Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 188 / Wednesday, September 27, 2000 / Proposed Rules 58035

of Marine Fisheries, the New Hampshire

Department of Fish and Game, NMFS,

the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, the

DownEast Lobstermen’s Association, the

Massachusetts Lobstermen’s

Association, the South Shore Lobster

Fishermen’s Association, the Boston

Harbor Lobstermen’s Cooperative, and

the Atlantic Offshore Lobstermen’s

Association to more regularly involve

fishermen in the data collection process

and to create a regional picture of the

lobster resource with the ultimate goal

of helping to improve lobster stock

assessment models.

The Juvenile Lobster Trap Survey is a

pilot project that will take place from

the fall 2000 through the fall 2001

lobster fishing season. The number of

participants coordinated by the NEACD

will be limited to approximately 25

fishermen from Massachusetts and New

Hampshire. The survey’s co-principal

investigators will monitor the quality of

the data collection by making site visits

and maintaining open communication

among all of the participants. If

successful, the collaboration will seek

funding and EFPs to continue the

survey on an annual basis to increase

both fishermen’s participation and the

geographical scope of the survey.

Fishermen collecting data under this

exemption will be subject to the

following guidelines:

1. A minimum of two and a maximum

of six experimental traps per participant

will have disabled escape vents.

2. The test traps (both experimental

and control) are included in the

participant’s normal set and will not

exceed trap number limits.

3. The survey will be limited in scope

by requiring participants to collect data

only in their declared management

areas.

4. The survey will be limited in

duration, ranging from late summer

2000 to exactly 12 months from the start

date.

5. The experimental traps are

standard lobster traps with the escape

vent blocked by the following methods:

Standard lobster wire mesh attached by

biodegradable hog rings, a wooden lath

tied over the vents, or twine laced to

obscure the vents. The use of these

biodegradable materials ensures that, if

the escape vent opening is also the

escape panel, it will allow lobsters to get

out of ghost traps.

6. Each test trap (including the

experimental and control traps) will be

marked with a unique tag depicting its

scientific purpose.

7. Following data collection, all

sublegal-sized and illegal (egg-bearing,

v-notched) lobsters caught in any test

trap will be released immediately.

8. All incidental catch will be

handled carefully and immediately

returned to sea to decrease mortality.

9. Participants shall not have prior

lobster violations/convictions for short

lobsters or for possession of berried

(lobster-carrying eggs) or scrubbed (i.e.,

illegal removal of eggs) females.

Any infraction of these conditions or

any violation of any marine resources

laws would be grounds for the

immediate revocation of the EFP.

At the end of each month,

participating fishermen will send their

data in a postage-paid, return-addressed

envelope to the NEACD. Upon the first

data mailing, fishermen will also fill out

an information card providing a detailed

description of their traps, including trap

type, dimensions, twine type, hoop

sizes, entry hoop diameter, and number

of escape vents.

The data will be entered by university

interns at the NEACD into a

transferable, user-friendly database. A

steering committee consisting of leading

lobster stock assessment scientists,

including NMFS’ Northeast Fisheries

Science Center scientists and fishermen

from the United States and Canada, will

work with the co-principal investigators

to monitor how the data are stored, to

decide on the format of the summary

reports that will be made available to

the public, and to evaluate the survey.

The NEACD and the steering committee

will be responsible only for housing the

data, and not for data analysis. This

survey is to supply baseline data to

fishing associations and resource

managers so that they can analyze the

data.

This survey would target both legal

and sub-legal sized lobsters. Bycatch of

Jonah crab, red crab, rock crab, black sea

bass and conger eel is anticipated. The

proposal projects low incidence of

bycatch and low mortality rates for each

specified bycatch species.

EFPs would be issued to all Federal

fishery permit holders who use the

experimental traps, whether in state or

Federal waters, and will exempt them

from the requirement under §

697.21(c)(1)(i) and (ii) that all lobster

traps must contain at least one escape

vent with a minimum size of 1-15/16

inches (4.9 cm) by 5-3/4 inches (14.6

cm) or two circular vents that must be

at least 2-7/16 inches (6.2 cm) in

diameter.

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

Dated: September 21, 2000.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 00–24855 Filed 9–26–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-22-S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 091800K]

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management

Council; Public Hearings

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Public hearings, request for

comments.

SUMMARY: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery

Management Council (Council) and the

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries

Commission (ASMFC) will hold public

hearings to allow for input on the public

hearing draft of Amendment 13 to the

Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea

Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

This amendment will detail the fishing

impacts to summer flounder, scup, and

black sea bass essential fish habitat

(EFH) to bring the FMP into compliance

with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery

Conservation and Management Act

(Magnuson-Stevens Act), as amended by

the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA).

