62692 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 203 / Thursday, October 19, 2000 / Proposed Rules

encryption. Please include ‘‘Attn: RIN

1018–AG17’’ and your name and return

address in your e-mail message.

Comments and materials received will

be available for public inspection, by

appointment, during normal business

hours at the above Service address.

Copies of the distribution map for the

Peninsular bighorn sheep are available

by contacting the Carlsbad Fish and

Wildlife Office or by appointment

during normal business hours.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The

Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, at the

above address (telephone 760–431–

9440; facsimile 760–431–9618).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) are

found along the Peninsular Mountain

Ranges from the San Jacinto Mountains

of southern California south into the

Volcan Tres Virgenes Mountains near

Santa Rosalia, Baja California, Mexico, a

total distance of approximately 800

kilometers (km) (500 miles (mi)). The

Peninsular bighorn sheep is similar in

appearance to other desert bighorn

sheep. The coat is pale brown, and the

permanent horns, which become rough

and scarred with age, vary in color from

yellowish-brown to dark brown. The

Peninsular bighorn sheep occurs on

steep, open slopes, canyons, and washes

in hot and dry desert regions where the

land is rough, rocky, and sparsely

vegetated. Most of these sheep live

between 91 and 1,219 meters (m) (300

and 4,000 feet (ft)) in elevation, where

average annual precipitation is less than

10 centimeters (cm) (4 inches (in)) and

daily high temperatures average 104°

Fahrenheit in the summer. Alluvial fans

(sloping masses of gravel, sand, clay,

and other sediments that widen out like

fans at the base of canyons and washes)

are used for breeding, feeding, and

movement. Peninsular bighorn sheep

use a wide variety of plant species as

their food source. Peninsular bighorn

sheep typically produce only one lamb

per year. Bighorn ewes exhibit a high

degree of site fidelity to their home

range; this behavior is learned by their

offspring. From May through October,

Peninsular bighorn sheep are typically

more localized in distribution around

permanent water sources.

The decline of the Peninsular bighorn

sheep is attributed to a combination of

factors, including: (1) Relatively low

adult survivorship from predation and

human-related causes; (2) the effects of

disease and parasitism; (3) low lamb

recruitment; and (4) habitat loss,

degradation, and fragmentation. The

Peninsular bighorn sheep in the United

States declined from an estimated 1,171

individuals in 1971 to about 570

individuals in 1991 (Bleich et al. 1992).

Recent estimates now number the

population at approximately 335 adults

in about eight ewe groups in the wild in

the United States. The habitat still

remaining for the Peninsular bighorn

sheep in the United States is managed

by the California Department of Parks

and Recreation, California Department

of Fish and Game, Bureau of Land

Management, private landowners, Trust

lands, U.S. Forest Service, and other

State and local entities.

Section 4(b)(2) of the Act requires that

the Secretary shall designate or revise

critical habitat based upon the best

scientific data available and after taking

into consideration the economic impact

of specifying any particular area as

critical habitat. Based upon the

previously published proposal to

designate critical habitat for the

Peninsular bighorn sheep and

comments received during previous

comment period, we have conducted a

draft economic analysis of the proposed

critical habitat designation. The draft

economic analysis is available at the

above Internet and mailing address (see

ADDRESSES section). To accept the best

and most current scientific data

regarding the critical habitat proposal

and the draft economic analysis of the

proposal, we reopen the comment

period at this time. Previously

submitted oral or written comments on

this critical habitat proposal need not be

resubmitted. The current comment

period on this proposal closes on

November 20, 2000. Written comments

may be submitted to the Service office

in the ADDRESSES section.

The distribution map for Peninsular

bighorn sheep represents a recent

compilation of data from numerous

sources that depicts the distributional

range of bighorn sheep in the Peninsular

Ranges of southern California. The

mapped information was compiled

through an interagency recovery

planning program. The map is being

made available to provide the public

with additional information on the

biology of the Peninsular bighorn sheep.

Author

The primary author of this notice is

the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office

(see ADDRESSES section).

