[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 7, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9285-9287]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-3098]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[I.D. 012301A]


Western Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meetings and 
Hearing

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting/public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will 
hold its 108th meeting February 12 through February 15, 2001, in 
Honolulu, HI.

DATES: The Council's Standing Committees will meet on February 12, 
2001, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The full Council meeting will be held 
on February 13, 2001, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and February 14 and 15, 
2001, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. A public hearing will be held on 
February 13, 2001, at 4 p.m. on a framework amendment to extend the 
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) lobster fishery closure. See 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for specific dates and times for these 
meetings and the hearing.

ADDRESSES: The Council meeting, Standing Committee meetings, and public 
hearing will be held at the Ala Moana Hotel, 410 Atkinson Drive, 
Honolulu, HI; telephone: 808-955-4811.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director; 
telephone: 808-522-8220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Dates and Times

Committee Meetings

    The following Standing Committees of the Council will meet on 
February 12, 2001. Enforcement/Vessel Monitoring

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System (VMS) from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.; International Fisheries/
Pelagics from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; Executive/Budget and Program 
from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Precious Corals from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.; 
Crustaceans from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.; Bottomfish from 3 p.m. to 4:30 
p.m; Ecosystem and Habitat from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Fishery Rights 
of Indigenous People from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Public Hearing

    A public hearing will be held on February 13, 2000, at 4 p.m. on a 
framework amendment to extend the NWHI lobster fishery closure.
    The agenda during the full Council meeting will include the items 
listed below. In addition, the Council will hear recommendations from 
its advisory panels, plan teams, scientific and statistical committee, 
and other ad hoc groups. Public comment periods will be provided 
throughout the agenda. The order in which agenda items are addressed 
may change. The Council will meet as late as necessary to complete 
scheduled business.

Agenda

1. Introductions

2. Approval of Agenda

3. Approval of 107th Meeting Minutes

4. Island Reports

    A. American Samoa
    B. Guam
    C. Hawaii
    D. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)

5. Federal Fishery Agency and Organization Reports

    A. Department of Commerce
    (1) NMFS
    (a) Southwest Region, Pacific Island Area Office
    (b) Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla and Honolulu 
Laboratories
    (2) NOAA General Counsel, Southwest Region
    B. Department of the Interior
    (1) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
    C. U.S. State Department

6. Enforcement

    A. U.S. Coast Guard activities
    B. NMFS activities
    C. Commonwealth, Territories, and State activities
    D. Report on State/NMFS/USCG meeting
    E. Cooperative agreements for Guam/CNMI
    F. Status of violations

7. VMS

    A. Hawaii VMS report
    B. Report on national VMS efforts
    C. Assessment of VMS needs in American Samoa, Guam, CNMI

8. Precious Corals

    A. Status of 1999 framework amendment regarding new harvesting 
requirements
    B. Status of 2000 framework adjustment regarding Hawaiian Islands 
exploratory area quota increase
    C. Precious Coral draft environmental impact statement (EIS)

9. Bottomfish Fisheries

    A. Status of the stocks
    B. Status of the fishery: litigation, Biological Opinion (BO), 
observers
    C. Status of DEIS

10. Crustacean Fisheries

    A. Framework measure for closure of the fishery
    B. Status of spring research tagging charter
    C. Status of plans for 5-year review/technical review panel
    D. Status of DEIS
    E. Public hearing on a framework amendment to extend the NWHI 
lobster fishery closure.
    In early 2000, while developing the estimate of the annual 
exploitable lobster population and harvest guideline for the NWHI 
commercial lobster fishery, NMFS' scientists noted increasing 
uncertainty in model parameter estimates, as well as problems with the 
model assumptions, and concluded that the estimates may be inaccurate 
and should be used cautiously.
    The underlying concern with these population estimates revolves 
around the use of mixed species and spatially disaggregated data (i.e., 
under bank-specific harvest guidelines first implemented in 1998) in an 
algorithm designed to estimate aggregated, single species populations.
    Specific concerns surround the validity of the following 
assumptions of the model: that homogeneous population dynamics exist 
between banks; that there is constant recruitment throughout the NWHI; 
that the model's catchability estimates are correct; that natural 
mortality is constant irrespective of species, age, or sex; and that 
commercial catch per unit of effort (CPUE) is a reliable index of 
lobster abundance in the NWHI. Based on new information from research 
surveys, tagging data, and recent advances in NMFS' understanding, 
these assumptions have been increasingly called into question. 
Declining commercial CPUE in recent years suggests that lobster 
populations are not rebuilding. Based on the above problems, including 
reductions in both catches and catch rates, NMFS closed the NWHI 
commercial lobster fishery for the 2000 lobster season as a 
precautionary measure. NMFS scientists are continuing work to refine 
the model used to estimate exploitable populations, as well as to 
gather fishery independent data that can be used to reassess the 
model's assumptions and parameters. A charter tagging cruise is 
tentatively planned for the spring and a research cruise for the summer 
(if funding is available). Last year's emergency closure of the fishery 
was authorized under section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) based on recent 
data suggesting low recruitment in the fishery.

