52634 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 10, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

Flooding source(s) Location of referenced elevation 

* Elevation in feet 

(NGVD) 

+ Elevation in feet 

(NAVD) 

# Depth in feet 

above ground 

Modified 

Communities affected 

Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, and Incorporated Areas 

FEMA Docket No.: B–7726 

Chippewa River ........................ Approximately 1,800 feet upstream of county boundary .... +762 Eau Claire County (Unincorporated Areas). 

Approximately 800 feet downstream of Interstate Highway 

94.

+772 

Sherman Creek ......................... Approximately 1,500 feet upstream of the confluence with 

the Chippewa River.

+777 City of Eau Claire, Eau 

Claire County (Unincorporated Areas). 

Approximately 1,800 feet downstream of U.S. Highway 12 +888 

* National Geodetic Vertical Datum. 

+ North American Vertical Datum. 

# Depth in feet above ground. 

ADDRESSES 

City of Eau Claire 

Maps are available for inspection at City of Eau Claire, City Hall, 203 South Farwell Street, Eau Claire, WI 54702–5148. 

Eau Claire County (Unincorporated Areas) 

Maps are available for inspection at Eau Claire County Courthouse, 721 Oxford Avenue, Eau Claire, WI 54703–5481. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 

97.022, ‘‘Flood Insurance.’’) 

Dated: August 26, 2008. 

Michael K. Buckley, 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Mitigation, Department of Homeland 

Security, Federal Emergency Management 

Agency. 

[FR Doc. E8–20824 Filed 9–9–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–12–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 071212833–8179–02 ] 

RIN 0648–XK04 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 

Commercial Quota Harvested for 

Massachusetts 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Closure of commercial fishery. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

Atlantic bluefish commercial quota 

available to Massachusetts has been 

harvested. Vessels issued a commercial 

Federal fisheries permit for the Atlantic 

bluefish fishery may not land bluefish 

in Massachusetts for the remainder of 

calendar year 2008, unless additional 

quota becomes available through a 

transfer. Regulations governing the 

Atlantic bluefish fishery require 

publication of this notification to advise 

Massachusetts that the quota has been 

harvested and to advise vessel permit 

holders and dealer permit holders that 

no commercial quota is available for 

landing bluefish in Massachusetts. 

DATES: Effective 0001 hours, September 

10, 2008, through 2400 hours, December 

31, 2008. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Emily Bryant, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9244. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulations governing the Atlantic 

bluefish fishery are found at 50 CFR part 

648. The regulations require annual 

specification of a commercial quota that 

is apportioned on a percentage basis 

among the coastal states from Florida 

through Maine. The process to set the 

annual commercial quota and the 

percent allocated to each state is 

described in § 648.160. 

The initial Federal coastwide 

commercial quota for Atlantic bluefish 

for the 2008 calendar year was set equal 

to 4,787,000 lb (2,171 mt) (73 FR 9958, 

February 25, 2008). The initial 

commercial quota was adjusted by 

transferring 2,918,693 lb (1,324 mt) from 

the initial recreational allocation, 

resulting in a total commercial quota of 

7,705,244 lb (3,495 mt). The percent 

allocated to vessels landing bluefish in 

Massachusetts is 6.7167 percent, 

resulting in an initial commercial quota 

of 517,538 lb (235 mt). The 2008 

allocation was reduced to 516,619 lb 

(234 mt) (73 FR 9958, February 25, 

2008) due to 2008 research set-aside 

quota allocation. 

The regulations at § 648.161(b) require 

the Administrator, Northeast Region, 

NMFS (Regional Administrator), to 

monitor state commercial quotas and to 

determine when a state’s commercial 

quota has been harvested. NMFS then 

publishes a notification in the Federal 

Register to advise the state and to notify 

Federal vessel and dealer permit holders 

that, effective upon a specific date, the 

state’s commercial quota has been 

harvested and no commercial quota is 

available for landing bluefish in that 

state. The Regional Administrator has 

determined, based upon dealer reports 

and other available information, that 

Massachusetts has harvested its quota 

for calendar year 2008. 

The regulations at § 648.4(b) provide 

that Federal permit holders agree, as a 

condition of the permit, not to land 

bluefish in any state that the Regional 

Administrator has determined no longer 

has commercial quota available. 

Therefore, effective 0001 hours, 

September 10, 2008, further landings of 

bluefish in Massachusetts by vessels 

holding Atlantic bluefish commercial 

Federal fisheries permits are prohibited 

for the remainder of the 2008 calendar 

year, unless additional quota becomes 

available through a transfer and is 

announced in the Federal Register. 

Effective 0001 hours, September 10, 

2008, federally permitted dealers are 

also notified that they may not purchase 

bluefish from federally permitted 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 10, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 52635 

vessels that land in Massachusetts for 

the remainder of the calendar year, or 

until additional quota becomes available 

through a transfer. 

