Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 224 / Wednesday, November 21, 2007 / Proposed Rules 65539 

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 594 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Imports, Motor vehicle 

safety, Motor vehicles. 

In consideration of the foregoing, the 

agency proposes to amend part 594 in 

Title 49 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations as follows: 

PART 594—SCHEDULE OF FEES 

AUTHORIZED BY 49 U.S.C. 30141 

1. The authority citation for part 594 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 30141, 31 U.S.C. 

9701; delegation of authority at 49 CFR 1.50. 

2. Section 594.9 is amended by; 

a. Revising the section heading; 

b. Adding paragraph (d); and 

c. Adding paragraph (e); to read as 

follows: 

§ 594.9 Fee for reimbursement of bond 

processing costs and costs for processing 

offers of cash deposits or obligations of the 

United States in lieu of sureties on bonds. 

* * * * * 

(d) Each importer must pay a fee 

based upon the direct and indirect costs 

the agency incurs for receipt, 

processing, handling, and disbursement 

of cash deposits or obligations of the 

United States in lieu of sureties on 

bonds that the importer submits as 

authorized by 591.10 of this chapter in 

lieu of a conformance bond required 

under 591.6(c). 

(e) The fee for each vehicle imported 

on and after October 1, 2008, for which 

cash deposits or obligations of the 

United States is furnished in lieu of a 

conformance bond, is $598.00. 

* * * * * 

Issued on: November 13, 2007. 

Ronald L. Medford, 

Senior Associate Administrator for Vehicle 

Safety. 

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BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 070711313–7637–03] 

RIN 0648–AV62 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish, Crab, 

Salmon, and Scallop Fisheries of the 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

Management Area 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS issues a proposed rule 

that would implement Amendment 88 

to the Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands Management Area. 

This amendment, if approved, would 

revise the Aleutian Islands Habitat 

Conservation Area (AIHCA) boundary to 

allow nonpelagic trawling in an area 

historically fished and to prohibit 

nonpelagic trawling in an area of known 

coral and sponge occurrence. This 

action is necessary to ensure the AIHCA 

protects areas of coral and sponge 

habitat from the potential effects of 

nonpelagic trawling and allow 

nonpelagic trawling in areas historically 

fished and without evidence of coral 

and sponge occurrence. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received by January 7, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by 0648–AV62, by any one of 

the following methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal http:// 

www.regulations.gov; 

• Mail: Sue Salveson, Assistant 

Regional Administrator, Sustainable 

Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, 

NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 

99802; Attn: Ellen Sebastian, Records 

Officer; 

• Hand delivery: 709 West 9th Street, 

Room 420A, Juneau, AK; or 

• Fax: 907–586–7557, Attention: Sue 

Salveson. 

Instructions: All comments received 

are a part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All Personal Identifying Information (for 

example, name, address, etc.) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit Confidential Business 

Information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments. 

Attachments to electronic comments 

will be accepted in Microsoft Word, 

Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file 

formats only. 

Copies of the map of the AIHCA and 

the Environmental Assessment/ 

Regulatory Impact Review/Initial 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (EA/ 

RIR/IRFA) for this action may be 

obtained from the addresses stated 

above or from the Alaska Region NMFS 

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Melanie Brown, 907–586–7228 or email 

at melanie.brown@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

groundfish, crab, scallop, and salmon 

fisheries in the exclusive economic zone 

(EEZ) off Alaska are managed under 

their respective fishery management 

plans (FMPs). The North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) 

prepared the FMPs under the authority 

of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act). Regulations 

implementing the FMPs appear at 50 

CFR parts 679 and 680. General 

regulations governing U.S. fisheries also 

appear at 50 CFR part 600. The 

groundfish fishery restrictions for the 

AIHCA described in the groundfish 

FMP are implemented by regulations at 

50 CFR part 679. Revisions to the 

AIHCA also are described in the 

proposed Amendment 23 to the FMP for 

BSAI King and Tanner Crabs, 

Amendment 12 to the FMP for Scallop 

Fisheries off Alaska, and Amendment 9 

to the FMP for Salmon Fisheries in the 

Exclusive Economic Zone off the Coast 

of Alaska. No regulatory amendments 

are needed for implementing these FMP 

amendments due to a prohibition on 

using nonpelagic trawl gear in the crab, 

scallop, and salmon fisheries. 

