Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9035 

553(d)(3). This finding is based upon 

the reasons provided above for waiver of 

prior notice and opportunity for public 

comment. 

Without this inseason adjustment, 

NMFS could not allow the Atka 

mackerel fishery in the HLA for area 542 

to be harvested in an expedient manner 

and in accordance with the regulatory 

schedule. Under § 679.25(c)(2), 

interested persons are invited to submit 

written comments on this action to the 

above address until February 28, 2008. 

This action is required by § 679.20 

and § 679.25 and is exempt from review 

under Executive Order 12866. 

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

Dated: February 12, 2008. 

Emily H. Menashes 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 08–741 Filed 2–13–08; 12:16 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 070711313–8014–02] 

RIN 0648–AV62 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish, Crab, 

Scallop, and Salmon Fisheries of the 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

Management Area 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS issues a final rule that 

implements Amendment 88 to the 

Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the Bering Sea and 

Aleutian Islands Management Area. 

This amendment revises 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 

allows nonpelagic trawling in areas 

historically fished and with unknown 

occurrence of corals and sponges. 

DATES: Effective March 20, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the map of the 

AIHCA and the Environmental 

Assessment/Regulatory Impact Review/ 

Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

(EA/RIR/IRFA) and Final Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis for this action may 

be obtained from NMFS Alaska Region, 

P. O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802 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 fisheries in the Bering Sea 

and Aleutian Islands Management Area 

(BSAI) are managed under the Fishery 

Management Plan for Groundfish of the 

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands 

Management Area (FMP). The North 

Pacific Fishery Management Council 

(Council) prepared the FMP under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). 

Regulations implementing the FMP 

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 FMP are 

implemented by regulations at 50 CFR 

part 679. 

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 revisions to the AIHCA 

required amendments to the groundfish, 

crab, scallop, and salmon fishery 

management plans for the Alaska 

fisheries. These amendments (88, 23, 12, 

and 9, respectively) were described in 

the notice of availability published in 

the Federal Register (72 FR 63871, 

November 13, 2007), which provides the 

details of these amendments. Only 

Amendment 88 to the groundfish FMP 

requires regulatory changes, which are 

implemented by this final rule. The 

Secretary of Commerce approved all of 

the fishery management plan 

amendments for the AIHCA revisions on 

February 4, 2008. 

The EFH protection measures 

prohibited nonpelagic trawling within 

the AIHCA. The AIHCA is the Aleutian 

Islands subarea and adjacent State 

waters except for specific sites that 

remain open to nonpelagic trawling. 

Locations open to nonpelagic trawling 

in the AIHCA include 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 

information provided by the nonpelagic 

trawl industry regarding correct fishing 

locations and additional information on 

coral and sponge occurrence in the 

Aleutian Islands. The two revisions 

change the AIHCA boundaries near 

Agattu Island and Buldir Island. A 

figure showing the revisions is in the 

proposed rule for this action (72 FR 

65539, November 21, 2007) and in the 

EA/RIR/IRFA (see ADDRESSES). The final 

rule prohibits nonpelagic trawling in an 

area west of Buldir Island and permits 

nonpelagic trawling in an area north of 

Agattu Island. 

The area near Agattu Island is opened 

to nonpelagic trawling because no 

known occurrence of coral or sponge 

habitat exists in this area, and 

nonpelagic trawling historically has 

occurred in this location. The area near 

Buldir Island is closed to nonpelagic 

trawling because NMFS surveys show 

corals and sponges occur in this area. 

Anecdotal information from the fishing 

industry also indicated that fishermen 

using nonpelagic trawl gear avoid the 

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 final rule revises 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 is revised to specify the new 

coordinates near Agattu and Buldir 

Islands that are necessary to adjust the 

boundaries of the AIHCA. These new 

boundaries will allow for nonpelagic 

trawling near Agattu Island and prohibit 

nonpelagic trawling near Buldir Island. 

The final rule modifies the coordinates 

for the Buldir and Semichi areas listed 

on Table 24. The Semichi area includes 

the waters near Agattu Island opened to 

nonpelagic trawling. Because the final 

rule divides the Buldir Island open area 

into two areas to allow for the closure 

area, the final rule adds the West Buldir 

site to Table 24. The final rule also 

removes the site number for each site 

because the site number serves no 

additional purpose in the identification 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULES
9036 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

of the site beyond that provided by the 

site name. The final rule also removes 

from Table 24 two redundant sets of 

coordinates for the Buldir site because 

they are not necessary to accurately 

describe the boundaries. 

Comments and Responses 

NMFS received one comment from an 

individual on the proposed rule (72 FR 

65539, November 21, 2007) and no 

comments on the notice of availability 

for the fishery management plan 

amendments. No changes were made in 

the final rule from the proposed rule. 

The following summarizes and responds 

to the comment. 

Comment: Ban all nonpelagic trawling 

in both areas. Trawling turns the ocean 

bottom into desert wasteland, and no 

recovery is possible for 40 years. No 

reason exists to allow trawling. 

Response: Trawling can have various 

effects on bottom habitat depending on 

the type of trawl gear and the bottom 

features where fishing is occurring. 

Recovery times for an area can vary 

depending on the type of bottom habitat 

impacted. More information about the 

impacts of trawling on bottom habitat is 

available in the EA/RIR/IRFA for this 

action (see ADDRESSES). The decision to 

open and close areas in the AIHCA is 

based on the best scientific information 

available. NMFS has determined that 

the Buldir Island closure in this final 

rule is appropriate based on the 

occurrence of corals and sponges that 

may be impacted by nonpelagic 

trawling. The opening of waters near 

Agattu Island also is appropriate 

because of no known impact of 

nonpelagic trawling on corals and 

sponges. Trawl gear effectively harvests 

a number of target species in the 

groundfish fisheries. The Council and 

NMFS have implemented the EFH 

protection measures to reduce the 

potential impact of this gear on bottom 

habitat in the Aleutian Islands subarea 

and in the Gulf of Alaska. 

In June 2007, the Council also 

recommended Amendment 89 to the 

FMP to implement bottom habitat 

protection measures for the Bering Sea 

subarea. This amendment is intended to 

address the potential effects of 

nonpelagic trawling on bottom habitat 

in the Bering Sea. More information 

regarding Amendment 89 is available 

from the Council’s website at http:// 

www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc/ 

currentlissues/BSHC/BSHC.htm. If 

approved, this amendment is scheduled 

for implementation in late 2008. 

Classification 

The Administrator, Alaska Region, 

NMFS, determined that Amendments 

88, 23, 12, and 9 and the implementing 

final rule for Amendment 88 are 

necessary for the conservation and 

management of the groundfish, salmon, 

scallop, and crab fisheries and that they 

are consistent with the MagnusonStevens Act and other applicable laws. 

This final rule has been determined to 

be not significant for the purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. 

NMFS prepared a final regulatory 

flexibility analysis (FRFA), as required 

by section 604 of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (RFA). The FRFA 

describes the economic impact of this 

final rule on small entities. Descriptions 

of the action, the reasons it is under 

consideration, and its objectives and 

legal basis, are included 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). 

NMFS prepared an Initial Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) to 

accompany the proposed rule for this 

action. This was described in the 

classification section to the proposed 

rule and the public was notified how to 

obtain a copy. The public comment 

period ended on January 7, 2008. No 

comments were received on the IRFA or 

on the economic impacts of the rule. 

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 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 

information from the fishing industry 

and NMFS survey information. 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 

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 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. The opening of 

the area near Agattu provides mitigation 

for possible impacts associated with the 

closure of the area near Buldir. The 

FRFA did not identify adverse impacts 

to small entities from the action 

alternative. 

Small Entity Compliance Guide 

Section 212 of the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 

1996 states that, for each rule, or group 

of related rules for which an agency is 

required to prepare a FRFA, the agency 

shall publish one or more guides to 

assist small entities in complying with 

the rule and shall designate such 

publications as ‘‘small entity 

compliance guides.’’ The agency shall 

explain the actions a small entity is 

required to take to comply with a rule 

or group of rules. As part of this 

rulemaking process, NMFS Alaska 

Region has developed a website that 

provides easy access to details of this 

final rule, including links to the final 

rule, maps of closure areas, and 

frequently asked questions regarding 

EFH. The relevant information available 

on the website is the Small Entity 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9037 

Compliance Guide. The website address 

is http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/habitat/ 

efh.htm. Copies of this final rule are 

available upon request from the NMFS, 

Alaska Regional Office (see ADDRESSES). 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 679 

Alaska, Fisheries, Recordkeeping and 

reporting requirements. 

Dated: February 11, 2008. 

Samuel D. Rauch III 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Regulatory Programs, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

■ For reasons set out in the preamble, 

NMFS amends 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: 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULES
9038 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.009</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9039 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.010</GPH>
9040 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.011</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9041 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.012</GPH>
9042 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.013</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9043 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.014</GPH>
9044 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.015</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9045 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.016</GPH>
9046 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.017</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9047 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.018</GPH>
9048 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.019</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9049 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.020</GPH>
9050 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.021</GPH>
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 9051 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.022</GPH>
9052 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 33 / Tuesday, February 19, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

[FR Doc. 08–707 Filed 2–15–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–C 


rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with RULESER19FE08.023</GPH>