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CFR Citation: 50 CFR Part 660

RIN ID: RIN 0648-AR36

DOCUMENT ID: [I.D. 081103A]

NOTICE: PROPOSED RULES

ACTION: Fishery conservation and management:

DOCUMENT ACTION: Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management plan; request for comments.

SUBJECT CATEGORY: Fisheries off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Amendment 16-1

DATES: Comments on Amendment 16-1 must be received on or before October 17, 2003.

DOCUMENT SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 161 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Secretarial review. Amendment 161 would set a process and standards by which the Council will specify rebuilding plans for groundfish stocks declared overfished by the Secretary of Commerce. Amendment 161 is intended to ensure that Pacific coast groundfish overfished species rebuilding plans meet the requirements of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MagnusonStevens Act) in particular National Standard 1 on overfishing and Sec. 304(e), which addresses rebuilding overfished fisheries. Amendment 161 is also intended to partially respond to a Court order in which NMFS was ordered to provide Pacific Coast groundfish rebuilding plans as FMPs, FMP amendments, or regulations, per the MagnusonStevens Act.

SUMMARY: West Coast States and Western Pacific fisheries—; Pacific Coast groundfish,

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

This Federal Register document is also accessible via the internet at the website of the Office of the Federal Register's website at: http://www/access/gpo.gov/su_docs/aces140.html.

The MagnusonStevens Act requires each regional fishery management council to submit fishery management plans or plan amendments to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial approval. The MagnusonStevens Act also requires NMFS, immediately upon receiving a fishery management plan or plan amendment, to publish notification in the Federal Register that the fishery management plan or plan amendment is available for public review and comment. At the end of the comment period, NMFS considers the public comments received during the comment period described above in determining whether to approve, partially approve, or disapprove the fishery management plan or plan amendment.

Amendment 161 would set a process and standards by which the Council will specify rebuilding plans for groundfish stocks declared overfished by the Secretary of Commerce. Amendment 161 is intended to ensure that Pacific Coast groundfish overfished species rebuilding plans meet the requirements of the MagnusonStevens Act in particular National Standard 1 on overfishing and Sec. 304(e), which addresses rebuilding overfished fisheries. Amendment 161 is also intended to partially respond to a Court order in Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Evans, 168 F. Supp. 2d 1149 (N.D. Cal 2001,) in which NMFS was ordered to provide Pacific Coast groundfish rebuilding plans as FMPs, FMP amendments, or regulations, per the MagnusonStevens Act. Amendment 161 will be followed by Amendment 162, which was adopted by the Council at its June 2003 meeting. If approved, Amendment 162 would implement rebuilding plans for canary rockfish, darkblotched rockfish, lingcod, and Pacific ocean perch.

Under Amendment 161, initial rebuilding plans for overfished species would be incorporated into the FMP via FMP amendments and implemented through Federal regulations. The two rebuilding parameters that control the establishment of the annual or biennial optimum yield of each overfished species would be codified in the Code of Federal Regulations. If, after a new stock assessment, the Council and NMFS conclude that these should be revised, the revision will be done through a notice and comment rulemaking, and the updated values codified in the Code of Federal Regulations. Amendment 161 would also set standards for the frequency of Council review of rebuilding plans such that whenever the species in question has a new stock assessment, the plan will be reviewed for whether it is expected to achieve the population size and structure to support maximum sustainable yield within the plan's rebuilding period. Rebuilding plans would be reviewed at least every 2 years for their effects on fishing communities, for their distribution of conservation burdens, for the need to protect habitat, and for public awareness of rebuilding programs. Individual species rebuilding plans would also identify planspecific standards for determining whether and when the progress of rebuilding for that particular species has been adequate. Finally, Amendment 161 requires that, if a species managed under a rebuilding plan is listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), jeopardy standards or a recovery plan under the ESA would take precedence over the rebuilding plan if they were to establish higher rebuilding and/or recovery standards than those in the rebuilding plans. Beyond these substantive revisions to the FMP, Amendment 161 also includes a series of lesser, primarily editorial, changes to the FMP. These minor technical additions, corrections, and changes update FMP definitions, update references to management parameters, rearrange portions of different FMP chapters so that they read more logically, and update different sections of the FMP to require in the FMP, rather than just in Federal regulations, the existing federal observer program for groundfish fisheries.

Public comments on Amendment 161 must be received by October 17, 2003, to be considered by NMFS in the decision whether to approve, disapprove, or partially approve Amendment 161. A proposed rule to implement Amendment 161 has been submitted for Secretarial review and approval. NMFS expects to publish and request public comments on proposed regulations to implement Amendment 161 in the near future.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et. seq.
[[Page 49416]]

Dated: August 13, 2003.
Bruce C. Morehead,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 0321069 Filed 81503; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 351022S

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Yvonne deReynier (Northwest Region, NMFS), phone: 2065266150; fax: 2065266736 and; email:
yvonne.dereynier@noaa.gov.