40802 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 146 / Wednesday, July 30, 1997 / Notices

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 072197G]

Pacific Fishery Management Council;

Public Meeting

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: The Pacific Fishery

Management Council’s (Council)

Committee on Alternative Groundfish

Management will hold a public meeting.

DATES: The meeting will begin on

Wednesday, August 20, 1997, at 9:00

a.m. and may go into the evening until

business for the day is completed.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in

the Mt. St. Helens Room at the Shilo Inn

- Portland Airport, 11707 NE Airport

Way, Portland, OR.

Council address: Pacific Fishery

Management Council, 2130 SW Fifth

Avenue, Suite 224, Portland, OR 97201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Larry Six, Executive Director; telephone:

(503) 326–6352.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At the

request of the Council, the Committee

will discuss alternatives to the yearround fishery for potential

implementation in 1998. Other

alternative management strategies to be

discussed include a full retention

program, marine harvest regues, and

others. The Committee will present their

findings at the September 8–12 Council

meeting.

Special Accommodations

The meeting is physically accessible

to people with disabilities. Requests for

sign language interpretation or other

auxiliary aids should be directed to Eric

Greene at (503) 326–6352 at least 5 days

prior to the meeting date.

Dated: July 23, 1997.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–19960 Filed 7–29–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 072297G]

South Atlantic Fishery Management

Council; Public Meetings.

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

SUMMARY: The South Atlantic Fishery

Management Council (Council) will

hold meetings of its Wetlands, Seagrass,

Oyster/Shell and Water Issues SubGroups.

DATES: The meetings will be held

August 11-13, 1997. See SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION for specific dates and

times.

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at

the Town and Country Inn, 2008

Savannah Highway, Charleston, SC

29407; telephone: 803-571-1000.

Council address: South Atlantic

Fishery Management Council, One

Southpark Circle, Suite 306; Charleston,

SC 29407-4699.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan Buchanan, Public Information

Officer; telephone: (803) 571-4366; fax:

(803) 769-4520; email:

susan.buchanan@noaa.gov

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Meeting Dates

August 11, 1997, 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.;

August 12, 1997, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Wetlands Sub-Group will meet to

review wetland habitat description and

distribution information in south

Atlantic state and regional and

geographical information systems,

identify fishing and non-fishing threats

to wetland habitats, and to develop

recommendations for a draft Council

habitat policy statement on wetland

habitats.

August 12, 1997, 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Seagrass Sub-Group will meet to

review seagrass habitat description and

distribution information in state and

regional systems, identify fishing and

non-fishing threats to seagrass habitat,

and make recommended revisions to the

Council habitat policy statement on

seagrass.

August 13, 1997, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The Oyster/Shell Sub-Group will

meet to review oyster/shell habitat

description and distribution information

in south Atlantic state and Federal

systems, identify fishing and nonfishing threats to oyster/shell habitats,

and develop recommendations for a

draft Council habitat policy statement

on

oyster/shell habitats.

August 13, 1997, 12:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Water Issues Sub-Group will

meet to hold a round table discussion

on water issues and impacts on essential

fish habitat, including hydrologic

modifications and water quality issues,

and to develop recommendations for

inclusion in a draft Council habitat

policy statement on water issues.

Special Accommodations

These meetings are physically

accessible to people with disabilities.

Requests for sign language

interpretation or other auxiliary aids

should be directed to the Council office

(see ADDRESSES) by August 4, 1997.

Dated: July 24, 1997.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–19961 Filed 7–29–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 072197A]

Endangered Species; Permits

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Receipt of an application for a

scientific research permit (P654).

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that

the Idaho Fishery Resource Office of the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at

Ahsahka, ID (FWS) has applied in due

form for a permit that would provide

authorization for a take of a threatened

species for the purpose of scientific

research.

DATES: Written comments or requests for

a public hearing on this application

must be received on or before August

29, 1997.

ADDRESSES: The application and related

documents are available for review in

the following offices, by appointment:

Office of Protected Resources, F/PR3,

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver

Spring, MD 20910–3226 (301–713–

1401); and

Protected Resources Division, F/

NWO3, 525 NE Oregon Street, Suite
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 146 / Wednesday, July 30, 1997 / Notices 40803

500, Portland, OR 97232–4169 (503–

230–5400).

Written comments or requests for a

public hearing should be submitted to

the Chief, Protected Resources Division

in Portland, OR.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FWS

requests a permit under the authority of

section 10 of the Endangered Species

Act of 1973 (ESA) (16 U.S.C. 1531–

1543) and the NMFS regulations

governing ESA-listed fish and wildlife

permits (50 CFR parts 217–227).

