45384 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 166 / Wednesday, August 27, 1997 / Proposed Rules

(c) Be substantially intoxicated on any

street, road, beach, theater, club, or

other public place from the voluntary

use of intoxicating liquor, drugs or other

substance. As used in this paragraph,

‘‘substantially intoxicated’’ is defined as

an actual impairment of mental or

physical capacities.

§ 38.13 Speed limits.

No person on Midway Atoll National

Wildlife Refuge shall exceed the speed

limit for automobiles, trucks, bicycles,

motorcycles, or other vehicles. Unless

otherwise posted, the speed limit

throughout the Midway Atoll National

Wildlife Refuge is 15 miles per hour.

§ 38.14 Miscellaneous prohibitions.

No person on Midway Atoll National

Wildlife Refuge shall:

(a) Smoke or ignite any fire in any

designated and posted ‘‘No Smoking’’

area, or in the immediate proximity of

any aircraft, fueling pit, or hazardous

material storage area;

(b) Knowingly report or cause to be

reported to any public official, or

willfully activate or cause to be

activated, any alarm, that an emergency

exists, knowing that such report or

alarm is false. ‘‘Emergency,’’ as used

herein, includes any condition which

results, or could result, in the response

of a public official in an emergency

vehicle, or any condition which

jeopardizes, or could jeopardize, public

lives or safety, or results or could result

in the evacuation of an area, building,

structure, vehicle, aircraft, or boat or

other vessel, or any other place by its

occupants; or

(c) Intentionally report to any public

official authorized to issue a warrant of

arrest or make an arrest, that a crime has

been committed, or make any oral or

written statement to any of the above

officials concerning a crime or alleged

crime or other matter, knowing such

report or statement to be false.

§ 38.15 Attempt.

No person on Midway Atoll National

Wildlife Refuge shall attempt to commit

any offense prohibited by this part.

§ 38.16 Penalties.

Any person who violates any

provision of this part shall be fined or

imprisoned in accordance with 16

U.S.C. 668dd(e) and Title 18, U.S. Code.

Subpart D—Civil Administration

§ 38.17 General.

Civil administration of Midway Atoll

National Wildlife Refuge shall be

governed by the provisions of this part

38, 50 CFR parts 25–32, and the general

principles of common law.

Dated: July 27, 1997.

Donald J. Barry,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and

Wildlife and Parks.

[FR Doc. 97–22714 Filed 8–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–M

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 082097D]

Fisheries of the Northeastern United

States; Northeast Multispecies

Fishery; Scoping Process for Atlantic

Sea Herring

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a

supplemental environmental impact

statement (SEIS) and notice of scoping

process; request for comments.

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery

Management Council (Council)

announces its intent to prepare a

Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for

Atlantic sea herring (Clupea harengus)

and stocks, and to prepare an SEIS to

analyze the impacts of any proposed

management measures, while the

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries

Commission (Commission) develops a

complementary amendment to its

Atlantic Herring FMP under the

authority of the Atlantic Coastal

Fisheries Cooperative Management Act.

The Council and Commission also

formally announce a public process to

determine the scope of issues to be

addressed in the environmental impact

analysis. The purpose of this

notification is to alert the interested

public of the commencement of the

scoping process, and to provide for

public participation in compliance with

environmental documentation

requirements.

DATES: The Council will discuss and

take scoping comments at public

meeetings in September 1997. See

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for

specific dates and times. Written

scoping comments may be submitted

until September 15, 1997.

