Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 11, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 10515 

On February 23, 2009, the Court 

issued a third Order, extending the 

suspension of differential DAS counting 

through April 10, 2009, to allow the 

Council time to review NMFS analysis 

of the mixed-stock exception, as 

submitted to the Court on February 19, 

2009, as submitted to the Council 

during it’s regularly scheduled April 

2009 meeting. 

In response to the February 17, 2009, 

and February 23, 2009, Court Orders, 

NMFS, through this final interim rule, is 

issuing a temporary suspension of the 

FW 42 differential DAS counting 

regulations through April 10, 2009, and 

extending the fishing year 2008 March 

1 deadline for submission of DAS 

leasing applications to March 31. 

Classification 

It has been determined that this rule 

is ‘‘not significant’’ for purposes of E.O. 

12866. 

The Administrator, Northeast Region, 

NMFS, determined that the temporary 

suspension of differential DAS counting 

implemented through this final interim 

rule is necessary in order to comply 

with the Court Order. Therefore, this 

action represents a non-discretionary 

modification to the FMP, as required by 

a Court Order, 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), the 

Assistant Administrator of Fisheries 

(AA) finds good cause to waive prior 

notice and opportunity for public 

comment. Prior notice and opportunity 

for public comment are impracticable, 

as NMFS is required by court order to 

immediately implement these changes, 

and has no discretion in making these 

modifications to the rule. For the same 

reason, the AA finds good cause to 

waive the 30–day delay in the effective 

date under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). 

Because prior notice and opportunity 

for public comment are not required for 

this rule by 5 U.S.C. 553, or any other 

law, the analytical requirements of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 

et seq. are inapplicable. 

It has been determined that the 

Environmental Assessment/Finding of 

No Significant Impact statement 

prepared for FW 42 remains applicable 

and that the scope of this action falls 

within the range of measures previously 

analyzed. This final interim rule has 

been determined to be not significant for 

the purposes of Executive Order (E.O.) 

12866. This final interim rule does not 

contain policies with Federalism or 

‘‘takings’’ implications as those terms 

are defined in E.O. 13132 and E.O. 

12630, respectively. This final interim 

rule does not contain any new 

recordkeeping or reporting 

requirements. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 648 

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: March 5, 2009. 

Samuel D. Rauch III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

■ For the reasons stated in the preamble, 

50 CFR part 648 is amended as follows: 

PART 648—FISHERIES OF THE 

NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 648 

continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. In § 648.82, paragraph (e)(2) is 

stayed effective March 6, 2009, through 

April 10, 2009, and paragraph (k)(3) 

introductory text is revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 648.82 Effort-control program for NE 

multispecies limited access vessels. 

* * * * * 

(k) * * * 

(3) Application to lease NE 

multispecies DAS. To lease Category A 

DAS, the eligible Lessor and Lessee 

vessel must submit a completed 

application form obtained from the 

Regional Administrator. The application 

must be signed by both Lessor and 

Lessee and be submitted to the Regional 

Office at least 45 days before the date on 

which the applicants desire to have the 

leased DAS effective. The Regional 

Administrator will notify the applicants 

of any deficiency in the application 

pursuant to this section. Applications 

may be submitted at any time prior to 

the start of the fishing year or 

throughout the fishing year in question, 

up until the close of business on March 

1, unless otherwise specified in the this 

paragraph (k)(3). For the 2009 fishing 

year, applications may be submitted up 

until the close of business on March 31. 

Eligible vessel owners may submit any 

number of lease applications throughout 

the application period, but any DAS 

may only be leased once during a 

fishing year. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. E9–5191 Filed 3–6–09; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 0401120010–4114–02] 

RIN 0648–XN66 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

Provisions; Fisheries of the 

Northeastern United States; Northeast 

(NE) Multispecies Fishery; Modification 

of the Yellowtail Flounder Landing 

Limit for the U.S./Canada Management 

Area 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; increase of 

landing limit. 

SUMMARY: This action increases the 

Georges Bank (GB) yellowtail flounder 

trip limit to 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) for NE 

multispecies days-at-sea (DAS) vessels 

fishing in the U.S./Canada Management 

Area. This action is authorized by the 

regulations implementing Amendment 

13 to the NE Multispecies Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP) and is 

intended to increase the likelihood of 

harvesting the total allowable catch 

(TAC) for GB yellowtail flounder 

without exceeding it during the 2008 

fishing year. This action is being taken 

to allow vessels to fully harvest the 

TACs for transboundary stocks of GB 

cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder 

under the authority of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens 

Act). 

DATES: Effective 0001 hours March 9, 

2009, through April 30, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Allison Murphy, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9122, fax (978) 

281–9135. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulations governing the GB yellowtail 

flounder landing limit within the U.S./ 

Canada Management Area are found at 

50 CFR 648.85(a)(3)(iv)(C) and (D). The 

regulations authorize vessels issued a 

valid limited access NE multispecies 

permit and fishing under a NE 

multispecies DAS to fish in the U.S./ 

Canada Management Area, as defined at 

§ 648.85(a)(1), under specific 

conditions. The TAC for GB yellowtail 

flounder for the 2008 fishing year (May 

1, 2008 - April 30, 2009) was set at 1,950 

mt (73 FR 16572, March 28, 2008), a 


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10516 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 46 / Wednesday, March 11, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 

217–percent increase from the TAC for 

the 2007 fishing year. 

