Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2001 / Proposed Rules 31609

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 622

[ I.D. 052301E]

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management

Council; Public Hearings

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public hearings;

request for comments.

SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery

Management Council (Council) will

convene public hearings to receive

comments on its proposed Amendment

18 to the Fishery Management Plan for

the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of

Mexico that proposes to establish a 10-

year red grouper stock rebuilding

program and address other reef fish

fishery gear and enforcement issues.

DATES: The public hearings will be held

in June. See SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION for specific dates and times

of the public hearings. Written

comments will be accepted until June

28, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be sent to and copies of draft

Amendment 18 and its draft

supplemental environmental impact

statement (DSEIS) are available from the

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management

Council, 3018 U.S. Highway 301, North,

Suite 1000, Tampa, FL 33619; telephone

813-228-2815. Public hearings will be

held in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,

Alabama, and Florida. See

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific

hearing locations.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Steven Atran, Population Dynamics

Statistician, Gulf of Mexico Fishery

Management Council; 813–228–2815.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In October

2000, NMFS informed the Council that

it had determined that the Gulf of

Mexico red grouper stock is overfished

and undergoing overfishing. Under the

Magnuson-Steven Fishery Conservation

and Management Act (MagnusonStevens Act), the Council is required to

propose management measures to

initiate rebuilding the stock within one

year of NMFS’ determination that the

stock is overfished.

The Council has developed

Amendment 18, in part, to address its

responsibility under the MagnusonStevens Act, to propose stock rebuilding

measures for red grouper. The Council

will convene public hearings to review

draft Amendment 18 and its

accompanying DSEIS. Amendment 18

proposes to establish a 10-year red

grouper rebuilding program and address

other gear and enforcement issues. The

issues and proposed alternative

measures contained in draft

Amendment 18 are summarized below;

the section references refer to sections of

the draft Amendment 18 document.

Draft Amendment 18 Issues and

Alternative Measures

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.

Longline and Buoy Gear Boundary

Line (Section 6.1.2) - No preferred

alternative selected.

Longline and Buoy Gear Phase-Out

(Section 6.1.3) - No preferred alternative

selected.

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.

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 has been selected

regarding 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

would maintain and publish in the

Federal Register a list of type-approved

units and communications protocols.

Dormant Reef Fish Permits (Section

9.0) - No preferred alternative selected.

Red Grouper Rebuilding Plan (Section

10.0)

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

percent 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, Reef Fish

Recreational Harvest on a Commercial

Vessel, and Reef Fish Fishing Year - In

addition to consideration of commercial

shallow-water grouper closed seasons,

this section also contains an alternative

to consider prohibiting the retention of

both commercial and recreational

harvest of reef fish species on the same

trip, and an alternative to consider

changing the start of the fishing year for

stocks that have a fixed closed season.

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

Quotas and Closed Seasons(Section

11.0) - Combine tilefish and deep-water

grouper into a new deep-water reef fish

aggregate; 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); and consider a closed season

for deep-water grouper and tilefish.

Changes to the Reef Fish Management

Unit (Section 12.0) - Add the following

species to the FMP management unit as

31610 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2001 / Proposed Rules

indicated: Add the marbled grouper

(Epinephelus inermis)to the shallowwater grouper aggregate under the

management unit; and add the sand

tilefish (Malacanthus plumieri) to the

management unit.

Modifications to the Reef Fish FMP’s

Framework Procedure for Setting Total

Allowable Catch (TAC) (Section 13.0) -

The primary modification is to allow a

species TAC and commercial-torecreational 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). This section also contains

an alternative to consider specifying

that, if a TAC is set for red grouper or

gag, the allocations will be based on

catch histories of those stocks for the

years 1986 to 1999.

Time and Location for Public Hearings

Public hearings for Reef Fish

Amendment 18 will be held at the

following locations and dates from 7

p.m. - 10 p.m.

1. Thursday, June 14, 2001, Port

Aransas Community Center, 408 North

Allister, Port Aransas, TX.

2. Monday, June 18, 2001, Larose

Regional Park, 307 East 5th Street,

Larose, LA.

3. Tuesday, June 19, 2001, Imperial

Palace Hotel, 850 Bayview, Biloxi, MS.

4. Wednesday, June 20, 2001, Hilton

Beachfront Garden Inn, 23092 Perdido

Beach Boulevard, Orange Beach, AL.

5. Thursday, June 21, 2001, National

Marine Fisheries Service, 3500 Delwood

Beach Road, Panama City, FL.

6. Monday, June 25, 2001, Holiday

Inn Beachside, 3841 North Roosevelt

Boulevard, Key West, FL.

7. Tuesday, June 26, 2001, Edison

Comm. College, Hendry Hall, room

K143, Ft. Myers, FL (Use Shoreline

Blvd. entrance. Park in 1st lot on right

(Lot 8). For Map directions see: http://

www.edison.edu/aboutecc/lee—

campus.htm).

8. Wednesday, June 27, 2001, Madeira

Beach City Hall, 300 Municipal Drive,

Madeira Beach, FL.

9. Thursday, June 28, 2001, Plantation

Inn, 9301 West Fort Island Trail, Crystal

River, FL.

The Council will also hear public

testimony before taking final action on

Amendment 18 at another meeting. A

notification of the date, time, and

location of that meeting will be

published in the Federal Register. The

Council will accept written comments

received by June 28, 2001.

Special Accommodations

These meetings are 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 7,

2001.

Dated: June 7, 2001.

Richard W. Surdi,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 01–14893 Filed 6–8–01; 3:25 pm]

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