49902 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 164 / Thursday, August 25, 2005 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

50 CFR Part 229

[Docket No. 041108310–5222–03; I.D. 

100104H]

RIN 0648–AS78

List of Fisheries for 2005

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability; proposed 

rule; reopening of public comment 

period.

SUMMARY: On December 2, 2004, the 

proposed List of Fisheries (LOF) for 

2005 under the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act (MMPA) was published 

in the Federal Register. NMFS 

subsequently prepared a draft 

Environmental Assessment (EA) on the 

process for classifying U.S. commercial 

fisheries on the LOF. NMFS is 

reopening the comment period on the 

proposed 2005 LOF for an additional 60 

days to allow the public to concurrently 

review and comment on both the draft 

EA and proposed 2005 LOF.

DATES: Comments must be received by 

October 24, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Send comments on the 

proposed 2005 LOF and draft EA to 

Chief, Marine Mammal Conservation 

Division, Attn: List of Fisheries, Office 

of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 

East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910. Comments may also be sent via 

email to 2005LOF.comments@noaa.gov

or the Federal eRulemaking portal: 

http://www.regulations.gov (Follow 

instructions for submitting comments).

Comments regarding the burden-hour 

estimates, or any other aspect of the 

collection of information requirements 

contained in the proposed rule, should 

be submitted in writing to the Chief, 

Marine Mammal Conservation Division, 

Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 

1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, 

MD 20910 and to David Rostker, OMB, 

by e-mail at 

DavidlRostker@omb.eop.gov or by fax 

to 202–395–7285.

Copies of the draft EA for this action 

are available on the NMFS Office of 

Protected Resources website, which is 

listed under the Electronic Access 

portion of this document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kristy Long, Office of Protected 

Resources, 301–713–2322; David 

Gouveia, Northeast Region, 978–281–

9300; Juan Levesque, Southeast Region, 

727–551–5779; Cathy Campbell, 

Southwest Region, 562–980–4060; Brent 

Norberg, Northwest Region, 206–526–

6733; Bridget Mansfield, Alaska Region, 

907–586–7642; Chris Yates, Pacific 

Islands Region, 808–944–2235. 

Individuals who use a 

telecommunications device for the 

hearing impaired may call the Federal 

Information Relay Service at 1–800–

877–8339 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. 

Eastern time, Monday through Friday, 

excluding Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

The proposed 2005 LOF Federal 

Register notice and draft EA for this 

action can be downloaded from the 

NMFS Office of Protected Resources 

website at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/

pr/interactions/lof/.

Background

On December 2, 2004, the proposed 

List of Fisheries for 2005 under the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act was 

published in the Federal Register (69 

FR 70094). NMFS must categorize each 

commercial fishery on the LOF into one 

of three categories under the MMPA 

based on the level of serious injury and 

mortality of marine mammals that 

occurs incidental to the fishery. NMFS 

must publish in the Federal Register

any necessary changes to the LOF after 

notice and opportunity for public 

comment. In the proposed LOF for 2005, 

NMFS proposed several fishery 

classification, fishery name, and 

organizational changes. In particular, 

NMFS proposed to reclassify the 

California/Oregon thresher shark/

swordfish drift gillnet (≥14 in. mesh) 

from Category II (occasional incidental 

mortality and serious injury) to Category 

I (frequent incidental mortality and 

serious injury) and to reclassify the 

Northeast bottom trawl, Mid-Atlantic 

bottom trawl, and five Alaska fisheries 

from Category III (remote likelihood of 

or no known incidental mortality and 

serious injury) to Category II. The five 

Alaska fisheries include the following: 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) 

flatfish trawl, BSAI Greenland turbot 

longline, BSAI pollock trawl, Bering Sea 

sablefish pot, and Gulf of Alaska Pacific 

cod longline.

NMFS extended the comment period 

on the proposed 2005 LOF for an 

additional 30 days (70 FR 776, January 

5, 2005). In that Federal Register notice, 

NMFS also announced its intent to 

prepare an EA on the process for 

classifying fisheries on the LOF. NMFS 

is reopening the comment period on this 

proposed action to allow the public an 

opportunity to review and comment on 

the draft EA and supplement any 

previous comments on the proposed 

2005 LOF. Therefore, NMFS is 

reopening the public comment period 

on the proposed LOF for 2005 for an 

additional 60 days.

Dated: August 22, 2005.

William T. Hogarth,

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 05–16939 Filed 8–24–05; 8:45 am]

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