42640 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 164 / Thursday, August 23, 2018 / Notices 

1Parties to the Treaty include: Australia, Cook 

Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of 

Fiji, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Marshall 

Islands, Republic of Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, 

Republic of Palau, Independent State of Papua New 

Guinea, Independent State of Samoa, Solomon 

Islands, Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu, Republic of 

Vanuatu and the United States of America. 

2Pacific Community—Oceanic Fisheries 

Programme. 2017. WCPFC14 Information Papers 

05—Revision 1 (20 Nov 2017) Catch and Effort 

Tables on Tropical Tuna CMMs. Available at: 

www.wcpfc.int/node/30076. 

to attend in person are invited to submit 

written statements to the MEP Advisory 

Board, National Institute of Standards 

and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail 

Stop 4800, Gaithersburg, Maryland 

20899–4800, via fax at (301) 963–6556, 

or electronically by email to 

cheryl.gendron@nist.gov. 

Admittance Instructions: Anyone 

wishing to attend the MEP Advisory 

Board meeting must submit their name, 

email address, and phone number to 

Cheryl Gendron (Cheryl.Gendron@

nist.gov or 301–975–2785) no later than 

Friday, September 7, 2018, 5:00 p.m. 

Eastern Time. 

Phillip A. Singerman, 

Associate Director for Innovation and 

Industry Services. 

[FR Doc. 2018–18207 Filed 8–22–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648—XG261 

U.S. Purse Seine Fishery in the 

Western and Central Pacific Ocean; 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement; 

announcement of public scoping period; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is gathering 

information necessary to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

for future management actions for the 

U.S. purse seine fishery in the western 

and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). This 

notice of intent to prepare an EIS 

represents the beginning of the public 

scoping process and invites interested 

parties to provide comments on 

alternatives to be considered in an EIS 

and to identify potential issues, 

concerns, and any reasonable additional 

alternatives that should be considered. 

DATES: To ensure consideration during 

the development of this EIS, written 

comments on the scope and alternatives 

to be considered in the EIS must be 

submitted no later than October 8, 2018. 

Public comments will also be 

accepted during two webinars 

scheduled for 9:30–11:30 a.m. 

September 11, 2018 and 11:30 a.m.–1:30 

p.m., September 14, 2018. Both 

webinars are scheduled in Hawai1i 

Standard Time (HST; UTC–10:00). 

Please notify David O’Brien (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, below) 

by August 31, 2018, if you plan to 

attend either or both webinars. 

Instructions for connecting or calling in 

to the webinars will be emailed to 

meeting participants. Accommodations 

for persons with disabilities are 

available; accommodation requests 

should be directed to David O’Brien at 

least 10 working days prior to the 

webinar. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the scope of this EIS by either of the 

following methods: 

• Electronic submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. 

1. Go to www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2018- 

0062, 

2. Click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and 

3. Enter or attach your comments. 

—OR— 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Michael D. Tosatto, Regional 

Administrator, NMFS, Pacific Islands 

Regional Office (PIRO), 1845 Wasp 

Blvd., Building 176, Honolulu, HI 

96818. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period might not be 

considered by NMFS. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name and address), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. Do not submit 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive or protected 

information. NMFS will accept 

anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/A’’ in 

the required fields if you wish to remain 

anonymous). 

Copies of this document can be 

obtained from Michael D. Tosatto, 

Regional Administrator, NMFS PIRO 

(see address above) and are available at 

www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;

D=NOAA-NMFS-2018-0062. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David O’Brien, NMFS PIRO, at 

David.S.OBrien@noaa.gov, or at (808) 

725–5038. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Purse seine vessels flagged to the 

United States fish for skipjack tuna 

(Katsuwonus pelamis) and other tunas 

in the WCPO. The fishery developed in 

the 1970s and early 1980s as some U.S. 

tuna vessels moved west from fishing 

grounds in the eastern Pacific. The 

vessels participating in this fishery 

currently are large: Between 175 and 

260 feet in length with crews of between 

19 and 40. Purse seining is fishing by 

setting a vertically oriented net around 

a school of fish, and then closing, or 

‘‘pursing’’, the bottom of the net to 

capture the fish. The vessels use purse 

seine nets up to about 6,500 feet long 

and 600 feet deep and in recent years 

(2013–2017) vessels set their nets, on 

average, once per fishing day. 