The Council has submitted the 

amendments for the AIHCA revision for 

review by the Secretary of Commerce, 

and a Notice of Availability of the 

amendments was published in the 

Federal Register on November 13, 2007 

(72 FR 63871), with comments on the 

amendments invited through January 

14, 2008. Comments may address the 

FMP amendments, the proposed rule, or 

both, but must be received by January 7, 

2008, to be considered in the approval/ 

disapproval decision on the FMP 

amendments. All comments received by 

that time, whether specifically directed 

to the FMP amendments or to the 

proposed rule, will be considered in the 

approval/disapproval decision on the 

FMP amendments. 

Background 

In 2006, NMFS implemented essential 

fish habitat (EFH) protection measures 

for the Aleutian Islands subarea and 

adjacent State of Alaska (State) waters 

(71 FR 36694, June 28, 2006, and 

corrected at 72 FR 63500, November 9, 

2007). The background on the 

development of the EFH protection 

measures is available in the proposed 

rule for that action (71 FR 14470, March 

22, 2006). The EFH protection measures 

prohibited nonpelagic trawling within 

the AIHCA. The AIHCA is the Aleutian 

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65540 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 224 / Wednesday, November 21, 2007 / Proposed Rules 

Islands subarea and adjacent State 

waters except for specific sites that 

remain open to nonpelagic trawling. 

Locations open to nonpelagic trawling 

in the AIHCA included areas without 

known occurrences of coral and sponge 

habitat and where nonpelagic trawling 

previously occurred. A map of the 

AIHCA is available from the NMFS 

Alaska Region website at http:// 

www.fakr.noaa.gov/habitat/efh/ 

aihca.pdf. 

In March 2007, the Council 

recommended two revisions to the 

boundaries of the AIHCA. These 

revisions were developed in response to 

corrections provided by the nonpelagic 

trawl industry regarding fishing 

locations and additional information on 

coral and sponge occurrence in the 

Aleutian Islands. 

The two revisions would revise the 

AIHCA boundaries near Agattu Island 

and Buldir Island (see figure below). 

The proposed rule would prohibit 

nonpelagic trawling in an area west of 

Buldir Island and would permit 

nonpelagic trawling in an area north of 

Agattu Island. 

NMFS is proposing to open the area 

near Agattu Island to nonpelagic 

trawling because no evidence of coral or 

sponge habitat exists in this area, and 

nonpelagic trawling historically has 

occurred in this location. NMFS is 

proposing to close the area near Buldir 

Island because NMFS surveys show 

corals and sponges occur in this area. 

Anecdotal information also indicated 

that nonpelagic trawlers avoid the 

proposed Buldir Island closure area to 

protect fishing gear from damage by 

bottom structures. Details of the fishing 

history and biological features of these 

sites are available in the EA/RIR/IRFA 

for this action (see ADDRESSES). 

The proposed rule would revise the 

coordinates for the boundaries of the 

AIHCA near Agattu Island and Buldir 

Island. Table 24 to 50 CFR part 679 

contains coordinates for sites where 

nonpelagic trawling is permitted in the 

AIHCA. Table 24 would be revised to 

specify the coordinates near Agattu and 

Buldir Islands to adjust the boundaries 

of the AIHCA to allow for nonpelagic 

trawling near Agattu Island and prohibit 

nonpelagic trawling near Buldir Island, 

as shown in the figure above. The 

proposed rule would modify the 

coordinates for the Buldir and Semichi 

areas listed on Table 24. The Semichi 

area includes the waters near Agattu 

Island proposed to be opened to 

nonpelagic trawling. Because the 

proposed rule would divide the Buldir 

Island open area into two areas to allow 

for the closure area, the proposed rule 

would add the West Buldir site to Table 

24. The proposed rule also would 

remove the site number for each site 

because the site number serves no 

additional purpose in the identification 

of the site beyond that provided by the 

site name. The proposed rule also 

would remove from Table 24 two 

redundant sets of coordinates for the 

Buldir site because they are not 

necessary to accurately describe the 

boundaries. 

Classification 

Pursuant to section 304 (b)(1)(A) of 

the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NMFS 

Assistant Administrator has determined 

that this proposed rule is consistent 

with Amendment 88 to the FMP for 

Groundfish of the BSAI, other 

provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens 


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Act, and other applicable law, subject to 

further consideration after public 

comment. 

