57860 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 191 / Tuesday, October 4, 2005 / Notices 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Shrimp 

and reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico are 

managed under their respective FMPs. 

Both fisheries contribute to fishing 

mortality of red snapper. 

Age 0 and Age 1 red snapper are taken 

by shrimp trawls, and Age 2 and older 

red snapper are caught in the directed 

commercial and recreational red 

snapper fishery. Because red snapper 

are overfished and are undergoing 

overfishing, reducing fishing mortality 

on these younger age classes is needed 

to help rebuild the stock. Actions to 

reduce bycatch of red snapper are 

anticipated to reduce bycatch fishing 

mortality for other reef fish species as 

well. 

The Council will develop a DSEIS to 

describe and analyze management 

alternatives to reduce bycatch fishing 

mortality in the shrimp and reef fish 

fisheries. Those alternatives include, but 

are not limited to: (1) a ‘‘no action’’

alternative regarding each fishery; (2) 

alternatives to reduce bycatch in the 

directed reef fish fishery, such as 

changes to the size limits or bag limits, 

the use of circle hooks, or closed 

seasons; (3) alternatives to reduce reef 

fish bycatch in the shrimp fishery, such 

as season or area closures; and (4) 

alternatives to reduce and monitor effort 

in the shrimp fishery. 

In accordance with NOAA 

Administrative Order (NAO) 216–6, 

Section 5.02(c), the Council has 

identified this preliminary range of 

alternatives as a means to initiate 

discussion for scoping purposes only. 

This may not represent the full range of 

alternatives that eventually will be 

evaluated by the Council. 

The Council has scheduled the 

following eight scoping meetings to 

provide the opportunity for additional 

public input: 

1. Thursday, October 13, 2005, 

DoubleTree Grand Key Resort, 3990 

South Roosevelt Boulevard, Key West, 

FL 33040, phone: 888–310–1540; 

2. Monday, October 17, 2005, 

National Marine Fisheries Service 

Laboratory, 3500 Delwood Beach Road, 

Panama City, FL 32408, phone: 850–

234–6541; 

3. Tuesday, October 18, 2005, Hilton 

Garden Inn Orange Beach, 23092 

Perdido Beach Boulevard, Orange 

Beach, AL 36561, phone: 251–974–

1600; 

4. Wednesday, October 19, 2005, 

Tampa Marriott Westshore, 1001 North 

Westshore Boulevard, Tampa, FL 33607, 

phone: 813–287–2555; 

5. Monday, October 24, 2005, Four 

Points by Sheraton, 3777 North 

Expressway, Brownsville, TX 78520, 

phone: 956–547–1500; 

6. Tuesday, October 25, 2005, 

University of Texas Marine Science 

Institute Auditorium, 750 Channel View 

Drive, Port Aransas, TX 78373, phone: 

361–749–6711; 

7. Wednesday, October 26, 2005, 

Holiday Inn Galveston, 5002 Seawall 

Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77550, phone: 

409–740–3581; and 

8. Thursday, October 27, 2005, 

Louisiana State University Agricultural 

Center Office, 7101 Gulf Highway, Lake 

Charles, LA 70607, phone: 337–475–

8812. 

Copies of the scoping document will 

be available at the meetings and are 

available prior to the meetings from the 

Council office (see ADDRESSES). 

All scoping meetings will begin at 6 

p.m. The meetings will be physically 

accessible to people with disabilities. 

Requests for sign language 

interpretation or other auxiliary aids 

should be directed to Rick Leard at the 

Council (see ADDRESSES) by October 6, 

2005. 

Once the Council completes the 

DSEIS associated with the joint 

amendment to the Shrimp and Reef Fish 

FMPs, it will submit the document to 

NMFS for filing with the Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA will 

publish a notice of availability of the 

DSEIS for public comment in the 

Federal Register. The DSEIS will have 

a 45-day comment period. This 

procedure is pursuant to regulations 

issued by the Council on Environmental 

Quality (CEQ) for implementing the 

procedural provisions of the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 40 

CFR parts 1500–1508) and to NAO 216–

6 regarding NOAA’s compliance with 

NEPA and the CEQ regulations. 