Classification 

This action is required by 50 CFR part 

648 and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

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

Dated: September 4, 2008. 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–20996 Filed 9–5–08; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 080627793–81063–02] 

RIN 0648–AW81 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

Provisions; Fisheries of the 

Northeastern United States; Monkfish 

Fishery; Framework Adjustment 6 to 

the Monkfish Fishery Management 

Plan 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS approves and 

implements new management measures 

for the monkfish fishery recommended 

in Framework Adjustment 6 

(Framework 6) to the Monkfish Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP), which has 

been submitted jointly by the New 

England (NEFMC) and Mid-Atlantic 

Fishery Management Councils 

(Councils). This action eliminates the 

backstop provision adopted in 

Framework Adjustment 4 (Framework 

4) to the FMP, which was implemented 

in October 2007. This provision would 

have adjusted, and possibly closed, the 

directed monkfish fishery in fishing 

year (FY) 2009 if the landings in FY 

2007 exceeded the target total allowable 

catch (TTAC) by more than 30 percent. 

Given that both stocks are rebuilt 

according to the most recent assessment, 

the backstop provision is no longer 

deemed necessary. 

DATES: This rule is effective October 10, 

2008. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the 

Environmental Assessment (EA), 

including the Regulatory Impact Review 

(RIR) and Initial Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis (IRFA), prepared for 

Framework 6 are available upon request 

from Paul Howard, Executive Director, 

NEFMC, 50 Water Street, Newburyport, 

MA, 01950. The document is also 

available online at www.nefmc.org. 

NMFS prepared a Final Regulatory 

Flexibility Analysis (FRFA), which is 

contained in the Classification section 

of this rule. The FRFA consists of the 

IRFA, public comments and responses 

contained in this final rule, and a 

summary of impacts and alternatives 

contained in this final rule. The small 

entity compliance guide is available 

from Patricia A. Kurkul, Regional 

Administrator, Northeast Regional 

Office, National Marine Fisheries 

Service, One Blackburn Drive, 

Gloucester, MA 01930 2298, and on the 

Northeast Regional Office’s website at 

http://www.nero.noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Emily Bryant, Fishery Management 

Specialist, phone (978) 281–9244, fax 

(978) 281–9135. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The monkfish fishery is jointly 

managed by the Councils, with the 

NEFMC having the administrative lead. 

The fishery extends from Maine to 

North Carolina, and is divided into two 

management units: The Northern 

Fishery Management Area (NFMA) and 

the Southern Fishery Management Area 

(SFMA). 

Framework 6 eliminates the backstop 

provision adopted in Framework 4. This 

backstop provision would have 

adjusted, and possibly closed, the 

directed monkfish fishery in 2009 if the 

landings in FY 2007 exceeded the TTAC 

by more than 30 percent. When 

Framework 4 was implemented, the 

biological reference points indicated 

that monkfish stocks were overfished 

and overfishing was occurring. In July 

2007, the Northeast Data Poor Stocks 

Working Group (DPWG) completed and 

accepted a new stock assessment that 

indicated neither stock is overfished, 

overfishing is no longer occurring, and 

both stocks are rebuilt based on a new 

modeling approach and newly 

recommended biomass reference points. 

Framework Adjustment 5, implemented 

in May 2008, adopted the revised 

reference points recommended by the 

DPWG and implemented other measures 

that will reduce the likelihood of TTAC 

overages in FY 2008 and beyond. 

Therefore, a stock rebuilding program 

for the monkfish fishery is no longer 

necessary, nor is the backstop provision. 

For a complete discussion of Framework 

6, refer to the preamble of the proposed 

rule for this action (73 FR 39643; July 

10, 2008). 

Technical Change to Monkfish FMP 

Regulations 

This rule would have corrected the 

regulations implementing the FMP, but 

the regulatory text for the backstop 

provision has already been removed 

from the regulations. The final rule 

implementing the Standardized Bycatch 

Recording Methodology (SBRM) 

Omnibus Amendment (73 FR 4736, 

January 28, 2008) inadvertently revised 

§ 648.96(b)(5) by deleting the majority of 

regulations pertaining to the backstop 

provision introduced by Framework 4. 

In addition, the SBRM adjustment to the 

monkfish regulations added text 

referencing the annual review process at 

§ 648.96(b)(5), which is now redundant 

with the existing text under § 648.96(a). 

Therefore, this action codifies the prior 

inadvertent removal of the backstop 

regulations and removes the redundant 

text under § 648.96(b)(5) referencing the 

annual review process. This action also 

adjusts § 648.96(b)(6) for the purpose of 

removing the only remaining reference 

to the TTAC overage backstop provision 

that was added through the final rule 

implementing Framework 4. 

Comments and Responses 

The public comment period on the 

proposed rule ended on August 11, 

2008, with three comments received 

from private individuals and one 

comment from the State of Maine 

Department of Marine Resources. 

Comment 1: One commenter generally 

opposed the removal of the backstop 

provision but did not provide any 

specific comments that are relevant to 

this action. 

Response: There is no scientific or 

legal basis for the commenter’s 

statements as monkfish are not currently 

subject to overfishing, nor in an 

overfished condition, based on the best 

scientific information available. 

Additionally, since both stocks are 

rebuilt, there is no longer a stock 

rebuilding program for monkfish. As 

such, the backstop provision is no 

longer necessary. 

Comment 2: One commenter 

supported the removal of the backstop 

provision, mentioning the economic 

impact on monkfish fishermen if the 

provision were retained. 

Response: NMFS acknowledges the 

commenter’s support of this measure 

and is aware of the economic impacts 

that would occur if the backstop 

provision had been implemented. 


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