Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 19, 2005 / Notices 60795 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 101405A] 

Fisheries off West Coast States and in 

the Western Pacific; Western Pacific 

Pelagic Fisheries; Western and Central 

Pacific Fisheries Convention; Public 

Meetings 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of public meetings; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Pacific Islands Regional 

Office of NMFS will hold two public 

meetings related to the Convention on 

the Conservation and Management of 

Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the 

Western and Central Pacific Ocean 

(‘‘Convention’’). The purposes of the 

meetings are: to seek specific input for 

the U.S. delegation to the December 

2005 session of the Commission 

established by the Convention, of which 

the United States is currently a 

cooperating non-member; and to 

provide general information about, and 

seek public input on, potential 

regulatory and other actions to be taken 

by NMFS should the U.S. Senate ratify 

the Convention and the Congress enact 

implementing legislation. 

DATES: The San Diego meeting will be 

held on November 1, 2005, from 6:30 

p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The Honolulu meeting 

will be held November 15, 2005, from 

1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The San Diego meeting will 

be held at the Hyatt Regency Islandia, 

Room Mission B, 1441 Quivira Road, 

San Diego, CA. The Honolulu meeting 

will be held at the Pacific Islands 

Regional Office, NMFS, 1601 Kapiolani 

Blvd., Suite 1110, Honolulu, HI. Submit 

written comments to William L. 

Robinson, Regional Administrator, 

Pacific Islands Regional Office, NMFS, 

1601 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1110, 

Honolulu, HI 96814. You may submit 

comments by email to 

pir.wcpfc@noaa.gov or facsimile (fax) to 

808–973–2941. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Rhea Moss, NMFS, 808–944–2153. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background on the Convention 

After over 4 years of complex 

negotiations among the coastal States of 

the western and central Pacific Ocean 

and States fishing in that region, the 

Convention was opened for signature at 

Honolulu on September 5, 2000. 

The objective of the Convention is to 

ensure, through effective management, 

the long-term conservation and 

sustainable use of highly migratory fish 

stocks in the western and central Pacific 

Ocean in accordance with the 1982 

United Nations Convention on the Law 

of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 1995 

United Nations Agreement for the 

Implementation of the Provisions of the 

UNCLOS of December 10, 1982, 

Relating to the Conservation and 

Management of Straddling Fish Stocks 

and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (‘‘UN 

Fish Stocks Agreement’’). For this 

purpose, the Convention establishes, 

among other things, the Commission, 

and a Secretariat located in Pohnpei, 

Federated States of Micronesia. 

According to the Convention, the 

Commission has certain responsibilities 

and functions with respect to the 

conservation and management of highly 

migratory species (HMS) stocks within 

the Convention Area. Such HMS stocks 

include fish stocks of the species listed 

in Annex I of the UNCLOS and such 

other species as the Commission may 

determine. Conservation and 

management measures under the 

Convention may be applied throughout 

the range of the stocks, or to specific 

areas within the Convention Area, as 

determined by the Commission. 

The Convention Area is defined in 

article 3 of the Convention and 

comprises a large area of the Pacific 

Ocean predominantly west of the 150° 

meridian W. long. and north of the 55° 

parallel S. lat. 

The Convention was open for 

signature for 12 months from September 

5, 2000, by the states and territories that 

participated in the Multilateral HighLevel Conference on the Conservation 

and Management of Highly Migratory 

Fish Stocks in the Western and Central 

Pacific, namely: Australia, Canada, 

China, Cook Islands, Federated States of 

Micronesia, Fiji, France, Indonesia, 

Japan, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of 

the Marshall Islands, Republic of Nauru, 

New Zealand, Niue, Republic of Palau, 

Independent State of Papua New 

Guinea, Republic of the Philippines, 

Republic of Korea, Independent State of 

Samoa, Solomon Islands, Kingdom of 

Tonga, Tuvalu, United Kingdom of 

Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 

respect of Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie 

and Oeno Islands, United States of 

America and Republic of Vanuatu. The 

depositary for the Convention is the 

Government of New Zealand. 