FWS (P654) requests a 5-year permit

for an annual take of adult, threatened,

Snake River fall chinook salmon

(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) associated

with research designed to monitor and

evaluate adult returns of hatchery-origin

fall chinook salmon released as

juveniles above Lower Granite Dam on

the Snake River in the Pacific

Northwest. Although the focus of the

research is on non-listed hatchery fish,

FWS also propose to collect information

on ESA-listed, natural-origin, fall

chinook salmon. Currently, information

on ESA-listed, natural-origin fish is

needed to assess the impacts of fish

management actions (e.g., hatchery

supplementation), as well as other

human activities (e.g., regulated river

flows), on wild fish populations. The

research has two components: 1) Radiotagging returning adult salmon at Lower

Granite Dam to document the

movements and spawning distribution

of known natural-origin fall chinook

salmon above the dam, and 2) collecting

data and scale/tissue samples from

spawned-out adult fish in the Snake

River and tributaries above Lower

Granite Dam to augment information on

spawning distribution collected from

radio-tagged fish. For the radio-tagging

component, ESA-listed adult fish are

proposed to be captured, anesthetized,

handled (measured, sampled for scales

and tissues, tagged with radio

transmitters), allowed to recover from

the anesthetic, and released. For the

spawned-out fish component, ESAlisted adult fish are proposed to be

monitored for the development of redds

during weekly aerial surveys, observed

from shore or from a boat to determine

if the fish are near natural death

(spawned-out), captured by rod and

reel, handled (measured, sampled for

scales and tissues, checked for tags), and

released. Tissue samples will

subsequently be analyzed for genetic

attributes and population determinants.

Those individuals requesting a

hearing (see ADDRESSES) should set out

the specific reasons why a hearing on

this application would be appropriate.

The holding of such hearing is at the

discretion of the Assistant

Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA. All

statements and opinions contained in

this application summary are those of

the applicant and do not necessarily

reflect the views of NMFS.

Dated: July 23, 1997.

Nancy Chu,

Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office

of Protected Resources, National Marine

Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–19957 Filed 7–29–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 072197B]

Endangered Species; Permits

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Issuance of modification 5 to

incidental take permit 844 (P503I).

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that

NMFS has issued a modification to a

permit to the Idaho Department of Fish

and Game at Boise, ID (IDFG) that

authorizes an incidental take of

Endangered Species Act-listed species

associated with sport-fishing activities,

subject to certain conditions set forth

therein.

ADDRESSES: The application and related

documents are available for review in

the following offices, by appointment:

Office of Protected Resources, F/PR3,

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver

Spring, MD 20910–3226 (301-713-1401);

and

Protected Resources Division, F/

NWO3, 525 NE Oregon Street, Suite

500, Portland, OR 97232–4169 (503–

230–5400).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

modification to a permit was issued

under the authority of section 10 of the

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA)

(16 U.S.C. 1531-1543) and the NMFS

regulations governing ESA-listed fish

and wildlife permits (50 CFR parts 217–

222).

Notice was published on May 5, 1997

(62 FR 24421) that an application had

been filed by IDFG for a modification to

incidental take permit 844 (P503I).

Modification 5 to permit 844 was issued

to IDFG on July 11, 1997. For

modification 5, IDFG is authorized an

increase in the incidental take of adult,

threatened, natural-origin, Snake River

spring/summer chinook salmon

(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) associated

with a salmon sport fishery on the

upper South Fork of the Salmon River.

The fishery will target non-listed adult,

adipose fin-clipped, artificiallypropagated, summer chinook salmon.

The primary source of take will be the

incidental catch and release of ESAlisted adult fish with associated catchand-release incidental mortalities. The

specifics of the fishery, including season

dates, duration, locations, and

mitigative activities are tailored to

provide the appropriate level of

protection for ESA-listed fish in the

watershed. The fishery will be

terminated when quotas are reached or

August 4, 1997, whichever occurs first.

The incidental take of ESA-listed fish

associated with the South Fork Salmon

River fishery is valid in 1997 only.

Permit 844 expires on April 30, 1998.

Notice was published on May 30,

1997 (62 FR 29330) that NMFS

proposed to amend IDFG’s incidental

take permit 844 (P503I) consequential to

the issuance of modification 8 to IDFG’s

scientific research/enhancement permit

795. NMFS issued modification 8 to

permit 795 on May 21, 1997 (62 FR

29331, May 30, 1997). Modification 8 to

permit 795 authorizes IDFG to release

juvenile, endangered, artificiallypropagated, Snake River sockeye salmon

(Oncorhynchus nerka) from its captive

propagation program into Alturas Lake

in 1997. NMFS proposed to amend

permit 844 to authorize IDFG an

incidental take of juvenile, ESA-listed,

sockeye salmon associated with the

continuation of rainbow trout and

kokanee sport fisheries at Alturas Lake

in 1997 after the ESA-listed juvenile fish

are reintroduced into the lake. NMFS

has determined that the continuation of

these fisheries at Alturas Lake in 1997

will not result in an incidental take of

juvenile, ESA-listed, sockeye salmon

because of the small size of the fish to

be released into the lake (7 grams or

approximately 90 mm). In addition,

ESA-listed sockeye salmon smolts

should migrate out of Alturas Lake prior

to reaching a size that makes them

susceptible to the fisheries.

Issuance of the modification to a

permit, as required by the ESA, was

based on a finding that such action: (1)

Was requested/proposed in good faith,

(2) will not operate to the disadvantage

of the ESA-listed species that are the

subject of the permit, and (3) are

consistent with the purposes and

policies set forth in section 2 of the ESA

and the NMFS regulations governing

ESA-listed species permits.