10628 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 46 / Friday, March 9, 2007 / Proposed Rules 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amy Algoe-Eakin at (913) 551–7942, or 

by e-mail at algoe-eakin.amy@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 

final rules section of the Federal 

Register, EPA is approving the state’s 

SIP revision and Title V revision as a 

direct final rule without prior proposal 

because the Agency views this as a 

noncontroversial revision amendment 

and anticipates no relevant adverse 

comments to this action. A detailed 

rationale for the approval is set forth in 

the direct final rule. If no relevant 

adverse comments are received in 

response to this action, no further 

activity is contemplated in relation to 

this action. If EPA receives relevant 

adverse comments, the direct final rule 

will be withdrawn and all public 

comments received will be addressed in 

a subsequent final rule based on this 

proposed action. EPA will not institute 

a second comment period on this action. 

Any parties interested in commenting 

on this action should do so at this time. 

Please note that if EPA receives adverse 

comment on part of this rule and if that 

part can be severed from the remainder 

of the rule, EPA may adopt as final 

those parts of the rule that are not the 

subject of an adverse comment. For 

additional information, see the direct 

final rule which is located in the rules 

section of this Federal Register. 

Dated: February 27, 2007. 

John B. Askew, 

Regional Administrator, Region 7. 

[FR Doc. E7–4175 Filed 3–8–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 665 

[I.D 020807A] 

RIN 0648–AV24 

Fisheries off West Coast States; Highly 

Migratory Species Fishery; 

Amendment 1 to the Fishery 

Management Plan for U.S. West Coast 

Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of an 

amendment to a fishery management 

plan; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

Pacific Fishery Management Council 

(Pacific Council) has submitted 

Amendment 1 to the Fishery 

Management Plan for U.S. West Coast 

Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species 

(HMS FMP) for review by the Secretary 

of Commerce. Amendment 1, in 

combination with the Western Pacific 

Fishery Management Council’s (Western 

Pacific Council) proposed Amendment 

14, address overfishing of bigeye tuna 

(Thunnus obesus) Pacific-wide as 

required under the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Management Act (MagnusonStevens Act). The specific actions to end 

overfishing would be implemented by 

multilateral cooperation through 

appropriate regional fishery 

management organizations (RFMOs) - 

the Inter-American Tropical Tuna 

Commission (IATTC) in the Eastern 

Pacific Ocean (EPO) and the Western 

and Central Pacific Fisheries 

Commission (WCPFC) in the Western 

and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). 

Specifically, Amendment 1 would 

recommend that fishing mortality on 

Pacific bigeye in the EPO by longline 

vessels be reduced immediately by 30 

percent and by purse seine fishing 

vessels by 38 percent from 2003–2004 

fishing levels, and in the WCPO by 

longline and purse seine vessels by 20 

percent from 2001–2003 levels for each 

gear type. Taken together, these 

proposed reductions in fishing mortality 

would end overfishing of Pacific bigeye 

tuna. Amendment 1 would also 

reorganize the West Coast HMS FMP to 

create a more user-friendly document as 

the current FMP is combined with a 

lengthy Final Environmental Impact 

Statement (FEIS). 

DATES: Comments on Amendment 1 

must be received by May 8, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this action identified by [I.D. 

0220807A], by any of the following 

methods: 

• E-mail: 0648–AV24.SWR@noaa.gov. 

Include the I.D. number in the subject 

line of the message. 

• Federal e-Rulemaking portal: http.// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Rodney R. McInnis, Regional 

Administrator, Southwest Region, 

NMFS, 501 West Ocean Blvd., Suite 

4200, Long Beach, CA 90802. 

• Fax: (562)980–4047 

Copies of Amendment 1 are available 

by contacting Donald O. McIsaac, 

Executive Director, Pacific Fishery 

Management Council, 7700 NE 

Ambassador Place, Suite 200, Portland, 

OR 97220–1384. Copies of Amendment 

14 to the Pelagics FMP, and the 

Environmental Assessment (EA) for 

Amendment 14, which addresses 

potential effects for actions proposed 

under both Amendments 1 and 14, may 

be obtained by contacting Kitty M. 