NMFS manages the fishery in 

accordance with U.S. laws 

implementing international agreements, 

including the Treaty on Fisheries 

Between the Governments of Certain 

Pacific Island States and the 

Government of the United States of 

America,1 also known as the South 

Pacific Tuna Treaty (hereafter, Treaty), 

and conservation and management 

measures adopted by the Western and 

Central Pacific Fisheries Commission 

(hereafter, Commission or WCPFC). The 

fishery operates in the exclusive 

economic zones (EEZs) of the Pacific 

Island parties to the Treaty (hereafter, 

PIPs) and that of the United States, as 

well as on the high seas in the WCPO. 

This EIS will address all U.S. tuna purse 

seine fisheries within the area of 

application of the Convention on the 

Conservation and Management of 

Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the 

Western and Central Pacific Ocean; a 

map of which is available at the WCPFC 

website at: www.wcpfc.int/doc/ 

convention-area-map. 

The U.S. purse seine fleet is not the 

only fishing fleet active in this region. 

Other major flags of purse seine fishing 

vessels in the region include: Japan, 

Kiribati, Korea, Papua New Guinea, and 

Taiwan. The U.S. fleet’s fishing 

activities accounted for approximately 

14 percent of the total purse seine 

fishing effort—measured in fishing 

days—in the WCPO from 2010 through 

2016.2

The regulations under which the U.S. 

fleet operates require changes in 

response to new decisions of the 


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Commission and new provisions of the 

Treaty, as well as changes in other laws. 

The Commission typically adopts new 

conservation and management measures 

relevant to this fishery annually. The 

PIPs and the United States agreed to 

amendments to the Treaty and its 

Annexes in 2016, along with a 

Memorandum of Understanding 

regarding their intent to provisionally 

apply some of the amendments pending 

completion of ratification and entry into 

force. Some provisions of the Treaty 

Annexes extend only through 2020 or 

2022. NMFS promulgates regulations to 

implement the Commission’s decisions 

(50 CFR part 300, subpart O) under 

authority of the Western and Central 

Pacific Fisheries Convention 

Implementation Act (16 U.S.C. 6901 et 

seq.) and provisions of the Treaty (50 

CFR part 300, subpart D) under 

authority of the South Pacific Tuna Act 

(16 U.S.C. 973–973r). In addition, NMFS 

may regulate the fishery to meet the 

requirements of the Endangered Species 

Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), Marine 

Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1361 

et seq.), Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act (16 

U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), and other 

applicable laws. 

Regulations may control fishing effort 

and/or catches, specify open and closed 

areas and/or the use and design of 

fishing gear, among others. Recent 

regulatory changes have focused on 

Commission decisions limiting total 

fishing effort and the number of sets 

associated with fish aggregating devices 

(FADs). The objectives of these 

decisions include reducing fishing 

mortality on bigeye tuna (Thunnus 

obesus), which are caught primarily 

when fishing on FADs, and controlling 

fishing mortality on yellowfin tuna 

(Thunnus albacares) and skipjack tuna. 

The proposed action in this EIS is the 

continued authorization of the U.S. 

purse seine fishery in the WCPO. 

Analysis of this proposed action under 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.) involves 

examining likely future management of 

the fishery. Since management measures 

(including Commission decisions, 

Treaty provisions, and other applicable 

laws) can change substantially each 

year, a wide range of alternative 

regulatory approaches would be 

appropriate as action alternatives for 

consideration in this EIS. 

Purpose and Need for the Proposed 

Action 

The purpose of and need for the 

proposed action is the continued 

authorization of the U.S. purse seine 

fishery in the WCPO under existing and 

reasonably foreseeable future 

management measures. 

Alternatives for Consideration 

Both no-action and action alternatives 

have been drafted for consideration 

during the public scoping period. NMFS 

has not yet identified a preferred 

alternative or preferred alternatives. 