In accordance with the provisions of 

its article 36, the Convention entered 

into force on June 19, 2004, 6 months 

after the deposit of the thirteenth 

instrument of ratification, acceptance, 

approval or accession. As of October 

2005, the following States had ratified 

or acceded to the Convention; Australia, 

China, Cook Islands, European 

Community, Federated States of 

Micronesia, Fiji, France, Japan, Korea, 

Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New 

Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, 

Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, 

Tonga and Tuvalu. The Convention also 

contains special arrangements for 

participation by fishing entities and by 

territories situated within the 

Convention Area. In accordance with 

the Arrangement for the Participation of 

Fishing Entities, Chinese Taipei has 

agreed to be bound by the regime 

established by the Convention in 

accordance with its article 9, and to 

participate in the work of the 

Commission. In accordance with article 

43 on the participation of territories, 

Tokelau, French Polynesia, New 

Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna are 

authorized to participate in the 

Commission and its subsidiary bodies. 

In accordance with paragraph 1 of 

article 35, the Convention shall remain 

open for accession by the States referred 

to in article 34, paragraph 1, and by any 

entity referred to in article 305, 

paragraph 1(c), (d) and (e) of the 

UNCLOS that is situated in the 

Convention Area. The Parties to the 

Convention may, by consensus, invite 

other States and regional economic 

integration organizations (e.g. European 

Union) whose nationals or fishing 

vessels wish to conduct fishing for HMS 

stocks in the Convention Area to accede 

to the Convention. 

Further background information may 

be obtained from the Commission’s 

website, http://www.wcpfc.org 

Potential NMFS action to implement 

the Convention 

Currently the scope of environmental 

review required under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for 

potential NMFS action related to the 

Convention is undetermined. A Notice 

of Intent (NOI) to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

under the authority of the NEPA has not 

been published. However, by way of 

this notice and these public meetings, 

NMFS is seeking public input on 

potential action by NMFS in the event 

that the U.S. States Senate ratifies the 

Convention and Congress enacts 

legislation that gives authority to the 

Secretary of Commerce and in turn 

NMFS to implement the relevant 

provisions of the Convention. 

Comments received during these public 

meetings and written comments 

received in response to this notice may 

be considered by NMFS as part of the 

60796 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 201 / Wednesday, October 19, 2005 / Notices 

scoping process for subsequent 

environmental review, such as if NMFS 

later issues an NOI to prepare an EIS for 

a proposed action related to the 

Convention. 

In the event of ratification of the 

Convention(in which case the United 

States would become a member of the 

Commission) and legislation the need 

for action would be limited to fulfilling 

the obligations of the United States with 

respect to the Convention provisions 

that are ready for decision-making. 

Examples of such provisions are in the 

articles of the Convention relating to: 

flag state duties; compliance and 

enforcement; boarding and inspection; 

port state measures; the implementation 

of a regional vessel observer program; 

and regulation and monitoring of 

transshipments. 

Commission’s Second Annual Session, 

December 2005, Pohnpei, Federated 

States of Micronesia 

The United States has not ratified the 

Convention as of this date and thus will 

participate in the second session of the 

Commission in December 2005 as a 

cooperating non-member. Anticipated 

items of interest at the December 2005 

Commission session include the status 

of bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks and 

consideration of conservation and 

management measures to ensure 

sustainable use of those stocks, the 

establishment of the Northern 

Committee (NC), and the first meeting of 

the Technical and Compliance 

Committee (TCC). 

The first meeting of the Commission’s 

Scientific Committee (SC), held in 

Noumea, New Caledonia, in August 

2005, resulted in updated stock 

assessments for the four primary tuna 

species in the Convention Area. The 

most recent results for bigeye tuna 

confirm previous analyses that the 

current level of fishing mortality is 

likely greater than the level associated 

with maximum sustainable yield (MSY). 

