[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 125 (Tuesday, June 30, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35560-35561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-17340]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[I.D. 061998C]


Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Petition for 
Rulemaking for Rotational Opening of Georges Bank Closed Areas for 
Scallop Fishing

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

ACTION: Notice of receipt of petition for rulemaking; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: NMFS announces receipt of, and requests public comment on, a 
petition for rulemaking requesting that sea scallop harvest be allowed 
on a rotational basis in areas of Georges Bank that are currently 
closed to all vessels capable of catching groundfish, including scallop 
vessels. David E. Frulla, of Brand, Lowell, and Ryan (Petitioner), has 
petitioned the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), on behalf of

[[Page 35561]]

the Fisheries Survival Fund, to determine where in the Georges Bank 
closed areas scallops are large in size and number and where primary 
groundfish are more susceptible to scallop gear, to better target and 
optimize scallop fishing while still maximizing recovery of primary 
groundfish stocks and habitat. The Petitioner requests that when the 
data collection has been completed, emergency action be taken to open 
portions of Georges Bank currently closed to scallop fishing, which 
would be balanced by closing some currently open areas.

DATES: Comments on the petition are requested on or before August 31, 
1998.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the petition for rulemaking are available upon 
request from Gary C. Matlock, Ph.D., Director, Office of Sustainable 
Fisheries, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. 
Comments on the petition should be directed to Dr. Gary C. Matlock at 
the above address. Please mark the outside of the envelope ``Rotational 
Opening of Scallop Closed Areas.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark R. Millikin, 301-713-2341.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The fishery affected by this petition for 
rulemaking is the Atlantic sea scallop fishery, which is managed under 
the Fishery Management Plan for the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery (FMP). 
The Secretary has management authority for this species group under the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The 
management unit for this fishery is Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten 
magellanicus) in U.S. waters of the Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina 
to Newfoundland along the continental shelf of North America. 
Implementing regulations for the fishery are found at 50 CFR part 648, 
subpart D.
    The scallop advisory report issued from the 23<SUP>rd</SUP> Stock 
Assessment Workshop in March 1997 stated that the current spawning 
stock biomass (SSB) is at a low level and the level of landings is 
determined primarily by variations in the number of recruits entering 
the fishery. On Georges Bank, abundance and fishing mortality are at 
moderate levels, but this results from approximately one-half of the 
region currently being closed to fishing via the groundfish closed 
areas to protect depleted stocks of cod, haddock, and yellowtail 
flounder. Scallop dredges were included in the fishing ban owing to 
their propensity to catch juvenile flatfish and other species whose 
stocks had collapsed. The scallop stock is rebuilding in these closed 
areas, but elsewhere on Georges Bank fishing mortality is greater than 
the current overfishing threshold. Overfishing for Atlantic sea 
scallops is defined in the FMP as the fishing mortality rate greater 
than the rate that would maintain an SSB that is 5 percent of the SSB 
level that would exist without fishing. The report further states that 
scallops in the Mid-Atlantic region are at a low level of abundance, 
are overexploited, and are declining. The large 1990 and 1991 year 
classes have been overfished and incoming recruitment is among the 
lowest on record. Based on high fishing mortality rates, low stock 
size, and lack of significant recruitment, the management advice from 
the Northeast Stock Assessment Workshop is that fishing effort should 
be reduced immediately and significantly in the Mid-Atlantic region to 
preserve SSB and to improve yield per recruit. Recent results of the 
1997 NMFS survey confirm that trends in abundance and biomass in both 
the Mid-Atlantic and Georges Bank regions are decreasing.
    The Petitioner states that the Georges Bank groundfish closures, 
which have been in effect since December 1994, are causing an imbalance 
in fishing effort, thereby making scallop rebuilding more difficult to 
achieve. He is requesting that information collected from the Georges 
Bank area on the scallop resource begin by July 1998, after which 
emergency action should be instituted to open areas of Georges Bank 
through limited rotational openings, coupled with closures of certain 
portions of currently open areas. He states that NMFS analyses have 
already concluded that such rebalancing should help scallop stocks and 
moderate the worst of the impending economic effects for the scallop 
fishermen.
    NMFS requests interested persons to submit comments on the petition 
for rulemaking submitted by the Petitioner. NMFS will consider this 
information in determining whether to proceed with the development of 
regulations requested by the petition.

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

    Dated: June 24, 1998.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 98-17340 Filed 6-29-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-F