51382 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 213 / Monday, November 6, 2017 / Proposed Rules 

notification in the Federal Register that 

the amendment is available for public 

review and comment. NMFS will 

consider the public comments received 

during the comment period described 

above in determining whether to 

approve, disapprove, or partially 

approve Amendment 16. 

In recent years the primary directed 

fishery for Pacific sardine has 

experienced extremely shortened 

fishing seasons or complete fishing year 

closures. However, the CPS FMP allows 

incidental catch of CPS and live bait 

fishing to continue when directed 

fisheries are closed, provided the Pacific 

sardine stock is not overfished or 

experiencing overfishing. These small 

allowances continue to be subject to 

ACLs and comport with the 

conservation goals of the CPS FMP. 

Management measures for incidental 

landing allowances are typically 

expressed as allowable percentages of 

that species in a landing of the 

dominant species catch. However, 

during the directed fishing closures 

some other very small-scale fisheries 

have been precluded from fishing and/ 

or harvesting even de minimis amounts 

because they would exceed existing 

incidental allowances or they are not 

caught incidental to another CPS 

species (i.e., within allowances) and the 

fish are not sold as live bait. In the case 

of Pacific sardine, these small-scale CPS 

fisheries typically sell their catch as 

specialty dead bait to recreational and 

commercial fisheries, or as fresh fish to 

restaurants and the public. For example, 

landings by a beach seine operation may 

often be over 50 percent sardine, which 

would exceed typically incidental 

landing allowances, yet total only a few 

hundred pounds. Pursuant to a request 

from the Council at their April 2016 

meeting, the Coastal Pelagic Species 

Management Team (CPSMT) explored 

management options to account for 

these small-scale fisheries that have 

been negatively impacted by the closure 

of the directed sardine fishery. 

At the April 2017 Council meeting, 

the Council adopted Amendment 16 to 

the CPS FMP to allow minor directed 

fishing to continue after a directed 

fishery is closed. Minor directed fishing 

would be allowed unless otherwise 

specified, or if an applicable ACL is 

anticipated to be exceeded. As a further 

restriction, to ensure the minor directed 

landing provision is not exploited to 

make large aggregate harvests, 

Amendment 16 limits this directed 

fishing exemption so that landings 

cannot exceed 1 metric ton (mt) per day 

per vessel or person, and which is 

limited to one fishing trip per day by 

any vessel. The intent of distinguishing 

between a ‘‘vessel’’ and ‘‘person’’ is that 

some participants in this small sector of 

the CPS fishery fish from a platform 

other than a vessel (e.g. beach seine) and 

in a single fishing trip (e.g. a single haul 

of a beach seine) may only land a few 

hundred pounds. Therefore, the Council 

recommended allowing a person to 

make multiple fishing trips without 

using a vessel in a single day as long as 

their total landings do not exceed 1 mt 

in a day. The Council recommended 

that vessels be limited to a single trip as 

their typical landings are much greater 

per trip. 

Public comments on Amendment 16 

must be received by January 5, 2018. 

The Council has also submitted 

proposed regulations to implement 

Amendment 16 for Secretarial review 

and approval. NMFS expects to publish 

and request public comment on the 

proposed regulation to implement 

Amendment 16 in the near future. 

Public comments on Amendment 16 

must be received by the end of the 

comment period to be considered in the 

approval/disapproval decision on 

Amendment 16. All comments received 

by the end of the comment period on 

Amendment 16, whether specifically 

directed to Amendment 16 or the 

proposed rule, will be considered in the 

approval/disapproval decision. 

Comments received after that date will 

not be considered in the approval/ 

disapproval decision of Amendment 16. 

To be considered, comments must be 

received by close of business on the last 

day of the comment period; that does 

not mean postmarked or otherwise 

transmitted by that date. 

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

Dated: November 1, 2017. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–24097 Filed 11–3–17; 8:45 am] 

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Chapter I 

[Docket Nos. FWS–HQ–ES–2015–0126 and 

FWS–HQ–ES–2015–0165; 

FXES11140900000–178–FF09E33000] 

Mitigation Policies of the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service; Request for 

Comments 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Policy review; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), are 

requesting public comment on portions 

of our existing Mitigation Policy and 

Endangered Species Act Compensatory 

Mitigation Policy (ESA–CMP). We 

specifically request comment on the 

policies’ mitigation planning goals. 

Based on comments received, the 

Service will decide whether and how to 

revise the policies. 

DATES: We will accept comments from 

all interested parties until January 5, 

2018. Please note that if you are using 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see 

ADDRESSES below), the deadline for 

submitting an electronic comment is 

11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on 

this date. 

ADDRESSES:

Document availability: The Service’s 

Mitigation Policy was published 

November 21, 2016, at 81 FR 83440 and 

is available at https://www.regulations.

gov at Docket No. FWS–HQ–ES–2015– 

0126. The Service’s ESA–CMP was 

published December 27, 2106, at 81 FR 

95316 and is available at https://www.

regulations.gov at Docket No. FWS–HQ– 

ES–2015–0165. 

Comment submission: You may 

submit comments by one of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, 

enter the docket number for the policy, 

which is FWS–HQ–ES–2015–0126 for 

the mitigation policy and FWS–HQ–ES– 

2015–0165 for the ESA–CMP. You may 

enter a comment by clicking on the 

‘‘Comment Now!’’ button. Please ensure 

that you have found the correct 

document before submitting your 

comment. 