This amendment will also provide the

information and analyses necessary to

implement a state system of

conservation equivalency for the

recreational fishery of summer flounder

to achieve the annual recreational

harvest limit.

DATES: Written comments will be

accepted until October 30, 2000. The

hearings will be held in October. For

specific dates and times, see

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Daniel T.

Furlong, Executive Director, MidAtlantic Fishery Management Council,

300 S. New Street, Dover, DE 19904, or

John Dunnigan, Executive Director,

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries

Commission, 1444 Eye Street, NW, Suite

304, Washington, DC 20005.

The hearings will be held in

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York,

New Jersey, Maryland, and North

Carolina. For specific locations, see

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Daniel T. Furlong, Executive Director,

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management

Council, 302-674-2331, ext. 19, or John

Dunnigan, Executive Director, Atlantic

States Marine Fisheries Commission,

202-289-6400, ext. 304.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

58036 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 188 / Wednesday, September 27, 2000 / Proposed Rules

Background

Amendment 13 to the FMP, prepared

by the Council in consultation with the

ASMFC, is intended to manage the

summer flounder fishery pursuant to the

Magnuson-Stevens Act. The purpose of

this amendment is to bring the

disapproved EFH portions of

Amendment 12 into compliance with

the Magnuson-Stevens Act, as amended

by the SFA, and to implement state

conservation equivalency for the

recreational summer flounder fishery.

Although state conservation

equivalency has been used for fishing

years 1999 and 2000, it has been

implemented only as an interim

measure. The Council and ASMFC must

amend the current FMP to use state

conservation equivalency as a standard

tool to regulate the summer flounder

coastwide recreational harvest limit

beginning in 2001. Six possible

alternatives to achieving the coastwide

recreational harvest limit include:

1. A system that allows the Council

and ASMFC to decide on an annual

basis whether to (a) allow states to

develop state-specific conservation

equivalent management measures that

result in the same constraint on

landings as the coastwide measures, or

(b) specify coastwide measures to

achieve the coastwide recreational

harvest limit (Preferred Alternative).

2. A system in which three subregions

of the coast develop region-specific

measures to achieve the coastwide

recreational harvest limit (Non-preferred

Alternative 1).

3. A system where states in each

subregion use subregional data to

develop state-specific minimum size

limits, possession limits, and closed

seasons to achieve the coastwide

recreational harvest limit (Non-preferred

Alternative 2).

4. State-by-state allocation of the

coastwide recreational harvest limit

(Non-preferred Alternative 3).

5. Coastwide management measures

to achieve the coastwide recreational

harvest limit (No action, Non-preferred

Alternative 4).

6. A system like the one currently in

place under the interim rule where each

state can choose either a coastwide

measure or equivalent measures to

achieve the coastwide recreational limit

(Non-preferred Alternative 5).

The Council and ASMFC are

requesting public input on all of the

alternatives. These alternatives are

discussed in further detail in the public

hearing draft of Amendment 13.

Dates, Times, and Locations of Hearings

1. Tuesday, October 10, 2000, 7-10

p.m.—Sanderling Inn Resort and

Conference Center, 1461 Duck Road,

Duck, NC; telephone 252-449-6664.

2. Wednesday, October 18, 2000, 7-10

p.m.—Carousel Hotel, 118th Street,

Ocean City, MD; telephone 410-524-

1000.

3. Thursday, October 19, 2000, 7-10

p.m.—Holiday Inn, Route 37-290 State

Highway, Toms River, NJ; telephone

732-244-4000.

4. Thursday, October 26, 2000, 7:30-

10:00 p.m.—NYSDEC Division of

Marine Resources, 205 Belle Meade

Road, E. Setauket, NY; telephone 631-

444-0453.

There will be an additional two

hearings (one in Massachusetts and one

in Rhode Island) at a location and time

yet to be determined by ASMFC. When

this decision is made, NMFS will issue

an additional notification in the Federal

Register.

The hearings will be tape recorded,

and the tapes will be filed as the official

transcript of the hearings.

Special Accommodations

The hearings are physically accessible

to people with disabilities. Requests for

sign language interpretation or other

auxiliary aids should be directed to

Joanna Davis at the Council, telephone

302-674-2331, ext. 18, at least 5 days

prior to the hearing date.

Dated: September 22, 2000.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 00–24854 Filed 9–26–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-22-S