Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 118 / Monday, June 22, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 29431 

Management Plan for the Reef Fish 

Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP). 

The FMP was prepared by the Gulf of 

Mexico Fishery Management Council 

and is implemented under the authority 

of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) by regulations 

at 50 CFR part 622. Those regulations 

set the commercial quota for deepwater 

grouper in the Gulf of Mexico at 1.02 

million lb (463,636 kg) for the current 

fishing year, January 1 through 

December 31, 2009. 

Under 50 CFR 622.43(a), NMFS is 

required to close the commercial fishery 

for a species or species group when the 

quota for that species or species group 

is reached, or is projected to be reached, 

by filing a notification to that effect with 

the Office of the Federal Register. Based 

on current statistics, NMFS has 

determined that the available 

commercial quota of 1.02 million lb 

(463,636 kg) for deepwater grouper will 

be reached on or before June 27, 2009. 

Accordingly, NMFS is closing the 

commercial deepwater grouper fishery 

in the Gulf of Mexico EEZ from 12:01 

a.m., local time, on June 27, 2009, until 

12:01 a.m., local time, on January 1, 

2010. The operator of a vessel with a 

valid commercial vessel permit for Gulf 

reef fish having deepwater grouper 

aboard must have landed and bartered, 

traded, or sold such deepwater grouper 

prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, June 27, 

2009. 

During the closure, the bag and 

possession limits specified in 50 CFR 

622.39(b) apply to all harvest or 

possession of deepwater grouper in or 

from the Gulf of Mexico EEZ, and the 

sale or purchase of deepwater grouper 

taken from the EEZ is prohibited. 

Vessels with commercial quantities of 

reef fish on board are prohibited from 

retaining a recreational bag limit. Thus 

a vessel may only have a commercial 

quantity of reef fish or a recreational bag 

limit of reef fish. The prohibition on 

sale or purchase does not apply to sale 

or purchase of deepwater grouper that 

were harvested, landed ashore, and sold 

prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, June 27, 

2009, and were held in cold storage by 

a dealer or processor. 

Classification 

This action responds to the best 

available information recently obtained 

from the fishery. The Assistant 

Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, 

(AA), finds good cause to waive the 

requirement to provide prior notice and 

opportunity for public comment 

pursuant to the authority set forth at 5 

U.S.C. 553(b)(B) as such prior notice 

and opportunity for public comment is 

unnecessary and contrary to the public 

interest. Such procedures would be 

unnecessary because the rule itself has 

already been subject to notice and 

comment, and all that remains is to 

notify the public of the closure. 

Allowing prior notice and opportunity 

for public comment is contrary to the 

public interest because of the need to 

immediately implement this action to 

protect the fishery since the capacity of 

the fishing fleet allows for rapid harvest 

of the quota. Prior notice and 

opportunity for public comment would 

require time and would potentially 

result in a harvest well in excess of the 

established quota. 

For the aforementioned reasons, the 

AA also finds good cause to waive the 

30-day delay in the effectiveness of this 

action under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). 

This action is taken under 50 CFR 

622.43(a) and is exempt from review 

under Executive Order 12866. 

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

Dated: June 17, 2009. 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–14610 Filed 6–17–09; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

[Docket No. 090428799–9802–01] 

RIN 0648–XP82 

Fisheries off West Coast States; 

Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 

Closure of the Pacific Whiting Primary 

Fishery for the Mothership Sector 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Fishing restrictions. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces closure of 

the primary season for the mothership 

sector of the Pacific whiting fishery at 

10:00 p.m. local time (l.t.) June 1, 2009. 

The closure was necessary because the 

mothership sector was projected to 

reach its Pacific whiting harvest 

guideline. This action is authorized by 

regulations implementing the Pacific 

Coast Groundfish Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP), which governs the 

groundfish fishery off Washington, 

Oregon, and California. This action is 

intended to keep the harvest of Pacific 

whiting at the 2009 allocation levels. 

DATES: Effective from 10:00 p.m. l.t. 

