65356 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 183 / Friday, September 22, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

Critical Mineral has the meaning 

given the term in section 7002(a) of the 

Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)) 

and enumerated by the Director of the 

U.S. Geological Survey at 87 FR 10381 

and any successive U.S. Geological 

Survey Director enumerations made 

pursuant to that authority, and any 

amendments to the enumerations by Act 

of Congress. 

Critical Minerals Project means a 

project for which the primary product or 

co-product by economic value is a 

critical mineral. 

Extraction means the activities 

performed to extract or harvest minerals 

or natural resources from the ground or 

a body of water, including, but not 

limited to, by operating equipment to 

extract or harvest minerals or natural 

resources from mines and wells, or to 

extract minerals or natural resources 

from the waste or residue of prior 

extraction. 

FAST–41 means Title 41 of the Fixing 

America’s Surface Transportation Act, 

42 U.S.C. 4370m et seq. 

Federal Permitting Improvement 

Steering Council or Permitting Council 

means the Federal agency established 

pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 4370m–1(a). 

Mining means a process for which the 

primary purpose is extracting minerals 

from the ground. Mining does not 

include the process of extracting oil or 

natural gas. 

Processing means the refining of 

materials, including the treating, baking, 

and coating processes used to convert 

raw products into constituent materials. 

Recycling means the process of 

collecting and processing spent 

materials and devices and turning the 

materials and devices into raw materials 

or components that can be reused either 

partially or completely. 

■ 3. Amend § 1900.2 by revising 

paragraph (a) to read as follows: 

§ 1900.2 FAST–41 sectors. 

* * * * * 

(a) Critical minerals mining, 

extraction, beneficiation, processing, 

and recycling. 

* * * * * 

Eric Beightel, 

Executive Director, Federal Permitting 

Improvement Steering Council. 

[FR Doc. 2023–20270 Filed 9–21–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–PL–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2023–0103; 

FF09E21000 FXES1111090FEDR 234] 

RIN 1018–BG31 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Threatened Species Status 

With Section 4(d) Rule for the Miami 

Cave Crayfish 

Correction 

In proposed rule document 2023– 

20293, appearing on pages 64856–64870 

in the issue of Wednesday, September 

20, 2023, make the following correction: 

§ 17.46 [Corrected] 

D On page 64870, in the first column, in 

the fourth and fifth lines after the table 

at the top of the page, ‘‘(e) Miami cave 

crish (Procambarus milleri).’’ should 

read ‘‘(e) Miami cave crayfish 

(Procambarus milleri).’’ 

[FR Doc. C1–2023–20293 Filed 9–21–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 0099–10–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 665 

[Docket No. 230918–0221] 

RIN 0648–BM34 

Pacific Island Fisheries; 5-Year 

Extension of Moratorium on Harvest of 

Gold Corals 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This proposed rule would 

extend the current region-wide 

moratorium on the harvest of gold corals 

in the U.S. Pacific Islands through June 

30, 2028. NMFS intends this proposed 

rule to prevent overfishing and to 

stimulate research on gold corals. 

DATES: NMFS must receive comments 

by October 23, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2023–0071, by either of the 

following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and enter 

NOAA–NMFS–2023–0071 in the Search 

box. Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Send written comments to 

Sarah Malloy, Acting Regional 

Administrator, NMFS Pacific Islands 

Regional Office (PIRO), 1845 Wasp 

Blvd., Bldg. 176, Honolulu, HI 96818. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, will not be 

considered by NMFS. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on https://www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/ 

A’’ in the required fields if you wish to 

remain anonymous). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pua 

Borges, NMFS PIRO Sustainable 

Fisheries, 808–725–5184. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Jewelry 

designers use small amounts of precious 

corals to adorn their products. The 

precious corals fishery in the U.S. 

Pacific Islands include black, pink, 

bamboo, and gold corals. They are slowgrowing and have low rates of natural 

mortality and recruitment. Unexploited 

populations are relatively stable, and a 

wide range of age classes is generally 

present in those populations. Due to the 

great longevity of individuals and the 

associated slow population turnover 

rates, a long period of reduced fishing 

effort is required to restore a stock’s 

ability to produce at the maximum 

sustainable yield if a stock has been 

over-exploited. Fishermen harvest 

precious corals by various methods, 

including by hand-harvesting and by 

submersible. 

