Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 117 / Monday, June 18, 2001 / Proposed Rules 32787

not impose any new Federal

requirements. Therefore, I certify that

this action will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities.

Moreover, due to the nature of the

Federal-State relationship under the

Clean Air Act, preparation of flexibility

analysis would constitute Federal

inquiry into the economic

reasonableness of state action. The

Clean Air Act forbids EPA to base its

actions concerning SIPs on such

grounds. Union Electric Co. v. U.S. EPA,

427 U.S. 246, 255–66 (1976); 42 U.S.C.

7410(a)(2).

F. Unfunded Mandates

Under section 202 of the Unfunded

Mandates Reform Act of 1995

(‘‘Unfunded Mandates Act’’), signed

into law on March 22, 1995, EPA must

prepare a budgetary impact statement to

accompany any proposed or final rule

that includes a Federal mandate that

may result in estimated costs to State,

local, or tribal governments in the

aggregate; or to private sector, of $100

million or more. Under section 205,

EPA must select the most cost-effective

and least burdensome alternative that

achieves the objectives of the rule and

is consistent with statutory

requirements. Section 203 requires EPA

to establish a plan for informing and

advising any small governments that

may be significantly or uniquely

impacted by the rule.

EPA has determined that the

proposed action does not include a

Federal mandate that may result in

estimated costs of $100 million or more

to either State, local, or tribal

governments in the aggregate, or to the

private sector. This proposed Federal

action acts on pre-existing requirements

under State or local law, and imposes

no new requirements. Accordingly, no

additional costs to State, local, or tribal

governments, or to the private sector,

result from this action.

G. National Technology Transfer and

Advancement Act

Section 12 of the National Technology

Transfer and Advancement Act

(NTTAA) of 1995 requires Federal

agencies to evaluate existing technical

standards when developing a new

regulation. To comply with NTTAA,

EPA must consider and use ‘‘voluntary

consensus standards’’ (VCS) if available

and applicable when developing

programs and policies unless doing so

would be inconsistent with applicable

law or otherwise impractical.

EPA believes that VCS are

inapplicable to today’s proposed action

because it does not require the public to

perform activities conducive to the use

of VCS.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

Environmental protection, Air

pollution control, Carbon monoxide,

Incorporation by reference,

Intergovernmental relations, Particulate

matter, Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements.

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Dated: May 18, 2001.

Jane Diamond,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.

[FR Doc. 01–15293 Filed 6–15–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Parts 223 and 224

[Docket No.010607150–1150–01; I.D.

091200F]

RIN 0648–AN64

Sea Turtle Conservation; Restrictions

Applicable to Fishing and Scientific

Research Activities

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes to amend the

sea turtle handling and resuscitation

regulation. Recent scientific and

technical information indicate that the

current procedures need to be updated.

This measure is necessary to improve

the handling of sea turtles that are

incidentally captured during scientific

research or fishing activities.

DATES: Written comments must be

received on or before July 18, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments on this proposed

rule should be addressed to the Chief,

Endangered Species Division, Office of

Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910

or comments may be submitted via

facsimile 301–713–0376 or via

electronic Internet at

seaturt.resuscitate@noaa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Therese A. Conant, or Barbara A.

Schroeder, (301)713–1401.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The taking

of sea turtles is governed by regulations

implementing the Endangered Species

Act (ESA) at 50 CFR parts 222 and 223

(see 64 FR 14051, March 23, 1999, final

rule consolidating and reorganizing ESA

regulations). Generally, the taking of sea

turtles is prohibited. However, the

incidental take of turtles during shrimp

and summer flounder fishing in areas of

the Atlantic Ocean and in the Gulf of

Mexico is excepted from the taking

prohibition pursuant to sea turtle

conservation regulations at 50 CFR

223.206, which include a requirement to

have a NMFS-approved turtle excluder

device (TED) installed in each net rigged

for fishing. Other exceptions to the

taking prohibition include incidental

take that is authorized for ESA scientific

research permits, incidental take

permits, and section 7 incidental take

statements. All take excepted from the

prohibitions requires safe handling and

resuscitation of incidentally caught sea

turtles as specified at 50 CFR

223.206(d)(1).

Justification and Changes Proposed

Sea turtles are air breathers and may

drown under conditions of forced

submergence. To minimize the impact

of forced submergence, NMFS

developed protocols to handle comatose

turtles (FR 43 32801, July 28, 1978) and

subsequently updated the protocols (57

FR 57354, December 4, 1992). New

scientific and technical information has

been collected since the last update. For

example, the practice of stepping on the

plastron to revive the turtle may

actually do more harm than good.

Plastral pumping may cause the airway

to block, thus prohibiting air from

entering the lungs. Pumping the

plastron while a turtle is on its back also

causes the viscera to compress the lungs

which are located dorsally, thereby

hindering lung ventilation. Recent

physiological studies on the effects of

trawl capture on small sea turtles show

that high stress levels are developed

during short-duration forced

submergences and that the turtles may

require from 3.5 up to 24 hours to

recover from the stress effects. Thus, in

addition to comatose turtles being held

up to 24 hours, the release of actively

moving turtles should also be delayed

when possible. Resuscitation techniques

have been refined over the years as

biologists have developed effective ways

to test for reflexes in order to determine

the status of the turtle.

