[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 57 (Wednesday, March 25, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 15693-15695]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-06402]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 665

[Docket No. 141110950-5227-02]
RIN 0648-BE63


Pacific Island Fisheries; Pacific Remote Islands Marine National 
Monument Expansion

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this final rule, NMFS establishes requirements for fishing 
in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Expansion. This 
final rule implements fishery management measures required by 
Presidential Proclamation 9173.

DATES: This final rule is effective on April 24, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may review Presidential Proclamation 9173 establishing 
the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRI Monument 
Expansion), Presidential Proclamation 8336 (establishing the PRI 
Monument), and the PRI Monument fishing requirements established in 
Amendment 2 to the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for the Pacific Remote Island 
Areas published in 2013, at www.regulations.gov. Amendment 2 is also 
available from the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council 
(Council), 1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 96813, tel 808-
522-8220, fax 808-522-8226, or from www.wpcouncil.org.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bob Harman, NMFS PIR Sustainable 
Fisheries, tel 808-725-5170.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS and the Council manage Pacific Island 
fisheries through fishery ecosystem plans (FEP) for American Samoa,

[[Page 15694]]

Hawaii, the Mariana Archipelago (Guam and the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands), the Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA), and 
pelagic fisheries. Fishing regulations for the Pacific Islands are 
found mainly in 50 CFR part 665.
    In 2009, President Bush issued Presidential Proclamations that 
established three Marine National Monuments in the Pacific Islands, 
including the PRI Monument (Proclamation 8336). The 2009 Proclamations 
directed the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce to regulate 
fisheries, including allowing for traditional indigenous fishing 
practices, and to ensure proper care and management of the monuments. 
In 2013, the Council incorporated the Proclamations' fishery management 
provisions into its FEPs. Based on the Proclamations and Council 
recommendations, NMFS implemented a final rule (78 FR 32996, June 3, 
2013) that, among other things, codified the PRI Monument's boundaries 
and prohibited commercial fishing throughout the PRI Monument. It 
further established management measures for non-commercial and 
recreational fishing.
    In September 2014, President Obama issued Presidential Proclamation 
9173, the ``Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Expansion'' 
(PRI Monument Expansion). The PRI Monument Expansion includes the 
waters and submerged lands of Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston 
Atoll that lie from the PRI Monument boundary established in 
Proclamation 8336 to the seaward limit of the U.S. Exclusive Economic 
Zone (U.S. EEZ, as established in Proclamation 5030 of March 10, 1983).
    The intent of the PRI Monument Expansion was to provide expanded 
protection to objects of scientific interest, including seamounts, deep 
sea corals, sea turtles, seabirds, and other species. The action called 
for the prohibition on commercial fishing in the PRI Monument Expansion 
and directed the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce to ensure 
that recreational and non-commercial fishing continue to be managed as 
sustainable activities in the PRI Monument and Monument Expansion.
    Consistent with Proclamation 9173, existing requirements in the PRI 
Monument, and Council recommendations from its 161st meeting held in 
Honolulu from October 20-23, 2014, this final rule prohibits commercial 
fishing, and allows for managed non-commercial fishing, in the PRI 
Monument Expansion. The requirements for fishing in the Monument 
Expansion now include, among other things, the following:
    <bullet> Prohibition of commercial fishing;
    <bullet> Permit and reporting requirements for non-commercial and 
recreational fishing;
    <bullet> Prohibition of the conduct of commercial fishing outside 
the PRI Monument and Monument Expansion and non-commercial fishing 
within the PRI Monument and Monument Expansion during the same trip; 
and
    <bullet> Federal permit and reporting requirements at Sec. Sec.  
665.13 and 665.14, and the vessel identification requirements at Sec.  
665.16.
    Additional background information on this final rule is found in 
the preamble to the proposed rule published on January 14, 2015 (80 FR 
1881), and is not repeated here.

Comments and Responses

    On January 14, 2015, NMFS published a proposed rule and request for 
public comments (80 FR 1881); the comment period ended February 13, 
2015. NMFS received one comment from the Tri Marine Group, which 
represents six U.S. flag tuna purse seine vessels, and responds as 
follows:
    Comment: The proposed expansion of the Monument would be harmful to 
the economic future of the U.S. purse seine fleet and to American Samoa 
because it unnecessarily restricts access to fishing areas that are 
already heavily restricted, and would further concentrate tuna fishing 
pressure into a smaller geographic area. Therefore, NMFS should include 
a regulatory permit exception in the final rule that would allow U.S. 
fishery endorsed and documented purse seine vessels to fish in the 
expanded Monument area between the existing Monument boundaries and the 
outer limit of the U.S. EEZ at Jarvis and Wake Islands and at Johnston 
Atoll.
    Response: NMFS acknowledges that the Monument Expansion will have 
impacts on the U.S. purse seine fishery. Purse seine fishing effort in 
the PRIAs over the past several decades has ranged from less than one 
percent to about a fifth of the total U.S. purse seine fishing effort 
in the Pacific. The purse seine catch from the PRIAs has ranged from 
none to a quarter of the total U.S. Pacific purse seine catch. The 
average catch from all the PRIAs combined have averaged about five 
percent of the total U.S. Pacific purse seine catch. The EEZ around 
Howland and Baker--not affected by this final rule--has received the 
most effort (about eight fishing days per vessel per year), followed by 
Jarvis (two days) and Kingman and Palmyra (0.3 days). No purse seine 
fishing has occurred at Wake Island.
    Despite these impacts, Presidential Proclamation 8336 clearly 
states that the Secretaries of Commerce and the Interior shall not 
allow or permit any appropriation, injury, destruction, or removal of 
any feature of this monument, except as provided for by the 
Proclamation. Specifically, the Proclamation calls for the prohibition 
of commercial fishing within boundaries of the monument (January 12, 
2009, 74 FR 1565). Proclamation 9173 expands the boundaries of the 
Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to the seaward limit of 
the U.S. EEZ at Jarvis and Wake Islands and Johnston Atoll, and directs 
the Secretaries of the Commerce and the Interior to continue to manage 
the expanded monument as directed in Proclamation 8336. Proclamation 
9173 directs the Secretary of Commerce to extend the ban on commercial 
fishing to the seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ at Jarvis and Wake Islands 
and Johnston Atoll. NMFS, under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 
may not take action inconsistent with other applicable laws; here, the 
Proclamations are clear regarding the prohibition on commercial fishing 
within the PRI Monument and Monument Expansion. NMFS, therefore, does 
not have authority under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to provide a permit 
exception to this prohibition.

Changes to the Proposed Rule

    There are no changes in this final rule from the proposed rule.

Classification

    The Regional Administrator, Pacific Islands Region, NMFS, has 
determined that this final rule is necessary for the conservation and 
management of the fisheries in the PRI Monument, and that it is 
consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act and other applicable laws.

Executive Order 12866

    This final rule has been determined to be not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.

Certification Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Chief Council for Regulation of the Department of Commerce 
certified to the Chief Council for Advocacy of the Small Business 
Administration during the proposed rule stage that this action would 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. NMFS published the factual basis for the certification in the

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proposed rule and does not repeat it here. NMFS received no comments 
regarding this certification. As a result, a regulatory flexibility 
analysis was not required and none was prepared.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 665

    Administrative practice and procedure, Commercial fishing, 
Fisheries, Monuments and memorials, Pacific Remote Islands.

    Dated: March 13, 2015.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
    For the reasons set out in the preamble, NMFS amends 50 CFR part 
665 as follows:

PART 665--FISHERIES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

0
1. The authority citation for 50 CFR part 665 continues to read as 
follows:

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

0
2. Revise Sec.  665.930 to read as follows:


Sec.  665.930  Scope and purpose.

    The regulations in this subpart codify certain provisions of the 
Proclamations, and govern the administration of fishing in the 
Monument.

0
3. In Sec.  665.931, revise paragraphs (a), (c), and (d) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  665.931  Boundaries.

* * * * *
    (a) Wake Island. The Wake Island unit of the Monument includes the 
waters and submerged and emergent lands around Wake Island to the 
seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ.
* * * * *
    (c) Jarvis Island. The Jarvis Island unit of the Monument includes 
the waters and submerged and emergent lands around Jarvis Island to the 
seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ.
    (d) Johnston Atoll. The Johnston Atoll unit of the Monument 
includes the waters and submerged and emergent lands around Johnston 
Atoll to the seaward limit of the U.S. EEZ.
* * * * *

0
4. In Sec.  665.932, revise the definition of ``Monument'', remove the 
definition of ``Proclamation'', and add the definition of 
``Proclamations'' in alphabetical order to read as follows:


Sec.  665.932  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Monument means the waters and submerged and emergent lands of the 
Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and the Pacific Remote 
Islands Marine National Monument Expansion, as defined in Sec.  
665.931.
    Proclamations means Presidential Proclamation 8336 of January 6, 
2009, ``Establishment of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National 
Monument,'' and Presidential Proclamation 9173 of September 29, 2014, 
``Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Expansion.''

[FR Doc. 2015-06402 Filed 3-24-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P