3976 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2001 / Proposed Rules

Species

Historic range

Vertebrate population

where endangered or

threatened

Status When

listed

Critical

habitat Common name Scientific name

Fly, Hawaiian picture-wing Drosophila tarphytrichia ... U.S.A. (HI) ........................ NA .................................... E NA NA

*******

Dated: December 15, 2000.

Jamie Rappaport Clark,

Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 01–1338 Filed 1–16–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–U

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 010301D]

RIN 0648-AL95

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic

Zone Off Alaska; Amendments to

Alaska Groundfish and Crab Fishery

Management Plans to Revise the

License Limitation Program

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of

amendments to fishery management

plans; request for comments.

SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery

Management Council (Council) has

submitted Amendment 60 to the Fishery

Management Plan for the Groundfish

Fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian

Islands Area, Amendment 58 to the

Fishery Management Plan for

Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska and

Amendment 10 to the Fishery

Management Plan for the Commercial

King and Tanner Crab Fisheries in the

Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands

(FMPs). These plan amendments are

necessary to implement changes to the

License Limitation Program (LLP) as

recommended by the Council and are

intended to further the objectives of the

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery

Conservation and Management Act

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the FMPs.

DATES: Comments on Amendments 60,

58, and 10 must be submitted by March

19, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the proposed

plan amendments should be submitted

to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional

Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries,

Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668,

Juneau, Alaska, 99802, Attn: Lori

Gravel, or delivered to the Federal

Building, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau,

AK. Comments may also be sent by

facsimile (fax) to 907-586-7465.

Comments will not be accepted if

submitted via e-mail or Internet. Copies

of Amendments 60, 58, and 10 and the

Environmental Assessment/Regulatory

Impact Review/Initial Regulatory

Flexibility Analysis prepared for the

proposed plan amendments are

available from the North Pacific Fishery

Management Council, 605 West 4th

Ave., Suite 306, Anchorage, AK 99501-

2252; telephone 907-271-2809.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim

Hale, 907-586-7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires

that each Regional Fishery Management

Council submit any fishery management

plan or plan amendment it prepares to

NMFS for review and approval,

disapproval, or partial approval. The

Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires

that NMFS, after receiving a fishery

management plan or plan amendment,

immediately publish a notice in the

Federal Register that the fishery

management plan or plan amendment is

available for public review and

comment. This action constitutes such

notice for Amendments 60, 58, and 10

to the FMPs. NMFS will consider public

comments received during the comment

period in determining whether to

approve these proposed plan

amendments. To be considered, a

comment must be received by the close

of business on the last day of the

comment period.

In June 1995, the Council

recommended that NMFS implement

the LLP to address concerns of excess

capital in the groundfish and crab

fisheries off Alaska. The LLP is the

second stage of a multi-staged process to

reduce capacity in the affected fisheries.

The LLP will replace the Vessel

Moratorium Program (VMP), a program

implemented by NMFS on January 1,

1996, to impose a temporary

moratorium on the entry of new

capacity in the groundfish and crab

fisheries off Alaska and to define the

class of entities that would be eligible

for licenses under the LLP. The VMP

expired on December 31, 1999 (64 FR

3651). The final rule implementing the

LLP specifies that fishing will begin

under the LLP on January 1, 2000 (63 FR

52642, October 1, 1998).

If approved, Amendments 60, 58, and

10 would make several changes to the

final rule implementing the LLP. First,

the Council recommended that recent

participation criteria be added to the

eligibility requirements for a crab

species license. Originally, a person

applying for a crab species license had

to demonstrate that documented

harvests were made from a qualifying

vessel during two periods, the general

qualification period (GQP) and the

endorsement qualification period (EQP).

If approved, Amendment 10 would add

a third period, the recent participation

period (RPP), in which a person would

have to demonstrate that documented

harvests of crab were made from a

qualifying vessel. The RPP was added to

the eligibility requirements for a crab

species license because of the Council’s

concern that a crab species license

could be issued to a person whose

eligibility was based on participation

that has been inactive since 1995. These

‘‘latent licenses’’ could be transferred to

persons who would become active in

the fishery. Such transfers would be

contrary to the purpose of the LLP

because it would create the potential to

increase fishing effort above the current

levels in the crab fisheries. Except under

specific exemptions provided in the

FMP amendments, the RPP would

require that a person demonstrate that at

least one documented harvest of any

crab species was made during the

period beginning January 1, 1996,

through February 7, 1998.

