[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 103 (Tuesday, May 29, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29094-29095]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-13437]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 052201C]


Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting

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

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

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SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene 
public meetings of the Standing and Special Reef Fish Scientific and 
Statistical Committee (SSC) on Tuesday, June 12, 2001 and the Reef Fish 
Advisory Panel (AP) on Wednesday, June 13, 2001.

DATES: The SSC will meet beginning at 8:30 a.m. on June 12, 2001 and 
will conclude by 5 p.m. The AP will meet beginning at 8:30 a.m. on June 
13, 2001 and will conclude by 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at the New Orleans Airport Hilton, 
901 Airline Highway, Kenner, LA; telephone: 504-469-5000.
    Council address: Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, 3018 
U.S. Highway 301 North, Suite 1000, Tampa, FL 33619.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Steven Atran, Population Dynamics 
Statistician, Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council; telephone: 
813-228-2815.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SSC and AP will meet to review and 
comment on proposals contained in draft Reef Fish Amendment 18, which 
will establish a 10-year red grouper rebuilding program and address 
other gear and enforcement issues. The SSC and AP will also be asked to 
review and comment on a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (SEIS) which updates the last SEIS (published in 1993 as part 
of Amendment 5), reviews environmental impacts of the Amendment 18 
alternatives, and identifies reef fish essential fish habitat (EFH). 
The issues contained in draft Reef Fish Amendment 18 and the Council's 
preferred alternatives are as follows:

[[Page 29095]]

<bullet> Longline and buoy gear endorsement (Section 6.1.1):
    6.1.1.1 Establish a longline/buoy gear endorsement- [No Preferred 
Alternative Selected]
    6.1.1.2 Transferability of endorsement- Fully transferable
    6.1.1.3 Appeals board- Appeals to be handled by NMFS
<bullet> Longline and buoy gear boundary line (Section 6.1.2)- [No 
Preferred Alternative Selected]
<bullet> Longline and buoy gear phase-out (Section 6.1.3)- [No 
Preferred Alternative Selected]
<bullet> Use of powerheads when spearfishing (Section 6.2): Require a 
permit for the use of powerheads when reef fish fishing (both 
commercially and recreationally), and eliminate the regulatory 
exemption that allows the use of powerheads in the stressed area for 
harvest of sand perch, dwarf sand perch, and hogfish.
<bullet> Use of reef fish for bait (Section 7.0): Prohibit the use of 
all species in the reef fish management unit or parts thereof, except 
sand perch and dwarf sand perch, with any gear for bait. (No preferred 
alternative on whether to apply this provision to commercial fishing, 
recreational fishing, or both.)
Vessel monitoring system (Section 8.0): Require fishing vessels engaged 
in the bottom (reef fish) longline fishery to be equipped with an 
electronic vessel monitoring system (VMS), with the cost of the vessel 
equipment, installation, maintenance, and month-to-month communications 
to be paid or arranged by the owners as appropriate. NMFS will maintain 
and will publish in the Federal Register a list of type-approved units 
and communications protocols.
<bullet> Dormant reef fish permits (Section 9.0)- [No Preferred 
Alternative Selected]
<bullet> Red grouper rebuilding plan (Section 10.0):
<bullet> 10.1 Red Grouper Sustainable Fishing Parameters: Set red 
grouper maximum sustainable yield (MSY), fishing mortality rate at MSY 
(FMSY), and spawning stock biomass proxy at MSY (SSMSY) at the range of 
values estimated by the Reef Fish Stock Assessment Panel, MSY = 6.705 
to 7.012 million pounds; FMSY = 0.223 to 0.270; SSMSY = 350.7 to 433.2 
million grams female gonad weight.
    10.2 Red Grouper Minimum Stock Size Threshold (MSST): Red grouper 
minimum stock size threshold (MSST) shall be 80% of SSMSY (280.6 to 
346.6 million grams female gonad weight).
    10.3 Red Grouper Maximum Fishing Mortality Threshold (MFMT): Red 
grouper maximum fishing mortality threshold (MFMT) shall be FMSY (0.223 
to 0.270), or the F consistent with recovery to the MSY level in no 
more than 10 years.
    10.4 Red Grouper Optimum Yield (OY): Red grouper optimum yield (OY) 
shall be 90% of MSY (6.035 to 6.311 million pounds).
    10.5 Red Grouper Rebuilding Strategy: Adopt a 10-year red grouper 
rebuilding plan based on a constant catch strategy. The annual ABC 
during the rebuilding period is initially set at 4.3-5.2 million 
pounds. (This is a reduction of 21%-34% from the 1996-99 average 
landings of 6.6 million pounds.) This ABC range may be modified 
following a future stock assessment by a regulatory amendment or plan 
amendment.
    10.6 Commercial Shallow-Water Grouper Closed Seasons- [No Preferred 
Alternative Selected]
    10.7 Recreational Closed Seasons- [No Preferred Alternative 
Selected]
    10.8 Commercial Grouper Trip Limits- [No Preferred Alternative 
Selected]
    10.9 Recreational Grouper Bag Limits- [No Preferred Alternative 
Selected]
    10.10 Closed Areas- [No Preferred Alternative Selected]
Tilefish and Deep-Water Grouper (Section 11.0): Combine tilefish and 
deep-water grouper into a new deep-water reef fish aggregate, and set 
the new deep-water reef fish quota at 1.47 million pounds (which is the 
average annual harvest of tilefish and deep-water grouper from 1996-
99).
<bullet> Changes to the reef fish management unit (Section 12.0): Add 
the following species to the management unit: a. Marbled grouper 
(Epinephelus inermis) - to the shallow-water aggregate, b. Sand 
tilefish (Malacanthus plumieri)
<bullet> Modifications to the Framework Procedure for Setting Total 
Allowable Catch (TAC) (Section 13.0): The primary modification is to 
allow a species TAC and commercial-to-recreational allocation to be set 
for an individual species within an aggregate (such as the shallow-
water grouper aggregate) that differs from the aggregate allocation, 
provided the aggregate allocation remains as specified. A second 
modification allows NMFS stock assessments to report the status of 
stocks in terms of biomass or biomass proxy instead of spawning 
potential ratio (SPR).
    Although other non-emergency issues not on the agenda may come 
before the SSC/AP for discussion, in accordance with the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, those issues may not 
be the subject of formal action during these meetings. Actions of the 
SSC/AP will be restricted to those issues specifically identified in 
the agendas and any issues arising after publication of this notice 
that require emergency action under Section 305(c) of the Magnuson-
Stevens Act, provided the public has been notified of the Council's 
intent to take action to address the emergency.
    Copies of the agenda can be obtained by calling 813-228-2815.

Special Accommodations

    This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Anne Alford at the Council (see ADDRESSES) by 
June 5, 2001.

    Dated: May 23, 2001.
Richard W. Surdi,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 01-13437 Filed 5-25-01; 8:45 am]
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