13106 Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 47 / Friday, March 10, 1995 / Proposed Rules

Interior delay final decision on the

proposal for 6 months to provide the

State an opportunity to take

conservation measures for the

salamander that would make federal

listing unnecessary. The Texas Parks

and Wildlife Department (TPWD) also

supported an extension, indicated that

all reasonable actions in support of

conserving the species had not been

exhausted, and expressed reservations

concerning the documentation of the

range of the species and threats to it.

TPWD also expressed interest in using

the extension to better ascertain the

status of biological issues and to pursue

State and local conservation options; the

Service will welcome any assistance the

State of Texas might provide toward

these ends. The Act pays special

deference to the views of the States in

the listing of species, requiring that

State identification of a species as in

danger of extinction be considered in

listing species under the Act (section

4(b)(1)(B)(ii)), that States be notified of

proposed listings (section 4(b)(5)(A)(ii)),

and that States be provided specific

explanations of listing decisions that are

counter to State recommendations

(section 4(i)). The Service intends to

further consider the possible relevance

of State conservation efforts to the final

listing decision.

The Endangered Species Act allows

extension of the normal 1-year deadline

for taking final actions on a proposal to

list species for up to 6 months when

there is a ‘‘substantial disagreement

regarding the sufficiency or accuracy of

the available data relevant to the

determination.’’ The Service believes

that the several unresolved issues

enumerated above are directly relevant

to the sufficiency and accuracy of the

available data upon which a listing

decision may be made and consequently

is extending the deadline for a decision.

In order to allow full public comment

on these issues as well as the proposed

listing itself, the Service is reopening

the comment period until May 17, 1995.

Written comments should be submitted

to the Service office in the Addresses

section above. Comments submitted

during previous comment periods will

be considered and need not be

resubmitted.

Author

The primary author of this notice is Sam

D. Hamilton, Texas State Administrator,

10711 Burnet Road, Suite 301, Austin, Texas

78758.

Authority

The Authority for this action is the

Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et

seq.).

Dated: March 6, 1995.

(Notice: Extension of comment period on

proposal to list Barton Springs salamander).

Mollie H. Beattie,

Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 95–5880 Filed 3–9–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Parts 672 and 675

[Docket No. 950301062–5062–01; I.D.

021695C]

RIN 0648–AH40

Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska;

Groundfish Fishery of the Bering Sea

and Aleutian Islands Area; Revise

Product Recovery Rate for Pollock

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes regulations to

revise the standard product recovery

rate for pollock, deep skin fillets, and

product code 24. The proposed revision

is necessary to respond to new

information on the current recovery rate

achieved by the groundfish processing

industry for this product type. This

action is intended to further the

objectives of the fishery management

plans (FMPs) for the groundfish

fisheries off Alaska.

DATES: Comments must be received at

the following address by April 10, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be sent to

Ronald J. Berg, Chief, Fisheries

Management Division, Alaska Region,

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

99802, Attn: Lori Gravel. Individual

copies of the environmental assessment/

regulatory impact review prepared for

rulemaking establishing standard

product recovery rates may be obtained

from the same address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ronald J. Berg, 907–586–7228.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

domestic groundfish fisheries in the

exclusive economic zone of the Gulf of

Alaska (GOA) and the Bering Sea and

Aleutian Islands management area

(BSAI) are managed by NMFS in

accordance with the FMP for

Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska and the

FMP for the Groundfish Fishery of the

Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. The

FMPs were prepared by the North

Pacific Fishery Management Council

under the Magnuson Fishery

Conservation and Management Act and

are implemented by regulations that

appear at 50 CFR parts 672, 675, and

676. General regulations that also

govern the groundfish fisheries appear

at 50 CFR part 620.

Regulations at §§ 672.20(j) and

675.20(k) establish standard product

types and standard product recovery

rates (PRR). This rule proposes to revise

the pollock deep skin fillet PRR from

the current standard of 0.13 to 0.16. It

is based on results of 49 recovery tests

conducted by NMFS-certified observers

during the 1994 fishing year.

This test method calculated the ratio

of the product weight of deep skin fillets

to the round weight of a basket sample

of pollock that had been weighed before

processing. The tests used an aggregate

of 315 metric tons (mt) of pollock deep

skin fillets produced from 1,936 mt of

round-weight pollock, yielding an

average recovery rate of 0.16, with a

range of 0.09 to 0.22. On average, NMFS

has determined that a recovery rate of

0.13 is inaccurate and that a recovery

rate of 0.16 best represents that achieved

by the industry. The proposed revision

is within the scope of issues addressed

in the final rulemaking for standard

product recovery rates set forth at

§§ 672.20(j) and 675.20(k) as published

in the Federal Register (59 FR 50699,

October 5, 1994).

NMFS uses standard PRRs for each

groundfish product to calculate fee

assessments for purposes of funding the

North Pacific Fisheries Research Plan

(Research Plan), which is a program

designed to pay for certified observers

who collect information used for fishery

conservation and management

purposes. NMFS uses the best available

information for specifying standard

PRRs to calculate round weight

equivalents for purposes of determining

exvessel values of retained groundfish

to assess Research Plan fees.

If the standard PRR of 0.13 were to

remain unchanged, the impact on the

Research Plan fee assessment program

could have the following economic

impacts. In 1994, 23,302 mt of pollock

deep skin fillets were produced off

Alaska. The round-weight equivalents of

this amount are 179,246 mt and 145,638

mt, using a PRR of 0.13 and 0.16,

respectively, which is a difference of

33,608 mt. Under the Research Plan,

processors must pay a fee in an amount

not to exceed 2 percent of the exvessel

value of the round-weight equivalents of

retained fish, including pollock, as

defined in the final rule implementing

the Research Plan (59 FR 46126,
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 47 / Friday, March 10, 1995 / Proposed Rules 13107

September 6, 1994). At $0.08 per lb,

33,608 mt (74 million lbs) would have

a calculated exvessel value of $5.9

million. Processors would be charged

unnecessarily an additional fee

assessment of $118,400 if the PRR were

to remain at 0.13 compared to 0.16.

Other uses by NMFS of standard PRRs

are summarized in final rulemaking (59

FR 50699, October 5, 1994).

Based on the above reasons, NMFS

has preliminarily determined that a

standard PRR of 0.16 best represents the

average recovery rate currently achieved

by vessels producing pollock deep skin

fillets. NMFS proposes this standard

PRR for public comment. Should a final

rule be promulgated to implement this

new standard PRR, §§ 672.20(i)(3) and

675.20(j)(3) also would be revised by

changing the standard PRR for pollock

deep skin fillets from 0.13 to 0.16 for

purposes of calculating retainable

amounts of pollock roe.

Classification

The Assistant General Counsel of the

Department of Commerce certified to

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the

Small Business Administration that this

proposed rule, if adopted, would not

have a significant economic impact on

a substantial number of small entities.

This proposed rule has been

determined to be not significant for

purposes of E.O. 12866.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Parts 672 and

675

Fisheries, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: March 6, 1995.

Gary Matlock,

Program Management Officer, National

Marine Fisheries Service.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 50 CFR parts 672 and 675 are

proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 672—GROUNDFISH FISHERY OF

THE GULF OF ALASKA

1. The authority citation for part 672

continues to read as follows:

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

2. In § 672.20, paragraph (i)(3) table,

entry 24 is revised, and in Table 1 to

§ 672.20 Product Codes 15 through 32

are amended by revising the entry for

pollock to read as follows:

§ 672.20 General limitations.

* * * * *

(i) * * *

(3) * * *

Product code Product description

Standard

product

recovery

rate

* * * * *

24 .................... Deep skin fillets 0.16

* * * * *

TABLE 1 TO § 672.20 (CONTINUED).—TARGET SPECIES CATEGORIES, PRODUCT CODES AND DESCRIPTIONS, AND STANDARD PRODUCT RECOVERY RATES FOR GROUNDFISH SPECIES REFERENCED IN 50 CFR 672.20(a)(1) AND/OR

675.20(a)(1)

FMP species

Species

code

Product Code

Pectoral

girdle

Heads Cheeks Chins Belly

Fillets:

With

skin

and

ribs

Fillets:

Skin

on no

ribs

Fillets:

With

ribs

no

skin

Fillets:

Skinless/

boneless

Fillets

Deep

skin

Surimi Mince Meal

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 30 31 32

* * * * * * *

Pollock .................. 270 ......... 0.15 ............ ......... ......... 0.35 0.30 0.30 0.21 0.16 1 0.16

2 0.17

0.22 0.17

* * * * * * *

1Standard pollock surimi rate during January through June.

2Standard pollock surimi rate during July through September.

* * * * *

PART 675—GROUNDFISH FISHERY OF

THE BERING SEA AND ALEUTIAN

ISLANDS AREA

3. The authority citation for part 675

continues to read as follows:

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

4. In § 675.20, paragraph (j)(3), Table,

entry 24 is revised to read as follows:

§ 675.20 General limitations.

(j) * * *

(3) * * *

Product code Product description

Standard

product

recovery

rate

* * * * *

24 ................. Deep skin fillets 0.16

* * * * *

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 95–5990 Filed 3–9–95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–W