Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 108 / Wednesday, June 4, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 31769 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. E8–12483 Filed 6–3–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 070717341–8549–02] 

RIN 0648–AV41 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Recreational Management 

Measures for the Summer Flounder, 

Scup, and Black Sea bass Fisheries; 

Fishing Year 2008 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule; correction. 

SUMMARY: On May 23, 2008, NMFS 

published a final rule implementing the 

recreational management measures for 

the 2008 summer flounder, scup, and 

black sea bass fisheries. The final rule 

contains several errors throughout the 

preamble. This document corrects those 

errors. 

DATES: Effective June 23, 2008. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Ruccio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9104. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The final 

rule for the 2008 recreational 

management measures for summer 

flounder, scup, and black sea bass was 

published in the Federal Register on 

May 23, 2008 (73 FR 29990). There were 

several errors throughout the preamble 

text. 

Corrections 

In final rule FR Doc. E8–11601, on 

page 29991 of the May 23, 2008, issue 

of the Federal Register, make the 

following corrections: 

1. On page 29991, in column 3, under 

the Black Sea Bass Management 

Measures caption, the first sentence is 

corrected to read as follows: 

‘‘Table 3 contains the coastwide 

Federal measures for black sea bass in 

effect for 2007 and codified.’’

2. On page 29992, in column 1, under 

the Comments and Responses caption, 

the second sentence is corrected to read 

as follows: 

‘‘One individual submitted comments 

regarding several species such as 

mackerel, red hake, and marlin which 

are outside the scope of this 

rulemaking.’’

3. On page 29992, in column 1, under 

the Comment 1 caption, the first 

sentence is corrected to read as follows: 

‘‘Some of the comments received 

allege that state-by-state conservation 

equivalency violates National Standard 

2 of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which 

requires conservation and management 

actions to be based upon the best 

available scientific information.’’

4. On page 29992, in column 2, in the 

27th line, the sentence is corrected to 

read as follows: 

‘‘In addition, NMFS encouraged states 

to take a more conservative approach to 

both improve conservation 

equivalency’s performance and to offset 

uncertainty in the assessment of 

potential measures effectiveness.’’

5. On page 29992, in column 3, the 

first full paragraph should read: 

‘‘The use of MRFSS data was 

challenged, along with other aspects of 

the agency’s actions, in 2006 in the case 

United Boatmen, et al., v. Gutierrez3, the 

Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). The 

plaintiffs alleged that MRFSS was a 

gravely flawed tool and unsuitable for 

use in setting the summer flounder TAL. 

NMFS responded that MRFSS, while 

admittedly having limitations, has been 

upheld under National Standard 2 as 

the best available scientific information. 

The defendants’ brief cited three 

separate cases wherein MRFSS had been 

upheld as the best available scientific 

information relative to National 

Standard 2. In this case, the judge found 

in favor of the Secretary on all points, 

adding further support to the adequacy 

of MRFSS data for use in fisheries 

management as the best available 

science.’’

6. On page 29993, in column 3, the 

last full paragraph is corrected to read 

as follows: 

‘‘For these reasons, NMFS believes 

that implementing conservation 

equivalency, as recommended by the 

Council and Commission for 2008, does 

not violate National Standard 4 or 

National Standard 2 of the MagnusonStevens Act.’’

7. On page 29994, in column 1, in the 

first full paragraph, the forth sentence is 

corrected to read as follows: 

‘‘National Standard 6 directs FMPs to 

have a suitable buffer, in favor of 

conservation, to deal with uncertainty, 

which may also be stated as a 

conservative approach.’’

8. On page 29995, in column 2, in the 

13th line the sentence is corrected to 

read as follows: 

‘‘As such, it is a more conservative 

approach than applied in previous 

years, and presents a higher likelihood 

that the 2008 recreational harvest limit 

will not be exceeded on either a stateby-state basis or coastwide, and that the 

subsequent mortality objectives will be 

met for the 2008 fishing year.’’

9. On page 29996, in column 1, in the 

first full paragraph, the first sentence is 

corrected to read as follows: 

‘‘NMFS acknowledges that state-bystate conservation equivalency has not 

performed ideally, since the summer 

flounder recreational harvest limit has 

been exceeded in 5 of the 7 years where 

it has been utilized.’’

10. On page 29997, in column 1, the 

first full paragraph is corrected to read 

as follows: 

‘‘A summary of the comments 

received and NMFS’ responses thereto 

is contained in the preamble of this rule. 

None of those comments addressed 

specific information contained in the 

IRFA economic analysis. One comment 

received stated that NMFS had not 

conducted an economic analysis for the 

2008 recreational management measures 

and some commenters generally 

indicated that the management 

measures implemented by this rule may 

have an economic impact. See response 

to Comment 7 in the Comment and 

Responses section for more information. 

No changes have been made from the 

proposed rule as a result of the 

comments received by NMFS.’’

11. On page 29998, in column 2,in the 

13th line from the bottom, the sentence 

is corrected to read as follows: 

‘‘Conservation equivalency is 

generally expected to mitigate the 

economic impact in states with lower 

required percent reductions for 2008 

compared to the coastwide reduction of 

33.2 percent.’’

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

Dated: May 29, 2008. 

Samuel D. Rauch III, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 08–1317 Filed 5–30–08; 2:51 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 


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