Simonds, Executive Director, Western 

Pacific Fishery Management Council, 

1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu, 

HI 96813. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Heidi Taylor, Sustainable Fisheries 

Division, NMFS, at 562–980–4039, or 

Christopher Dahl, Pacific Fishery 

Management Council, at 503–820–2280. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The HMS 

fishery in the Exclusive Economic Zone 

off the West Coast is managed under the 

HMS FMP, which was developed by the 

Pacific Council pursuant to the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act. The HMS FMP 

was approved by the Secretary of 

Commerce and implemented by 

regulation at 50 CFR part 660. 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires 

each regional fishery management 

council to submit any amendment to an 

FMP to NMFS for review and approval, 

disapproval, or partial approval. The 

Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires 

that NMFS, upon receiving an 

amendment to an FMP, publish 

notification in the Federal Register that 

the amendment is available for public 

review and comment. NMFS will 

consider public comment received 

during the comment period in 

determining whether to approve, 

disapprove, or partially approve 

Amendment 1. 

Amendment 1 to the HMS FMP was 

developed by the Pacific Council, in 

coordination with the development of 

Amendment 14 to the Western Pacific 

Council’s Pelagics FMP. Both 

Amendments have been submitted to 

NMFS for review under the MagnusonStevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. This 

document announces that Amendment 

1 is available for public review and 

comment. A similar announcement for 

Amendment 14 was published on 

February 15, 2007, in the Federal 

Register. 

On December 15, 2004, NMFS 

notified both Councils that overfishing 

was occurring on bigeye tuna Pacificwide. As required by the MagnusonStevens Act, the Councils were 

requested to take appropriate action to 

end overfishing. The Pacific Council, 

having fisheries for bigeye tuna in the 

EPO only, and the Western Pacific 

Council, having fisheries in both the 

EPO and the WCPO, worked to develop 

an international strategy that addresses 

overfishing Pacific-wide. 

According to the guidelines for 

National Standard 1 of the MagnusonStevens Act, fishery stock status is 

assessed to determine if the stock is 


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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 46 / Friday, March 9, 2007 / Proposed Rules 10629 

subject to ‘‘overfishing.’’ Overfishing 

occurs when the maximum fishing 

mortality threshold (MFMT) is exceeded 

for one year or more and when the ratio 

of the current fishing mortality Fcurrent to 

Fmaximum sustainable yield (MSY), or 

Fcurrent/FMSY, exceeds one. Stock 

assessments leading up to the 

overfishing determination for bigeye 

tuna in the Pacific concluded that 

current fishing mortality on the bigeye 

stock exceeded MFMT, that is, the ratio 

of Fcurrent/FMSY has been exceeded for 

one year or more. Therefore, the 

Secretary of Commerce determined that 

overfishing is occurring on bigeye tuna 

throughout the Pacific. 

The Pacific Council adopted 

Amendment 1 to the HMS FMP at its 

November 2006 Council meeting 

following a lengthy process that fully 

considered various drafts of an 

alternatives analysis. The Pacific 

Council also considered actions taken 

by the Western Pacific Council, input 

from Council advisory bodies, and 

public comment before adopting 

Amendment 1. Because bigeye tuna are 

targeted by many nations, including the 

United States, and taking into 

consideration the comparatively small 

proportion of total fishing mortality on 

the stock contributed by the United 

States, no Federal regulations to limit 

fishing effort by West Coast vessels 

managed under the HMS FMP have 

been proposed. Rather, Amendment 1 

would revise the HMS FMP to include 

a multilateral strategy where the Pacific 

Council would transmit 

recommendations for the immediate 

reduction in fishing mortality of bigeye 

tuna in the EPO to the U.S. delegation 

to the IATTC. A similar international 

strategy has been proposed in 

Amendment 14 for the WCPO, and thus 

any combined fishery conservation and 

management recommendation from the 

Pacific and Western Pacific Councils to 

the relevant RFMOs, will end 

overfishing of bigeye tuna Pacific-wide. 

Amendment 1 outlines general 

principals that would be adhered to 

when proposing management measures 

to the U.S. delegation to the IATTC 

intended to meet the goal of ending 

overfishing. For example, conservation 

and management recommendations 

would focus on fisheries with the 

greatest impacts and on regions with the 

highest catch rate and on spawning 

areas; reducing surplus capacity; restrict 

the use of purse seines fishing on fish 

aggregating devices; and support the 

identification of those measures that 

will have a measurable impact on bigeye 

tuna conservation. 

