50888 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 169 / Friday, August 29, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

RIN 0648–AR72 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Improved Retention/ 

Improved Utilization 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule: agency decision. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces the 

approval of Amendment 72 to the 

Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska. 

Amendment 72 amends the FMP to state 

that the Council will annually review 

information on the discard of shallowwater flatfish in Gulf of Alaska 

groundfish fisheries. After review of this 

annual information, the Council may 

recommend revisions to retention and 

utilization requirements if the discard 

rate for shallow-water flatfish falls 

above or below a specified threshold. 

This action is necessary to support the 

Council’s initiatives to monitor and 

reduce bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska 

groundfish fisheries. The intended effect 

of this action is to conserve and manage 

the groundfish resource in the Gulf of 

Alaska in accordance with the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act. 

DATES: This agency decision is effective 

on August 25, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of Amendment 72 

and the Categorical Exclusion for this 

action may be obtained from the NMFS 

Alaska Region website at http:// 

alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff 

Hartman, 907–586–7442. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires that 

each regional fishery management 

council submit any fishery management 

plan amendment it prepares to NMFS 

for review and approval, disapproval, or 

partial approval by the Secretary of 

Commerce. The Magnuson-Stevens Act 

also requires that NMFS, upon receiving 

a fisheries management plan 

amendment, immediately publish a 

notice in the Federal Register 

announcing that the amendment is 

available for public review and 

comment. 

The Council submitted Amendment 

72 to the Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP) 

to NMFS on May 15, 2008. The notice 

of availability (NOA) for Amendment 72 

was published in the Federal Register 

on May 28, 2008 (73 FR 30598). The 

public comment period closed on July 

28, 2008. NMFS received one public 

comment and considered this comment 

in determining whether to approve this 

FMP amendment. NMFS has 

summarized and responded to the 

public comment received in this notice 

under Response to Public Comments, 

below. 

In April 2003, the Council 

unanimously recommended 

Amendment 72 to the GOA FMP. The 

purpose of Amendment 72 is to 

annually provide the best available data 

to the Council on discards of shallowwater flatfish as a percentage of total 

groundfish catch by area and target 

fishery. Based on that data, the Council 

could review the effectiveness of 

existing Improved Retention/Improved 

Utilization (IR/IU) regulations for 

shallow-water flatfish, or consider 

recommendations to change IR/IU 

regulations for shallow-water flatfish. 

A Categorical Exclusion was prepared 

for Amendment 72 concluding that the 

amendment will not result individually 

or cumulatively in significant impacts 

on the quality of the human 

environment (see ADDRESSES). 

Response to Public Comments 

Comment 1: The commenter supports 

approval of Amendment 72, but notes 

an error in the NOA. The NOA 

incorrectly states that the shallow-water 

flatfish species group in the GOA 

includes flathead sole, which 

incorrectly implies that IR/IU 

requirements in the GOA apply to 

flathead sole. 

Response: NMFS agrees. Flathead sole 

is not included in the shallow-water 

flatfish species group, is not subject to 

IR/IU, and would not be included in a 

shallow-water flatfish discard data 

report to the Council. No change to the 

FMP amendment text is necessary 

because it does not list individual 

species in the shallow-water flatfish 

group. 

Dated: August 25, 2008. 

James W. Balsiger, 

Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–20162 Filed 8–28–08; 8:45 am] 

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