

results from previous year’s

experiments. Therefore, this year’s

experiment proposes to increase the

sampling size (fleet size expansion) and

improve the confidence level of data on

bycatch of regulated multispecies,

overall effort, species composition and

gear performance.

The MADMF has stated that the gear

specifications would be identical to

those approved under Framework 35,

including the minimum mesh size

requirement of 2.5 inches (6.35 cm), the

headrope, ground gear, footrope and

drop chains settings and configurations,

option to use the sweepless trawl, and

a prohibition on use of net

strengtheners. Also, net possession

restrictions would be amended to allow

fishermen to leave their large-mesh

groundfish net aboard the vessel (in

addition to the small mesh raised

footrope trawl) when enrolled in the

fishery.

The area defined by the MADMF for

the experiment overlaps a portion of the

Gulf of Maine Rolling Closure Area V

(Rolling Closure Area) from October 1—

November 30, 2000. NMFS is also

requesting comments on MADMF’s

request that participants in the

experimental fishery be allowed to fish

in the Rolling Closure Area. The

MADMF hopes that this overlap would

help define a continuous exemption

area including the area proposed in

Framework 35 and the area proposed in

this experiment.

The MADMF personnel would sea

sample approximately 10–20 percent of

the total trips during the course of the

experimental fishery season; September

through December of 2000. In addition,

participants would be required to record

catch information on a tow-by-tow basis

on MADMF-supplied logs and submit

all logs weekly to MADMF. If bycatch

problems should develop, MADMF

would take the appropriate remedial

actions to amend the problem, as they

have in past years.

EFPs would be issued to participating

federally permitted whiting vessels to

exempt them from DAS, mesh size and

other gear restrictions required as part of

the Northeast Multispecies FMP during

the specified season.

Following reports and consideration

of the experimental fishery proposal, the

Groundfish Committee will report on

the development of Amendment 13 to

the Northeast Multispecies FMP. The

Habitat Committee will report during

the afternoon session. Included will be

a presentation on the 2000 Habitat

Annual Review Report, discussion and

possible approval of recommendations

concerning the establishment of one or

more dedicated habitat research areas,

and review and possible approval of a

letter to the Minerals Management

Service about proposed sand mining off

the New Jersey coast.

Prior to addressing any other

outstanding business, the Capacity and

Herring Committees will update the

Council on their most recent activities.

Although other non-emergency issues

not contained in this agenda may come

before this Council for discussion, those

issues may not be the subject of formal

action during this meeting. Council

action will be restricted to those issues

specifically listed in this notice and any

issues arising after publication of this

notice that require emergency action

under section 305(c) of the MagnusonStevens Act, provided the public has

been notified of the Council’s intent to

take final action to address the

emergency.

The New England Council will

consider public comments at a

minimum of two Council meetings

before making recommendations to the

Regional Administrator on any

framework adjustment to a fishery

management plan. If she concurs with

the adjustment proposed by the Council,

the Regional Administrator has the

discretion to publish the action either as

proposed or final regulations in the

Federal Register. Documents pertaining

to framework adjustments are available

for public review 7 days prior to a final

vote by the Council.

Special Accommodations

This meeting is physically accessible

to people with disabilities. Requests for

sign language interpretation or other

auxiliary aids should be directed to Paul

J. Howard (see ADDRESSES) at least 5

days prior to the meeting date.

Dated: May 24, 2000.

Richard W. Surdi,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 00–13569 Filed 5–30–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 000524153–0153–01; I.D.

042100C]

RIN 0648–AO11

Fisheries off West Coast States and in

the Western Pacific; Highly Migratory

Species 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

Pacific Coast Highly Migratory Species

Fisheries; request for comments.

SUMMARY: The Pacific Fishery

Management Council (Council) is

developing a Fishery Management Plan

(FMP) for Highly Migratory Species

(HMS) off the Pacific Coast that would

place HMS species such as tuna,

billfish, and sharks under Federal

management. This document announces

a control date of March 9, 2000, after

which vessels participating in the

commercial (troll, long line, drift gillnet,

harpoon, purse seine), and charter boat

fisheries for HMS may not be qualified

if the Council determines that a program

to limit entry to the fisheries is

appropriate. The intended effect of this

announcement is to discourage

speculative entry into the Pacific Coast

HMS fisheries while the Council

determines whether, it will limit

participation in the fisheries in the

future. If the Council decides to limit

future participation, it will decide on

criteria at that time.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by

June 30, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments on this advance

notice of proposed rulemaking may be

mailed to Jim Lone, Chairman, Pacific

Fishery Management Council, 2130 SW

Fifth Avenue, Suite 224, Portland, OR

97201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Svein Fougner, Sustainable Fisheries

Division, Southwest Region, NMFS,

562–980–4040.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Council was established under section

302(a)(1)(F)) of the Magnuson-Stevens

Fishery Conservation and Management

Act. The Council has concluded that an

HMS FMP is needed and has named a

plan development team. The Council

sponsored scoping sessions to obtain