33918 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 123 / Tuesday, June 26, 2001 / Rules and Regulations

available spring commercial quota of

3.10 million lb (1.41 million kg) for red

snapper will be reached when the

fishery closes at noon on July 6, 2001.

Accordingly, the commercial fishery in

the EEZ in the Gulf of Mexico for red

snapper will remain closed until noon,

local time, on October 1, 2001. The

operator of a vessel with a valid reef fish

permit having red snapper aboard must

have landed and bartered, traded, or

sold such red snapper prior to noon,

local time, July 6, 2001.

During the closure, the bag and

possession limits specified in 50 CFR

622.39 (b) apply to all harvest or

possession of red snapper in or from the

EEZ in the Gulf of Mexico, and the sale

or purchase of red snapper taken from

the EEZ is prohibited. In addition, the

bag and possession limits for red

snapper apply on board a vessel for

which a commercial permit for Gulf reef

fish has been issued, without regard to

where such red snapper were harvested.

However, the bag and possession limits

for red snapper apply only when the

recreational quota for red snapper has

not been reached and the bag and

possession limit has not been reduced to

zero. The prohibition on sale or

purchase does not apply to sale or

purchase of red snapper that were

harvested, landed ashore, and sold prior

to noon, local time, July 6, 2001, and

were held in cold storage by a dealer or

processor.

Classification

This action is taken under 50 CFR

622.43 (a) and is exempt from review

under Executive Order 12866.

Dated: June 19, 2001.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 01–16017 Filed 6–25–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 635

[I.D. 061101A]

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species

(HMS) Fisheries; Large Coastal,

Pelagic, and Small Coastal Shark

Species

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Fishing season notification.

SUMMARY: NMFS notifies eligible

participants of the opening and closing

of fishing seasons for Atlantic large

coastal sharks (LCS), small coastal

sharks (SCS), pelagic sharks, blue

sharks, and porbeagle sharks.

DATES: The fishery opening for LCS is

effective July 1, 2001; the LCS closure

is effective from 11:30 p.m. local time

August 31, 2001, through December 31,

2001. The available quota for SCS,

pelagic sharks, blue sharks, and

porbeagles sharks is effective July 1,

2001, through December 31, 2001,

unless otherwise modified or

superseded through notification in the

Federal Register.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Karyl Brewster-Geisz, 301–713–2347;

fax 301–713–1917.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Atlantic shark fishery is managed under

the Fishery Management Plan for

Atlantic Tunas, Swordfish, and Sharks

(HMS FMP), and its implementing

regulations found at 50 CFR part 635

issued under authority of the

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery

Conservation and Management Act (16

U.S.C. 1801 et seq.).

Since 1997, NMFS has been involved

in litigation with Southern Offshore

Fishing Association (SOFA) and other

commercial fishermen and dealers

regarding the commercial regulations for

the Atlantic shark fishery. NMFS and

plaintiffs reached settlement in this

litigation, and the United States District

Court for the Middle District of Florida

Tampa Division stipulated to this

agreement in December 2000. On March

6, 2001, NMFS published an emergency

rule implementing the 1997 LCS and

SCS quotas and catch accounting/

monitoring procedures consistent with

the settlement agreement (66 FR 13441).

Additionally, the settlement

agreement required NMFS to obtain an

independent peer review of the 1998

LCS stock assessment. As of June 19,

2001, the reviews were not complete.

Thus, based on the terms of the

settlement agreement, the annual quotas

for LCS and SCS will remain at the 1997

levels of 1,285 metric tons (mt) dressed

weight (dw) and 1,760 mt dw,

respectively. Also, per the settlement

agreement, NMFS has implemented the

1999 HMS FMP annual quota levels for

pelagic, blue, and porbeagle sharks of

488 mt dw, 273 mt dw, and 92 mt dw,

respectively (66 FR 55; January 2, 2001).

Of the 642.5 mt dw available for the

first semiannual LCS season, 587.5 mt

dw was taken. NMFS is adding the

remaining 55 mt dw to the available

quota for the second semiannual 2001

fishing season. Although the settlement

agreement did not include a specific

procedure for a quota underharvest,

such carryover to the next semiannual

season was stipulated for any

overharvest. Thus, this carryover of

underharvest is consistent with the

procedure outlined in the December

2000 settlement agreement entered into

by NMFS and plaintiffs from the fishing

industry. As such, the LCS quota for the

2001 second semiannual season is 697

mt dw. The SCS second semiannual

quota for 2001 will remain at the 1997

level of 880 mt dw. The second 2001

semiannual quotas for pelagic, blue, and

porbeagle sharks will be 244 mt dw,

136.5 mt dw, and 46 mt dw,

respectively.

The prohibited species provisions

will be enforced. A list of prohibited

shark species can be found in Table 1

of Appendix A to part 635, subpart D.

The limited access provisions for

commercial harvests still apply,

including trip limits for directed and

incidental shark permit holders.

The second semiannual fishing season

of the 2001 fishing year for the

commercial fishery for LCS in the

western north Atlantic Ocean, including

the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean

Sea, will open July 1, 2001. To estimate

the closure dates of the LCS, NMFS

used the average daily catch rates for

each species group from the second

seasons from the years 1998, 1999, and

2000 while also considering the

reporting dates of permitted shark

dealers. The 1998 and 2000 data

indicate that over 60 percent of the

available quota could be taken by the

end of July and 70 to 90 percent of the

available quota could be taken within

the first 2 weeks of August. In 1999, the

second semiannual season was closed at

the end of July and re-opened in

September. Thus, 1999 catch rate data

for August is not available and NMFS

does not feel it appropriate at this time

to use the catch rates from September

and October to estimate a possible

closure in August. July 1999 data

indicate that only 30 percent of the

available quota could be taken.

However, NMFS was implementing

limited access for the Atlantic shark and

swordfish fisheries in July of 1999 and

many fishermen, who would normally

fish, may not have had the correct

permits at that time. Accordingly, the

Acting Assistant Administrator for

Fisheries (AA) has determined that the

LCS quota for the second 2001

semiannual season will likely be

attained by August 31, 2001. Thus, the

LCS fishery will close August 31, 2001,

at 11:30 p.m. local time.

During a closure, retention of, fishing

for, possessing or selling LCS are

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 123 / Tuesday, June 26, 2001 / Rules and Regulations 33919

prohibited for persons fishing aboard

vessels issued a limited access permit

under 50 CFR 635.4. The sale, purchase,

trade, or barter of carcasses and/or fins

of LCS harvested by a person aboard a

vessel that has been issued a permit

under 50 CFR 635.4 are prohibited,

except for those that were harvested,

offloaded, and sold, traded, or bartered

prior to the closure and were held in

storage by a dealer or processor.

When quotas are projected to be

reached for the SCS, pelagic, blue, or

porbeagle shark fisheries, the AA will

file notification of closure at the Office

of the Federal Register at least 14 days

before the effective date.

Those vessels that have not been

issued a limited access permit under 50

CFR 635.4 may not sell sharks and are

subject to the recreational size limits

and retention limits specified at 50 CFR

635.20(e) and 635.22(c), respectively.

The recreational fishery is not affected

by any closure in the commercial

fishery.

Classification

This action is taken under 50 CFR

part 635 and is exempt from review

under Executive Order 12866.

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

Dated: June 19, 2001.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 01–15872 Filed 6–21–01; 5:03 pm]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S