The Council will consider public 

comments received on the DSEIS in 

developing the final supplemental 

environmental impact statement (FSEIS) 

and before adopting final management 

measures for the joint amendment. The 

Council will submit both the final 

amendment and the supporting FSEIS to 

NMFS for review by the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary) under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act. 

NMFS will announce, through a 

document published in the Federal 

Register, the availability of the final 

joint amendment for public review 

during the Secretarial review period. 

During Secretarial review, NMFS will 

also file the FSEIS with the EPA for a 

final 30-day public comment period. 

This comment period will be concurrent 

with the Secretarial review period and 

will end prior to final agency action to 

approve, disapprove, or partially 

approve the final joint amendment. 

NMFS will announce, through a 

document published in the Federal 

Register, all public comment periods on 

the final joint amendment, its proposed 

implementing regulations, and its 

associated FSEIS. NMFS will consider 

all public comments received during the 

Secretarial review period, whether they 

are on the final amendment, the 

proposed regulations, or the FSEIS, 

prior to final agency action. 

Dated: September 28, 2005. 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 05–19868 Filed 10–3–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 092805F] 

Notice of Additional Public Scoping 

Meeting Related to the Makah Tribe’s 

Continuation of Treaty Right Hunting 

of Gray Whales 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; scoping meeting. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces its intent to 

conduct an additional public scoping 

meeting to gather information to prepare 

an Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS) pursuant to the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 

related to the Makah Tribe’s request that 

NMFS waive the take moratorium of the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA) to allow for treaty right 

hunting of eastern North Pacific gray 

whales in usual and accustomed 

grounds off the coast of Washington 

State. This notice briefly describes the 

background of the Makah’s request for 

waiver; gives the date, time, and 

location of the additional public scoping 

meeting; and identifies a set of 

preliminary alternatives. 

DATES: The additional public scoping 

meeting is scheduled in the 

Washington, D.C. area (Silver Spring, 

MD) for October 18, 2005, 10 am - 1 pm. 

Prospective attendees must register for 

the scoping meeting not later than 4 pm 

EDT, October 14, 2005. 

In addition to the meeting, written or 

electronic comments from all interested 

parties are encouraged and must be 

received no later than 5 p.m. PDT 

October 24, 2005. 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 191 / Tuesday, October 4, 2005 / Notices 57861 

ADDRESSES: The additional public 

scoping meeting will be held at the 

NOAA Auditorium, 1301 East-West 

Highway, Silver Spring, MD. People 

may register for the public scoping 

meeting by sending their first and last 

names to Tom Eagle via email to 

Tom.Eagle@noaa.gov or by telephone to 

(301)713–2322, ext. 105. 

All comments concerning preparation 

of the EIS and NEPA process should be 

addressed to: Kassandra Brown, NMFS 

Northwest Region, Building 1, 7600 

Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115. 

Comments may also be submitted via 

fax (206)526-6426, Attn: Makah Tribe 

Whale Hunt EIS, or by electronic mail 

to MakahEIS.nwr@noaa.gov with a 

subject line containing the document 

identifier: Makah Whale EIS. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kassandra Brown, NMFS Northwest 

Region, (206)526–4348, or Tom Eagle, 

NMFS Office of Protected Resources, 

(301)713–2322, ext. 105. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

NMFS announced its intent to prepare 

an EIS pursuant to the National 

Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 

4321 et seq.) and conduct public 

scoping meetings August 25, 2005 (70 

FR 49911). Due to requests from the 

public for additional scoping meetings, 

NMFS has scheduled an additional 

public scoping meeting in the 

Washington, D.C., area at the NOAA 

Auditorium in Silver Spring, MD (See 

ADDRESSES). 

