Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 68097 

a moratorium permit for summer 

flounder; to carry a NMFS-certified 

fisheries observer. A vessel holding a 

permit for Atlantic sea scallops is 

subject to the additional requirements 

specific in paragraph (g) of this section. 

Also, any vessel or vessel owner/ 

operator that fishes for, catches or lands 

hagfish, or intends to fish for, catch, or 

land hagfish in or from the exclusive 

economic zone must carry a NMFScertified fisheries observer when 

requested by the Regional Administrator 

in accordance with the requirements of 

this section. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. E7–23513 Filed 12–3–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

[Docket No. 060824226–6322–02] 

RIN 0648–AW27 

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; 

Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 

Biennial Specifications and 

Management Measures; Inseason 

Adjustments 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule; inseason adjustments 

to biennial groundfish management 

measures; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: This final rule announces 

inseason changes to management 

measures in the commercial Pacific 

Coast groundfish fishery. These actions, 

which are authorized by the Pacific 

Coast Groundfish Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP), are intended to allow 

fisheries to access more abundant 

groundfish stocks while protecting 

overfished and depleted stocks. 

DATES: Effective 0001 hours (local time) 

December 4, 2007. Comments on this 

final rule must be received no later than 

5 p.m., local time on January 3, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 0648–AW27 by any 

one of the following methods: 

• Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

• Fax: 206–526–6736, Attn: Gretchen 

Arentzen 

• Mail: D. Robert Lohn, Administrator, 

Northwest Region, NMFS, 7600 Sand 

Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115–0070, 

Attn: Gretchen Arentzen. 

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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gretchen Arentzen (Northwest Region, 

NMFS), phone: 206–526–6147, fax: 206–

526–6736 and e-mail 

gretchen.arentzen@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Electronic Access 

This final rule is accessible via the 

Internet at the Office of the Federal 

Register’s Website at http:// 

www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html. 

Background information and documents 

are available at the Pacific Fishery 

Management Council’s (Council’s) 

website at http://www.pcouncil.org/. 

Background 

The Pacific Coast Groundfish FMP 

and its implementing regulations at title 

50 in the Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR), part 660, subpart G, regulate 

fishing for over 90 species of groundfish 

off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, 

and California. Groundfish 

specifications and management 

measures are developed by the Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council), 

and are implemented by NMFS. A 

proposed rule to implement the 2007–

2008 specifications and management 

measures for the Pacific Coast 

groundfish fishery and Amendment 16–

4 of the FMP was published on 

September 29, 2006 (71 FR 57764). The 

final rule to implement the 2007–2008 

specifications and management 

measures for the Pacific Coast 

Groundfish Fishery was published on 

December 29, 2006 (71 FR 78638). These 

specifications and management 

measures were codified in the CFR (50 

CFR part 660, subpart G). The final rule 

was subsequently amended on: March 

20, 2007 (72 FR 13043); April 18, 2007 

(72 FR 19390); July 5, 2007 (72 FR 

36617); August 3, 2007 (72 FR 43193); 

September 18, 2007 (72 FR 53165); and 

October 4, 2007 (72 FR 56664). 

Changes to current groundfish 

management measures implemented by 

this action were recommended by the 

Council, in consultation with Pacific 

Coast Treaty Indian Tribes and the 

States of Washington, Oregon, and 

California, at its November 5–9, 2007, 

meeting in San Diego, California. At that 

meeting, the Council recommended 

adjusting current groundfish 

management measures to respond to 

updated fishery information and other 

inseason management needs in order to 

allow access to groundfish without 

exceeding the 2007 optimum yields 

(OYs) for the target species or the 2007 

OYs for overfished and depleted stocks. 

For the remainder of 2007, the 

Council recommended increasing the 2- 

month cumulative limits for sablefish in 

the limited entry non-whiting trawl 

fishery for large and small footrope 

trawl gear north of 40°10.00′ N. lat., 

increasing trip limits for sablefish in the 

limited entry non-whiting trawl fishery 

south of 40°10.00′ N. lat., and increasing 

the open access sablefish daily trip 

limits between 40°10.00′ N. lat. and 36° 

N. lat. 

The Council also recommended 

adjusting management measures 

beginning January 1, 2008; these 

measures will be implemented in a 

separate rulemaking. 

NMFS has considered the 

recommendations for the remainder of 

2007, and is implementing them as 

described below. Pacific Coast 

groundfish landings will be monitored 

throughout the remainder of the 

biennium, and further adjustments to 

trip limits or management measures 

may be made as necessary to allow 

achievement of, or to avoid exceeding, 

optimum yields (OYs). 

Commercial Sablefish Fishery 

Management Measures 

The Council considered adjustments 

to 2007 sablefish trip limits in the 

limited entry non-whiting trawl fishery 

and in the open access daily trip limit 

(DTL) fishery. At the Council’s 

November 2007 meeting, an advisory 

body to the Council, the Groundfish 

Management Team (GMT), reviewed the 

best available data on estimates of 

landed catch and total mortality for the 

sablefish in the limited entry trawl and 

open access fisheries. These data, which 

estimated catch through the end of 

October, were compared to catch and 

mortality estimates modeled for these 

fisheries and were used to update catch 

predictions through the end of the year. 