In addition the most recent yellowfin 

tuna assessment is more pessimistic 

than previous analyses, and suggests 

this stock is also subject to a fishing 

mortality rate greater than the level 

associated with MSY. As the 

Commission previously resolved (2004) 

to adopt conservation and management 

measures at the 2005 annual session and 

the SC’s latest assessments suggest 

overfishing is occurring for two 

principal tuna stocks in the region, there 

will be considerable attention given to 

potential conservation and management 

measures for these stocks. 

The NC is to be established as a 

subsidiary body of the Commission with 

responsibility to develop 

recommendations for conservation and 

management measures for those stocks 

primarily located and fished north of 

the 20° parallel N. lat. Actions of the 

NC, once established, may include, in 

addition to establishing institutional 

processes for itself, proposing a 

Memorandum of Understanding 

between the International Scientific 

Committee for Tuna and Tuna-like 

Species in the North Pacific Ocean and 

the Commission, and recommending 

that the Commission adopt a resolution 

to address the sustainable use of 

albacore tuna in the north Pacific. 

The first meeting of the Commission’s 

TCC is to be held immediately prior to 

the Commission session, and will likely 

focus on establishing a work plan for 

future action by the Committee. Other 

matters of priority will be the 

development of standards, 

specifications and procedures for the 

Commission’s vessel monitoring system, 

the regional vessel observer program 

and the United Nations Food and 

Agricultural Organization Port State 

Model Scheme. 

Special Accommodations 

These meetings are physically 

accessible to people with disabilities. 

Requests for sign language 

interpretation or other auxiliary aids 

should be directed to Rhea Moss, 

NMFS, 808–944–2153(voice) or 808–

973–2941 (fax), at least 5 working days 

prior to the meeting date. 

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

U.S.C. 5501 et seq. 

Dated: October 14, 2005. 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 05–20940 Filed 10–18–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 101305A] 

Endangered Species; File No. 1552 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the NMFS, Southeast Fisheries Science 

Center (SEFSC), 75 Virginia Beach 

Drive, Miami, Florida 33149, has 

applied in due form for a permit to take 

green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead 

(Caretta caretta), Kemp’s ridley 

(Lepidochelys kempii), hawksbill 

(Eretmochelys imbricata), leatherback 

(Dermochelys coriacea), and olive ridley 

(Lepidochelys olivacea) sea turtles for 

purposes of scientific research. 

DATES: Written, telefaxed, or e-mail 

comments must be received on or before 

November 18, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: The application and related 

documents are available for review 

upon written request or by appointment 

in the following office(s): 

Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone 

(301)713–2289; fax (301)427–2521; 

andSoutheast Region, NMFS, 263 13th 

Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701; 

phone (727)824–5312; fax (727)824–

5309. 

Written comments or requests for a 

public hearing on this application 

should be mailed to the Chief, Permits, 

Conservation and Education Division, 

F/PR1, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Those 

individuals requesting a hearing should 

set forth the specific reasons why a 

hearing on this particular request would 

be appropriate. 

Comments may also be submitted by 

facsimile at (301)427–2521, provided 

the facsimile is confirmed by hard copy 

submitted by mail and postmarked no 

later than the closing date of the 

comment period. 

Comments may also be submitted by 

e-mail. The mailbox address for 

providing email comments is 

NMFS.Pr1Comments@noaa.gov. Include 

in the subject line of the e-mail 

comment the following document 

identifier: File No. 1552. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Patrick Opay or Kate Swails, (301)713–

2289. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

subject permit is requested under the 

authority of the Endangered Species Act 

of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 

1531 et seq.) and the regulations 

governing the taking, importing, and 

exporting of endangered and threatened 

species (50 CFR 222–226). 

The applicant proposes to handle, 

measure, weigh, photograph, flipper tag, 

passive integrated transponder tag, skin 

biopsy, and release up to 110 green, 550 

loggerhead, 195 Kemp’s ridley, 110 

hawksbill, 235 leatherback, 110 olive 

ridley, and 145 unidentified hardshell 

(combination of green, loggerhead, 

Kemp’s ridley, hawksbill, olive ridley, 

or hybrids that would not be able to be 

identified at the time of capture) sea