12300 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 55 / Tuesday, March 24, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

analysis of data regarding population 

size or trends; biology or ecology of the 

subspecies; effects of current land 

management on population distribution 

and abundance; current condition of 

habitat; and conservation measures that 

have been implemented to benefit the 

subspecies specific to the marine and 

estuarine areas of the Southwestern 

Washington/Columbia River DPS. 

Additionally, we request information on 

threats to the coastal cutthroat trout in 

the marine and estuarine areas of the 

Southwestern Washington/Columbia 

River DPS in relation to the five listing 

factors (as defined in section 4(a)(1) of 

the Act). 

At the conclusion of our review, we 

will issue a new determination on the 

April 5, 1999 proposed rule concerning 

whether the marine and estuarine areas 

of the Southwestern Washington/ 

Columbia River DPS of the coastal 

cutthroat trout constitute a significant 

portion of the range of the DPS, and if 

so, whether such significant portion of 

the range warrants listing. We will base 

our determination on a review of the 

best scientific and commercial 

information available, including all 

information received as a result of this 

notice. 

References Cited 

A complete list of all references we 

cited in this document is available on 

the Internet at http:// 

www.regulations.gov or by contacting 

the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office (see 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Author 

The primary authors of this notice are 

the staff of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife 

Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

2600 SE 98th Avenue, Suite 100, 

Portland, OR 97266. 

Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Dated: March 11, 2009 

Paul R. Schmidt 

Acting Director, Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FR Doc. E9–5890 Filed 3–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

RIN 0648–AX42 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Central Gulf of Alaska 

Rockfish Program; Amendment 85 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notification of availability of 

fishery management plan amendment; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council submitted 

Amendment 85 to the Fishery 

Management Plan for Groundfish of the 

Gulf of Alaska (GOA FMP) to NMFS for 

review. If approved, Amendment 85 

would modify the GOA FMP and the 

Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program 

to remove a restriction that prohibits 

certain catcher/processors from 

participating in directed groundfish 

fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian 

Islands Management Area in July. This 

action is necessary to improve flexibility 

and reduce operating costs for catcher/ 

processors that participate in the Central 

Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program. This 

action is intended to promote the goals 

and objectives of the Magnuson–Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act, the GOA FMP, and other applicable 

laws. 

DATES: Comments on the amendment 

must be received on or before May 26, 

2009. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue 

Salveson, Assistant Regional 

Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries 

Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn: 

Ellen Sebastian. You may submit 

comments, identified by ‘‘RIN 0648– 

AX42,’’ by any one of the following 

methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal website at 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

• Mail: P. O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 

99802. 

• Fax: 907–586–7557. 

• Hand delivery to the Federal 

Building: 709 West 9th Street, Room 

420A, Juneau, AK. 

All comments received are a part of 

the public record and will generally be 

posted to http://www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit confidential business 

information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. 

NMFS will accept anonymous 

comments (enter N/A in the required 

fields, if you wish to remain 

anonymous). Attachments to electronic 

comments will be accepted in Microsoft 

Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe 

portable document file (pdf) formats 

only. 

Copies of Amendment 85 to the 

Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska, the 

Regulatory Impact Review (RIR), the 

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

(IRFA), the categorical exclusion 

prepared for this action, and the 

Environmental Assessment (EA), RIR, 

and Final Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (FRFA) prepared for the 

Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program 

are available from the NMFS Alaska 

Region at the address above or from the 

Alaska Region website at http:// 

www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Glenn Merrill, 907–586–7228, or Rachel 

Baker, 907–586–7425. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Magnuson–Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson–Stevens Act) requires that 

each regional fishery management 

council submit any fishery management 

plan amendment it prepares to NMFS 

for review and approval, disapproval, or 

partial approval by the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary). The Magnuson– 

Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, 

upon receiving a fishery management 

plan amendment, immediately publish a 

notice in the Federal Register 

announcing that the amendment is 

available for public review and 

comment. This notice announces that 

proposed Amendment 85 to the Fishery 

Management Plan for Groundfish of the 

Gulf of Alaska (GOA FMP) is available 

for public review and comment. 