ADDRESSES: The Council will discuss

and take scoping comments at public

meetings in Massachusetts, Maine,

Rhode Island, and New Jersey. See

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for

specific locations. Written comments

and requests for copies of the scoping

document and other information can be

obtained from Paul J. Howard, Executive

Director, New England Fishery

Management Council, 5 Broadway,

Saugus, MA 01906, Telephone (617)

231–0422.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul

J. Howard, (617) 231–0422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Atlantic herring fishery is

currently managed as one stock along

the East Coast from Maine to Cape

Hatteras although there is evidence to

suggest there are two separate biological

stocks. Generally, the resource has been

divided into an inshore Gulf of Maine

(GOM) and an offshore Georges Bank

(GB) component. The most recent stock

assessment (1995) concluded that the

abundance of the coastal stock complex

is currently at a record high level of 3.6

million metric tons (mt), while the most

recent estimate of spawning stock

biomass (SSB) is 2.1 million mt. The

current level of abundance has

generated great interest in new and

expanded sectors of the herring fishery,

including: (1) Maintaining traditional

use patterns in the fishery; (2)

increasing the bait fishery; (3) increasing

participation in cooperative ventures

with foreign vessels (Internal Water

Processing (IWP) and Joint Venture

Processing (JV)); (4) providing a viable

alternative fishery to vessels currently

in the groundfish fishery; (5) providing

opportunities for increased

development of U.S. shore-side

processing capacity; (6) interest in

participating in the fishery from Pacific

Coast fishing operations; (7) maintaining

high stock abundance for ecological

reasons (i.e., maintaining a forage base

for base for other species); and (8)

providing opportunities for

modernization and improvement of the

existing East coast vessels to be able to

compete in supplying human food

export markets.

These potentially competing interests

have generated different views on how

the herring fishery should be managed

in the future. Additionally, the interest

in rapid expansion of the fishery has

raised concerns about potential

overharvest, locally or on the entire

stock. In the late 1960s and the early

1970s, excessive foreign fishing led to

the collapse of the GB stock. The stock

has collapsed a number of times in the

past due to over harvesting. There is

currently great concern over the

condition of the GOM component of the

herring population but existing data are

insufficient to separate individual
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 166 / Wednesday, August 27, 1997 / Proposed Rules 45385

components such as the GOM into

distinct stocks.

Current interest in expanding the

fishery, from many sectors, has raised

the issues of: (1) Appropriate harvest

levels overall and by sub-unit; (2)

appropriate end uses of herring (food,

meal, roe, and bait); (3) appropriate

expansions in the fishery (IWP, JV, and

use of large factory trawlers); and (4)

how to best cooperate with Canadian

herring interests.

Current management

The Commission FMP

The goal of the current Herring FMP

is to: ‘‘manage Atlantic herring as an

interjurisdictional resource in U.S.

Atlantic coast waters for sustained

optimum utilization while conserving

the resource through complimentary

management between the New England

and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management

Councils, the U.S. Atlantic coastal

states, and Canada in a manner which

will provide the greatest benefit to the

nation.’’

To accomplish this goal, the

Commission FMP identifies the

following eight management objectives:

(1) Maintain the herring resource at or

above 20 percent of its maximum

spawning potential, while reducing the

risk of stock collapse;

(2) promote U.S./Canada cooperation

to improve herring stock assessments

and establish complementary

management practices;

(3) promote research, improve data

collection, and improve assessment

procedures;

(4) provide adequate protection for

spawning herring, prevent damage to

egg beds;

(5) avoid patterns of fishing mortality

by age which are inconsistent with the

goal;

(6) establish complementary

management throughout the species

range;

(7) promote utilization of the resource

which maximizes social and economic

benefits to the nation; and

(8) promote recovery of herring on GB

and control development of the fishery.

The current Commission FMP

imposes no restrictions on domestic

fishing or processing activities and

because there is not yet a Federal FMP,

it does not permit joint venture fishing

or processing activities involving

foreign owned vessels in federal waters.

Preliminary Management Plan (PMP)

In 1995 a Preliminary Management

Plan (PMP) was prepared by NMFS, in

cooperation with the Commission and

the Council. The purpose of the PMP

was to allow joint venture operations for

herring in the EEZ. The allocation of

fish for joint ventures must take into

account current harvesting levels of

herring by the domestic, IWP, and

Canadian sectors.

