[Federal Register: January 8, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 5)]
[Notices]
[Page 798-800]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08ja09-18]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XM37
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish
Fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; intent to prepare an environmental assessment or an
environmental impact statement; request for written comments.
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SUMMARY: NMFS, in consultation with the North Pacific Fishery
Management Council, announces its intent to prepare either an
Environmental Assessment (EA) or an Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) on measures to minimize non-Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering
Sea, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
The proposed action would replace the current Chum Salmon Savings Area
in the Bering Sea, and the specific exemption to the area closure, with
new regulatory closures, salmon bycatch limits, or a combination of
both. The scope of the EA or EIS will be to determine the impacts to
the human environment resulting from the measures to minimize non-
Chinook salmon bycatch. NMFS will accept written comments from the
public to determine the issues of concern and the appropriate range of
alternatives for analysis.
DATES: Written comments must be received by March 23, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on issues and alternatives should be sent
to Sue Salveson, Assistant Regional Administrator, Sustainable
Fisheries Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn: Ellen Sebastian.
Comments may be submitted by:
E-mail: ChumSalmonBycatchEIS@noaa.gov. Include in the
subject line the following document identifier: ``RIN 0648-XM37''. E-
mail comments, with or without attachments, are limited to 5 megabytes;
Mail: P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802;
Hand Delivery to the Federal Building: 709 West 9th
Street, Room 420A, Juneau, AK; or
Fax: 907-586-7557.
All Personal Identifying Information (e.g., name, address)
voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be
[[Page 799]]
publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information.
NMFS will accept anonymous comments. Attachments to electronic
comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or
Adobe portable document file (pdf) formats only.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gretchen Harrington, (907) 586-7228.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery
Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the United
States has exclusive fishery management authority over all living
marine resources found within the exclusive economic zone. The
management of these marine resources, with the exception of certain
marine mammals and birds, is vested in the Secretary of Commerce. The
North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has the
responsibility to prepare fishery management plans for those marine
resources off Alaska requiring conservation and management. Management
of the Federal groundfish fishery in the Bering Sea is carried out
under the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and
Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). The FMP, its amendments, and
implementing regulations (found at 50 CFR part 679) are developed in
accordance with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other
applicable Federal laws and executive orders, notably the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The Council is considering new measures to minimize non-Chinook
salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery because of the
potential negative impacts on salmon stocks in general, and on western
Alaska salmon stocks in particular. Four species of salmon (sockeye,
coho, pink, and chum) are aggregated into a ``non-Chinook salmon''
species category for catch accounting and prohibited species catch
limits. Chum salmon comprises over 99.6% of the total catch in this
category. The majority of non-Chinook bycatch occurs in the pollock
trawl fishery during the B season (June 10 to November 1).
Historically, the portion of the non-Chinook bycatch from the pollock
trawl fishery has ranged from 88% to over 99.5% of all non-Chinook
salmon bycatch in the federal groundfish fisheries. Since 2002, bycatch
of non-Chinook salmon in the pollock fishery has comprised over 95% of
the total non-Chinook salmon bycatch.
From 1991 through 2002, the average annual bycatch in the Bering
Sea pollock fishery was 72,668 non-Chinook salmon. From 2003 through
2006, non-Chinook salmon bycatch numbers increased substantially to a
historic high of 704,989 non-Chinook salmon in 2005. Bycatch since 2006
has declined substantially, with a 2008 bycatch of 15,002 non-Chinook
salmon. The numbers of non-Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea
pollock fishery from 2003 through 2008 are shown in the following
table:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Year Number of non-Chinook
--------------------------------------------------------salmon----------
2003 195,135
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2004 440,692
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2005 704,989
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2006 309,676
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2007 94,349
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2008 15,002
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NMFS and the Council are initiating scoping in the event that an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is the required NEPA document for
the proposed action and its alternatives. We are seeking information
from the public through the scoping process on the range of
alternatives to be analyzed, and on the environmental, social, and
economic issues to be considered in the analysis. Written comments
generated during this scoping process will be provided to the Council
and incorporated into the EIS, or the EA if we determine that an EIS is
not required.
Chum Salmon Savings Area and Prohibited Species Catch Limit
The Chum Salmon Savings Area in the Bering Sea is a time-area
closure designed to reduce overall non-Chinook salmon bycatch in the
federal groundfish trawl fisheries. This time-area closure was adopted
based on historically observed salmon bycatch rates and was designed to
avoid areas and times of high non-Chinook salmon bycatch. The Chum
Salmon Savings Area is closed to pollock fishing from August 1 through
August 31 of each year. Additionally, if the prohibited species catch
limit of 42,000 non-Chinook salmon are caught by vessels using trawl
gear in the Catcher Vessel Operational Area during the period August 15
through October 14, the Chum Salmon Savings Area remains closed to
directed fishing for pollock for the remainder of the calendar year.