The groundfish fisheries in the 

exclusive economic zone of Alaska are 

managed under the GOA FMP and the 

Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands Management Area 

(BSAI FMP). The FMPs were prepared 

by the North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) under 

the Magnuson–Stevens Act. Section 802 

of the Consolidated Appropriations Act 

of 2004 (Public Law 108–199) granted 

NMFS specific authority to manage 

Central Gulf of Alaska (GOA) rockfish 

fisheries, and directed the Secretary, in 

consultation with the Council, to 

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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 55 / Tuesday, March 24, 2009 / Proposed Rules 12301 

develop a program that recognizes the 

historical participation of fishing vessels 

and fish processors for Central GOA 

rockfish species. The Central Gulf of 

Alaska Rockfish Program (Rockfish 

Program) was recommended by the 

Council in June 2005 as Amendment 68 

to the GOA FMP. Regulations 

implementing Amendment 68 were 

published on November 20, 2006 (71 FR 

67210), and are located at 50 CFR part 

679. Fishing began under the Rockfish 

Program on May 1, 2007. 

Amendment 85 would make minor 

changes to the GOA FMP to enable 

catcher/processors that fish in the 

Central GOA under the Rockfish 

Program to participate in groundfish 

fisheries in the BSAI in July. 

Under the Rockfish Program, NMFS 

issued quota share (QS) to persons who 

held a License Limitation Program (LLP) 

license that has been associated with a 

trawl catcher vessel or a trawl catcher/ 

processor vessel that made legal 

landings of rockfish species and species 

harvested incidentally in the Central 

GOA rockfish fisheries during the 

rockfish fishing seasons from 1996 to 

2002. Each year, an eligible rockfish 

harvester who received a QS allocation 

at the time the Rockfish Program was 

implemented may assign all QS 

associated with the LLP license either to 

a cooperative formed with other QS 

holders, or to a limited access fishery in 

which eligible harvesters compete for a 

share of the total allowable catch (TAC) 

for the Central GOA rockfish species. 

The total amount of QS assigned to all 

members of a cooperative yields 

cooperative quota (CQ), an exclusive 

annual harvest privilege for a portion of 

the TAC assigned to the Central GOA 

rockfish species. In addition, a 

cooperative receives CQ that may be 

used to harvest certain species caught 

incidentally in the rockfish fisheries. 

Eligible harvesters in either the catcher 

vessel sector or the catcher/processor 

sector may join cooperatives formed in 

their respective sectors. 

Vessels that fish under the Rockfish 

Program are subject to a suite of catch 

and fishery participation limits called 

sideboards. Sideboard limits are 

intended to prevent program 

participants from using the economic 

benefits and improved flexibility 

provided by exclusive harvesting 

privileges to increase effort in other 

fisheries and adversely affect 

participants that depend on those 

fisheries. The Rockfish Program 

sideboard limits were developed to 

restrict fishing by eligible Central GOA 

rockfish harvesters in non–Rockfish 

Program fisheries during the historical 

timing of the rockfish fishery, which 

generally began on July 1 and lasted two 

to three weeks. Several harvesters that 

participate in the Rockfish Program also 

historically participated in other 

groundfish fisheries in the GOA and 

BSAI after completing the Central GOA 

rockfish fisheries. Hence, the sideboard 

restrictions were limited to the month of 

July to enable these harvesters, 

particularly in the catcher/processor 

sector, to continue participating in these 

fisheries. 

