[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 176 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47766-47767]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24164]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 622

[Docket No. 970903225-7225-01; I.D. 081297G]


Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; 
Shrimp Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule, technical amendment.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this final rule to correct two of the coordinates 
that specify the boundary of the Tortugas shrimp sanctuary and to 
redesignate a paragraph of the regulations pertaining to the sanctuary.

DATES: Effective on September 11, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: W. Perry Allen, 813-570-5326.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The shrimp fishery of the Gulf of Mexico is 
managed under the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp Fishery of the 
Gulf of Mexico (FMP). The FMP was prepared by the Gulf of Mexico 
Fishery Management Council and is implemented under the authority of 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act by 
regulations at 50 CFR part 622.
    Under the FMP, the Tortugas shrimp sanctuary has been closed to 
trawling since 1981. Three small areas are excepted from that closure 
for specified periods of the year. The current regulations on the 
Tortugas shrimp sanctuary incorrectly state one latitude and one 
longitude in the list of coordinates that make up the sanctuary. In 
addition, a paragraph specifying one of the exceptions to the closure 
is incorrectly designated. These errors were introduced into the 
regulations when the regulations on the shrimp fishery, previously 
contained in 50 CFR

[[Page 47767]]

part 658, were consolidated with ten other parts into one part, part 
622, covering fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South 
Atlantic (61 FR 34930, July 3, 1996).

Classification

    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of E.O. 12866.
    The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries (AA), NOAA, under 5 
U.S.C. 553 (b)(B), for good cause, finds that providing prior notice 
and an opportunity for public comment on this rule is unnecessary. 
Since this rule merely corrects long established boundary coordinates 
that were incorrectly listed in a recent regulatory consolidation, 
providing prior notice and opportunity for public comment would serve 
no useful purpose. Similarly, the AA, under 5 U.S.C. 553 (d)(3), for 
good cause, finds that delaying the effective date of this correction 
for 30 days is unnecessary. The boundaries of the sanctuary have been 
long established and respected by the fishery participants.
    Because prior notice and opportunity for public comment is not 
required for this rule by 5 U.S.C. 553, or any other law, the 
analytical requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 
et seq., are inapplicable..

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 622

    Fisheries, Fishing, Puerto Rico, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Virgin Islands.

    Dated: September 5, 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.


Sec. 622.34  [Amended]

    2. In Sec. 622.34(i), in paragraph (1), in the list of coordinates, 
the North Lat. for Point F is revised to read ``24 deg.50.7''' and the 
West Long. for Point P is revised to read ``82 deg.08.0'''; and 
paragraph (i)(3) is redesignated as paragraph (i)(2)(iii).
[FR Doc. 97-24164 Filed 9-10-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F