Briefly, these alternatives are: 

No-Action Alternatives 

No-action alternatives are used in 

NEPA documents to establish the 

baseline against which the 

environmental impacts of the action 

alternatives are assessed, and they are 

often thought of as either maintaining 

the status quo—or current 

management—or not proceeding with 

the proposed action. There would still 

be environmental consequences of not 

proceeding with the proposed action, 

and defining no-action alternatives 

allows for the explicit evaluation of 

these impacts on their own and in 

relation to action alternatives. NMFS is 

considering analyzing two separate noaction alternatives in this EIS: A noaction alternative under which there 

would be no U.S. purse seine fishery in 

the WCPO (a no-fishery alternative), as 

well as a no-action alterative under 

which fishing operations and 

management would continue as they 

have in recent years (the status quo 

alternative). 

Specifics of these two draft no-action 

alternatives are: 

• No-action alternative A: No fishery. 

No U.S. purse seine fishing in any 

portion of the WCPO, which includes 

the EEZs of the United States and other 

countries, as well as the high seas. 

• No-action alternative B: Status quo. 

A fishery with regulatory conditions 

and fishing activity distributed across 

the EEZs of the United States and other 

countries and the high seas in 

proportions similar to that seen in 

recent years (2014–2017). Specifically, a 

fishery with approximately 7,000 

fishing days of effort, 7,000 total net sets 

and 2,800 FAD sets (40 percent FAD 

sets). 

Action Alternatives 

Action alternatives are generally the 

management options proposed or 

considered when the NEPA process 

begins. The action alternatives are 

meant to describe potential alternative 

approaches to achieve the defined 

purpose and need of the proposed 

action. NMFS recommends analyzing 

two specific classes of action 

alternatives in the EIS: 

1. Alternatives that control the type 

and amount of fishing, such as limits on 

fishing effort, catches, and fishing 

methods; and 

2. Alternatives that control the 

allocation and use of fishing privileges 

amongst participants in the fishery. 

We address these two classes of draft 

action alternatives separately here and 

describe how they would be addressed 

concurrently in the EIS. 

Alternatives That Control the Type and 

Amount of Fishing 

The controls on type and amount of 

fishing will be the primary drivers of 

environmental consequences of the 

fishery. The NMFS approach to 

developing action alternatives has been 

to review recent regulations, Treaty 

terms, and Commission decisions to 

understand the potential range of future 

management actions. There has been 

significant variability in management 

approaches in recent years, and both 

more and less restrictive regulatory 

changes have occurred. 

Recent controls on the type and 

amount of fishing have focused on 

limits on fishing effort generally and 

restrictions on the use of FADs (i.e., 

limits on a subset of fishing effort). For 

both fishing effort and FAD use, NFMS 

has drafted alternatives that cover a 

wide range of possible future 

management outcomes (Table 1). NMFS 

is suggesting this approach to extend the 

usefulness of the analysis in this EIS, as 

the environmental impacts of future 

management measures that are not 

specifically analyzed can be quickly 

estimated relative to those that are. 

Fishing Effort Regulations 

The annual fishing effort possible by 

the U.S. WCPO purse seine fleet is 

currently limited by the Treaty, which 

limits the number of license 

applications that may be forwarded to 

the Treaty Administrator to 40. Given 

the recent average of one net set per 

fishing day per vessel and imagining 40 

vessels actively fishing about 80 percent 

of the time, a theoretical maximum 

annual effort level is approximately 

12,000 fishing days (or 12,000 sets). 

Over the last 15 years, the highest 

annual fishing effort recorded by the 

fleet was 8,664 fishing days (2014). The 

maximum number of U.S. purse seine 

vessels fishing in any of the last 15 years 

has been 40 (2013 and 2014), but it has 

been as low as 15 vessels (2005) and is 

currently 33 (2018). For the purposes of 

evaluating potential future management 

actions in this EIS, U.S. purse seine 

effort levels up to 12,000 fishing days 

annually are plausible. Along with the 

two no-action alternatives, representing 

0 and 7,000 fishing days of effort, 

respectively, NMFS is considering 


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analyzing three action alternatives with 

respect to limits on fishing effort: 5,000, 

9,000, and 12,000 fishing days (Table 1). 

The annual fishing effort associated 

with the action alternatives would be 

distributed across the U.S. EEZ, the high 

seas, and the EEZs of the PIPs. Since 

2009, fishing effort in the U.S. EEZ and 

on the high seas in the WCPFC 

Convention Area has been limited in 

accordance with Commission decisions. 

The limits on the number of days of 

effort have, in the past, applied to the 

combined high seas and the U.S. EEZ 

(referred to in U.S. fisheries regulations 

as the Effort Limit Area for Purse Seine, 

or ELAPS). The combined U.S. EEZ and 

high seas limits dropped from 2,588 

fishing days per year in 2009–2013 to 

1,828 fishing days per year in 2014– 

2017. Future effort limits could apply to 

the U.S. EEZ and high seas areas 

separately. NMFS has recently 

implemented a limit of 458 fishing days 

in the U.S. EEZ—with the potential to 

increase to 558 fishing days if certain 

conditions are met—and 1,370 fishing 

days on the high seas for 2018 (see final 

rule implementing recent decisions of 

the WCPFC at 83 FR 33851, published 

July 18, 2018; hereafter ‘‘2018 Final 

Rule’’). 

The number of fishing days available 

to the U.S. purse seine fleet in the EEZs 

of the PIPs is higher than the number of 

fishing days available in the U.S. EEZ or 

on the high seas. The Treaty specifies a 

set number of ‘‘upfront’’ days that are 

available each year for the U.S. fleet to 

fish in the EEZs of PIPs. The Treaty 

Annexes stipulate the maximum 

number of upfront days that are 

available to the U.S. fleet and the price 

per day. The Treaty also identifies that 

‘‘additional’’ days can be purchased by 

the owners of U.S. vessels directly from 

individual PIPs. Any conditions put by 

the PIPs on the use of these additional 

days must be consistent with the Treaty 

terms, but no other specifications—such 

as price—are defined in the Treaty. 

Provisions allowing for additional 

fishing day purchases were adopted as 

part of the 2016 amendments to the 

Treaty, and 2017 was the first year that 

the option of purchasing additional days 

was available under the amended 

Treaty. The only limit to the number of 

additional days available to the U.S. 

purse seine fleet are limits internally 

agreed by the PIPs on the number of 

fishing days they will make available— 

which might be informed to some 

degree by the decisions of the WCPFC— 

and competition for their purchase by 

other international purse seine fleets. 

Ultimately, the spatial distribution of 

fishing effort (i.e., with respect to the 

U.S. EEZ, the high seas, and the PIPs’ 

EEZs) will depend largely on the 

amount of effort that is available in each 

area each year. For each action 

alternative, NMFS would address the 

specifics of effort distribution within 

each alternative (Table 1) separately; 

and where necessary, NMFS would 

discuss the implications of variable 

effort distribution on impacts of that 

alternative to the human environment. 

FAD Regulations 

Fish aggregating devices, or FADs, are 

generally floating objects; they include 

natural objects as well as rafts deployed 

from purse seine vessels specifically to 

aggregate tuna. FADs tend to attract 

marine life, including tunas, and can be 

an effective method to increase tuna 

catch per unit of fishing effort. Purse 

seine sets on FADs tend to result in 

higher catches of targeted skipjack tuna 

than unassociated sets, but also increase 

the catch of bigeye tuna—most of which 

is relatively young—and young 

yellowfin tuna, as well as other marine 

life. Recent FAD regulations have 

included: Prohibitions on the times and/ 

or locations that FADs can be deployed, 

serviced, or set on; limits on the annual 

number of FAD-directed purse seine 

sets; and a combination of both seasonal 

prohibitions and numerical limits. In 

addition, a recent Commission decision 

includes a limit of 350 FADs with 

activated instrumented buoys that each 

fishing vessel may have deployed at any 

given time (see 2018 Final Rule). 

NMFS has implemented FAD-use 

prohibition periods for the U.S. purse 

seine fleet in the WCPFC Convention 

Area for 2009–2017 in line with 

Commission decisions. The prohibition 

periods were in August and September 

in 2009, July through September in 

2010–2012, July through October in 

2013 and 2014, and July through 

September in 2015–2017. There was 

also a complete prohibition on the use 

of FADs on the high seas for 2017. The 

2018 Final Rule established FAD use 

prohibitions for a three-month period 

(July through September in 2018) and an 

additional FAD use prohibition period 

in high seas areas for two months 

(November and December 2018). In 

addition to FAD setting prohibitions, 

NMFS limited the total number of purse 

seine sets on FADs (‘‘FAD sets’’) to 

2,522 per year in 2016 and 2017, in line 

with Commission decisions. The 

Commission did not establish FAD set 

limits for 2018. 

Reasonably foreseeable future FAD 

measures for the fleet could include 

further FAD use prohibition periods 

and/or set limits as seen in recent years, 

as well as the potential for limitations 

for FAD design, restrictions for FAD 

construction materials and reductions in 

the number of FADs with activated 

instrumented buoys. Despite this broad 

range of potential FAD-related 

management measures, NMFS suggests 

that the total number of FAD sets— 

measured as the proportion of total sets 

made—could approximate the 

implications of any proposed future 

FAD management measure. 

NMFS recommends evaluating four 

levels of FAD restrictions, ranging from 

a full prohibition on FAD sets to a 

higher proportion of FAD sets than seen 

in recent years, across each of the 

fishing effort-based alternatives (Table 

1). The proportion of total sets that 

would occur on FADs across this range 

would be equal to 0, 20, 40 and 60 

percent of the total number of sets 

made. FAD restrictions leading to 40 

percent of total sets on FADs would be 

similar to the FAD restrictions 

experienced by the fleet over the last 

five years (average 38 percent of sets on 

FADs, 2013–2017) when a range of FAD 

management measures were in place. 

The 20 percent and 60 percent FAD set 

proportions bound the range of FAD set 

proportions for the fleet over during the 

last decade (min 27 percent, max 54 

percent, 2008–2017). The full 

prohibition level (0 percent FAD sets) 

ensures the complete range of potential 

FAD restrictions will be analyzed in the 

EIS. 

These proposed action alternatives, 

related to controls on the type and 

amount of fishing, are meant to capture 

the full range of foreseeable future 

management measures in the fishery. By 

combining a wide range of fishing effort 

levels and FAD restrictions into these 

proposed action alternatives (Table 1), 

the impact analysis should be relevant 

to a wide range of future management 

measures related to effort or FAD 

restrictions. NMFS interprets these 

fishing effort and FAD restrictions as 

proxies for other types of management 

measures, meaning the application of 

the impact analysis can be wider still. 

For example, fishing effort levels would 

be directly applicable to management 

measures specifying skipjack tuna or 

yellowfin tuna catch limits as well as a 

range of time and area closures. FAD 

restrictions—measured as proportion of 

sets on FADS—are proxies for bigeye 

tuna and yellowfin tuna catch limits, 

FAD design or material specification, 

and a range of FAD set closure times 

and/or locations. With this approach, 

nearly all foreseeable future 

management measures can be evaluated 

relative to the environmental impacts of 

these proposed action alternatives. 


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TABLE 1—THE AMOUNT OF FISHING EFFORT, IN FISHING DAYS, AND NUMBER OF FAD SETS UNDER PROPOSED ACTION

AND NO-ACTION ALTERNATIVES THAT CONTROL THE TYPE AND AMOUNT OF FISHING TO BE ANALYZED IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE U.S. WCPO PURSE SEINE FISHERY

Alternative Fishing effort 

(fishing days) 

Number of 

FAD sets 

No Action A .............................................................................................................................................................. 0 n/a 

Action 1a ........................................................................................................................................................... 5,000 0 

Action 1b ........................................................................................................................................................... 5,000 1,000 

Action 1c ........................................................................................................................................................... 5,000 2,000 

Action 1d ........................................................................................................................................................... 5,000 3,000 

No Action B .............................................................................................................................................................. 7,000 2,800 

Action 2a ........................................................................................................................................................... 9,000 0 

Action 2b ........................................................................................................................................................... 9,000 1,800 

Action2c ............................................................................................................................................................ 9,000 3,600 

Action 2d ........................................................................................................................................................... 9,000 5,400 

Action 3a ........................................................................................................................................................... 12,000 0 