Under current Rockfish Program 

regulations, all vessels in the catcher/ 

processor sector that are assigned to a 

Central GOA rockfish cooperative and 

some vessels that participate in the 

limited access fishery are prohibited 

from fishing in BSAI groundfish 

fisheries, other than pollock and fixed– 

gear sablefish, for a period beginning 

July 1. This type of fishery participation 

sideboard is commonly called a stand 

down. When the Rockfish Program was 

implemented, the season opening date 

for the Central GOA rockfish fishery 

shifted from July 1 to May 1 for vessels 

that join a cooperative. In the first year 

of the Rockfish Program, most 

cooperative participants in the catcher/ 

processor sector had completed fishing 

in the Rockfish Program fisheries and 

other GOA fisheries in June, but were 

prohibited from participating in BSAI 

groundfish fisheries in early July by the 

Rockfish Program stand down. Some 

catcher/processor vessels remained idle 

for the two-week stand down period, 

which was costly to vessel operators 

because maintenance and crew costs 

continue to accrue while a vessel is idle. 

The Council was prompted to 

reexamine the BSAI stand downs by 

participants in the catcher/processor 

sector of the Rockfish Program, who 

suggested that some Rockfish Program 

sideboard limits may be too restrictive. 

In April 2007, the Council initiated an 

analysis to examine the impacts of 

relieving certain catcher/processors that 

participate in the Rockfish Program 

from the BSAI stand downs. Based on 

the analysis and public comment, the 

Council adopted Amendment 85 to the 

GOA FMP in October 2008 and 

submitted it to NMFS for review by the 

Secretary. 

Amendment 85 to the GOA FMP 

would remove the BSAI stand downs 

that apply to catcher/processors that 

participate in the cooperative and 

limited access fisheries in the Rockfish 

Program. All other sideboard limits in 

the Rockfish Program would remain 

unchanged. The Council determined 

that the BSAI stand down requirements 

for vessels participating in the catcher/ 

processor sector were no longer 

necessary to protect fishery participants 

in BSAI groundfish fisheries. Since 

implementation of the Rockfish 

Program, NMFS implemented 

Amendments 80 and 85 to the BSAI 

FMP. Amendment 80 allocated 

exclusive harvesting privileges for 

several BSAI directed trawl groundfish 

fisheries and Amendment 85 refined 

sector allocations for Pacific cod, which 

is a directed fishery. These management 

changes significantly increased the 

number of BSAI directed groundfish 

fisheries for which participants can 

receive exclusive harvesting privileges, 

and reduced the likelihood that catcher/ 

processors participating in the Rockfish 

Program could increase effort in BSAI 

groundfish fisheries to the detriment of 

other participants, particularly during 

the short period in early July when the 

BSAI stand downs are in effect. The 

Council recommended Amendment 85 

to the GOA FMP to improve flexibility 

and reduce operating costs for catcher/ 

processors that participate in the 

Rockfish Program. 

The RIR/IRFA prepared for this action 

describes the costs and benefits of the 

proposed amendment (see ADDRESSES

for availability). All of the directly 

regulated entities would be expected to 

benefit from this action relative to the 

status quo because the proposed 

amendment would allow greater 

flexibility for catcher/processors that 

participate in the Rockfish Program to 

coordinate harvesting operations in the 

GOA and BSAI. 

Public comments are being solicited 

on proposed Amendment 85 to the GOA 

FMP through the end of the comment 

period (see DATES). NMFS intends to 

publish in the Federal Register and seek 

public comment on a proposed rule that 

would implement Amendment 85, 

following NMFS’ evaluation of the 

proposed rule under the Magnuson– 

Stevens Act. Public comments on the 

proposed rule must be received by the 

end of the comment period on 

Amendment 85 to be considered in the 

approval/disapproval decision on 

Amendment 85. All comments received 

by the end of the comment period on 

Amendment 85, whether specifically 

directed to the GOA FMP amendment or 

the proposed rule, will be considered in 

the FMP approval/disapproval decision. 

Comments received after that date will 

not be considered in the approval/ 

disapproval decision on the 

amendment. To be considered, 

comments must be received, not just 

postmarked or otherwise transmitted, by 

the close of business on the last day of 

the comment period. 

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

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12302 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 55 / Tuesday, March 24, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

Dated: March 19, 2009. 

Emily H. Menashes 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–6462 Filed 3–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

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