The Council’s second

recommendation is to require that the

vessel designated on the LLP license be

transferred with the LLP license, if that

LLP license was issued based on

documented harvests made from a

vessel without a Federal Fisheries

Permit. A Federal Fisheries Permit is

required for any vessel that participates

in a Federal groundfish fishery off

Alaska. If a vessel did not participate in

Federal groundfish fisheries off Alaska,

its qualifying documented harvests must

have occurred in waters of the State of

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2001 / Proposed Rules 3977

Alaska or other waters shoreward of the

exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off

Alaska. Groundfish fisheries in state

waters or other waters shoreward of the

EEZ off Alaska will not be managed

under the LLP. The Council reasoned

that if a person is licensed to participate

in a Federally managed fishery on the

basis of participation in a State-managed

fishery, certain restrictions should be

placed on that license. Therefore, NMFS

would restrict the transfer of a license

issued to a vessel without a Federal

Fishery Permit unless the licensed

vessel is transferred with the license.

The Council did not consider it a

hardship to the license recipient to

directly link the transfer of a license to

the vessel, whether the recipient

decides to keep or to transfer the license

and vessel.

Third, the Council recommended that

a gear designation be added to a

groundfish license. The gear designation

is intended to prevent movement

between the trawl sector and the nontrawl sector. A license would be issued

with a ‘‘trawl,’’ ‘‘non-trawl,’’ or ‘‘trawl/

non-trawl’’ gear designation based on

gear participation before June 17, 1995,

with two exceptions. Under the first

exception, a person could exercise a

one-time option to switch gear

designations if that person used a new

gear between June 18, 1995, and

February 7, 1998. For example, a person

used only trawl gear before June 17,

1995. However, in 1997, that person

used pot gear to catch Pacific cod. The

use of a new gear in 1997 would allow

the person to exercise a one-time option

to change the gear designation from

trawl gear to non-trawl gear. A person

could not qualify for a trawl/non-trawl

gear designation by use of this

exception. Under the second exception,

a person could request a gear

designation change based on a

significant financial investment. To

qualify under the second exception, a

person would have to (1) demonstrate

that a significant financial investment

was made in converting a vessel or

purchasing fishing gear on or before

February 7, 1998, and (2) demonstrate

that a documented harvest was made

from the qualifying vessel with the new

gear type on or before December 31,

1998. A significant financial investment

is defined as at least $100,000 toward

vessel conversion or gear to change from

a non-trawl to a trawl gear designation,

or having acquired groundline, hooks or

pots, and hauling equipment to change

from a trawl to a non-trawl gear

designation.

Fourth, the Council recommended

that a community development quota

(CDQ) vessel exemption, which

originally had no ending date for

eligibility, be limited to a specific time

period (November 18, 1992, through

October 9, 1998). The exemption was

intended to facilitate the ability of CDQ

organizations to enter and conduct

groundfish fisheries through the

purchase of new vessels that may not

meet eligibility criteria. Concerns over

excess capacity in the groundfish

fisheries, and acknowledgment that

CDQ organizations are integrating into

the existing fishing industry at a

reasonable pace, prompted the Council’s

recommendation. Further support for

limiting this exemption came from

public testimony that CDQ

organizations did not use this

exemption under the VMP.

Fifth, the Council recommended that

limited processing ability, defined as 1

metric ton of round fish per day, be

granted to a person deploying a vessel

that is less that 60 ft (18.3 m) length

overall, based on a groundfish license

with a catcher vessel designation. This

limited processing exemption is

intended to assist small catcher vessels

in exploiting niche markets not

otherwise available.

Sixth, although not formally part of

Amendments 60/58/10, the Council

recommended that the name of the

vessel to be deployed by the LLP license

holder must be designated on the

license. The Council recommended this

change to address concerns about the

movement of license holders among

vessels contributing to excess capacity

in the fisheries. The ability to move

among vessels would have contributed

to excess capacity by allowing a license

holder to deploy a second vessel to fish

while the first vessel was in port, or by

allowing a license holder to alternate

between vessels in different fisheries in

different geographical locations. In both

cases, a license holder could engage in

uninterrupted fishing because breaks for

unloading, vessel repairs, or running

time could be eliminated through the

use of another vessel. The Council

recommended that NMFS make this

change as a regulatory amendment.

Public comments will be accepted on

these proposed amendments through

the end of the comment period specified

in this notification. A proposed rule that

would implement the amendments may

be published in the Federal Register for

public comment following NMFS’s

evaluation under the Magnuson-Stevens

Act procedures. All comments received

by the end of the comment period

specified in this notice, whether

specifically directed to the amendments

or to the proposed rule, will be

considered in the decision to approve,

disapprove, or partially approve these

amendments.

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

Dated: January 11, 2001.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 01–1380 Filed 1–16–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE: 3510–22–S