47098 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 13, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

Dated: August 4, 2008. 

David M. Verhey, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and 

Wildlife and Parks. 

[FR Doc. E8–18774 Filed 8–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 665 

[Docket No. 070720400–81019–02] 

RIN 0648–AV30 

Fisheries in the Western Pacific; 

Precious Corals Fisheries; Black Coral 

Quota and Gold Coral Moratorium 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule implements 

Amendment 7 to the Fishery 

Management Plan for Precious Coral 

Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region 

(Precious Corals FMP). The rule 

designates the Au’au Channel, Hawaii, 

black coral bed as an ‘‘Established Bed’’

with a harvest quota of 5,000 kg every 

two years that applies to Federal and 

State of Hawaii waters, and implements 

a 5-year moratorium on the harvest of 

gold coral throughout the U.S. western 

Pacific. This rule is intended to prevent 

overfishing and achieve optimum yields 

of black coral resources, and to prevent 

overfishing and stimulate research on 

gold corals. 

DATES: This final rule is effective 

September 12, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Amendment 7 is 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, or www.wpcouncil.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brett Wiedoff, NMFS PIR, 808–944–

2272. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final 

rule is accessible on the internet at: 

www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/. 

Since 1980, almost all of the black 

coral harvested around the Hawaiian 

Islands has been taken from the Au’au 

Channel Bed. The biomass of the Au’au 

Channel black coral population has 

decreased by at least 25 percent in the 

last 30 years, and data collected during 

submersible dives has shown a decline 

in both recruitment and relative 

abundance of legal-sized black coral 

colonies. The decline may be related to 

both fishing pressure and competition 

with the highly-invasive soft coral, 

Carijoa riisei, or snowflake coral, which 

has been found overgrowing large areas 

of black coral habitat. The potentiallydevastating snowflake coral, combined 

with fishing pressure, warrants 

management action and further 

research. 

This final rule designates the Au’au 

Channel Bed (Fig. 1) as an ‘‘Established 

Bed’’ with a harvest quota for black 

coral of 5,000 kg (11,023 lb) every two 

years. This quota applies in both 

Federal and State of Hawaii waters, and 

all other existing Federal restrictions 

continue to apply. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 13, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 47099 

For gold corals, the currentlyaccepted estimate of the linear growth 

rate is about 6.6 cm/yr, suggesting that 

large colonies are relatively young. 

These estimates are based on the 

assumption that growth rings are laid 

down annually, as in other precious 

corals (e.g., black and pink corals). 

Recent research on the aging of gold 

corals using radiometric dating, 

however, indicates that gold corals may 

grow at a much slower rate, possibly 

0.004 to 0.0014 cm/yr, making some 

samples 450–2,740 years old. These 

research results challenge current 

assumptions about gold coral growth 

rates, and indicate that some gold coral 

colonies are thousands of years old and, 

thus, highly-susceptible to overharvesting. This rule implements a fiveyear moratorium on the harvest of gold 

corals from all waters of the U.S. 

Exclusive Economic Zone of the western 

Pacific region. Additional research 

results on gold coral age structures, 

growth rates, and correlations between 

length and age will be considered by the 

Council and NMFS prior to expiration 

of the 5-year moratorium. 

Additional background information 

on this final rule may be found in the 

preamble to the proposed rule 

published on May 30, 2008 (73 FR 

31047), and is not repeated here. 

Comments and Responses 

On May 23, 2008, NMFS announced 

in the Federal Register the availability 

of Amendment 7 for public comments 

(73 FR 30038), and on May 30, 2008, 

NMFS published a proposed rule and 

request for public comments (73 FR 

31047). The public comment period for 

Amendment 7 ended on July 22, 2008, 

and the proposed rule comment period 

ended on July 14, 2008. NMFS did not 

receive any public comments on the 

proposed rule. 

Changes From the Proposed Rule 

This final rule updates Table 1 to 50 

CFR part 665 by adding the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

Islands (CNMI) Exploratory Area coral 

bed. In 2006, CNMI precious coral beds 

were classified as Exploratory Areas 

under the FMP (71 FR 53605, September 

12, 2006), but Table 1 was not updated 

to reflect the change. This inadvertency 

was identified only after the current 

proposed rule was published; this final 

rule corrects the error. 

Classification 

The Regional Administrator, Pacific 

Islands Region, NMFS, determined that 

Precious Corals FMP Amendment 7 is 

necessary for the conservation and 

management of precious corals, and that 

it is consistent with the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act and other applicable 

laws. 

This final rule has been determined to 

be not significant for purposes of 

Executive Order 12866. 

NMFS prepared a final regulatory 

flexibility analysis (FRFA). The FRFA 

incorporates the initial regulatory 

flexibility analysis (IRFA) prepared in 

support of the proposed rule, and a 

summary of the analyses completed to 

support the action, as follows: 

The reasons why action by the agency is 

being taken and the objectives of the action 

are explained in the preambles to the 

proposed rule and final rule, and are not 

repeated here. This action does not duplicate, 

overlap, or conflict with any other Federal 

rules. It is taken under authority of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act and regulations at 50 CFR 

part 665. 

IRFA Comments/responses. There were no 

comments received on the IRFA. 

There are three permitted vessels in the 

fishery for black coral, but only two have 

reported landings in Hawaii. Both vessels are 

considered to be small entities under the 

Small Business Administration definition of 

a small entity, i.e., they are engaged in the 

business of fish harvesting, are 

independently-owned or operated, are not 

dominant in their field of operation, and 

have annual gross receipts not in excess of 

$4 million. Therefore, there are no 

disproportionate economic impacts among 

large and small vessels based on this 

definition. 

