[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 237 (Wednesday, December 10, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 65055-65056]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-32338]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Parts 600 and 648

[I.D. 112897B]


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; General Provisions for Domestic 
Fisheries; Applications for Experimental Fishing Permits (EFPs)

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

ACTION: Notification of experimental fishery proposal; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notice to announce that the Regional 
Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS (Regional Administrator), is 
considering approval of an experimental fishing proposal that would 
permit vessels to conduct operations otherwise restricted by 
regulations governing the Fisheries of the Northeastern United States. 
The experimental fishery would involve the possession and retention of 
Crangon shrimp (brown shrimp), including the possible capture and 
release of regulated multispecies, in the Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank 
Regulated Mesh Area. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Act 
provisions require publication of this notice to provide interested 
parties the opportunity to comment on the proposed experimental 
fishery.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received on or before December 
29, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Andrew A. Rosenberg, Ph.D., 
Regional Administrator, NMFS, Northeast Regional Office, 1 Blackburn 
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark on the outside of the envelope 
``Comments on Proposed Experimental Fisheries.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bonnie VanPelt, Fishery Management 
Specialist, (978) 281-9244.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Maine Department of Marine Resources 
(MEDMR) has been approved for a Saltonstall/Kennedy (S/K) Grant to 
investigate the feasibility of developing a 3-month winter Crangon 
septemspinosus shrimp (brown shrimp) fishery between Frenchman's Bay 
and Casco Bay, Maine, in nearshore and estuarine waters. The two main 
objectives of the proposed project are the use of gear technology to 
address regulatory species bycatch and the development of a sustainable 
fishery that will ease financial hardship by absorbing displaced 
groundfishing effort. New gears and fishing methods will be employed 
based on technology of a similar Crangon shrimp fishery that exists in 
Europe, as well as on a modification of the gear technology currently 
used in the northern shrimp fishery.
    The MEDMR submitted an application for an EFP to conduct the 
proposed project on October 14, 1997. The experimental trawl surveys 
are proposed for January through June 1998. The proposed experiment 
will allow approximately three commercial fishing vessels to conduct 
gear trials using a Crangon otter trawl, an otter trawl of European 
design, and two beam trawl nets with mesh sizes of 20 mm. One otter 
trawl will be assembled with a Nordmore grate (physical separator) and 
the other with a bycatch reduction device known as a false upper 
(behavioral separator), while the beam trawl nets will contain a 
finfish excluder device called a sieve. Bar spacing of the Nordmore 
grate will be 1/2 inch (1.27 cm), smaller than the 1 inch (2.54 cm) now 
being used in the northern shrimp fishery. All trawl gear is designed 
to enable finfish to escape through a hole in the lower panel of the 
net. Experimental gear performance will be tested with control otter 
trawl nets of 20 mm stretched mesh with 1/4 inch (0.635 cm) mesh liners 
and 20 mm beam trawl nets. Trawl effectiveness will be

[[Page 65056]]

compared using a random block design and analysis of variance 
techniques. Five survey tows at each of the six designated sample areas 
will be conducted once a month from January through March and extended 
until June, if necessary. Sample stations will be limited to depths of 
less than 35 fathoms (19.13 m) within the project sample area. Finfish 
bycatch during the proposed winter sampling period is expected to be 
low as determined by previous finfish sampling surveys. Smelt, winter 
flounder, and sticklebacks are the species most likely to concentrate 
in the nearshore areas. Finfish bycatch will be documented and then 
discarded after some commercial finfish species stomach samples are 
taken. Although the survey tows are expected to collect limited numbers 
of regulated species, some level of entrapment may help assess the 
effectiveness of bycatch reduction devices and gear modifications. The 
survey will also help to determine population densities of both 
juvenile and commercially harvested adult Crangon, percent distribution 
within samples areas, and seasonal distribution patterns. All catches 
of Crangon will be frozen and saved for processing trials. Commercial 
sized Crangon will be processed by facilities in Maine that will handle 
the peeling, packaging, cooking, and presentation of product samples to 
foreign buyers to compare with European Crangon market products.
    EFPs would be issued to the participating vessels to exempt them 
from the mesh size, minimum fish size, and days-at-sea restrictions of 
the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan.

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

    Dated: December 4, 1997.
Gary C. Matlock,
Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries 
Service.
[FR Doc. 97-32338 Filed 12-9-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F