Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 171 / Thursday, September 4, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 46679

Counsel for Legislation and Regulation

of the Department of Commerce

certified to the Chief Counsel for

Advocacy of the Small Business

Administration that the proposed rule,

if adopted, would not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities. Accordingly, a

regulatory flexibility analysis was not

prepared. Specific findings supporting

that conclusion were summarized in the

preamble to the proposed rule and are

not repeated here. No public comments

on the certification were received.

Opening the 1997 fall commercial red

snapper season on September 2, instead

of September 15, would allow the

fishery to begin at a time with

traditionally better weather, thereby

minimizing potential adverse impacts

on fishing operations, particularly those

of smaller vessels. Allowing commercial

harvest only during the first 15 days of

each month would extend the length of

the annual fishing season and thereby

provide market (price) benefits. These

benefits depend on the provisions for

the earlier opening taking effect no later

than September 2, 1997, and on the

provisions for the initial monthly

closure taking effect no later than

September 15, 1997. The Assistant

Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA,

finds that attaining these benefits

constitutes good cause under 5 U.S.C.

553(d)(3) of the Administrative

Procedure Act to waive the normal 30-

day delay in effectiveness of §§ 622.34(l)

and 622.42(a)(1) of this rule.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 622

Fisheries, Fishing, Puerto Rico,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements, Virgin Islands.

Dated: August 27, 1997.

David L. Evans,

Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 50 CFR part 622 is amended

as follows:

PART 622—FISHERIES OF THE

CARIBBEAN, GULF, AND SOUTH

ATLANTIC

1. The authority citation for part 622

continues to read as follows:

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

2. In § 622.34, paragraph (l) is revised,

effective September 15, 1997, to read as

follows:

§ 622.34 Gulf EEZ seasonal and/or area

closures.

* * * * *

(l) 1997 closures of the commercial

fishery for red snapper. During 1997, the

possession of red snapper in or from the

Gulf EEZ and on board a vessel for

which a commercial permit for Gulf reef

fish has been issued, as required under

§ 622.4(a)(2)(v), without regard to where

such red snapper were harvested, is

limited to the bag and possession limits,

as specified in § 622.39(b)(1)(iii) and

(b)(2), respectively, and such red

snapper are subject to the prohibition on

sale or purchase of red snapper

possessed under the bag limit, as

specified in § 622.45(c)(1), from noon on

September 15 to noon on October 1, and

thereafter from noon on the 15th of each

month to noon on the first of each

succeeding month until the commercial

red snapper season is closed in

accordance with § 622.43(a)(1). All

times are local times.

3. In § 622.42, paragraph (a)

introductory text is removed and

paragraph (a)(1) is revised, effective

September 2, 1997; and paragraph (a)(2)

is revised, effective October 6, 1997, to

read as follows:

§ 622.42 Quotas.

* * * * *

(a) Gulf reef fish—(1) Commercial

quotas. The following quotas apply to

persons who fish under commercial

vessel permits for Gulf reef fish, as

required under § 622.4(a)(2)(v).

(i) Red snapper—4.65 million lb (2.11

million kg), round weight, apportioned

in 1997 as follows:

(A) 3.06 million lb (1.39 million kg)

available February 1, 1997.

(B) The remainder available at noon

on September 2, 1997, subject to the

closure provisions of §§ 622.34(l) and

622.43(a)(1)(i).

(ii) Deep-water groupers (i.e.,

yellowedge grouper, misty grouper,

warsaw grouper, snowy grouper, and

speckled hind), and, after the quota for

shallow-water grouper is reached,

scamp, combined—1.60 million lb (0.73

million kg), round weight.

(iii) Shallow-water groupers (i.e., all

groupers other than deep-water

groupers, jewfish, and Nassau grouper),

including scamp before the quota for

shallow-water groupers is reached,

combined—9.80 million lb (4.45 million

kg), round weight.

(2) Recreational quota for red

snapper. The following quota applies to

persons who harvest red snapper other

than under commercial vessel permits

for Gulf reef fish and the commercial

quota specified in paragraph (a)(1)(i) of

this section—4.47 million lb (2.03

million kg), round weight.

* * * * *

4. In § 622.43, paragraph (a)(1) is

revised, effective October 6, 1997, to

read as follows:

§ 622.43 Closures.

(a) * * *

(1) Gulf reef fish—(i) Commercial

quotas. The bag and possession limits

specified in § 622.39(b) apply to all

harvest or possession in or from the Gulf

EEZ of the indicated species, and the

sale or purchase of the indicated species

taken from the Gulf EEZ is prohibited.

In addition, the bag and possession

limits for red snapper apply on board a

vessel for which a commercial permit

for Gulf reef fish has been issued, as

required under § 622.4(a)(2)(v), without

regard to where such red snapper were

harvested. However, the bag and

possession limits for red snapper apply

only when the recreational quota for red

snapper has not been reached and the

bag and possession limit has not been

reduced to zero under paragraph

(a)(1)(ii) of this section.

(ii) Recreational quota for red

snapper. The bag and possession limit

for red snapper in or from the Gulf EEZ

is zero.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 97–23339 Filed 8-29-97; 3:41 pm]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 622

[Docket No. 961226370–7074–02; I.D.

111896A]

RIN 0648–AI15

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Shrimp

Fishery Off the Southern Atlantic

States; Amendment 2; Correction

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule; correction.

