Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 124 / Tuesday, June 30, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 31199 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program No. 93.778, Medical Assistance 

Program) 

Dated: June 5, 2009. 

Charlene Frizzera, 

Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services. 

Approved: June 17, 2009. 

Kathleen Sebelius, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E9–15347 Filed 6–29–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 071130780–8013–02] 

RIN 0648–XQ05 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

Provisions; Fisheries of the 

Northeastern United States; Atlantic 

Sea Scallop Fishery; Closure of the 

Closed Area II Scallop Access Area to 

Scallop Vessels 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; closure. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces the closure 

of Closed Area II Scallop Access Area 

(CA II) to scallop vessels until June 15, 

2010. This closure is based on a 

determination by the Northeast Regional 

Administrator (RA) that scallop vessels 

will have caught the yellowtail flounder 

(yellowtail) total allowable catch (TAC) 

for the CA II by June 29, 2009. Effective 

0001 hours, June 29, 2009, vessels may 

not fish for scallops in the CA II. Vessels 

on a CA II scallop trip at the time of this 

announcement must leave the CA II 

prior to 0001 hour, June 29, 2009. This 

action is being taken to prevent the 

scallop fleet from exceeding the 

yellowtail TAC allocated to the CA II for 

the 2009 scallop fishing year in 

accordance with the regulations 

implementing the Atlantic Sea Scallop 

Fishery Management Plan (FMP), 

Northeast (NE) Multispecies FMP and 

the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act. 

DATES: The closure of the CA II to all 

scallop vessels is effective 0001 hr local 

time, June 29, 2009, until June 15, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Don 

Frei, Fishery Management Specialist, 

(978) 281–9326, fax (978) 281–9135. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Commercial scallop vessels fishing in 

access areas are allocated 9.8 percent of 

the annual yellowtail TACs established 

in the (NE) Multispecies FMP. Given 

current fishing effort by scallop vessels 

in the CA II, the RA has made a 

determination that the CA II yellowtail 

TAC of 349,358 lb (148.47 mt) is 

projected to be caught on June 29, 2009. 

Pursuant to 50 CFR 648.60(a)(5)(ii)(C) 

and 648.85(c)(3)(ii), this Federal 

Register notice notifies scallop vessel 

owners that, effective 0001 hours on 

June 29, 2009, federally permitted 

scallop vessels are prohibited from 

declaring or initiating a trip into the CA 

II until June 15, 2010. 

If a vessel with a limited access 

scallop permit has an unused trip(s) into 

CA II, it will be allocated 7.9 additional 

open areas days-at-sea (DAS) for each 

unused trip. If a vessel has been 

allocated a broken trip compensation 

trip that cannot be made, it will be 

allocated prorated open area DAS based 

on the remaining allocation and the 

above listed access area DAS conversion 

rate. For example, if a full-time vessel 

had an unused 9,000–lb CA II 

compensation trip (half of the full 

possession limit) at the time of a CA II 

yellowtail TAC closure, the vessel will 

be allocated 3.95 DAS (half of the 7.9 

DAS that would be allocated for a full 

CA II trip). A separate letter will be sent 

to notify vessel owners of their 

allocations for unused trips in the CA II. 

Classification 

This action is required by 50 CFR part 

648 and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

Due to the need to take immediate 

action to close the CA II once the 

yellowtail TAC has been taken, 

pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3) proposed 

rulemaking is waived because it would 

be impracticable and contrary to the 

public interest to allow a period for 

public comment. The CA II opened for 

the 2009 fishing year on June 15, 2009 

Data indicating the scallop fleet has 

taken, or is projected to take, all of the 

CA II yellowtail TAC have only recently 

become available. To allow scallop 

vessels to continue to take trips in the 

CA II during the period necessary to 

publish and receive comments on a 

proposed rule would result in vessels 

taking more yellowtail than allocated to 

the scallop fleet. Excessive yellowtail 

harvest from CA II would result in 

excessive fishing effort on the Georges 

Bank yellowtail stock, where tight effort 

controls are critical for the rebuilding 

program. Should excessive fishing effort 

occur, future management measures 

may need to be more restrictive. Based 

on the above, under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), 

proposed rule making is waived because 

it would be impracticable and contrary 

to the public interest to allow a period 

for public comment. Furthermore, for 

the same reasons, there is good cause 

under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to waive the 

30-day delayed effectiveness period for 

this action. 

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

Dated: June 25, 2009 

Alan D. Risenhoover, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–15432 Filed 6–25–09; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

[Docket No. 090421699–91029–02] 

RIN 0648–XO74 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; 

Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; 

Annual Specifications Modification 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS issues this final rule to 

adjust the harvest specifications for 

Pacific sardine in the U.S. exclusive 

economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific 

coast for the fishing season of January 1, 

2009, through December 31, 2009. This 

final rule increases the tonnage of 

Pacific sardine allocated for industry 

conducted research from 1200 metric 

tons (mt) to 2400 mt and decreases the 

second and third period directed 

harvest allocations by 750 mt and 450 

mt, respectively. 

DATES: Effective July 1 through 

December 31, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Joshua Lindsay, Southwest Region, 

NMFS, (562) 980–4034. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

February 20, 2009, NMFS published a 

final rule implementing the harvest 

guideline (HG) and annual 

specifications for the 2009 Pacific 

sardine fishing season off the U.S. West 

Coast (74 FR 7826) under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act, 16 

U.S.C. 1801 et seq (Magnuson-Stevens 

Act). These specifications and 

associated management measures were 


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