The Makah Indian Tribe of 

Washington State (Makah) seeks to 

continue its subsistence hunting of 

eastern North Pacific (ENP) gray whales, 

a tradition dating back at least 1,500 

years. The Makah’s right to hunt whales 

at usual and accustomed grounds and 

stations off the coast of Washington was 

secured in Article 4 of the 1855 Treaty 

of Neah Bay in exchange for most of the 

land in the Olympic Peninsula. The 

Treaty of Neah Bay is the primary 

instrument defining the legal 

relationship between the United States 

Government and the Makah. 

The Makah hunted whales until the 

1920s when commercial whaling had 

drastically reduced the numbers of ENP 

gray whales available to the Makah 

hunters for harvest. Prior to enactment 

of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 

(16 U.S.C. 1351 et seq.), the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service included gray 

whales (among several genera of baleen 

whales) on its 1970 list of endangered 

species (35 FR 8491, June 2, 1970). The 

ENP distinct population segment was 

subsequently delisted on June 16, 1994 

(59 FR 31094). In 1999, Makah hunters 

killed one ENP gray whale pursuant to 

an aboriginal subsistence harvest quota 

granted for 1998 through 2002 by the 

International Whaling Commission 

(IWC) and domestically implemented by 

NMFS under the Whaling Convention 

Act (WCA)(16 U.S.C. 916 et seq.). Due 

to a series of lawsuits, no whales were 

hunted by the Makah for the remainder 

of the 1998 through 2002 quota. 

In May 2002, the IWC approved 

another aboriginal subsistence harvest 

quota of 620 gray whales for 2003 

through 2007, on the basis of a joint 

request by the Russian Federation 

(approved for 600 whales) and the 

United States (approved for 20 whales). 

The United States’ request was made on 

behalf of the Makah. On March 6, 2003 

NMFS initiated an EIS to assess the 

environmental impacts of allocating the 

2003 through 2007 quota to the Makah 

by soliciting comments and information 

to facilitate the environmental analysis 

(68 FR 10703). Due to litigation 

(described below), NMFS did not 

complete the EIS and did not allocate 

the quota under the WCA. The Makah 

have not conducted subsistence hunts to 

date under the 2003 through 2007 IWC 

quota. 

On June 7, 2004, the Ninth Circuit 

Court of Appeals in the second 

amended version of Anderson v. Evans, 

371 F.3d 475, held that the Tribe, to 

pursue any treaty rights for whaling, 

must comply with the process 

prescribed in the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 

1361 et seq.) for authorizing ≥take≥ of 

marine mammals otherwise prohibited 

by a moratorium in section 101(a)(16 

U.S.C. 1371(a)). The term ≥take≥ means 

to harass, hunt, capture, or kill, or 

attempt to harass, hunt, capture, or kill 

any marine mammal (16 U.S.C. 

1362(13)). Subsequent to the Anderson 

v. Evans ruling, the Makah submitted a 

request for a limited waiver of the 

moratorium on taking marine mammals, 

which we received on February 14, 

2005. We published notice of 

availability of the waiver request for 

public inspection on March 3, 2005 (70 

FR 10369), available online at http:// 

www.nwr.noaa.gov/mmammals/ 

graywhales/index.html. 

To exercise subsistence hunting treaty 

rights of gray whales, the Makah Tribe 

must undergo three separate but related 

processes: (1) The United States must 

obtain an aboriginal subsistence quota 

from the IWC on the Makah Tribe’s 

behalf, (2) NMFS must decide whether 

to waive the MMPA take moratorium for 

the Makah Tribe, including conducting 

a NEPA review and issuing possible 

regulations and permits (see Proposed 

Action for more details), and (3) NMFS 

must allocate the IWC quota under the 

WCA. More information regarding these 

processes will soon be available to the 

public under the NMFS Northwest 

Region website ≥gray whale≥ link at 

http://www.nwr.noaa.gov. The NEPA 

review initiated by this notice of intent 

is to comply with process number (2) 

described above, which requires 

preparation of a site-specific EIS related 

to the Makah Tribe’s request for a 

waiver of the MMPA take moratorium. 