Gold corals are suspension feeders 

and live in deep water (100–1,500 

meters (m)) on hard substrates where 

bottom currents are strong, such as 

seamounts, ledges, pinnacles, walls, and 

cliffs. Prior fishing effort harvested gold 

corals by submersible or tangle net 

dredges. There are several beds of gold 

corals (Gerardia spp., Callogorgia 

gilberti, Narella spp., and Calyptrophora 

spp.) in the U.S. Exclusive Economic 

Zone (EEZ; generally 3–200 nautical 

miles (6–370 kilometers) from shore) 

around Hawaii. Gold coral distribution 

and abundance are unknown in the 

region beyond Hawaii, but they likely 

occur in the EEZ around American 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 183 / Friday, September 22, 2023 / Proposed Rules 65357 

Samoa, the Mariana Archipelago 

(Commonwealth of the Northern 

Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam), and 

the Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA; 

Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis 

Island, Wake Atoll, Johnston Atoll, 

Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, and 

Palmyra Atoll). 

NMFS and the Western Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council) 

manage precious coral fisheries in the 

U.S. Pacific Islands under fishery 

ecosystem plans (FEPs) for American 

Samoa, Hawaii, the Mariana 

Archipelago, and the PRIA. The FEPs 

and associated Federal regulations at 50 

CFR part 665 require permits and data 

reporting, and allow harvesting of 

precious corals only with selective gear 

(e.g., submersibles, remotely-operated 

vehicles, or by hand). There are also 

bed-specific quotas, refuges from 

fishing, and size limits. The fishery for 

gold corals, like most deepwater 

precious corals other than black corals 

in Hawaii, has remained dormant since 

2001. 

The Council considered past and 

current research on gold corals growth 

rates and recruitment. Past research on 

gold corals indicated that the linear 

growth rate of gold corals is 

approximately 6.6 centimeters/year, 

suggesting a relatively young age for 

large coral colonies of up to 70 years. 

However, updated research using 

radiocarbon dating revealed that gold 

corals in Hawaii may live much longer 

than previously believed, from 450– 

2,740 years. Because of these 

uncertainties, the Council and NMFS 

established a 5-year moratorium on 

harvesting gold corals in 2008 (73 FR 

47098, August 13, 2008). 

Subsequently, additional research 

offered new but potentially conflicting 

information about gold coral growth. A 

study in 2009 estimated that linear 

growth of gold coral could be 2.2 cm/ 

year but was unable to measure 

discernable growth during repeated 

measurements of live colonies with 

submersibles. This research also 

identified previously unknown habitat 

requirements for gold coral, specifically 

that gold corals may depend on bamboo 

corals to provide required substrate for 

gold coral larvae. In light of these 

additional uncertainties, the Council 

and NMFS extended the moratorium for 

another 5 years in 2013 (78 FR 32181, 

May 29, 2013) and in 2018 (83 FR 

27716, June 14, 2018). These moratoria 

have prevented the potential for 

overharvesting gold corals if a fishery 

had re-emerged, and they have allowed 

for research on gold coral biology. The 

current moratorium expired on June 30, 

2023. 

Uncertainties in scientific data have 

not been satisfactorily resolved, and 

NMFS has not incorporated new 

information into estimates of 

sustainable harvest rates. Research in 

2019 provided information on the slow 

development of Pacific deep-water 

precious coral communities, 

highlighting the limited recovery 

potential of gold coral if overharvested 

and the need to better understand the 

life history of the species and deep-sea 

coral ecology. The Council continues to 

be concerned about uncertainties related 

to the growth rates and habitat 

requirements for gold coral, and 

recognizes that fishery managers need 

more research to inform appropriate 

measures for this fishery. This proposed 

rule, if adopted, would extend the 

moratorium through June 30, 2028. The 

proposed action would prevent the 

potential for overfishing and allow time 

for further research on gold corals that 

could inform sustainable management 

models and for the Council to consider 

a long-term management strategy that 

will ensure the sustainability of the 

fishery. 

NMFS must receive any public 

comments on this proposed rule by the 

close of business on October 23, 2023 

and will not consider late comments. 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304(b)(1)(A) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act), the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

that this proposed rule is consistent 

with the FEPs for American Samoa, the 

PRIA, Hawaii, and the Mariana 

Archipelago, other provisions of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other 

applicable law, subject to further 

consideration after public comment. 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for 

purposes of Executive Order 12866. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

Certification of Finding of No 

Significant Impact on Substantial 

Number of Small Entities 

The RFA of 1980, as amended (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.), required Federal 

agencies to determine to the extent 

feasible, the economic impact of their 

regulations on small entities and 

explore alternatives for reducing any 

significant economic impacts on a 

substantial number of such entities. The 

Chief Counsel for Regulation of the 

Department of Commerce certified to 

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration that this 

proposed rule, if adopted, would not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

The proposed rule would extend the 

current gold coral harvest moratorium 

for 5 years. The current moratorium 

expired on June 30, 2023. The Western 

Pacific Fishery Management Council 

(Council) recommended extending the 

moratorium through June 30, 2028. 