The Pacific Council would develop 

management goals, to the extent 

practicable, that are consistent with 

IATTC staff scientist recommendations. 

Specifically, Amendment 1 would 

recommend that fishing mortality on 

Pacific bigeye be reduced immediately: 

(1) in the EPO, by longline vessels by 30 

percent and by purse seine fishing 

vessels by 38 percent from 2003–2004 

fishing levels; and (2) in the WCPO, by 

longline and purse seine vessels by 20 

percent from 2001–2003 levels for each 

gear type. However, as part of its 

strategy the Pacific Council recognizes 

that conservation and management goals 

may need to be revised to reflect 

changes in stock status and the best 

available science. These 

recommendations would be 

communicated to the relevant U.S. 

delegations to RFMOs and thus 

comprise the international strategy to 

end overfishing of bigeye tuna Pacificwide. 

Amendment 1 is consistent with 

section 406 of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Reauthorization Act (MSRA, Public Law 

109–479), which added section 304(i) to 

the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This section 

requires the Secretary to, among other 

things, in cooperation with the 

Secretary of State, immediately take 

appropriate action at the international 

level to end overfishing for fisheries that 

NMFS has determined: (a) to be 

overfished or approaching a condition 

of being overfished due to excessive 

international fishing pressure, and (b) 

for which there are no management 

measures to end overfishing under an 

international agreement to which the 

United States is a party. NMFS 

interprets ‘‘no management measures’’

to mean the absence of management 

measures that are adequate to stop 

overfishing for purposes of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act and its 

implementing regulations. NMFS has 

made a determination that both of these 

conditions are present, and therefore 

subsection 304(i) governs the MSA 

mandate to end overfishing in the case 

of Pacific bigeye tuna. 

Pacific bigeye tuna are fished in 

waters under U.S. jurisdiction, waters 

under the jurisdiction of other nations, 

and on the high seas by foreign fishing 

fleets. U.S. fisheries account for only a 

small percentage of the Pacific bigeye 

tuna harvests. Thus, fishing mortality of 

the bigeye stock stems predominantly 

from non-U.S. fleets in the region, and 

any unilateral management to end 

overfishing by the U.S. would have a 

proportionally small effect in terms of 

reducing fishing mortality and ending 

overfishing. 

Since 1998, the U.S. has addressed 

the relative impacts of U.S. fishing on 

Pacific bigeye tuna by implementing 

annual or multi-annual conservation 

and management resolutions under the 

Tuna Conventions Act (16 U.S.C. 951–

961 and 971 et seq.). Additionally, in 

Amendment 1, the Pacific Council 

proposes to recommend to NMFS and 

the Secretary of State, international 

management actions to end overfishing 

in fisheries for Pacific bigeye tuna. 

Finally, NMFS, in collaboration with 

the Pacific and Western Pacific Councils 

and Department of State, is working to 

end overfishing through the RFMOs. 

Existing HMS and Pelagics FMP 

measures for bigeye tuna have been 

implemented to address the relative 

impact of U.S. fishing vessels within the 

meaning of the MSRA section 

304(i)(2)(A). Depending on the region, 

these measures include limited access 

programs, mandatory data collection, 

scientific observers, vessel size limits 

and gear specifications, and a vessel 

monitoring system. 

Amendment 1 would also reorganize 

the original HMS FMP in a manner that 

calls attention to elements specific to 

the FMP and would move much of the 

lengthy background material in the 

original FMP/FEIS to a series of 

appendices. Amendment 1 thus 

includes new chapters and headings for 

the FMP. Cross references to chapters, 

sections, tables, and figures would be 

renumbered to reflect the reorganization 

proposed without referencing such 

changes in the text. The preface of 

Amendment 1 further explains the 

reorganization of the HMS FMP. The 

original FMP/FEIS will remain a 

publicly available document. 

Though Amendment 1 incorporates 

elements of Amendment 14, it does not 

require NMFS to promulgate 

implementing regulations. NMFS seeks 

public comment on Amendment 1, 

which must be received by May 8, 2007 

to be considered by NMFS in the 

decision whether to approve, partially 

approve, or disapprove the Amendment 

1. 

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

Dated: March 5, 2007. 

James P. Burgess, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–4259 Filed 3–8–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 


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