The regulations at § 648.85(a)(3)(iv)(D) 

authorize the Administrator, Northeast 

(NE) Region, NMFS (Regional 

Administrator) to increase or decrease 

the trip limits in the U.S./Canada 

Management Area to prevent overharvesting or under-harvesting the TAC 

allocation. On April 29, 2008 (73 FR 

23130), based upon the 2008 TAC for 

GB yellowtail flounder and projections 

of harvest rates in the fishery, the trip 

limit for GB yellowtail flounder was set 

at 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) for the 2008 

fishing year. On October 22, 2008 (73 FR 

63652) the trip limit for GB yellowtail 

flounder was reduced to 2,500 lb (1,134 

kg) to slow the rate of harvest and to 

prevent a premature closure of the 

Eastern U.S./Canada Management Area 

and, therefore, reduced opportunities to 

fish for Eastern GB cod and haddock in 

the Eastern U.S./Canada Area. 

According to the most recent Vessel 

Monitoring System (VMS) reports and 

other available information, the 

cumulative GB yellowtail flounder catch 

is approximately 67.2 percent of the 

TAC as of February25, 2009. Increasing 

the GB yellowtail flounder trip limit to 

5,000 lb (2,268 kg) from 2,500 lb (1,134 

kg) is expected to increase landings of 

GB yellowtail flounder, reduce discards, 

and result in the achievement of the 

TAC during the fishing year, without 

exceeding it. Based on this information, 

the Regional Administrator is increasing 

the current 2,500–lb (1,134–kg) 

yellowtail flounder trip limit in the 

U.S./Canada Management Area to 5,000 

lb (2,268 kg) per trip, effective 0001 

hours local time March 9, 2009, through 

April 30, 2009. 

GB yellowtail flounder landings will 

continue to be closely monitored. 

Further inseason adjustments to 

increase or decrease the trip limit may 

be considered, based on updated catch 

data and projections. Should 100 

percent of the TAC allocation for GB 

yellowtail flounder be projected to be 

harvested, all vessels would be 

prohibited from harvesting, possessing, 

or landing yellowtail flounder from the 

entire U.S./Canada Management Area, 

and the Eastern U.S./Canada Area 

would be closed to limited access NE 

multispecies DAS vessels for the 

remainder of the fishing year. 

Classification 

This action is authorized by 50 CFR 

part 648 and is exempt from review 

under Executive Order 12866. 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B) and 

(d)(3), there is good cause to waive prior 

notice and opportunity for public 

comment; as well as the delayed 

effectiveness for this action, because 

prior notice and comment, and a 

delayed effectiveness, would be 

impracticable and contrary to the public 

interest. The regulations under 

§ 658.85(a)(3)(iv)(D) grant the Regional 

Administrator the authority to adjust the 

GB yellowtail flounder trip limit to 

prevent over-harvesting or underharvesting the TAC allocation. This 

action would relieve a restriction by 

increasing the GB yellowtail flounder 

trip limit for all NE multispecies DAS 

vessels fishing in the U.S./Canada 

Management Area through April 30, 

2009, to facilitate the harvest of the TAC 

while ensuring that the TAC will not be 

exceeded during the 2008 fishing year. 

This will result in decreased regulatory 

discards of GB yellowtail flounder, 

increase revenue for the NE 

multispecies fishery, and increase the 

chances of achieving optimum yield in 

the groundfish fishery. 

This action is authorized by the 

regulations at § 648.85(a)(3)(iv)(D) to 

facilitate achieving the U.S/Canada 

Management Area TACs. It is important 

to take this action immediately because 

the current restrictive GB yellowtail 

flounder trip limit has prevented the NE 

multispecies fishery from harvesting the 

TAC at a rate that will result in 

complete harvest by the end of the 2008 

fishing year. Delay in the 

implementation of this action could 

result in further wasteful discards of GB 

yellowtail flounder and decrease the 

opportunity available for vessels to fully 

harvest the 2008 GB yellowtail flounder 

TAC. 

The information necessary to take this 

action became available only recently. 

The time necessary to provide for prior 

notice, opportunity for public comment, 

and delayed effectiveness for this action 

would prevent NE multispecies DAS 

vessels from efficiently targeting GB 

yellowtail flounder in the U.S./Canada 

Management Area. The Regional 

Administrator’s authority to increase 

trip limits for GB yellowtail flounder in 

the U.S./Canada Management Area to 

help ensure that the shared U.S./Canada 

stocks of fish are harvested, but not 

exceeded, was considered and open to 

public comment during the 

development of Amendment 13 to the 

FMP and Framework Adjustment 42 to 

the FMP. Therefore, any negative effect 

the waiving of public comment and 

delayed effectiveness may have on the 

public is mitigated by these factors. 

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

Dated: March 5, 2009. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–5171 Filed 3–6–09; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 


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