68230 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 31, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[Docket No. 971110265–7306–02; I.D.

101797A]

RIN 0648-AJ98

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic

Zone Off Alaska; Scallop Fishery Off

Alaska; Change in Season Dates

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: NMFS changes the dates of

the fishing season for Registration Area

D (Yakutat), Registration Area E (Prince

William Sound), and Registration Area

H exclusive of the Kamishak District in

the scallop fishery in the exclusive

economic zone (EEZ) off Alaska. The

new fishing season will begin on July 1

and end on February 15 of the following

year. The intended effect of this action,

which makes the Federal fishing season

parallel to that of the State of Alaska

scallop fishery, is to improve vessel

safety and product quality, and to

maintain consistency between Federal

and State of Alaska fishing season

regulations. This action is necessary to

promote the conservation and

management objectives of the Fishery

Management Plan for the Scallop

Fishery off Alaska (FMP).

DATES: Effective January 10, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the

Environmental Assessment/Regulatory

Impact Review (EA/RIR) prepared for

this action may be obtained from Alaska

Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau,

AK 99802, Attn: Lori J. Gravel.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kent

Lind, 907–586–7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Management Authority

The scallop fishery in the EEZ off

Alaska is managed by NMFS under the

FMP. The FMP was prepared by the

North Pacific Fishery Management

Council (Council) under the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and

Management Act and approved by

NMFS on July 26, 1995. Regulations

implementing the FMP are set out at 50

CFR part 679. General regulations that

also affect fishing in the EEZ are set out

at 50 CFR part 600. Amendment 1 to the

FMP established a cooperative StateFederal management regime under

which each management action by the

State of Alaska (State) is mirrored by a

parallel Federal management action.

The purpose of this cooperative

management regime is to give primary

responsibility to the State of Alaska for

managing scallop fishing in both state

and Federal waters.

In March 1997, the Alaska State Board

of Fisheries (Board) approved an

industry proposal to change the scallop

season dates in the Yakutat and Prince

William Sound Registration Areas.

Previously, the scallop fishery in those

areas opened on January 10 and closed

on June 30 of each year. The Board’s

action changes State regulations by

specifying a season opening of July 1

and a closure of February 15 of the

following year. The Board

recommended that a parallel season

change be made in the Federal

regulations to prevent conflicting

regulations at the state and Federal

levels. The following two reasons were

cited in the Board’s decision to move

the scallop season dates for these areas.

Changing circumstances in the scallop

fishery.

The historical reason for a January

opening in the Yakutat and Prince

William Sound Registration Areas no

longer exists under the current

management regime. Prior to 1993, the

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

(ADF&G) did not establish Guideline

Harvest Levels (GHLs) for each

registration area. Instead, winter and

summer openings were used in different

areas to spread effort and to mirror the

historical pattern of scallop fishing

throughout the State. However, under

Amendment 1 to the FMP, approved

July 10, 1996, ADF&G and NMFS now

establish GHLs or total allowable catch

(TAC) amounts for each scallop

registration area. Consequently, the

January openings for Yakutat and Prince

William Sound are no longer necessary

to distribute effort between registration

areas because the separate TACs

established for each registration area

accomplish the same objective.

Safety issues.

At its March 1997 meeting, the Board

received extensive testimony from

scallop fishermen who reported that

January is an unsafe time to fish for

scallops in the smaller vessels that

compose most of the fleet. Fishing

conditions are much safer in July than

in January when severe winter storms

are common in the Gulf of Alaska.

Historically, the summer fishery in the

western registration areas would extend

into the fall and winter months. Vessel

operators would typically begin scallop

fishing in the Bering Sea and Alaskan

Peninsula during July and move to the

more sheltered waters of Yakutat and

Prince William Sound in the winter.

However, in recent years, TAC limits

and/or crab bycatch limits are reached

relatively quickly in the western

registration areas. No reason exists to

delay the Yakutat and Prince William

Sound scallop fisheries until January

when the worst winter weather occurs.

Federal Response to Board Action

The Board has already amended the

State regulations to establish a scallop

fishing season of July 1 through

February 15 for the corresponding state

waters. Therefore, the goal under

Amendment 1 to the FMP to maintain

consistency between State and Federal

scallop regulations requires NMFS to

implement a parallel change for the

Federal regulations. This revision to the

Federal regulations is necessary to

prevent conflicting fishing seasons at

the State and Federal level and the

resulting disruption to industry. If no

action is taken, cooperative StateFederal management of the fishery

would be impossible. State waters in

Prince William Sound and Yakutat

would open on July 1 while Federal

waters would open on January 10.

Furthermore, ADF&G and NMFS would

be forced to split the TACs between

State and Federal waters and manage

each portion of the TAC separately.

A proposed rule to change the season

dates in these registration areas was

published in the Federal Register on

November 24, 1997 (62 FR 62545) with

comments invited through December 9,

1997. No comments were received on

the proposed rule and no changes were

made from the proposed rule.

Classification

This final rule has been determined to

be not significant for the purposes of

E.O. 12866.

NMFS has determined that there is

good cause to waive a portion of the

delayed effectiveness period under 5

U.S.C. section 553(d)(3) because the

need to coordinate scallop season

opening dates in State and Federal

regulations requires that this action be

effective on or before January 10, 1998.

If it is not, Federal waters would open

to fishing for scallops in Registration

Areas D and E on January 10, while

State waters would not open until July

1, resulting in increased costs to

industry and a disruption of the orderly

management of the fishery under the

cooperative State/Federal management

regime.

The Assistant General Counsel for

Legislation and Regulation of the

Department of Commerce certified to
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 31, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 68231

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the

Small Business Administration that this

rule will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities. No comments

were received regarding this

certification. Copies of the EA/RIR are

available from NMFS (see ADDRESSES).

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679

Alaska, Fisheries, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: December 22, 1997.

David L. Evans,

Deputy Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 50 CFR part 679 is amended

as follows:

PART 679—FISHERIES OF THE

EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF

ALASKA

1. The authority citation for part 679

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq., 773 et

seq., and 3631 et seq.

2. Section 679.64 is revised to read as

follows:

§ 679.64 Seasons.

(a) Fishing for scallops in the Federal

waters off Alaska is authorized from

0001 hours, A.l.t., July 1, through 1200

hours, A.l.t., February 15 of the

following year, subject to the other

provisions of this part, except as

provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of

this section.

(b) Fishing for scallops in the Federal

waters of the Kamishak District of

Scallop Registration Area H is

authorized from 1200 hours, A.l.t.,

August 15 through 1200 hours, A.l.t.,

October 31, subject to the other

provisions of this part.

(c) Fishing for scallops in the Federal

waters of Registration Area A is

authorized from 1200 hours A.l.t.,

January 10 through 1200 hours, A.l.t.,

June 30, subject to the other provisions

of this part.

[FR Doc. 97–33973 Filed 12–30–97; 8:45 am]

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