Proposed contents of the new

Commission FMP Amendment/Federal

FMP

A. Additional management objectives

The Council and Commission are

considering the following management

objectives:

(1) Achieve, on a continuing basis,

optimum yield (OY) for the United

States fishing industry and to prevent

overfishing of the Atlantic sea herring

resource;

(2) prevent the overfishing of discrete

stock units consistent with the national

standards;

(3) provide opportunities for

fishermen and vessels displaced by

fishing restrictions in other fisheries in

the northeast;

(4) implement management measures

in close coordination with other federal

and state FMPs;

(5) take into account the viability of

current participants in the fishery;

(6) provide for the orderly

development of the offshore fishery;

(7) maximize shore-side utilization

and value-added product; and

(8) achieve full utilization from the

catch of herring (minimize the waste

from discards in the fishery);

B. Overfishing, OY, and

corresponding stock size levels

To achieve the management

objectives, the FMP will contain the

following:

(1) An overfishing definition;

(2) An estimate of maximum

sustainable yield (MSY) and maximum

level of fishing mortality which would

produce MSY in the long run;

(3) An MSY control rule - a

hypothetical harvest strategy which

would produce long-term catch

approximating MSY;

(4) An estimate of the MSY stock size

- the long-term average size of the stock

that would be achieved under an MSY

control rule in which the fishing

mortality rate is constant;

(5) Stock status determination criteria

which would allow the Council and the

Commission to determine whether the

herring resource is overfished or

whether overfishing is occurring;

(6) A specification of OY;

(7) Total Allowable Catch (TAC)

levels for appropriate stock areas;

(8) Fishery sector allocations

including JV and IWP allocations;

(9) Estimates of U.S. harvesting and

processing capacity; and

(10) Data reporting requirements for

permit holders and processors.

C. Management unit

The management unit for this FMP is

defined as the Atlantic herring resource

throughout the range of the species

within U.S. waters of the northwest

Atlantic Ocean from the shoreline to the

seaward boundary of the EEZ. This

definition is consistent with recent

stock assessments which treated the

entire resource in U.S. waters of the

northwest Atlantic as a single stock. It

is also recognized that the herring

resource, as defined here, is a

transboundary one and that effective

assessment and management can be

enhanced through cooperative efforts

with Canadian scientists and managers.

D. Catch control measures

To ensure the achievement of OY and

to prevent overfishing, the Council and

the Commission will consider a range of

alternatives for limiting the potential

catch of herring. Management measures

would be consistent throughout the

range of the species to the extent

practicable. There may, however, be

different measures by region if justified.

(1) Target Total Allowable Catch

(TAC) levels with effort controls. The

Council and the Commission could

restrict fishing levels through the

following measures to achieve target

TACs: (a) Limited entry; (b) closed

seasons; (c) closed areas; (d) limits on

the amount of fishing time (days-at-sea

limits); (e) gear controls including vessel

size limits and horsepower restrictions;

(f) trip limits; (g) minimum sizes for

adults, juveniles or both; and (h) a

prohibition on the harvest of herring

primarily for the production of fish

meal.

(2) Catch quotas. The FMP could close

the fishery when target TACs are

reached through the following types of

quotas: (a) Fleet quota (options include

allocating quota annually, seasonally, by

vessel category, etc.); (b) vessel catch

limits; (c) management area quotas; and

(d) sector quotas.

E. Potential habitat protection and

stock enhancement measures

(1) Spawning and juvenile protection

area closures;

(2) Allowance for predation by other

fish and marine mammals;

(3) Gear impact assessments;

(4) Essential fish habitat description

and recommendations. NMFS, together

with the Council’s Habitat PDT, will

provide the Council and the ASMFC

information about and draft

recommendations for the enhancement

and protection of the essential fish

habitat for herring.

F. Potential bycatch minimization

measures
45386 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 166 / Wednesday, August 27, 1997 / Proposed Rules

(1) Gear modifications; and

(2) Area closures.

G. Recommendations for future

research

(1) Natural mortality (current

estimates assume an 18 percent natural

mortality rate for herring, including

predation by other species); and

(2) Other recommendations.

