Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 219 / Monday, November 13, 2000 / Proposed Rules 67709

Dated: November 6, 2000.

Bruce Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 00–28951 Filed 11–09–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE: 3510–22–S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 600

[I.D. 102500A]

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions;

General Provisions for Domestic

Fisheries; Applications for Exempted

Fishing Permits (EFPs)

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notification of a denial of a

proposal for EFPs.

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the

Administrator, Northeast Region, NMFS

(Regional Administrator), has denied

the request to issue EFPs to conduct

fishing operations otherwise restricted

by the regulations governing the

fisheries of the Northeastern United

States due to enforcement difficulties. A

delegation of the City of Gloucester,

composed of representatives of the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the

Gloucester Mayor’s Office, local

industry, the Gloucester Fisheries

Commission, and the Massachusetts

Fisheries Recovery Commission,

requested the issuance of EFPs to

conduct a 3-month pilot study

beginning October 1, 2000. The EFPs

would have allowed commercial vessels

to enter Gloucester Harbor with

overages of haddock to seek refuge from

unsafe weather conditions related to

wind and sea state.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Bonnie Van Pelt, Fishery Management

Specialist, 978-281-9244.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August

29, 2000, NMFS published notification

of an application for an EFP to address

safety issues associated with haddock

trip limits (65 FR 52404). The EFP

would have allowed commercial vessels

to enter Gloucester Harbor with

overages of haddock when unsafe

conditions caused by wind or sea state

prevent the vessels from remaining at

sea. A more detailed description of the

proposed EFP pilot program was

contained in that notice and is not

repeated here.

The Joint Enforcement Oversight and

Advisory Panel (Enforcement

Committee), consisting of members of

the NMFS Office of Enforcement, the

U.S. Coast Guard, and the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, met

on September 21, 2000, to discuss the

EFP pilot program application. The

Enforcement Committee passed a

motion that was carried forward to the

New England Fishery Management

Council (Council) that the pilot program

not be approved in its current form due

to the difficulty in adequately enforcing

the EFP conditions. The Council agreed

that the pilot program should not be

pursued in its current form and advised

NMFS not to approve the pilot program.

Therefore, because of the enforcement

concerns, and the recommendation of

the Council, the Regional Administrator

has denied the EFP application.

Additionally, because projections of

the total allowable catch (TAC) target for

haddock indicate that the haddock

target TAC will not be harvested by the

end of the current fishing year (April 30,

2001), the Regional Administrator has

recently suspended the daily trip limits

for haddock through February 28, 2001

(65 FR 63549, October 24, 2000), while

maintaining the per trip maximum

possession limit, as authorized under 50

CFR 648.86(a)(iii)(B). Eliminating the

daily trip limit for haddock during the

period when weather-related sea

conditions have historically been the

worst also eliminates the need for

vessels fishing for haddock to wait out

hazardous weather conditions at sea and

relieves the need for the proposed EFP.

Dated: November 6, 2000.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 00–28954 Filed 11–09–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S