Authority

The authority for this action is the

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Dated: October 11, 2000.

Anne Badgley,

Regional Director, Region 1.

[FR Doc. 00–26877 Filed 10–18–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–U

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 001012284–0284–01; I.D.

092100B]

RIN 0648–AO50

Fisheries off West Coast States and in

the Western Pacific; Western Pacific

Pelagic Fisheries; American Samoa;

Control Date

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed

rulemaking; request for comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that

persons who enter the pelagic longline

fishery in the exclusive economic zone

around American Samoa after July 15,

2000 (‘‘control date’’) are not guaranteed

future participation in the fishery if the

Western Pacific Fishery Management

Council (Council) prepares and NMFS

approves a program limiting entry or

effort. This action does not commit the

Council or NMFS to limit effort or to

prevent any other date from being

selected for eligibility to participate in

the American Samoa pelagic fishery.

The Council or NMFS also may use

other criteria to limit fishing effort or

participation in a limited entry program

if one is developed in the future.

DATES: Comments must be submitted in

writing by November 20, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to

Dr. Charles Karnella, Administrator,

NMFS, Pacific Islands Area Office

(PIAO), 1601 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite

1110, Honolulu, HI 96814–4700; or

faxed to 808-973-2941. Comments will

not be accepted if submitted via e-mail

or Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Alvin Katekaru, Fishery Management

Specialist, PIAO, 808-973-2937.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since

1996, the pelagic fishery around

American Samoa has undergone a

change from essentially a troll fishery to

a commercial, small-scale longline

fishery. Currently, the pelagic longline

fishery consists mostly of ‘‘alias’’ (small

catamarans), about 30 ft (9.1 m) long

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 203 / Thursday, October 19, 2000 / Proposed Rules 62693

and powered by gasoline outboard

engines, that use monofilament longline

gear to target albacore tuna. In 1996, 13

alias landed 232,721 lbs (105.56 mt) of

albacore. At present about 25 alias are

actively engaged in the fishery;

however, 63 alias are registered with

longline general permits. As for large

fishing vessels, in 1997 the fishery

consisted of four longliners ranging in

length from 65 to 109 ft (19.8 to 33.2 m);

today there are 15 large longline vessels

in the American Samoa pelagic fishery.

In response to the influx of large

longliners into American Samoa’s

pelagic fishery and the potential for

conflict between the large vessels and

small alias, the Council established

November 13, 1997, as a control date to

further restrict the participation of large

fishing vessels in the fishery, if the

Council decided to limit entry or effort,

by establishing area closures to large

fishing vessels (63 FR 3532, January 23,

1998). At its meeting in June 2000, the

Council voted to: (1) establish 50-nm

fishing area closures around the islands

of American Samoa to commercial

fishing vessels larger than 50 ft (15.2 m)

in length targeting pelagic management

unit species, (2) allow vessels registered

for use with a Federal general longline

permit and a documented landing of

pelagic management unit species, prior

to the control date of November 13,

1997, to use longline gear within a

50-nm area closure around American

Samoa, and (3) establish a new control

date of July 15, 2000, for permit

eligibility, which supersedes the control

date of November 13, 1997, if the

Council decides to develop a limited

entry program for the American Samoa

longline fishery.

The Council believes that there is a

risk of speculative entry into the

longline fishery while the Council

further evaluates the potential benefits

and costs of limited entry alternatives.

The control date is designed to

discourage speculative entry during this

period of analysis. The control date does

not commit the Council or NMFS to any

particular management regime or

criteria for entry into the American

Samoa longline fishery. Fishermen are

not guaranteed future participation in

this fishery, regardless of their level of

participation before or after the control

date. The Council may choose a

different control date or it may choose

a management regime that does not

involve a control date. Other criteria,

such as documentation of commercial

landings and sales, may be used to

determine eligibility for participation in

the fishery. The Council also may

choose to take no further action to

control entry or access to the fishery, in

which case the control date may be

rescinded.

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

Dated: October 13, 2000.

Penelope D. Dalton,

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 00–26936 Filed 10–18–00; 8:45 am]

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