Specific net revenues of individual vessels 

could not be analyzed due to confidentiality 

restraints, but recent black coral landings 

have generally increased. The potential 

economic impacts are discussed below. The 

fishery for gold coral also includes the same 

three vessels permitted to harvest black 

corals under a generic Precious Corals fishing 

permit issued by NMFS. However, these 

vessels are currently dormant in the gold 

coral fishery, with no identifiable harvest in 

2006, although modest commercial quotas of 

20 kg (44 lb) are specified for sites in the 

Main Hawaiian Islands and 67 kg (149 lb) for 

sites in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. 

This rule will reduce the harvests of black 

coral in the Au’au Channel, and, thus, could 

adversely affect both vessels currently 

engaged in the fishery. Due to confidentiality 

agreements, the amounts of the reductions 

both absolute and relative bases could not be 

reported here. This rule will also implement 

a 5-year moratorium on the harvest of gold 

corals. Because the gold coral fishery is 

currently dormant, this rule will have no 

immediate economic impact to vessels 

licensed to harvest gold corals. 

Any adverse economic impact resulting 

from the quota change to the black coral 

fishery could not be avoided because the 

objective of this rule is to ensure an 

economically sustainable fishery in the 

future. Therefore, NMFS has determined that 

there is no opportunity to both meet the 

objective of the Amendment 7 and lessen any 

adverse economic costs resulting from this 

rule. 

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, a 

small entity compliance guide was prepared 

and will be sent to all permit holders that 

have historic landings in the precious coral 

fishery. The guide and this final rule will be 

available upon request. 

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 665 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, American Samoa, Fisheries, 

Fishing, Guam, Hawaii, Hawaiian 

Natives, Northern Mariana Islands, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

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

Dated: August 7, 2008. 

James W. Balsiger, 

Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

■ For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 50 CFR part 665 is amended 

as follows: 

PART 665—FISHERIES IN THE 

WESTERN PACIFIC 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 665 

continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. In § 665.12, in the definition of 

‘‘Precious coral permit area’’, revise 

paragraph (1) to read as follows: 

§ 665.12 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

Precious coral permit area * * * 

(1) Established beds. (i) Makapu’u 

(Oahu), Permit Area E-B–1, includes the 

area within a radius of 2.0 nm of a point 

at 21°18.0′ N. lat., 157°32.5′ W. long. 

(ii) Au’au Channel (Maui), Permit 

Area E-B–2, includes the area west and 

south of a point at 21°10′ N. lat., 156°40′ 

W. long., and east of a point at 21° N. 

lat., 157° W. long., and west and north 

of a point at 20°45′ N. lat., 156°40′ W. 

long. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. In § 665.82, add a new paragraph 

(b)(5) to read as follows: 

§ 665.82 Prohibitions. 

* * * * * 

(b) * * * 


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47100 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 13, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

(5) In a bed that has been closed 

pursuant to §§ 665.85 or 665.90. 

* * * * * 

■ 4. Revise § 665.83 to read as follows: 

§ 665.83 Seasons. 

The fishing year for precious corals 

begins on July 1 and ends on June 30 the 

following year, except at the Makapu’u 

and Au’au Channel Beds, which have a 

two-year fishing period that begins July 

1 and ends June 30, two years later. 

■ 5. In § 665.85, revise paragraph (a) to 

read as follows: 

§ 665.85 Closures. 

(a) If the Regional Administrator 

determines that the harvest quota for 

any coral bed will be reached prior to 

the end of the fishing year, or the end 

of the 2-year fishing period at Makapu’u 

Bed or Au’au Channel Bed, NMFS shall 

publish a notice to that effect in the 

Federal Register and shall use other 

means to notify permit holders. Any 

such notice must indicate the reason for 

the closure, the bed being closed, and 

the effective date of the closure. 

* * * * * 

■ 6. Under Subpart F, add a new 

§ 665.90 to read as follows: 

§ 665.90 Gold coral harvest moratorium. 

Fishing for, taking, or retaining any 

gold coral in any precious coral permit 

area is prohibited through June 30, 

2013. 

■ 7. Revise Table 1 to Part 665 to read 

as follows: 

TABLE 1 TO PART 665—PRECIOUS CORAL QUOTAS

Type of coral bed Name of coral bed Harvest quota in kilograms Number of years 

Established Beds Au’au Channel Black: 5,000 2 

Makapu’u Pink: 2,000 2 

Gold: 0 (zero) -- 

Bamboo: 500 2 

Conditional Beds 180 Fathom Bank Pink: 222 1 

Gold: 67 1 

Bamboo: 56 1 

Brooks Bank Pink: 17 1 

Gold: 133 1 

Bamboo: 111 1 

Kaena Point Pink: 67 1 

Gold: 20 1 

Bamboo: 17 1 

Keahole Point Pink: 67 1 

Gold: 20 1 

Bamboo: 17 1 

Refugia Westpac All: 0 (zero) -- 

Exploratory Areas Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, CNMI, 

U.S. Pacific Remote Island Areas 

1,000 per area (all species combined except black corals) 1 

Notes: 

1. No fishing for coral is authorized in refugia. 

2. A moratorium on gold coral harvesting is in effect through June 30, 2013. 

[FR Doc. E8–18754 Filed 8–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 


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