Non-CDQ and CDQ pollock vessels participating in an inter-
cooperative agreement (ICA) using the Voluntary Rolling Hotspot System
(VHRS) are exempted from closures of the Chum Salmon Savings Area. The
purpose of the VHRS ICA is to use real-time salmon bycatch information
to avoid areas of high non-Chinook salmon bycatch rates. The ICA
utilizes a system of base bycatch rates, assignment of vessels to tiers
based on bycatch rates relative to the base rate, a system of closures
for vessels in certain tiers, and monitoring and enforcement through
private contractual arrangements. The VRHS ICA was necessary because
comparisons of non-community development quota (non-CDQ) vessels
fishing outside of the salmon savings areas with CDQ vessels fishing
inside of the salmon savings areas indicated that salmon bycatch rates
were much higher outside of the savings areas, and closures were
displacing vessels to higher bycatch areas.
Proposed Action
The proposed action is to replace the current Chum Salmon Savings
Areas and the VRHS ICA regulations with new regulatory closures, salmon
bycatch limits, or a combination of both based on current salmon
bycatch information. The purpose of the proposed action is to minimize
non-Chinook salmon bycatch to the extent practicable while achieving
optimum yield from the pollock fishery. The proposed action is
necessary to ensure long-term conservation and abundance of salmon,
maintain a healthy marine ecosystem, provide maximum benefit to
fishermen and communities that depend on salmon and pollock, and comply
with the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
Alternative Management Measures
We will evaluate a range of alternative management measures for the
Bering Sea pollock fishery. Alternatives may be formulated based on the
elements identified here, and those developed through the public
scoping and Council processes. Possible alternatives could be
constructed from one or more of the following measures:
1. Hard Cap - Establish a hard cap for non-Chinook salmon bycatch
in the CDQ and non-CDQ pollock fisheries. The eight hard cap options
range from 58,176 to 488,045 non-Chinook salmon. Hard caps could be
apportioned to the CDQ and non-CDQ pollock fisheries or divided among
the fishery sectors. Sector level caps could be further divided among
the cooperatives. Fishery
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participants would be required to stop fishing when the hard cap is
reached.
2. Triggered area closure - Establish a salmon savings area closure
based on current salmon bycatch information. These closures would occur
once a specified cap level was reached.
Additional information about non-Chinook salmon bycatch and the
alternatives that the Council may consider may be found on the
Council's website at: http://www.alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/npfmc/
current_issues/bycatch/chumbycatch1208.pdf.
Preliminary Identification of Issues
A principal objective of the scoping and public input process is to
identify potentially significant impacts to the human environment. The
analysis will evaluate the impacts of the alternatives for all
resources, species, and issues that may be directly or indirectly
affected by non-Chinook salmon bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock
fisheries. The following components of the biological and physical
environment may be evaluated: (1) target and non-target fish stocks,
forage fish, and prohibited species, including salmon species; (2)
species listed under the ESA and their critical habitat; (3) seabirds;
(4) marine mammals; and (5) the ecosystem.
Social and economic impacts also would be considered in terms of
the effects that changes to non-Chinook salmon bycatch management
measures would have on the following groups of individuals: (1) those
who participate in harvesting pollock; (2) those who process and market
pollock and pollock products; (3) those who consume pollock products;
(4) those who rely on living marine resources caught in the management
area, particularly non-Chinook salmon; (5) those who benefit from
subsistence, commercial, and sport salmon fisheries; and (6) fishing
communities.
Public Involvement
Scoping is an early and open process for determining the scope of
issues to be addressed in an EA for EIS and for identifying the
significant issues related to the proposed action. A principal
objective of the scoping and public involvement process is to identify
a range of reasonable of management alternatives that will delineate
critical issues and provide a clear basis for distinguishing among
those alternatives and selecting a preferred alternative. Through this
notice, we are notifying the public that a NEPA analysis and decision-
making process for this proposed action has been initiated so that
interested or affected people may participate and contribute to the
final decision.
We are seeking written public comments on the scope of issues,
including potential impacts, and alternatives that should be considered
in revising non-Chinook salmon bycatch management measures. Written
comments will be accepted at the address above (see ADDRESSES). Written
comments should be as specific as possible to be the most helpful.
Written comments received during the scoping process, including the
names and addresses of those submitting them, will be considered part
of the public record of this proposal and will be available for public
inspection.
The public is invited to participate and provide input at Council
meetings where the latest scientific information regarding salmon
bycatch in the Bering Sea pollock fishery is reviewed and alternative
non-Chinook salmon bycatch reduction measures are developed and
evaluated. Notice of future Council meetings will be published in the
Federal Register and posted on the Internet at http://
alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/. Please visit this website for more
information on this proposed action and for guidance on submitting
effective public comments.
Dated: January 2, 2009.
Emily H. Menashes
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. E9-125 Filed 1-7-09; 8:45 am]
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