June 1, 2009, until the start of the 2010 

primary season for the mothership 

sector, unless modified, superseded or 

rescinded. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Becky Renko at 206–526–6110. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

action is authorized by regulations 

implementing the Pacific Coast 

Groundfish Fishery Management Plan 

(FMP), which governs the groundfish 

fishery off Washington, Oregon, and 

California. The regulations at 50 CFR 

660.323(a) established separate 

allocations for the catcher/processor, 

mothership, and shore based sectors of 

the whiting fishery. The 2009 

commercial Optimum Yield (OY) for 

Pacific whiting is 81,939 mt. This is 

calculated by deducting the 50,000–mt 

tribal set-aside and 4,000–mt for 

research catch and bycatch in nongroundfish fisheries from the 135,939 

mt total catch OY. Each sector receives 

a portion of the commercial OY, with 

the catcher/processors getting 34 

percent (27,859 mt), motherships getting 

24 percent (19,665 mt), and the shorebased sector getting 42 percent (34,414 

mt). 

Regulations at 50 CFR 660.323 (c) 

provide that if the Regional 

Administrator determines that a portion 

of the tribal set-aside or another sector’s 

allocation will not be used during the 

year, the Regional Administrator can 

reapportion that Pacific whiting to other 

sectors in proportion to their initial 

allocations. At the Pacific Fishery 

Management Council’s March 2009 

meeting, the Makah Tribal 

representatives stated their intent to 

harvest only 23,789 mt of their 42,000 

mt set-aside and asked that the 

remaining 18,211 mt be reapportioned 

to the non-tribal sectors of the fishery. 

Therefore, the mothership sector 

received an additional 5,823 mt, 

resulting in a harvest guideline of 

24,034 mt. 

When each sector’s Pacific whiting 

harvest allocation or harvest guideline is 

reached, the primary season for that 

sector is ended. The mothership sector 

is composed of motherships and catcher 

vessels that harvest whiting for delivery 

to motherships. Motherships are vessels 

that process, but do not harvest, 

whiting. The regulations at 50 CFR 

600.323 (a)(3)(i) describe the primary 

season for vessels delivering to 

motherships as the period(s) when atsea processing is allowed and the 

fishery is open for the mothership 

sector. 

To prevent an allocation from being 

exceeded, regulations at 50 CFR 660.323 


erowe on PROD1PC63 with RULES
29432 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 118 / Monday, June 22, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 

(e) allows closure of the commercial 

whiting fisheries by actual notice to the 

fishery participants. Actual notice 

includes e-mail, internet, phone, fax, 

letter or press release. NMFS provided 

actual notice on June 1, 2009 by fax and 

internet. 

NMFS Action 

This action announces the closure of 

the Pacific whiting primary season for 

the mothership sector only. The best 

available information on June 1, 2009, 

indicated that the mothership harvest 

guideline would be reached by 10:00 

p.m. l.t. (2200 hours), June 1, 2009, at 

which time the primary season for the 

mothership sector ended and further atsea processing and receipt of whiting by 

a mothership, or taking and retaining, 

possessing, or landing of whiting by a 

catcher boat in the mothership sector, 

was prohibited. For the reasons stated 

above, and in accordance with the 

regulations at 50 CFR 660.323(b)(2), 

NMFS herein announces that effective 

10:00 p.m. l.t. June 1, 2009—(1) further 

receiving or at-sea processing of whiting 

by a mothership is prohibited. No 

additional unprocessed whiting may be 

brought on board after at-sea processing 

is prohibited, but a mothership may 

continue to process whiting that was on 

board before at-sea processing was 

prohibited, and (2) whiting may not be 

taken and retained, possessed, or landed 

by a catcher vessel participating in the 

mothership sector. 

Classification 

This action is authorized by the 

regulations implementing thegroundfish 

FMP. The determination to take these 

actions is based on the most recent data 

available. The aggregate data upon 

which the determinations are based are 

available for public inspectionat the 

office of the Regional Administrator (see 

ADDRESSES) during business hours. The 

Assistant Administrator for Fisheries 

(AA), NMFS, finds good cause to waive 

the requirement to provide prior notice 

and opportunity for comment on this 

action pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 (3)(b)(B), 

because providing prior notice and 

opportunity would be impracticable. It 

would be impracticable because if this 

restriction were delayed in order to 

provide notice and comment, it would 

allow the allocation for the mothership 

sector of the fishery to be greatly 

exceeded. 

A delay to provide a cooling off 

period also would be expected to cause 

the fishery to exceed its allocation. 

Therefore, good cause also exists to 

waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness 

requirement of 5 U.S.C. 553 (d)(3). 

This action is taken under the 

authority of 50 CFR 660.323(b)(4), and 

is exempt from review under Executive 

Order 12866. 

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

Dated: June 16, 2009. 

Kristen C. Koch, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–14609 Filed 6–19–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 


erowe on PROD1PC63 with RULES