H. Fishing community considerations

(1) Protection of traditional uses of

inshore stocks; and

(2) Description and analysis of

impacts on fishing communities.

I. An analysis of the impacts of

proposed measures on safety at sea

J. Administrative provisions

(1) A requirement for vessel fishing

permits;

(2) A requirement for fishing vessel

operator permits;

(3) Dealer permits; and

(4) Requirement to provide end-use

information on IWP permits.

K. Data needs

(1) Reporting of landings from stock

components;

(2) Mandatory observer coverage; and

(3) Data on end-products and uses.

L. The Commission/Council process

for allocating herring among JV and IWP

operations

Scoping Process

All persons affected by or otherwise

interested in herring fisheries

management are invited to participate in

determining the scope and significance

of issues to be analyzed by submitting

written comments (see ADDRESSES) or

attending one of the scoping hearings.

Scope consists of the range of actions,

alternatives, and impacts to be

considered. Alternatives include not

developing a management plan (taking

no action), developing amendments to

existing plans or other reasonable

courses of action. Impacts may be direct,

indirect, individual or cumulative. The

scoping process also will identify and

eliminate from detailed study issues

that are not significant. Once a draft

management plan and an Environmental

Impact Statement or Environmental

Assessment is developed, the Council

and Commission will hold public

hearings to receive comments.

Public Meeting Schedule

The Council will discuss and take

scoping comment at public meetings as

follows:

(1) September 2, 1:00 p.m, Gloucester

House Restaurant, Seven Seas Wharf,

Gloucester, MA, (508) 283–1812;

(2) September 3, 1:00 p.m., Maine

Dept. of Marine Resources Fisheries

Laboratory, 194 McKown Point Road,

Boothbay Harbor, ME, (207) 633–9500;

(3) September 9, 1:00 p.m., Holiday

Inn, Route 1, South Kingston, RI, (401)

789–1051; and

(4) September 11, 7:00 p.m., Rutgers

Marine Advisory Service, Cape May

County Extension Office, Dennisville

Road, Rt. 657, Cape May Courthouse,

NJ, (609) 465–5115.

Additional scoping meetings may be

scheduled as needed.

Special Accommodations

The meetings are 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.

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

Dated: August 21, 1997.

George H. Darcy,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–22838 Filed 8-26-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 081997A]

License Limitation Program; Public

Meetings

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of meetings.

SUMMARY: NMFS announces two

meetings to discuss the proposed rule

that would implement Amendments 39,

41, and 5 to the fishery management

plans for groundfish off Alaska and crab

in and off Alaska (License Limitation

Program). The purpose of these

meetings is to explain provisions of the

proposed rule and to answer questions

presented at the meetings by members

of the affected fishing industry and

other interested parties.

DATES: The meetings are scheduled as

follows:

1. September 5, 1997, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.,

PDT, Seattle, WA.

2. September 12, 1997, 1 p.m. to 4

p.m., ADT, Anchorage, AK.

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at

the following locations:

1. Seattle—7600 Sand Point Way, NE,

Building 4 (Room 1055, Observer

Training Room), Seattle, WA 98115.

2. Anchorage—707 ‘‘A’’ Street (Suite

210), Anchorage, AK 99501.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John

Lepore, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: These

meetings are scheduled by NMFS in

response to requests by the affected

fishing industry to discuss particular

aspects of the License Limitation

Program as found in the proposed rule

published on August 15, 1997 (62 FR

43866). These meetings will be held

while the public comment period for the

proposed rule is open; however, these

meetings are informative only and will

not be used to obtain public comment

on the proposed rule. For comments to

be considered in the development of the

final rule, they must be in writing and

received prior to September 29, 1997.

Written comments on the proposed rule

must be sent to Chief, Fisheries

Management Division, Alaska Region,

NMFS, 709 W. 9th Street, Room 453,

Juneau, AK 99801, or P.O. Box 21668,

Juneau, AK 99802, Attention: Lori J.

Gravel.

Dated: August 20, 1997.

Gary C. Matlock,

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–22616 Filed 6–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F