Proposed Action 

The Makah’s proposed action is to kill 

up to 20 ENP gray whales during a 5- 

year period, subject to a maximum of 

five gray whales in any calendar year, 

within its adjudicated usual and 

accustomed grounds (See, United States 

v. Washington, 626 F.Supp. 1405, 1467 

(W.D. Wash 1985)), subject to quotas 

granted by the IWC. The Makah 

proposes to strike (strike is defined at 50 

CFR 230.2 to mean hitting a whale with 

a harpoon, lance, or explosive device) 

up to seven gray whales per year. The 

Makah’s proposal to continue 

subsistence hunting of gray whales 

includes other standards for hunting, 

such as: (1) time and area restrictions 

designed to avoid any intentional 

harvest of gray whales comprising the 

Pacific Coast Feeding Aggregation 

(PCFA), (2) monitoring and adaptive 

management measures to ensure that 

any incidental harvest of gray whales 

from the PCFA remains at or below the 

annual strike limit, (3) measures to 

ensure that hunting is conducted in the 

most humane manner practicable, 

consistent with continued use of 

traditional hunting methods, and (4) 

measures to protect public safety. The 

full waiver request is posted online at 

http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/mmammals/ 

graywhales/index.html. 

Based on the Makah’s waiver request, 

the Federal action consists of three 

parts: (1) Waiving the moratorium on 

take of marine mammals under section 

101(a)(3)(A)(16 U.S.C. 1371(3)(A)) of the 

MMPA, and subsequently (2) 

promulgating hunting regulations 

implementing the waiver in accordance 

with section 103 (16 U.S.C. 1373) of the 

MMPA, and (3) issuing any necessary 

permit(s) to the Makah for whale 

hunting. 

If NMFS waives the MMPA take 

moratorium and issues the necessary 

regulations and permit(s), the Makah 

would be allowed to continue 

subsistence hunting of ENP gray whales, 

subject to IWC quotas and allocation of 

those quotas under the WCA. The NEPA 

review initiated by this notice of intent, 

therefore, involves preparation of a sitespecific EIS related to the Makah Tribe’s 

57862 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 191 / Tuesday, October 4, 2005 / Notices 

proposed action of continuing treaty 

right subsistence ENP whale hunting 

(i.e., request for a waiver of the MMPA 

take moratorium), and alternatives to 

the waiver request. 

Alternatives 

Pursuant to NEPA, which requires 

Federal agencies to conduct an 

environmental analysis of proposed 

actions to determine if the actions may 

affect the human environment, and in 

recognition of the Ninth Circuit Court of 

Appeals ruling in Anderson v. Evans, 

we intend to conduct public scoping 

meetings and to prepare an EIS. Under 

NEPA, a reasonable range of alternatives 

to a proposed action must be developed 

and considered in our environmental 

review. Alternatives considered for 

analysis in this EIS may include: 

variations in the scope of the hunting 

activities, variations in the hunting 

location, or a combination of these 

elements. In addition, the EIS will 

identify potentially significant direct, 

indirect, and cumulative impacts on 

geology and soils, air quality, water 

quality, other fish and wildlife species 

and their habitat, vegetation, 

socioeconomics/tourism, treaty rights 

and Federal trust responsibilities, 

environmental justice, cultural 

resources, noise, aesthetics, 

transportation, public services, and 

human health and safety, and other 

environmental issues that could occur 

with the implementation of the Makah’s 

proposed action and alternatives. For all 

potentially significant impacts, the EIS 

will identify avoidance, minimization, 

and mitigation measures to reduce these 

impacts, where feasible, to a level below 

significance. 

We have identified the following 

preliminary alternatives for public 

comment during the public scoping 

period, and encourage information on 

additional alternatives to consider: 

Alternative 1: No Action - Under the 

No Action Alternative, we would not 

approve the requested whale hunting, 

would not grant the waiver of the 

moratorium on take under the MMPA, 

nor issue the necessary regulations and 

permits. 