• U.S. mail or hand delivery: Public 

Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 

[FWS–HQ–ES–2015–0126 or FWS–HQ– 

ES–2015–0165]; Division of Policy, 

Performance, and Management 

Programs; U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service; MS: BPHC; 5275 Leesburg Pike, 

Falls Church, VA 22041–3803. 

We will post all comments on https:// 

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post any personal 

information you provide us (see Request 

for Information below for more 

information). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Craig Aubrey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Division of Environmental 

Review, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls 

Church, VA 22041–3803, telephone 

703–358–2442. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 


Pmangrum on DSK3GDR082PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 213 / Monday, November 6, 2017 / Proposed Rules 51383 

Background 

The Mitigation Policy (81 FR 83440, 

November 21, 2016) and the ESA–CMP 

(81 FR 95316, December 27, 2016) were 

developed to ensure consistency with 

existing directives in effect at the time 

of issuance, including former President 

Obama’s Memorandum on Mitigating 

Impacts on Natural Resources From 

Development and Encouraging Related 

Private Investment (November 3, 2015). 

The Presidential Memorandum directed 

all Federal agencies that manage natural 

resources to avoid and then minimize 

harmful effects to land, water, wildlife, 

and other ecological resources (natural 

resources) caused by land- or waterdisturbing activities, and to ensure that 

any remaining harmful effects are 

effectively addressed, consistent with 

existing mission and legal authorities. 

Also, under the memorandum, all 

Federal mitigation policies were 

directed to clearly set a net-benefit goal 

or, at minimum, a no-net-loss goal for 

natural resources, wherever doing so is 

allowed by existing statutory authority 

and is consistent with agency mission 

and established natural resource 

objectives. The Presidential 

Memorandum was subsequently 

rescinded by Executive Order 13783, 

‘‘Promoting Energy Independence and 

Economic Growth’’ (March 28, 2017). 

The 2016 policies also described their 

consistency with the Secretary of the 

Interior’s Order 3330 on Improving 

Mitigation Policies and Practices of the 

Department of the Interior (October 31, 

2013), which established a Departmentwide mitigation strategy to ensure 

consistency and efficiency in the review 

and permitting of infrastructuredevelopment projects and in conserving 

natural and cultural resources. The 

Secretary’s Order was subsequently 

revoked by Secretary of the Interior’s 

Order 3349 on American Energy 

Independence (March 29, 2017). It 

directed Department of the Interior 

bureaus to reexamine mitigation 

policies and practices to better balance 

conservation strategies and policies 

with job creation for American families. 

Mitigation Planning Goal 

The Mitigation Policy articulated 

general policy and principles intended 

to guide Service-recommended 

mitigation across Service programs. 

These principles were in turn adopted 

by the ESA–CMP. Included among the 

principles was an overall mitigation 

planning goal of net conservation gain: 

The Service’s mitigation planning goal is to 

improve (i.e., a net gain) or, at minimum, to 

maintain (i.e., no net loss) the current status 

of affected resources, as allowed by 

applicable statutory authority and consistent 

with the responsibilities of action proponents 

under such authority. As informed by 

established conservation objectives and 

strategies, Service mitigation 

recommendations will focus primarily on 

important, scarce, or sensitive resources, and 

will specify the means and measures that 

achieve the planning goal. 

When the Service published both the 

draft Mitigation Policy and draft ESA– 

CMP for public comment, many 

commenters addressed the policies’ 

mitigation planning goals. Comments on 

the proposed Mitigation Policy may be 

viewed here: https://www.

regulations.gov/docketBrowser?rpp=

25&po=0&dct=PS&D=FWS-HQ-ES2015-0126&refD=FWS-HQ-ES-2015- 

0126-0001. Comments on the proposed 

ESA–CMP may be viewed here: https:// 

www.regulations.gov/docketBrowser

?rpp=25&po=0&dct=PS&D=FWS-HQES-2015-0165&refD=FWS-HQ-ES-2015-

0165-0001. The Service addressed these 

comments within the documents for the 

final policies. 

This document announces the 

Service’s intent to solicit additional 

input regarding whether to retain or 

remove net conservation gain as a 

mitigation planning goal within our 

mitigation policies. 

Request for Information 

We ask that comments specifically 

address the advisability of retaining or 

removing references to net conservation 

gain from the Service’s overall 

mitigation planning goal within each 

policy. We further ask that commenters 

submit comments to one or the other 

docket based on the specific policy of 

concern (the Mitigation Policy or the 

ESA–CMP). 

We will consider information and 

recommendations from all interested 

parties. We therefore invite comments, 

information, and recommendations from 

governmental agencies, Indian Tribes, 

the scientific community, industry 

groups, environmental interest groups, 

and any other interested parties. All 

comments and materials received by the 

date listed above in DATES will be 

considered prior to any proposed 

modification to the policies. 

If you submit information via https:// 

www.regulations.gov, your entire 

submission—including any personal 

identifying information—will be posted 

on the Web site. If your submission is 

made via a hardcopy that includes 

personal identifying information, you 

may request at the top of your document 

that we withhold this information from 

public review. However, we cannot 

guarantee that we will be able to do so. 

We will post all hardcopy submissions 

on https://www.regulations.gov. 

Next Steps 

After the comment period closes, we 

will determine whether and how to 

revise the policies in response to the 

public input regarding the requested 

information. We will also update the 

policies to remove specific references to 

the Presidential Memorandum that was 

rescinded by Executive Order 13783 and 

to Secretary of the Interior’s Order 3330 

that was revoked by the subsequent 

Order 3349. 

Dated: October 4, 2017. 

Gregory Sheehan, 

Principal Deputy Director, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23965 Filed 11–3–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 


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