This proposed rule has been 

determined to be not significant for the 

purposes of Executive Order 12866. 

NMFS prepared an initial regulatory 

flexibility analysis (IRFA), as required 

by section 603 of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (RFA). The IRFA 

describes the economic impact this 

proposed rule, if adopted, would have 

on small entities. Descriptions of the 

action, the reasons it is under 

consideration, and its objectives and 

legal basis, are contained earlier in the 

preamble and in the SUMMARY section 

of the preamble. A summary of the 

analysis follows. A copy of this analysis 

is available from NMFS (see 

ADDRESSES). 

Vessels were considered small, 

according to the Small Business 

Administration (SBA) criteria, if they 

had estimated 2004 gross revenues less 

than or equal to $4 million, and were 

not known to be affiliated with other 

firms whose combined receipts 

exceeded $4 million. 

Ten vessels that qualify as small 

entities under SBA criteria are directly 

regulated by this action. Six of these 

vessels are catcher vessels, and four are 

catcher/processors. Average gross 

revenues in 2005 were about $1,400,000 

for the catcher vessels and about 

$2,200,000 for the catcher/processors. 

This regulation does not impose new 

recordkeeping and reporting 

requirements on the regulated small 

entities. 

The IRFA did not reveal any Federal 

rules that duplicate, overlap, or conflict 

with the proposed action. 

The Council considered one 

alternative (Alternative 1, no action) to 

the preferred alternative for this action. 

The boundaries of the opened and 

closed areas were based on information 

provided by the fishing industry 

regarding historical fishing activity and 

on NMFS survey information regarding 

coral and sponge location. This is the 

method of boundary identification used 

in the original EFH rule for the AIHCA. 

Because this is a correction to that rule, 

the identification of boundaries for the 

opened and closed areas for this action 

is based on the same method. No other 

alternatives were identified because the 

action is an adjustment to the AIHCA 

boundaries based on corrected fishing 

information and NMFS survey 

information, and no additional 

information regarding adjustments to 

the AIHCA was available. No other 

boundaries of the opened or closed 

areas for the AIHCA were considered 

because no additional information was 

available to support other boundary 

alternatives. 

The status quo condition of the 

fishery should be based on the 2006 

fishery because of the recent 

implementation of the EFH protection 

measures (71 FR 36694, June 28, 2006), 

but 2006 data were not yet available for 

the analysis. Therefore, 2001 through 

2005 data were used as a proxy for 

status quo. Vessel monitoring system 

(VMS) and NMFS inseason catch data 

were used to analyze the catches in the 

proposed Agattu and Buldir Islands 

opened and closed areas. These types of 

data allowed for determining the fine 

scale location of fishing activities in 

combination with the estimated harvest 

from the proposed opened and closed 

areas. 

The no action alternative would not 

meet the objectives of this action. The 

status quo alternative would allow 

fishing in an area of known coral and 

sponge occurrence and would prohibit 

fishing in an area that had historical 

fishing activity. This would not meet 

the intent of the Council for the AIHCA 

and does not meet the objectives of the 

action to provide continued fishing 

where historical fishing activity has 

occurred and to prohibit fishing where 

coral and sponges occur. Moreover, the 

IRFA did not identify discernable 

adverse impacts to small entities from 

this action. In fact, as noted in the 

preamble, this action may have positive 

benefits for small entities because more 

historical fishing activity occurred in 

the area to be opened by this action, 

than in the area to be closed. Vessels 

that are not small entities will likely 

experience the same benefits as small 

entities by being allowed to fish in an 

area historically fished, and no adverse 

impacts are expected for these vessels. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679 

Alaska, Fisheries, Recordkeeping and 

reporting requirements. 

Dated: November 16, 2007. 

Samuel D. Rauch III 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

For reasons set out in the preamble, 

NMFS proposes to amend 50 CFR part 

679 as follows: 

PART 679—FISHERIES OF THE 

EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC ZONE OFF 

ALASKA 

1. The authority citation for part 679 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 1801 et 

seq.; 3631 et seq.; Pub. L. 108–447 

2. Revise Table 24 to part 679 to read 

as follows: 

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[FR Doc. 07–5774 Filed 11–20–07; 8:45 am] 

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