SUMMARY: NMFS published in the

Federal Register of April 16, 1997, the

testing protocol for bycatch reduction

devices (BRDs). The statistical approach

section of that appendix contains errors.

This document corrects those errors.

DATES: Effective September 4, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Peter J. Eldridge, 813–570–5305.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

shrimp fishery off the southern Atlantic

states is managed under the Fishery

Management Plan for the Shrimp

Fishery of the South Atlantic Region

(FMP). The FMP was prepared by the

South Atlantic Fishery Management
46680 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 171 / Thursday, September 4, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

Council and is implemented under the

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens

Fishery Conservation and Management

Act by regulations at 50 CFR part 622.

Background and Need for Correction

Amendment 2 to the FMP, among

other things, requires the use of certified

BRDs in all penaeid shrimp trawls in

the exclusive economic zone in the

South Atlantic. The final rule to

implement Amendment 2 contained as

an appendix the Testing Protocol for

BRD Certification. The Statistical

Approach section of that appendix

contained errors, primarily in the

formulas for computing whether the

BRD tested achieves the minimum

required reduction rate for weakfish and

Spanish mackerel.

For clarity and ease of use, this

correction restates the entire corrected

Statistical Approach section of the

Testing Protocol for BRD Certification.

Correction of Publication

In FR Doc. 97–9816 published on

April 16, 1997 (62 FR 18536), make the

following correction. On page 18542, in

the appendix to the document, which

will not appear in the Code of Federal

Regulations, remove the text beginning

five lines from the bottom of the first

column with the heading ‘‘Statistical

Approach’’ and ending with the text on

line 11 of the third column and replace

it with the following:

Statistical Approach

You should start with the assumption that

the BRD to be tested does not achieve the

minimum required reduction rate, say R0.

This assumption will be rejected if the data

provide sufficient evidence to do so. Hence,

the hypotheses to be tested are as follows:

H0: BRD does not achieve the minimum

required reduction rate,

R R R c b

c

c b = − ≤ − ( ) − ≤ μ μ

μ

μ μ 0 0 , i.e. . 1 0

Ha: BRD does achieve the minimum required

reduction rate,

R R R c b

c

c b = − > − ( ) − > μ μ

μ

μ μ 0 0 , . i.e. 1 0

Here R denotes the actual reduction rate

(unknown), R0 denotes the minimum

required reduction rate, μc denotes the actual

mean CPUE with the control, and μb denotes

the actual mean CPUE with the BRD.

With any hypothesis testing, there are two

risks involved, known as type I error

(rejecting the true H0) and type II error

(accepting a false H0). The probabilities of

committing these errors are denoted by alpha

and beta, respectively, and those are

inversely related to each other. As alpha

increases, beta decreases, and vice versa. The

above test will be conducted with an alpha

to be specified by the RA. The above

hypotheses should be tested using a

‘‘modified’’ paired t-test.

The CPUE values for the control and BRD

nets for each successful tow should be

computed first and these will be used in the

following computations. The test statistic to

be used is given by:

t

R x y

s n d

= ( ) 1− − 0

0 / ,

Where:

x ̄ is the observed mean CPUE for the control,

y ̄ is the observed mean CPUE for the BRD,

sd0 is the standard deviation of

di={(1¥R0)xi¥yi} values, n is the number

of successful tows used in the analysis, and

i=1, 2, . . . , n.

The H0 will be rejected if t>talpha,n¥1,

where talpha,n¥1 denotes the (1¥alpha) 100th

percentile score in the t distribution with

(n¥1) degrees of freedom.

The computation of beta (for various

assumed reduction rates, R1>R0) is somewhat

involved and requires the knowledge of

unknown parameters (or at least good

estimates) of μc and σ2

d0. Note that σ2d0 is

dependent on the R0 specified (under H0) and

equals:

(1¥R0)2 σ2

xi+σ2yi¥2(1¥R0) ρ •σxi•σyi,

where ρ is the population correlation

coefficient between xi and yi values. The

computation of beta in advance (in the

absence of any preliminary data, i.e., without

good parameter estimates) is almost

impossible. More work in this direction is

still needed. However, it is clear that beta

could be reduced by increasing alpha or n or

both.

A (1¥alpha) 100% two-sided confidence

interval on R consists of all values of R0 for

which

H0: R=R0 (versus Ha: R≠R0) cannot be

rejected at the level of significance of alpha.

One-sided confidence intervals on R could

also be computed appropriately.

Dated: August 27, 1997.

David L. Evans,

Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–23404 Filed 9–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 970613138–7138–01; I.D.

082897C]

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic

Zone Off Alaska; Scallop Fishery;

Closure in Registration Area O

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Closure.

SUMMARY: NMFS is closing the scallop

fishery in Registration Area O (Dutch

Harbor). This action is necessary to

prevent exceeding the C. bairdi crab

bycatch limit (CBL) in this area.

DATES: Effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local

time (A.l.t.), August 28, 1997, until 2400

hrs, A.l.t., June 30, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Andrew Smoker, 907–586–7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

scallop fishery in the exclusive

economic zone off Alaska is managed by

NMFS according to the Fishery

Management Plan for the Scallop

Fishery off Alaska (FMP) prepared by

the North Pacific Fishery Management

Council under authority of the

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery