Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 62 / Friday, March 30, 2012 / Proposed Rules 19175 

Atlantic on board a vessel for which a 

valid Federal charter vessel/headboat 

permit for South Atlantic snappergrouper has been issued, without regard 

to where such species were harvested, 

i.e. in state or Federal waters. 

(B) If commercial landings exceed the 

ACL, the AA will file a notification with 

the Office of the Federal Register, at or 

near the beginning of the following 

fishing year to reduce the ACL for that 

following year by the amount of the 

overage in the prior fishing year. 

(C) The applicable commercial ACLs, 

in round weight, are 284,680 lb (129,129 

kg) for 2012, 315,920 lb (143,299 kg) for 

2013, and 343,200 lb (155,673 kg) for 

2014 and subsequent fishing years. 

(ii) Recreational sector. (A) If 

recreational landings for red grouper, as 

estimated by the SRD, are projected to 

reach the applicable ACL in paragraph 

(b)(4)(ii)(C) of this section, the AA will 

file a notification with the Office of the 

Federal Register to close the recreational 

sector for the remainder of the fishing 

year. On and after the effective date of 

such a notification, the bag and 

possession limit is zero. This bag and 

possession limit applies in the South 

Atlantic on board a vessel for which a 

valid Federal charter vessel/headboat 

permit for South Atlantic snappergrouper has been issued, without regard 

to where such species were harvested, 

i.e. in state or Federal waters. 

(B) If recreational landings for red 

grouper, as estimated by the SRD, 

exceed the applicable ACL, the AA will 

file a notification with the Office of the 

Federal Register, to reduce the 

recreational ACL the following fishing 

year by the amount of the overage in the 

prior fishing. 

(C) The applicable recreational ACLs, 

in round weight, are 362,320 lb (164,346 

kg) for 2012, 402,080 lb (182,380 kg) for 

2013, and 436,800 lb (198,129 kg) for 

2014 and subsequent fishing years. 

(iii) Without regard to overfished 

status, if the combined commercial and 

recreational sector ACL (total ACL), as 

estimated by the SRD, is exceeded in a 

fishing year, then during the following 

fishing year, an automatic increase will 

not be applied to the commercial and 

recreational sector ACLs during that 

following fishing year. The SRD will 

evaluate the landings data to determine 

whether or not an increase in the 

respective sector ACLs will be applied. 

The applicable combined commercial 

and recreational sector ACLs, in round 

weight are 647,000 lb (293,474 kg) for 

2012, 718,000 lb (325,679 kg) for 2013, 

and 780,000 lb (353,802 kg) for 2014 

and subsequent fishing years. 

(A) Following an overage of the total 

ACL, if there is no overage the following 

fishing year, the SRD will evaluate the 

landings data to determine whether or 

not an increase in the respective sector 

ACLs will be applied. 

(B)[Reserved] 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2012–7721 Filed 3–29–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 635 

RIN 0648–XA920 

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 

2012 Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Quota 

Specifications 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of public hearings. 

SUMMARY: On March 16, 2012, NMFS 

published a proposed rule to establish 

2012 BFT quota specifications, and 

announced that public hearings would 

be scheduled in a future notice. In this 

notice NMFS is announcing public 

hearings in Gloucester, MA, and Silver 

Spring, MD, in order to provide greater 

opportunity for public comment on the 

proposed rule. 

DATES: A hearing will be held on April 

4, 2012, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Gloucester, 

MA, and a hearing will be held on April 

10, 2012, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Silver 

Spring, MD. Public comments on the 

proposed rule must be received on or 

before April 16, 2012. See 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for further 

details. 

ADDRESSES: As published on March 16, 

2012 (77 FR 15712), you may submit 

comments, identified by ‘‘NOAA– 

NMFS–2012–0048’’, by any one of the 

following methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal http:// 

www.regulations.gov. To submit 

comments via the e-Rulemaking Portal, 

first click the ‘‘submit a comment’’ icon, 

then enter ‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2012–0048’’ 

in the keyword search. Locate the 

document you wish to comment on 

from the resulting list and click on the 

‘‘Submit a Comment’’ icon on the right 

of that line. 

• Fax: 978–281–9340, Attn: Sarah 

McLaughlin. 

• Mail: Sarah McLaughlin, Highly 

Migratory Species Management 

Division, Office of Sustainable Fisheries 

(F/SF1), NMFS, 55 Great Republic 

Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. 

• Instructions: Comments must be 

submitted by one of the above methods 

to ensure that the comments are 

received, documented, and considered 

by NMFS. Comments sent by any other 

method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, may not be 

considered. All comments received are 

a part of the public record and will 

generally be posted for public viewing 

on http://www.regulations.gov without 

change. All personal identifying 

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

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). Attachments to electronic 

comments will be accepted in Microsoft 

Word or Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe 

PDF file formats only. 

Supporting documents, including the 

2011 Environmental Assessment, 

Regulatory Impact Review, and Final 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, as well 

as others, such as the Highly Migratory 

Species Fishery Management Plans may 

be downloaded from the HMS Web site 

at www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/hms/. These 

documents also are available by sending 

your request to Sarah McLaughlin at the 

mailing address specified above. 

The public hearing locations are: 

1. Gloucester, MA—NMFS, 55 Great 

Republic Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. 

2. Silver Spring, MD—NMFS Science 

Center, 1301 East-West Highway, Silver 

Spring, MD 20910. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sarah McLaughlin or Brad McHale, 

978–281–9260. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Atlantic 

bluefin tuna, bigeye tuna, albacore tuna, 

yellowfin tuna, and skipjack tuna 

(hereafter referred to as ‘‘Atlantic 

tunas’’) are managed under the dual 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the 

Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA). 

As an active member of the 

International Commission for the 

Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), 

the United States implements binding 

ICCAT recommendations to comply 

with this international treaty. ATCA 

authorizes the Secretary of Commerce 

(Secretary) to promulgate regulations, as 

may be necessary and appropriate, to 

implement ICCAT recommendations. 

The authority to issue regulations under 

the Magnuson-Stevens Act and ATCA 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
19176 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 62 / Friday, March 30, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

has been delegated from the Secretary to 

the Assistant Administrator for 

Fisheries, NMFS. 

In the proposed rule, NMFS indicated 

that dates and locations for public 

hearings on the proposed action would 

be specified in a separate document in 

the Federal Register to be published at 

a later date. In this document, NMFS is 

announcing that it will hold a public 

hearing in Gloucester, MA, and one in 

Silver Spring, MD. These hearings, in 

addition to written comment collected 

via the methods described above, will 

allow NMFS to collect public comments 

on the proposed rule, which will assist 

NMFS in determining the final 2012 

BFT quota specifications, consistent 

with the 2006 Consolidated HMS FMP, 

the Magnuson-Stevens Act, ATCA, and 

other applicable law. 

Dated: March 26, 2012. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–7578 Filed 3–26–12; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS