Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 158 / Thursday, August 14, 2008 / Proposed Rules 47577 

exemptions under section 7 of the ESA. 

This would apply in areas where the 

bald eagle remains listed or is re-listed 

under the ESA or if the golden eagle 

becomes listed. Of those persons, those 

who are issued their section 7 

exemptions whose activities will also 

take eagles under the Eagle Act, and 

who wish to obtain Eagle Act 

authorization for that take, would be 

required to use the new permit 

regulations at 50 CFR 22.26 that are the 

subject of this DEA, once those 

regulations are available, rather than the 

expedited permit being established 

under separate regulations. 

Authority: The authority for this action is 

the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 

U.S.C. 668–668d). 

Dated: July 28, 2008. 

Lyle Laverty, 

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 

Parks. 

[FR Doc. E8–18779 Filed 8–13–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 665 

RIN 0648–AV29 

Fisheries in the Western Pacific; 

Crustacean Fisheries; Deepwater 

Shrimp 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of fishery 

management plan amendment; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

Western Pacific Fishery Management 

Council proposes to amend the Fishery 

Management Plan for Crustacean 

Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region 

(Crustaceans FMP). If approved by the 

Secretary of Commerce, Amendment 13 

to the Crustaceans FMP would designate 

deepwater shrimp of the genus 

Heterocarpus as management unit 

species, and require Federal permits and 

data reporting for deepwater shrimp 

fishing in Federal waters of the western 

Pacific. Amendment 13 is intended to 

improve information on deepwater 

shrimp fisheries and their ecosystem 

impacts, and to provide a basis for 

future management of the fisheries, if 

needed. 

DATES: Comments on Amendment 13, 

which includes an environmental 

assessment, must be received by 

October 14, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Comments on the 

amendment, identified by 0648–AV29, 

may be sent to either of the following 

addresses: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal 

www.regulations.gov; or 

• Mail: Mail written comments to 

William L. Robinson, Regional 

Administrator, NMFS, Pacific Islands 

Region (PIR), 1601 Kapiolani Blvd, Suite 

1110, Honolulu, HI 96814–4700. 

Instructions: All comments received 

are a part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to 

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All personal identifying information 

(e.g., name, address, etc.) submitted 

voluntarily by the commenter may be 

publicly accessible. Do not submit 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive or protected 

information. NMFS will accept 

anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/A’’ in 

the required fields, if you wish to 

remain anonymous). Attachments to 

electronic comments will be accepted in 

Microsoft Word or Excel, WordPerfect, 

or Adobe PDF file formats only. 

Copies of Amendment 13, including 

an environmental assessment, are 

available from the Western Pacific 

Fishery Management Council (Council), 

1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu, 

HI 96813, tel 808–522–8220, fax 808–

522–8226, www.wpcouncil.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brett Wiedoff, NMFS PIR, 808–944–

2272. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

Federal Register document is accessible 

at the Office of the Federal Register 

website: www.gpoaccess.gov/fr. 

Crustacean fisheries in the western 

Pacific are federally-managed within the 

waters of the U.S. Exclusive Economic 

Zone (EEZ) around American Samoa, 

the Commonwealth of the Northern 

Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, Hawaii, 

and the Pacific Remote Island Areas 

(PRIA, including Palmyra Atoll, 

Kingman Reef, Jarvis Island, Baker 

Island, Howland Island, Johnston Atoll, 

Wake Island, and Midway Atoll). The 

EEZ around the CNMI and PRIA extends 

from the shoreline seaward to 200 

nautical miles (nm), and the EEZ around 

the other islands extends from three to 

200 nm offshore. Crustaceans FMP 

management unit species now include 

spiny lobsters, Panulirus marginatus 

and P. penicillatus, slipper lobsters of 

the family Scyllaridae, and Kona 

(spanner) crab, Ranina ranina. 

Eight species of Heterocarpus have 

been reported throughout the tropical 

Pacific. These shrimp are generally 

found at depths of 200 to 1,200 meters 

on the outer reef slopes that surround 

islands and deepwater banks. Species 

distribution tends to be stratified by 

depth with some overlap. The 

deepwater trap fisheries have primarily 

targeted Heterocarpus ensifer and H. 

laevigatus. 

Western Pacific commercial trap 

fisheries for deepwater shrimp are 

intermittent. There have been sporadic 

operations in Hawaii since the 1960s, 

small-scale fisheries in Guam during the 

1970s, and some activity in the CNMI 

during the mid–1990s. The fisheries 

have been unregulated, and there has 

been no comprehensive collection of 

information about the fisheries. Most of 

these fishing ventures have been shortlived, probably as a result of sometimesfrequent loss of traps, a shrimp product 

with a short shelf life and history of 

inconsistent quality, and the rapid 

localized depletion of deepwater shrimp 

stocks leading to low catch rates. 

Despite these hurdles, interest in 

deepwater shrimp fisheries continues. 

Amendment 13 would designate 

deepwater shrimp of the genus 

Heterocarpus as management unit 

species under the FMP, and would 

require Federal permits and reporting 

for deepwater shrimp fishing in the 

EEZ. The proposed monitoring program 

(permits and logbooks) is intended to 

improve understanding of these 

fisheries and their impact on marine 

ecosystems. Although currently there 

are no resource concerns regarding 

western Pacific deepwater shrimp, the 

proposed designation of these shrimp as 

management unit species would provide 

a basis for management of the fisheries, 

if warranted in the future. Amendment 

13 designates Essential Fish Habitat 

(EFH) for the complete assemblage of 

adult and juvenile Heterocarpus spp. as 

the outer reef slopes between 300 and 

700 meters surrounding every island 

and submerged banks in the western 

Pacific, and includes all eight species of 

deepwater shrimp in the region: 

Heterocarpus ensifer, H. laevigatus, H. 

sibogae, H. gibbosus, H. Lepidus, H. 

dorsalis, H. tricarinatus and H. 

longirostris, as required under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act. 

Public comments on proposed 

Amendment 13 must be received by 

October 14, 2008 to be considered by 

NMFS in the decision to approve, 

partially approve, or disapprove the 

amendment. A proposed rule to 

implement the amendment has been 

prepared for Secretarial review and 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with PROPOSALS
47578 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 158 / Thursday, August 14, 2008 / Proposed Rules 

approval, and NMFS expects to publish 

and request public comment on the 

proposed regulation in the near future. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. Dated: August 8, 2008. 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–18854 Filed 8–13–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with PROPOSALS