Action 3b ........................................................................................................................................................... 12,000 2,400 

Action 3c ........................................................................................................................................................... 12,000 4,800 

Action 3d ........................................................................................................................................................... 12,000 7,200 

Control of Allocation and Use of Fishing 

Privileges 

One of the most significant 

amendments to the Treaty in 2016 is the 

way that vessel owners obtain and pay 

for fishing privileges—fishing days—in 

the EEZs of the PIPs. As described 

previously, both upfront and additional 

days are available under the Treaty to 

U.S. purse seine vessels. The Treaty 

specifies requirements for the timing of 

notification of upfront fishing day 

commitments, transfers of upfront 

fishing days among vessel owners, and 

notifications of additional fishing day 

arrangements. In the first two years 

under the amended Treaty (2017 and 

2018), vessel owners have collaborated 

to allocate the available upfront days 

amongst themselves, conduct in-season 

transfers of those days, and 

communicate both information on 

upfront and additional day 

arrangements to NMFS. NMFS has 

provided owners with updates on day 

usage as well as helped informally 

resolve issues that arise over fishing 

days between U.S. vessels owners and 

PIPs, based on data available to NMFS. 

NMFS is proposing to evaluate 

alternative approaches for allocation, 

transfers and use tracking of fishing 

privileges under the Treaty. These 

alternatives would address the 

following considerations: (1) Timely 

provision of information to meet 

requirements and obligations of the 

United States under the Treaty, 

decisions of the Commission and other 

U.S. law; (2) addressing and resolving 

allocation disputes; (3) addressing 

vessels joining or leaving the fishery; (4) 

providing flexibility to fleet participants 

with respect to obtaining and using 

fishing days from PIPs; and (5) 

minimizing regulatory burden and cost. 

NMFS is considering evaluation of 

three alternative allocation and use 

tracking approaches that would fulfill 

the requirements defined above. These 

approaches are action alternatives that 

would first be compared separately and 

then discussed relative to any 

differential impact they would have on 

the human environment when 

combined with the no-action and action 

alternatives in Table 1. Like the control 

of type and amount of fishing 

alternatives, these control of allocation 

and use alternatives are intended to 

bound the full range of possibilities for 

analysis; and proceed from the lowest to 

highest level of NMFS oversight. The 

three proposed alternatives are: 

1. An industry-led allocation and use 

tracking method, where decisions 

related to allocation, transfers and 

tracking of available fishing privileges 

were made by an organization of fishery 

participants based on approaches they 

collectively specified; 

2. A collaborative industry-NMFS 

approach where NMFS would facilitate 

industry decisions regarding allocation, 

transfer, and use through both 

regulatory and non-regulatory 

mechanisms; and 

3. A specified allocation, transfer and 

use-tracking approach primarily under 

NMFS management and oversight. 

Besides comments on these three 

proposed allocation and use 

alternatives, NMFS is specifically 

requesting comment on two additional 

aspects of these alternatives. The first 

concerns allocation and use of fishing 

privileges. Treaty and implementing 

agreements currently allow for 

assignment of vessel days at the U.S. 

vessel owner level. Tracking at the 

vessel owner level provides flexibility 

for those owners that have multiple 

vessels, but complicates the tracking of 

fishing day use as there are not vessel 

specific limits to monitor. NMFS seeks 

comment on the appropriate ‘‘level’’ for 

allocation and use tracking of fishing 

privileges in these proposed 

alternatives; be it the vessel, the vessel 

owner or some other level. Second, the 

numbers of U.S. EEZ and high seas 

fishing days available to the fleet in the 

WCPO have been limited since 2009 in 

accordance with decisions of the 

Commission. These limited fishing 

privileges have not previously been 

subject to allocation and are fished in an 

‘‘Olympic’’ or ‘‘derby’’ style; meaning 

that they are available on a first-come, 

first-served basis to vessels that are 

permitted to fish in those areas. NMFS 

is also seeking comment on whether the 

proposed alternatives for control of 

allocation and use of fishing privileges 

should be extended from considering 

only privileges under Treaty to include 

fishing privileges in the U.S. EEZ and 

on the high seas in the WCPO—to the 

extent it is limited under WCPFC or 

other decisions. 