Based on the Pacific Fishery 

Information Network’s (PacFIN’s) Quota 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
68098 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 

Species Monitoring (QSM) data, landed 

catch and total mortality data to date for 

2007 have been lower than expected for: 

sablefish taken with large and small 

footrope trawl gear north of 40°10′ N. 

lat.; sablefish taken with trawl gear 

south of 40°10′ N. lat., and in the open 

access sablefish DTL fishery north of 36° 

N. lat. The Council considered increases 

to sablefish trip limits in these fisheries 

and the potential impacts on overall 

catch levels and overfished species. 

The most recently updated catch 

projections for 2007 indicate 89 percent 

(2,380 mt out of 2,651 mt) of the trawl 

allocation of sablefish north of 36°, and 

77 percent (350 mt out of 456 mt) of the 

open access allocation of sablefish is 

expected to be taken through the end of 

the year. This action would not increase 

estimated impacts on overfished species 

because estimated mortality for 

overfished species for 2007 assume that 

these sectors will achieve their sablefish 

allocations. Therefore, the Council 

recommended and NMFS is 

implementing: an increase in the 

limited entry trawl limits for large and 

small footrope trawl gear north of 

40°10.00′ N. lat. from 22,000 lb (9,979 

kg) per two months to 30,000 lb (13,608 

kg) per two months; an increase in the 

sablefish trawl trip limits south of 

40°10′ N. lat. from 22,000 lb (9,979 kg) 

per two months to 30,000 lb (13,608 kb) 

per two months; and an increase in the 

open access sablefish daily trip limits 

between 40°10.00′ N. lat. and 36° N. lat. 

from ‘‘300 lb (136 kg) per day, or 1 

landing per week of up to 700 lb (318 

kg), not to exceed 2,100 lb (953 kg) per 

two months’’ to ‘‘300 lb (136 kg) per 

day, or 1 landing per week of up to 

1,000 lb (454 kg), not to exceed 3,000 lb 

(1,360 kg) per two months’’, beginning 

December 1 through the remainder of 

2007. 

Classification 

These actions are taken under the 

authority of 50 CFR 660.370(c) and are 

exempt from review under Executive 

Order 12866. 

These actions are authorized by the 

Pacific Coast groundfish FMP and its 

implementing regulations, and are based 

on the most recent data available. The 

aggregate data, upon which these 

actions are based, are available for 

public inspection at the Office of the 

Administrator, Northwest Region, 

NMFS, (see ADDRESSES) during business 

hours. 

For the following reasons, NMFS 

finds good cause to waive prior public 

notice and comment on the revisions to 

groundfish management measures under 

5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B) because notice and 

comment would be impracticable and 

contrary to the public interest. Also for 

the same reasons, NMFS finds good 

cause to waive the 30-day delay in 

effectiveness pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 

553(d)(1) and 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). 

The data upon which these 

recommendations were based was 

provided to the Council and the Council 

made its recommendations at its 

November 5–9, 2007, meeting in San 

Diego, California. The Council 

recommended that these changes be 

implemented on or as close as possible 

to December 1, 2007. There was not 

sufficient time after that meeting to draft 

this document and undergo proposed 

and final rulemaking before these 

actions need to be in effect. For the 

actions to be implemented in this 

notice, affording the time necessary for 

prior notice and opportunity for public 

comment would be impractical and 

contrary to the public interest because it 

would prevent the Agency from 

managing fisheries using the best 

available science to approach without 

exceeding the OYs for federally 

managed species. The adjustments to 

management measures in this document 

affect commercial groundfish fisheries 

off Washington, Oregon, and California. 

Changes to the sablefish cumulative 

limits for the rest of 2007 in the nonwhiting commercial fisheries must be 

implemented as soon as possible to 

relieve a restriction by allowing 

fishermen increased opportunities to 

harvest available healthy stocks. 

Changes to sablefish cumulative limits 

for the following fisheries must be 

implemented as close as possible to 

December 1, 2007: (1) limited entry 

trawl fishery north and south of 

40°10.00′ N. lat.; and (2) open access 

daily trip limit fishery between 

40°10.00′ N. lat. and 36° N. lat. It would 

be contrary to the public interest to wait 

to implement these trip limit changes 

until after public notice and comment, 

because making these regulatory 

changes as soon as possible relieves an 

unnecessary regulatory restriction for 

fisheries that are important to coastal 

communities. For the same reasons, 

allowing a 30-day delay in effectiveness 

would be contrary to the public interest. 

Delaying these changes would keep 

management measures in place that are 

not based on the best available data, 

which could risk fisheries exceeding 

OYs, or deny fishermen access to 

available harvest. Such delay would 

impair achievement of one of the Pacific 

Coast Groundfish FMP objectives of 

providing for year-round harvest 

opportunities or extending fishing 

opportunities as long as practicable 

during the fishing year. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements. 

Dated: November 28, 2007. 

Emily H. Menashes 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

■ For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 660 is amended 

as follows: 

PART 660—FISHERIES OFF WEST 

COAST STATES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 660 

continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. Tables 3 (North) and 3 (South) to 

part 660, subpart G are revised to read 

as follows: 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 68099 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULESER04DE07.045</GPH>
68100 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULESER04DE07.046</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 68101 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULESER04DE07.047</GPH>
68102 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULESER04DE07.048</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 68103 

■ 3. Table 5 (South) to part 660, subpart 

G is revised to read as follows: 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULESER04DE07.049</GPH>
68104 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULESER04DE07.050</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 232 / Tuesday, December 4, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 68105 

[FR Doc. 07–5925 Filed 12–3–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–C 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULESER04DE07.051</GPH>