The proposed changes to the existing

protocol are as follows: Eliminate

stepping on the plastron as a method for

resuscitation; provide a more defined

criteria to determine dead versus

comatose turtles; increase the minimum

elevation of the hindquarters; and add

carapace movement and a reflex test to

the resuscitation methods. In addition,

32788 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 117 / Monday, June 18, 2001 / Proposed Rules

several minor changes have been made

to clarify the guidance for keeping a

turtle moist. The changes to the sea

turtle resuscitation requirements are

expected to increase the survivorship of

turtles that are returned to the water

after being captured in a trawl.

Classification

The Assistant Administrator for

Fisheries, NOAA (AA), has determined

that this proposed rule is consistent

with the ESA and with other applicable

law.

This action has been determined to be

not significant for purposes of Executive

Order 12866.

The AA prepared an environmental

impact statement (EIS) for the 1978

listing determination, establishing the

handling and resuscitation requirements

and prepared an environmental

assessment (EA) for the 1992 updated of

the requirements. Since the changes

proposed in this rule do not constitute

a new action and do not individually or

cumulatively have a significant impact

on the quality of the human

environment, this proposed rule has

been determined to be Categorical

Exclusion under the National

Environmental Policy Act. A copy of the

1978 EIS and the 1992 EA are available

(see ADDRESSES).

The Assistant General Counsel for

Legislation and Regulation of the

Department of Commerce certified to

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the

Small Business Administration that this

proposed rule would not have

significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities,

because the provisions of the proposed

rule would make only minor changes

that would not impose any new

economic burden on fishermen or

scientific researchers.

This proposed rule does not contain

a collection-of-information requirement

subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act.

This proposed rule does not contain

policies with federalism implications

sufficient to warrant preparation of a

federalism assessment under Executive

Order 12612.

List of Subjects

50 CFR Part 223

Endangered and threatened species,

Exports, Imports, Marine mammals,

Transportation.

50 CFR Part 224

Administrative practice and

procedure, Endangered and threatened

species, Exports, Imports, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: June 12, 2001.

William T. Hogarth,

Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 50 CFR parts 223 and 224 are

proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 223—THREATENED MARINE

AND ANADROMOUS SPECIES

1. The authority citation for part 223

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531–1543; subpart B;

16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.

2. In § 223.206, paragraph (d)(1) is

revised to read as follows:

§ 223.206 Exceptions to prohibitions

relating to sea turtles.

* * * * *

(d) * * *

(1) Handling and resuscitation

requirements. (i) Any specimen taken

incidentally during the course of fishing

or scientific research activities must be

handled with due care to prevent injury

to live specimens, observed for activity,

and returned to the water according to

the following procedures:

(A) Sea turtles that are actively

moving or determined to be dead as

described in paragraph (d)(1)(i)(C) of

this section must be released over the

stern of the boat. In addition, they must

be released only when fishing or

scientific collection gear is not in use,

when the engine gears are in neutral

position, and in areas where they are

unlikely to be recaptured or injured by

vessels.

(B) Resuscitation must be attempted

on sea turtles that are comatose, or

inactive, as determined in paragraph

(d)(1) of this section, by:

(1) Placing the turtle on its bottom

shell (plastron) so that the turtle is right

side up and elevating its hindquarters at

least 6 inches (15.2 cm) for a period of

4 up to 24 hours. The amount of the

elevation depends on the size of the

turtle; greater elevations are needed for

larger turtles. Periodically, rock the

turtle gently left to right and right to left

by holding the outer edge of the shell

(carapace) and lifting one side about 3

inches (7.6 cm) then alternate to the

other side. Gently touch the eye and

pinch the tail (reflex test) periodically to

see if there is a response.

(2) Sea turtles being resuscitated must

be shaded and kept damp or moist but

under no circumstance be placed into a

container holding water. A water-soaked

towel placed over the head, carapace,

and flippers is the most effective

method in keeping a turtle moist.

(3) Turtles that revive and become

active must be released over the stern of

the boat only when fishing or scientific

collection gear is not in use, when the

engine gears are in neutral position, and

in areas where they are unlikely to be

recaptured or injured by vessels. Sea

turtles that fail to respond to the reflex

test or fail to move within 4 hours (up

to 24, if possible) must be returned to

the water in the same manner as that for

actively moving turtles.

(C) A turtle is determined to be dead

if the muscles are stiff (rigor mortis)

and/or the flesh has begun to rot;

otherwise the turtle is determined to be

comatose or inactive and resuscitation

attempts are necessary.

(ii) Notwithstanding the provisions of

(d)(1)(i) of this section, a person aboard

a pelagic longline vessel in the Atlantic

issued an Atlantic permit for highly

pelagic species under 50 CFR 635.4,

must follow the handling and

resuscitation requirements in 50 CFR

635.21.

(iii) Any specimen taken incidentally

during the course of fishing or scientific

research activities must not be

consumed, sold, landed, offloaded,

transshipped, or kept below deck.

* * * * *

PART 224— ENDANGERED MARINE

AND ANADROMOUS SPECIES

3. The authority citation for part 224

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1531–1543 and 16

U.S.C. 1361 et seq.

4. Section 224.104 is revised by

adding a new paragraph (d) to read as

follows:

§ 224.104 Incidental capture of

endangered sea turtles.

* * * * *

(d) Special handling and resuscitation

requirements are specified at §

223.206(d)(1).

[FR Doc. 01–15319 Filed 6–15–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S