NMFS recognizes that consultation 

and collaboration with U.S. purse seine 

vessel owners and operators on the 

approaches for allocation of effort in 

this fishery is needed, and sees this 

notice of intent to develop an EIS as an 

initial step in this process. The public 

comment received through this notice of 

intent and analysis of alternatives for 

allocation and use of fishing privileges 

in this EIS will inform future NMFSindustry discussions. 

Summary 

Given the wide range of potential 

future management approaches in this 

fishery, NMFS is proposing action 

alternatives that span the broad range of 

management measures foreseeable 

under U.S. regulations to implement the 


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Treaty, decisions of the Commission, 

and other U.S. law. In total, NMFS has 

tentatively identified two no-action 

alternatives, three action alternatives 

related to controls on the type and 

amount of fishing (Table 1), and three 

alternatives related to the allocation and 

use of fishing privileges. NMFS plans to 

analyze the environmental 

consequences of implementing each of 

the alternatives by assessing the direct, 

indirect, and cumulative effects of each 

to the human environment in the 

Western and Central Pacific Ocean. 

By evaluating alternatives that span 

the full range of reasonably foreseeable 

future management measures, the 

environmental impacts of future 

management actions not explicitly 

analyzed could be estimated relative to 

those calculated in this EIS. 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. 

Dated: August 20, 2018. 

Margo B. Schulze-Haugen, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–18194 Filed 8–22–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; Pacific Islands 

Region Coral Reef Ecosystems 

Logbook and Reporting 

AGENCY: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted on or before October 22, 

2018. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 

14th and Constitution Avenue NW, 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

internet at docpra@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument and instructions should be 

directed to Walter Ikehara, (808) 725– 

5175 or Walter.Ikehara@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

This request is for extension of a 

current information collection. 

The National Marine Fisheries Service 

(NMFS) requires any U.S. citizen issued 

a Special Coral Reef Ecosystem Fishing 

Permit to complete logbooks and submit 

them to NMFS (50 CFR 665). The 

Special Coral Reef Ecosystem Fishing 

Permit is authorized under the Fishery 

Ecosystem Plans for American Samoa 

Archipelago, Hawaiian Archipelago, 

Mariana Archipelago, and Pacific 

Remote Island Areas. The information 

in the logbooks is used to obtain fish 

catch/fishing effort data on coral reef 

fishes and invertebrates harvested in 

designated low-use marine protected 

areas and on those listed in the 

regulations as potentially-harvested 

coral reef taxa in waters of the U.S. 

exclusive economic zone in the western 

Pacific region. These data are needed to 

determine the condition of the stocks, 

whether the current management 

measures are having the intended 

effects, and to evaluate the benefits and 

costs of changes in management 

measures. The logbook information 

includes interactions with protected 

species, including sea turtles, monk 

seals, and other marine mammals, 

which are used to monitor and respond 

to incidental takes of endangered and 

threatened marine species. 

II. Method of Collection 

Reports are submitted to NMFS in the 

form of paper logbook sheets and paper 

transshipment forms within 30 days of 

each landing of coral reef harvest. No 

electronic forms or web-based reporting 

is currently available. Notifications are 

submitted via telephone. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0462. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Review: Regular submission 

(extension of a currently approved 

information collection). 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations; individuals or 

households. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 5. 

Estimated Time Per Response: Pre-trip 

and pre-landing notifications, 3 

minutes; logbook reports, 30 minutes; 

transshipment reports, 15 minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 18. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $100 in recordkeeping/reporting 

costs. 

IV. Request for Comments 

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden 

(including hours and cost) of the 

proposed collection of information; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on respondents, including through the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice will be summarized and/or 

included in the request for OMB 

approval of this information collection; 

they also will become a matter of public 

record. 

Dated: August 19, 2018. 

Sarah Brabson, 

NOAA PRA Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2018–18171 Filed 8–22–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; Pacific Islands 

Region Coral Reef Ecosystems Permit 

Form 

AGENCY: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted on or before October 22, 

2018. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 

14th and Constitution Avenue NW, 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

internet at docpra@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 


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