Extending the moratorium for another 5 

years would ensure that no harvesting of 

gold corals takes place and would allow 

time for additional research that could 

inform future management decisions 

regarding sustainable harvest of this 

resource. 

The proposed action could potentially 

affect an entity possessing a Federal 

Western Pacific precious corals permit, 

because, without the moratorium, these 

entities could obtain a permit to harvest 

or land gold corals in addition to black, 

bamboo, pink, and red corals. Only one 

entity, based in the State of Hawaii, 

possessed a precious corals permit from 

2013 until 2019 and no entity possessed 

a precious coral permit after 2019. 

NMFS believes that this entity would be 

considered a small entity under the 

small business size standard that NMFS 

established, for RFA purposes only, for 

businesses, including their affiliates, 

whose primary industry is commercial 

fishing, because the permit holder is 

engaged in the commercial fishing 

industry(NAICS 11411), is 

independently owned or operated, is 

not dominant in their field of operation, 

and has annual gross receipts not in 

excess of $11 million (50 CFR 200.2). 

It is unlikely that the permit holder 

would begin to harvest gold corals in 

the absence of a moratorium. The 

Pacific Islands gold coral fishery had 

already been dormant when the 

moratorium initially went into effect in 

2008. The moratorium had been 

extended every five years thereafter, so 

the gold coral fishery has remained 

closed. Historically, gold coral 

harvesting had occurred infrequently. In 

the late 1970s, one company used a 

manned submersible to selectively take 

several thousand kilograms of gold coral 

off Eastern Oahu, Hawaii. From 1999– 

2001, a second company used a 

submersible to take a small amount of 

gold coral, along with other deepwater 

precious corals, from exploratory areas 

off Hawaii. The final year of gold coral 

harvest was in 2001. Furthermore, this 

fishery is still characterized by high 

equipment and operating costs, 

continued safety concerns and other 

logistical constraints, and gold coral 

market prices are not high enough to 

offset those risks and expenses. Because 

of these challenges, interest in this 

fishery will likely remain low even 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
65358 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 183 / Friday, September 22, 2023 / Proposed Rules 

without the moratorium. Therefore, 

extending the moratorium on gold coral 

harvests will not likely cause immediate 

economic impact to any potential 

Western Pacific precious corals permit 

holder. 

The proposed rule does not duplicate, 

overlap, or conflict with other Federal 

rules and is not expected to have 

significant impact on small entities (as 

discussed above), organizations or 

government jurisdictions. There does 

not appear to be disproportionate 

economic impacts from the proposed 

rule based on home port, gear type, or 

relative vessel size. 

For the reasons described above, this 

proposed rule would not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

Therefore, an initial regulatory 

flexibility analysis is not required, and 

none has been prepared. 

This proposed rule contains no 

information collection requirements 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 665 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, American Samoa, Deep sea 

coral, Fisheries, Fishing, Guam, Hawaii, 

Northern Mariana Islands, Pacific 

Remote Island Areas, Precious coral. 

Dated: September 18, 2023. 

Samuel D. Rauch, III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, NMFS proposes to amend 50 

CFR part 665 as follows: 

PART 665—FISHERIES IN THE 

WESTERN PACIFIC 

■ 1. The authority citation for 50 CFR 

part 665 continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. Revise § 665.169 to read as follows: 

§ 665.169 Gold coral harvest moratorium. 

Fishing for, taking, or retaining any 

gold coral in any precious coral permit 

area is prohibited through June 30, 

2028. 

■ 3. Revise Note 2 to § 665.269 to read 

as follows: 

§ 665.269 Annual Catch Limits (ACL). 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

Note 2 to § 665.269: A moratorium on gold 

coral harvesting is in effect through June 30, 

2028. 

■ 4. Revise § 665.270 to read as follows: 

§ 665.270 Gold coral harvest moratorium. 

Fishing for, taking, or retaining any 

gold coral in any precious coral permit 

area is prohibited through June 30, 

2028. 

■ 5. Revise § 665.469 to read as follows: 

§ 665.469 Gold coral harvest moratorium. 

Fishing for, taking, or retaining any 

gold coral in any precious coral permit 

area is prohibited through June 30, 

2028. 

■ 6. Revise § 665.669 to read as follows: 

§ 665.669 Gold coral harvest moratorium. 

Fishing for, taking, or retaining any 

gold coral in any precious coral permit 

area is prohibited through June 30, 

2028. 

[FR Doc. 2023–20511 Filed 9–21–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with PROPOSALS1