Alternative 2: The Proposed Action - 

Under the proposed action, the Makah 

Tribe would be allowed to continue 

treaty right subsistence hunting of gray 

whales imposing time and area 

restrictions designed to target migrating 

whales and to avoid any intentional 

harvest of whales from the PCFA. We 

would grant the waiver of the 

moratorium on take under the MMPA 

and issue the necessary regulations and 

permits. 

Alternative 3: The proposed action 

would be modified to allow limited take 

of gray whales from the PCFA during 

hunts. 

Alternative 4: The proposed action 

would be modified to remove time and 

area restrictions from the hunts. 

Alternative 5: The proposed action 

would be modified to allow hunting to 

target migrating whales, imposing time 

and area restrictions different than those 

contained in the proposed action that 

would maximize the likelihood of 

taking a migrating whale (and minimize 

the likelihood of taking a PCFA whale). 

Request for Comments 

We provide this notice to advise the 

public of an additional meetings 

scheduled following public requests 

received after our initial announcement 

of scoping meetings. Comments and 

suggestions received during the prior 

public comment period for the 2003 

through 2007 quota allocation (March 6 

through April 21, 2003), will be 

considered in developing the current 

EIS. Other comments and suggestions 

are invited from all interested parties to 

ensure that the full range of issues 

related to the Makah’s waiver request 

and all significant issues are identified. 

We request that comments be as specific 

as possible. We seek public input on the 

scope of the required NEPA analysis, 

including the range of reasonable 

alternatives; associated impacts of any 

alternatives on the human environment, 

including geology and soils, air quality, 

water quality, other fish and wildlife 

species and their habitat, vegetation, 

socioeconomics/tourism, treaty rights 

and Federal trust responsibilities, 

environmental justice, cultural 

resources, noise, aesthetics, 

transportation, public services, and 

human health and safety; and suitable 

mitigation measures. 

Comments concerning this 

environmental review process should be 

directed to NMFS (see ADDRESSES). See 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT for 

questions. All comments and material 

received, including names and 

addresses, will become part of the 

administrative record and may be 

released to the public. 

Authority 

The environmental review of 

continuation of the Makah subsistence 

gray whale hunting will be conducted 

under the authority and in accordance 

with the requirements of NEPA, Council 

on Environmental Quality Regulations 

(40 CFR 1500-1508), other applicable 

Federal laws and regulations, and 

policies and procedures of NMFS for 

compliance with those regulations. This 

notice is being furnished in accordance 

with 40 CFR 1501.7 to obtain 

suggestions and information from other 

agencies and the public on the scope of 

issues and alternatives to be addressed 

in the EIS. 

Security 

For access to a government building, 

the Department of Commerce Office of 

Security at NOAA has advised that all 

attendees must register for the hearing 

and must have a valid identification 

with a photograph. Prospective 

attendees may register by sending their 

first and last names by telephone or 

email to Tom Eagle (See ADDRESSES) by 

4 pm EDT October 14, 2005. 

Reasonable Accommodation 

Persons needing reasonable 

accommodations to attend and 

participate in the public meetings 

should contact Tom Eagle (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). To 

allow sufficient time to process 

requests, please call at least 10 business 

days prior to the meeting. Information 

regarding the Makah’s request is 

available in alternative formats upon 

request. 

Dated: September 29, 2005. 

Thomas C. Eagle, 

Acting Chief, Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle 

Conservation Division, Office of Protected 

Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 05–19886 Filed 10–3–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[Docket No. 030602141–5251–25; I.D. 

061505A] 

RIN 0648–ZB55 

Availability of Grants Funds for Fiscal 

Year 2006; Extension of Application 

Deadline 

AGENCY: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: NOAA publishes this notice 

to extend the solicitation period on the 

‘‘FY 2006 Coastal Services Center 

Environmental Characterization of a 

U.S. Coastal Region,’’ which was 

originally announced in the Federal 

Register on June 30, 2005. The 

solicitation period is being extended 

from October 3, 2005 to October 24, 

2005 to provide the public more time to 

submit proposals.