11. Pelagic Fisheries

    A. Fourth quarter 2000 Hawaii and American Samoa longline fishery 
report
    B. Turtle management
    (1) Pelagic DEIS: preferred alternative
    (2) BO, recommended measures
    C. Shark management: Amendment 9 blue shark quota following state 
and Federal finning bans.
    In July 2000, the Council sent NMFS Amendment 9 to its Fishery 
Management Plan for the Pelagics Fisheries of the Western Pacific 
Region (Pelagics FMP). Among the measures contained in the amendment 
was a 50,000 blue shark annual harvest guideline that was based on the 
average number of blue sharks caught and retained for finning, i.e., 
removing the fins from sharks and discarding the remainder of the 
carcasses at sea.
    However, a new Federal law was enacted in December, 2000, (the 
Shark Finning Prohibition Act), that amended the Magnuson-Stevens Act 
and banned the landing of shark fins without the accompanying shark 
carcasses throughout the United States. Consequently, the Council will 
revisit the provisions of Amendment 9 since the basis of the 50,000 
harvest guideline for blue sharks is no longer relevant and, in its 
present form, the amendment would only be partially approved by NMFS. 
The Council will review the amendment and consider several options, 
including a no-harvest guideline for blue sharks, maintaining the 
present 50,000 blue shark harvest guideline with a requirement 
specifying that carcasses must be landed with fins, or a new harvest 
guideline based on a potential directed fishery for blue sharks.

[[Page 9287]]

    D. Seabird management: USFWS BO regarding interactions with the 
Hawaii-based pelagic longline fishery
    E. Proposed Kingman Reef wildlife refuge: environmental assessment
    F. Hawaii offshore handline fishery and gear conflicts at Cross 
seamount
    G. Exclusion of purse-seine vessels from American Samoa 50 nautical 
mile (nm) closed area proposal
    In October 2000, the Council sent NMFS an FMP framework measure to 
its Pelagics FMP, that would establish a 50 nautical mile closed area 
around all the islands of American Samoa, in which U.S. pelagic fishing 
vessels <ls-thn-eq> 50 ft (15.24 m) in overall length would be 
prohibited from fishing. This would include large longline, purse 
seine, and trolling vessels. This measure, requested by American Samoa 
fishermen, is intended to protect the expanding small-scale artisanal 
longline fishery based on small 30-40 ft (9.1-12.2 m) outboard-powered 
catamarans. At the 107th Council Meeting in November 2000, the American 
Samoa Council members expressed the American Samoa government's desire 
that purse seine vessels be exempted from the terms of this management 
measure. The Council voted at the 107th meeting to discuss this 
exemption at the next Council meeting. The Council will review the 
framework measure and the options for exemption of purse seiners from 
the provisions of the 50 nm closed area.
    H. Re-categorization of Hawaii longline fishery under the Marine 
Mammal Protection Act

12. Ecosystems and Habitat

    A. Draft Coral Reef Ecosystems Fishery Management Plan and Draft 
EIS
    (1) Aspects for further discussion
    (2) Review of (initial) public and agency comments
    B. Impacts of Executive Order 13178 on NWHI fisheries: Fishery 
disaster relief

13. Fishery Rights of Indigenous People

    A. Eligibility criteria for Community Development Program 
bottomfish Mau zone permit
    B. Eligibility criteria for Community Demonstration Projects
    C. Local observer program update
    D. Hawaiian green sea turtle cultural and religious uses
    E. Status of Marine Conservation Plans

14. Program Planning

    A. Reauthorization of Magnuson-Stevens Act, ESA, and Antiquities 
Act
    B. Status of marine debris initiative
    C. Palmyra Atoll
    (1) Establishment of National Wildlife Refuge
    (2) Fisheries management and development
    D. Fishing activities, support operations at Midway Atoll National 
Wildlife Refuge
    E. Report on program planning activities
    F. Western Pacific Fisheries Information Network/Fisheries Data 
Coordinating Committee

15. Administrative Matters

    A. Administrative reports
    B. Upcoming meetings and workshops including the 109th Council 
meeting
    C. Advisory group member changes

16. Other Business

    Although non-emergency issues not contained in this agenda may come 
before the Council for discussion, those issues may not be the subject 
of formal Council action during this meeting. Council action will be 
restricted to those issues specifically listed in this document and any 
issue arising after publication of this document that requires 
emergency action under section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 
provided the public has been notified of the Council's intent to take 
final action to address the emergency.

Special Accommodations

    This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities. 
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids 
should be directed to Kitty M. Simonds, 808-522-8220 (voice) or 808-
522-8226 (fax), at least 5 days prior to the meeting date.

    Authority: 1801 et seq.

    Dated: February 1, 2001.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 01-3098 Filed 2-6-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S