12394 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 45 / Monday, March 9, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 635 

RIN 0648–BA17 

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 

Large Coastal and Small Coastal 

Atlantic Shark Management Measures 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of rescheduled public 

hearing. 

SUMMARY: On January 20, 2015, NMFS 

published a proposed rule with public 

hearing dates for Draft Amendment 6 to 

the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory 

Species (HMS) Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP). On February 25, 2015, 

NMFS announced that the public 

hearing in Manteo, NC, would be 

rescheduled due to inclement weather 

conditions expected for Manteo and 

surrounding areas. In this notice, NMFS 

announces the date and location for the 

rescheduled public hearing to provide 

opportunities for members of the public 

to comment on the management 

measures proposed in Draft Amendment 

6. 

DATES: The rescheduled public hearing 

will be held on March 18, 2015, from 5 

p.m. to 8 p.m. Written comments will be 

accepted until April 3, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: The rescheduled public 

hearing will be held in Manteo, NC, at 

the Dare Country Administration 

Building, Commissioner’s Meeting 

Room, 954 Marshall C. Collins Drive, 

Manteo, NC 27954. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

LeAnn Hogan, Guy ́ DuBeck, Alexis 

Jackson or Karyl Brewster-Geisz by 

phone: 301–427–8503, or by fax: 301– 

713–1917. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Atlantic 

sharks are managed under the authority 

of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act), and the 

authority to issue regulations has been 

delegated from the Secretary to the 

Assistant Administrator (AA) for 

Fisheries, NOAA. On October 2, 2006, 

NMFS published in the Federal Register 

(71 FR 58058) final regulations, effective 

November 1, 2006, implementing the 

2006 Consolidated HMS FMP, which 

details management measures for 

Atlantic HMS fisheries. The 

implementing regulations for the 2006 

Consolidated HMS FMP and its 

amendments are at 50 CFR part 635. 

On January 20, 2015, NMFS 

published a proposed rule (80 FR 2648) 

for Draft Amendment 6 to the 2006 

Consolidated HMS FMP. Management 

measures in the proposed rulemaking 

are designed to respond to the problems 

facing Atlantic commercial shark 

fisheries, such as landings that exceed 

the commercial quotas, declining 

numbers of fishing permits since limited 

access was implemented, increasingly 

complex regulations, derby fishing 

conditions due to small quotas and 

short seasons, increasing numbers of 

regulatory discards, and declining 

market prices. The primary goal of 

Amendment 6 to the 2006 Consolidated 

HMS FMP is to implement management 

measures for the Atlantic shark fisheries 

that will achieve the objectives of 

increasing management flexibility to 

adapt to the changing needs of the 

Atlantic shark fisheries, and achieve 

optimum yield while rebuilding 

overfished shark stocks and ending 

overfishing. Specifically, the rule 

proposes to: Adjust the large coastal 

sharks (LCS) retention limit for shark 

directed Limited Access Permit holders; 

create sub-regional quotas in the 

Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions for 

LCS and small coastal sharks (SCS); 

modify the LCS and SCS quota linkages; 

establish total allowable catches and 

adjust quotas for non-blacknose SCS in 

the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions 

based on the results of the 2013 stock 

assessments for Atlantic sharpnose and 

bonnethead sharks; and modify 

upgrading restrictions for shark permit 

holders. 

On February 25, 2015, NMFS 

announced via listserv notice, an 

announcement on the HMS 

Management Division’s Web page, and 

phone calls to known interested parties 

that the public hearing that was 

scheduled in Manteo, NC, on February 

26, 2015, would be rescheduled due to 

inclement weather conditions expected 

for Manteo and surrounding areas at 

that time. The public hearing in Manteo, 

NC, has been rescheduled for March 18, 

2015, to provide the opportunity for 

public comment on potential 

management measures (see ADDRESSES

and DATES). 

The public is reminded that NMFS 

expects participants at the public 

hearings to conduct themselves 

appropriately. At the beginning of each 

public hearing, a representative of 

NMFS will explain the ground rules 

(e.g., alcohol is prohibited from the 

hearing room; attendees will be called to 

give their comments in the order in 

which they registered to speak; each 

attendee will have an equal amount of 

time to speak; and attendees should not 

interrupt one another). The NMFS 

representative will attempt to structure 

the meeting so that all attending 

members of the public will be able to 

comment, if they so choose, regardless 

of the controversial nature of the 

subject(s). Attendees are expected to 

respect the ground rules, and, if they do 

not, they may be asked to leave the 

hearing. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 971 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 

1801 et seq. 

Dated: March 4, 2015. 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–05380 Filed 3–6–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 150105004–5190–01] 

RIN 0648–BE75 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

Provisions; Fisheries of the 

Northeastern United States; Northeast 

Groundfish Fishery; Framework 

Adjustment 53 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This action proposes approval 

of, and regulations to implement, 

Framework Adjustment 53 to the 

Northeast Multispecies Fishery 

Management Plan. This rule would set 

fishing years 2015–2017 catch limits for 

several groundfish stocks, modify 

management measures for Gulf of Maine 

cod, and adopt other measures to 

improve the management of the 

groundfish fishery. This action is 

necessary to respond to updated 

scientific information and achieve the 

goals and objectives of the Fishery 

Management Plan. The proposed 

measures are intended to help prevent 

overfishing, rebuild overfished stocks, 

achieve optimum yield, and ensure that 

management measures are based on the 

best scientific information available. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

March 24, 2015. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS