10822 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 46 / Monday, March 10, 1997 / Proposed Rules

Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic

Swordfish (Swordfish FMP), on Draft

Amendment 1 to the Fishery

Management Plan for Sharks of the

Atlantic Ocean (Shark FMP) and

proposed rules implementing a limited

access system for each fishery. The

proposed rule for the Shark FMP was

published in the Federal Register on

December 27, 1996 and the proposed

rule for the Swordfish FMP was

published on February 26, 1997. NMFS

is also requesting written comments on

Draft Amendment 1 to the Swordfish

FMP, the Draft Amendment 1 to the

Shark FMP and on the proposed rules.

DATES: Written comments will be

accepted until April 28, 1997. Public

hearings will be held in March and

April. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

for specific dates and times of the

hearings.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be sent to Dr. Rebecca Lent, Chief, HMS

Division, Office of Sustainable Fisheries

(F/SF1), 1315 East-West Highway, Silver

Spring, MD 20910 (FAX: 301–713–

1917). Clearly mark the outside of the

envelope ‘‘Limited Access Comments.’’

Copies of the proposed rule and Draft

Amendment 1 to the Swordfish FMP,

which includes an environmental

assessment and regulatory impact

review, are available from James

Chambers at the same address. Public

hearings will be held in Maine, Rhode

Island, New York, New Jersey,

Maryland, North Carolina, Florida,

Louisiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands and

Puerto Rico. See SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION for locations of the

hearings.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James Chambers, Fishery Management

Specialist, or Margo Schulze, Fishery

Biologist, HMS Division, 301–713–2347.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Issues that

are addressed in Draft Amendment 1 to

the Swordfish FMP include: Proposed

implementation of a two-tiered permit

system consisting of directed and

incidental permits for the commercial

fishery, eligibility criteria for these

permits based on historical

participation, transferability provisions,

the permitting process, upgrading

restrictions and ownerships limits.

A complete description of the

measures, including the purpose and

need for the proposed action concerning

Atlantic swordfish, is contained in the

proposed rule published February 26,

1997 (62 FR 8672), and is not repeated

here. Copies of the proposed rule and

Draft Amendment 1 to the Swordfish

FMP may be obtained by writing (see

ADDRESSES) or calling one of the contact

persons (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT). Draft Amendment 1 to the

Shark FMP and its proposed rule were

published December 27, 1996 (61 FR

68202), and address similar issues to

those in proposed rule and Draft

Amendment 1 to the Swordfish FMP.

To accommodate people unable to

attend a hearing or wishing to provide

additional comments, NMFS also

solicits written comments on the

proposed rules.

The public hearings are scheduled as

follows:

1. Friday, March 21, 1997—City Hall

(Commission Chambers, 1st floor), 100

North Andrews Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale,

FL 33301, (954) 761–5002, 3 p.m.–6

p.m.

2. Monday, March 31, 1997—West

Bank Regional Library Meeting Room

(1st floor), 2751 Manhattan Boulevard

(near Lapalco Boulevard), Harvey, LA

70058–6144, (504) 364–3972, 3 p.m.–6

p.m.

3. Tuesday, April 1, 1997—Town Hall

Auditorium, 19305 Gulf Boulevard,

Indian Shores, FL 33785, (813) 595–

4020, 7 p.m.–10 p.m.

4. Wednesday, April 2, 1997—Monroe

County Public Library (Auditorium),

700 Flemming Street, Key West, FL

33040 (305) 292–3595, 4 p.m.–6 p.m.

5. Thursday, April 3, 1997—Pan Am

Dock (East), Isla Grande, San Juan, PR

00907, (803) 522–1509, 4 p.m.–7 p.m.

6. Saturday, April 5, 1997—Town

Hall at the Caravelle Hotel, 44A Queen

Cross Street, Saint Croix, USVI 00820,

(809) 773–0687, 3 p.m.–6 p.m.

7. Tuesday, April 8, 1997—Portland

Public Library (Room 316), 5 Monument

Square, Portland, ME 04101, (207) 871–

1755, 7 p.m.–10 p.m.

8. Wednesday, April 9, 1997—

Providence Biltmore Hotel

State Suite C (2nd level), Kennedy

Plaza, Providence RI 02903,

(401) 455–3027, 3 p.m.–6 p.m.

9. Thursday, April 10, 1997—

Montauk Fire Hall, 12 Flamingo

Avenue, Montauk, NY 11954, (516)

668–5695, 7 p.m.–10 p.m.

10. Friday, April 11, 1997—Barnegat

Light Firehouse, 10th and Boulevard

Streets, Long Beach Island, Barnegat

Light, NJ 08006, (609) 494–1280, 7

p.m.–10 p.m.

11. Sunday, April 13, 1997—North

Carolina Aquarium (Auditorium),

Airport Road, Manteo, NC 27954, (919)

473–3494, 7 p.m.–10 p.m.

12. Monday, April 28, 1997—NOAA,

First Floor Conference Room (1W611),

Silver Spring Metro Center Building 4,

1305 East-West Highway, Silver

Spring, MD 20910, (301) 713–2227, 10

a.m.–12 p.m.

Special Accommodations

These meetings are physically

accessible to people with disabilities.

Requests for sign language

interpretation or other auxiliary aids

should be directed to James Chambers

or Margo Schulze (see ADDRESSES) at

least 15 days before the hearing date.

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

U.S.C. 971 et seq.

Dated: March 4, 1997.

Gary C. Matlock,

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–5783 Filed 3–7–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 022797A]

New England Fishery Management

Council; Meeting

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Public meeting.

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery

Management Council (Council) will

hold a 2-day public meeting on March

12 and 13, 1997, to consider actions

affecting New England fisheries in the

exclusive economic zone.

DATES: The meeting will be held on

Wednesday, March 12, 1997, at 10 a.m.

and on Thursday, March 13, 1997, at

8:30 a.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place

at the King’s Grant Inn, Route 128 and

Trask Lane, Danvers, MA; telephone

(508) 774-6800. Requests for special

accommodations should be addressed to

the New England Fishery Management

Council, 5 Broadway, Saugus, MA

01906-1097; telephone: (617) 231-0422.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul

J. Howard, Executive Director, New

England Fishery Management Council,

(617) 231-0422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

March 12, 1997

The March 12 session will begin with

Enforcement Committee

recommendations on cod trip limits and

fishing vessels transiting closed areas. In

addition to reviewing NMFS and Coast

Guard reports to the Council on recent

enforcement actions, the Enforcement

Committee will provide an update on a

Vessel Tracking System trial program

and an evaluation of the current scallop

regulations. The Scallop Committee will

review its most recent discussion of
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 46 / Monday, March 10, 1997 / Proposed Rules 10823

fishing effort consolidation. The day

will conclude with a report by the

Groundfish Committee chairman. His

briefing on the committee’s discussions

will include: Maintaining or opening

groundfish closed areas to scallop

dredging; consideration of a framework

adjustment to the Northeast

Multispecies Fishery Management Plan

(FMP) that would contain measures to

protect incoming year classes of winter

flounder; development of a timetable for

winter flounder stock rebuilding and for

whiting management; consideration of a

year-round fishery for small scallop

dredges in the Nantucket Shoals Dogfish

Exemption Area; the August 15 through

September 13 Northeast Closure Area

for groundfish, as it relates to the gillnet

fishery requirement to take 21 days off

from groundfish fishing between June

and September; and initial action on a

framework adjustment to the FMP under

the framework for abbreviated

rulemaking procedure contained in 50

CFR 648.82. In addition to allowing

fishing in the North Atlantic Fisheries

Organization regulated area without

using multispecies days-at-sea (DAS)

allocations, this framework adjustment

would provide incentives to fish

offshore through several means

including not counting steaming time

against multispecies DAS allocations.

March 13, 1997

The Council Chairman; Executive

Director; Regional Administrator,

Northeast Region, NMFS;

representatives from the Northeast

Fisheries Science Center; Atlantic States

Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC);

U.S. Coast Guard; and the Mid-Atlantic

Fishery Management Council liaison

will report on recent activities. There

will be a briefing on the Atlantic Coastal

Cooperative Statistics Program followed

by an update on public comments

received to date on monkfish

management proposals. During the latter

portion of the meeting, the Responsible

Fishing Committee will discuss

fishermen’s training and certification

programs. There will be an update on

ASMFC’s lobster management program

and a NMFS update on actions to

restrict lobster gear to reduce the risk of

northern right whale entanglements.

Announcement of Experimental Fishery

Applications

There will be a discussion of several

experimental fisheries that have been

recently submitted to NMFS for review

and approval. Among the proposed

experiments are extensions of two

previous experiments, two expansions

of previously conducted experiments

and two new experiments. The Regional

Administrator has conducted

preliminary reviews of the experimental

fishery proposals and is seeking Council

and industry comments on the

proposals.

The New Jersey Department of

Environmental Protection, Division of

Fish Game and Wildlife conducted

studies on food habits and digestive

systems of lobsters taken from artificial

reef systems off of New Jersey. One

fishing vessel was issued an

experimental fishing permit (EFP) that

exempted it from the possession limit

for vessels without a Federal American

lobster permit, size limit, and

prohibition on possession of lobster

parts. The investigators were not able to

collect their target numbers of 150

lobsters and have therefore requested an

extension of the EFP to cover the period

from June through October of 1997.

The Research Foundation of the State

University of New York (SUNY) has

been issued an EFP for a fishing vessel

that it has chartered to conduct studies

on interactions between juvenile

groundfish and their habitats. The study

is funded under the Saltonstall/

Kennedy Grant program and the EFP

expires on April 30, 1997. SUNY has

requested that the EFP be extended to

cover the duration of the funded

activities. The project involves

collection of samples of juvenile fish in

the New York Bight area with small

mesh trawl gear. An EFP is required to

exempt the participating vessel from

DAS, gear and mesh size restrictions,

and minimum fish size limits of the

FMP.

A member of the fishing industry has

requested that the seasonal

experimental whiting separator trawl

fishery conducted in the Northern

Shrimp Small Mesh Exemption Area be

extended to allow fishing under the

experiment for the entire year. In

addition, the applicant has requested

the use of a grate bar spacing of 2 inches

(5.08 cm) instead of the previous 1–9/

16 - inch (4–cm) bar spacing used in the

previous fishery. EFPs would be

necessary to exempt participating

vessels from mesh size, DAS, and

bycatch restrictions of the FMP.

The Massachusetts Division of Marine

Fisheries (MADMF) has requested that

its experimental small mesh raised

footrope trawl whiting fishery

conducted in Cape Cod Bay be

expanded to allow two to three vessels

to fish in three additional distinct areas

within the GOM/GB Regulated Mesh

Area. MADMF would monitor the

vessels and the trawl gear to determine

if the raised footrope trawl is an

appropriate gear to reduce bycatch of

regulated species in areas outside of

Cape Cod Bay. EFPs would be required

to exempt vessels from mesh size, DAS,

and bycatch restrictions of the

multispecies FMP.

The MADMF and an industry member

have submitted an application to

conduct comparisons of catch rates of

yellowtail flounder using diamond and

square mesh trawls. The purpose of the

study is to determine the selectivity of

diamond or square mesh trawls on

yellowtail flounder. An EFP would be

required to exempt the vessel from

possession limits, DAS, and mesh size

restrictions of the FMP. While the vessel

will be using the regulated 6–inch

(15.24–cm) mesh trawls, small mesh

codend covers will be used to measure

the catches of the fish for each type of

trawl. The applicants have further

requested that the vessel be allowed to

retain and land legal sized regulated

multispecies on the experimental trips.

The Maine Department of Marine

Resources (MEDMR) had requested that

fishing vessels and recreational fishers

be allowed to catch and retain juvenile

tagged regulated multispecies that were

raised and released by MEDMR.

Participating fishers would return the

tagged fish to MEDMR. The purpose of

the tagged fish recovery effort is to

measure the survivability of released

fish. Those catching and returning

tagged juvenile regulated species would

be required to be exempted from the

minimum fish size limits and possibly

DAS and possession limits of the

multispecies FMP.

Prior to the conclusion of the meeting,

the Council will discuss policy advice

to the Mid-Atlantic Council on mackerel

joint ventures and comments on NMFS’

proposed swordfish fishery limited

access program.

Special Accommodations

This meeting is physically accessible

to people with disabilities. Requests for

sign language interpretation or other

auxiliary aids should be directed to Paul

J. Howard (see ADDRESSES) at least 5

days prior to the meeting date.

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

Dated: March 4, 1997.

Bruce Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 97–5784 Filed 3–7–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F