Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 52 / Monday, March 19, 2007 / Notices 12771 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 031207D] 

Pacific Halibut Fishery; Guideline 

Harvest Levels for the Guided 

Recreational Halibut Fishery 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of guideline harvest 

level. 

SUMMARY: NMFS provides notice of the 

guideline harvest levels (GHL) for the 

guided sport halibut fishery (charter 

fishery) in the International Pacific 

Halibut Commission (IPHC) regulatory 

areas 2C and 3A. The GHLs provide a 

benchmark harvest level for participants 

in the charter fishery. This notice is 

necessary to meet the management and 

regulatory requirements for the GHLs 

and to inform the public about the 2007 

GHLs for the charter fishery. 

DATES: The GHLs are effective beginning 

1200 h, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), 

February 1, 2007, and will close at 2400 

h, A.l.t., December 31, 2007. This period 

is specified by the IPHC as the sport 

fishing season in all waters of Alaska. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jason Gasper, 907–586–7228, or email at 

jason.gasper@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

implemented a final rule to establish 

GHLs in IPHC regulatory areas 2C and 

3A for the harvest of Pacific halibut 

(Hippoglosses stenolepis) by the charter 

fishery on August 8, 2003 (68 FR 

47256). The GHLs are intended to serve 

as a benchmark harvest level for 

participants in the charter fishery. 

This announcement is consistent with 

50 CFR 300.65(c)(2), which requires that 

GHLs for IPHC regulatory areas 2C and 

3A be specified by NMFS and 

announced by publication in the 

Federal Register no later than 30 days 

after receiving information from the 

IPHC. The IPHC annually establishes 

the constant exploitation yield (CEY) for 

halibut in IPHC regulatory areas 2C and 

3A. Regulations at § 300.65(c)(1) 

establish the GHLs based on the CEY 

that is established annually by the IPHC. 

The CEY established by the IPHC for 

2007 in Areas 2C and 3A result in GHLs 

of 1,432,000 lb (649.5 t), and 3,650,000 

lb (1,655.6 t), respectively. 

This notice does not require any 

regulatory action by NMFS and is 

intended to serve as a notice of the 

GHLs in Areas 2C and 3A for 2007. If 

a GHL is exceeded in 2007, NMFS will 

notify the North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) in 

writing within 30 days of receipt of that 

information. The Council is not required 

to take action, but may recommend 

additional management measures after 

receiving notification that a GHL has 

been exceeded. 

Classification 

This notice does not require any 

additional regulatory action by NMFS 

and does not impose any additional 

restrictions on harvests by the charter 

fishery. 

If a GHL is exceeded in any year, the 

Council would be notified, but would 

not be required to take action. This 

process of notification is intended to 

provide the Council with information 

about the level of Pacific halibut harvest 

by the charter fishery in a given year 

and could prompt future action. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq. 

Dated: March 12, 2007. 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E7–4887 Filed 3–16–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 030107E] 

Fisheries off West Coast States and in 

the Western Pacific; Overfishing 

Determination of Petrale Sole 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notification of determination of 

overfishing. 

SUMMARY: This action serves as a notice 

that NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary), has determined 

that overfishing is occurring in fisheries 

for petrale sole. NMFS notified the 

Pacific Regional Fishery Management 

Council (Pacific Council) of its 

determination by letter. The Pacific 

Council is required to take action within 

1 year following NMFS notification that 

overfishing is occurring or a stock is 

approaching overfishing, a stock is 

overfished or approaching an overfished 

condition, or existing remedial action 

taken to end overfishing or rebuild an 

overfished stock has not resulted in 

adequate progress. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Debra Lambert, telephone: (301) 713–

2341. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to sections 304(e)(2) and (e)(7) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act), 16 U.S.C. 

1854(e)(2) and (e)(7), and implementing 

regulations at 50 CFR 600.310(e)(2), 

NMFS sends written notification to 

fishery management councils when 

overfishing is occurring or a stock is 

approaching overfishing; a stock is 

overfished or approaching an overfished 

condition, or existing action taken to 

end previously identified overfishing or 

rebuilding a previously identified 

overfished stock or stock complex has 

not resulted in adequate progress. On 

February 13, 2007, the NMFS Northwest 

Regional Administrator sent a letter, 

notifying the Pacific Council that petrale 

sole was subject to overfishing in 2005. 

The estimated catch of petrale sole in 

2005 was 2,766 mt, 0.14 percent above 

the 2005 petrale sole Acceptable 

Biological Catch (ABC) of 2,762 mt. 

A copy of the notification letter sent 

to the Pacific Council for the 

aforementioned determination is 

available at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ 

sfa/statusoffisheries/SOSmain.htm. 

Within 1 year of a notification under 

Magnuson-Stevens Act sections 

304(e)(2) or (e)(7), the respective 

Council must take remedial action in 

response to the notification, to end 

overfishing if overfishing is occurring; 

rebuild an overfished stock or stock 

complex to the abundance that can 

produce maximum sustainable yield 

within an appropriate time frame; 

prevent overfishing from occurring if a 

stock is approaching overfishing; and/or 

prevent a stock from becoming 

overfished if it is approaching an 

overfished condition (see implementing 

regulations at 50 CFR 600.310(e)(3)). 

Such action must be submitted to NMFS 

within 1 year of notification and may be 

in the form of a new fishery 

management plan (FMP), an FMP 

amendment, or proposed regulations. 

However, preliminary estimates from 

2006 indicate that the 2006 petrale catch 

was below that species’ABC. This lower 

catch was likely due to the Pacific 

Council having introduced winter trip 

limits for petrale sole via inseason 

recommendations from its November 

2005 meeting (70 FR 72385, December 

5, 2005). The 2007–2008 groundfish trip 

limits, established through notice and 

comment rulemaking, also include 

limits for petrale sole that were 

designed to keep catch within the 

appropriate level (71 FR 78638, 


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