57308 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 185 / Friday, September 22, 2000 / Proposed Rules

Branch, Waste Management Division,

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

at the above address and phone number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For

additional information, please see the

immediate final rule published in the

‘‘Rules and Regulations’’ section of this

Federal Register.

Dated: September 12, 2000.

A. Stanley Meiburg,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.

[FR Doc. 00–24433 Filed 9–21–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[I.D. 091800E]

RIN 0648-AO41

Fisheries off West Coast States and in

the Western Pacific; Pacific Coast

Groundfish Fishery; Amendment 13

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of an

amendment to a fishery management

plan; request for comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the

Pacific Fishery Management Council

(Council) has submitted Amendment 13

to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery

Management Plan (FMP) for Secretarial

review. Amendment 13 is intended to

make the FMP consistent with

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery

Conservation and Management Act

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) bycatch

provisions,to increase flexibility in the

annual management measures

framework to manage for protection of

overfished and depleted stocks, and to

remove outdated and unused limited

entry permit endorsements.

DATES: Comments on Amendment 13

must be received on or before November

21, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments on Amendment

13 or supporting documents should be

sent to Donna Darm, Acting

Administrator, Northwest Region,

NMFS, Sand Point Way NE., BIN

C15700, Seattle, WA 98115-0070; or to

Rebecca Lent, Administrator, Southwest

Region, NMFS, 501 West Ocean

Boulevard, Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA

90802-4213.

Copies of Amendment 13 and the

Environmental Assessment/ Regulatory

Impact Review (RIR) are available from

Donald McIsaac, Executive Director,

Pacific Fishery Management Council,

2130 SW Fifth Ave., Suite 224, Portland,

OR 97201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Yvonne deReynier at 206-526-6140,

Svein Fougner at 562-980-4000; or the

Pacific Fishery Management Council at

503-326-6352.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Magnuson-Stevens Act requires that

each regional fishery management

council submit any new FMP or plan

amendment it prepares to NMFS for

review and approval, disapproval, or

partial approval. The Magnuson-Stevens

Act also requires that NMFS, upon

receiving an FMP or amendment,

immediately publish a notification in

the Federal Register that the FMP or

amendment is available for public

review and comment. NMFS will

consider the public comments received

during the comment period described

here in determining whether to approve

the FMP or amendment.

Amendment 13 would address the

Magnuson-Stevens Act National

Standard 9 bycatch provisions by:

revising the FMP definition of the term

‘‘bycatch’’, changing the standardized

reporting methodologies, and

recommending new bycatch reduction

measures. Amendment 13 would

establish an increased utilization

program in the at-sea whiting fisheries.

This program would allow at-sea

whiting processing vessels that carry

more than one observer to retain all of

their non-whiting groundfish bycatch

for processing into fish meal or for

donating to food banks. Measures that

would be authorized and may be

considered for future Council

development include: shorter fishing

seasons and higher cumulative landing

limits; permit stacking in the limited

entry fleet; gear modification

requirements; catch allocation to, or

gear flexibility for, gear types with lower

bycatch rates; improvements in the

species-to-species landings limit ratio;

and time/area closures to protect

incidentally caught species.

In addition to addressing bycatch,

Amendment 13 would increase

flexibility in the groundfish annual

specifications and management

measures process to allow the Council

to more easily develop measures that

protect overfished and depleted species.

This increased flexibility would

include: achieving the overfished

species rebuilding plans, reducing

bycatch, preventing overfishing,

allowing the harvest of healthy stocks as

much as possible while protecting and

rebuilding overfished and depleted

stocks, and equitably distributing the

burdens of rebuilding among the various

fishing sectors.

Finally, Amendment 13 would amend

the limited entry permit provisions to

remove unused and outdated limited

entry permit endorsements. This last

revision is essentially a housekeeping

measure to address changes in the

character of the groundfish fisheries,

particularly the fully utilized status of

all FMP-managed Pacific coast

groundfish stocks.

Public comments on Amendment 13

must be received by November 21, 2000

to be considered by NMFS in the

decision whether to approve

Amendment 13. A proposed rule to

implement Amendment 13 has been

submitted for Secretarial review and

approval. NMFS expects to publish and

request public comment on the

proposed regulations to implement

Amendment 13 in the near future.

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

Dated: September 19, 2000.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 00–24458 Filed 9–21–00; 8:45 am]

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