[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 115 (Wednesday, June 16, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 34092]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-14541]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 697
[Docket No. 0912011421-0200-01]
RIN 0648-AY41
Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions;
Weakfish Fishery
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; re-opening of comment period.
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SUMMARY: NMFS is reopening the comment period on the proposed rule to
set the commercial possession limit for weakfish caught in the
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) at 100 lb (45 kg) per day or trip,
whichever is longer in duration, and set the recreational possession
limit at 1 fish per person per day or trip, whichever is longer in
duration. The intent of the proposed rule is to modify regulations for
the Atlantic coast stock of weakfish to be more compatible with
Addendum IV to Amendment 4 of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission's (Commission) Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP)
for weakfish. Such action is authorized under the Atlantic Coastal
Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (Atlantic Coastal Act).
DATES: The deadline for written comments on the May 12, 2010 (75 FR
26703), proposed rule is re-opened. Comments will be accepted through
June 30, 2010.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 0648-AY41, by any
one of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Mail: Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Suite 13317, Silver Spring,
MD 20910, Attn: State-Federal Team. Mark the outside of the envelope:
AComments on Weakfish Addendum IV.@
Fax: (301) 713-0596, Attn: State-Federal Team.
Instructions: No comments will be posted for public viewing until
after the comment period has closed. All comments received are a part
of the public record and will generally be posted to http://regulations.gov without change. All Personal Identifying Information
(for example, name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the
commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information.
NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A in the required
fields, if you wish to remain anonymous). You may submit attachments to
electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF
file formats only.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Hooker, (301) 713-2334.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On November 3, 2009, the Commission adopted Addendum IV to
Amendment 4 to the ISFMP for Weakfish (Addendum IV), in response to the
stock status of weakfish. A recent peer-reviewed assessment found the
weakfish stock to be depleted, with spawning stock biomass estimated to
be three percent of an unfished stock, well below the 20-percent
threshold and 30-percent target reference points approved by the
Commission's Weakfish Management Board as part of Addendum IV. The
decline in biomass reflects a sustained rise in natural mortality after
1995, rather than an increase in fishing mortality, which has been
modest and stable over the same time period. In response to these
findings, the Commission's Weakfish Management Board approved
management measures to reduce exploitation of weakfish by more than 50-
percent in both the recreational and commercial sectors. Addendum IV
requires states to implement a one-fish recreational creel limit, 100
lb (45 kg) commercial trip limit, and 100 lb (45 kg) commercial bycatch
limit during closed seasons. Addendum IV maintains the current 12-inch
(30.5 cm) minimum size for weakfish, and reduces the number of
undersized fish that may be retained per commercial trip from 300 to
100 fish. The sale of undersized fish continues to be prohibited. In
implementing Amendment 4 to the weakfish plan, NMFS never adopted the
300 undersized fish exception to the 12-inch (30.5 cm) minimum fish
size in Federal waters. NMFS continues the policy of no exemptions to
the minimum size limit in the weakfish fishery here by not proposing a
100 undersized fish exception to the current minimum size limit in
Federal waters. The Commission recommended in Addendum IV that NMFS
promulgate all necessary regulations to implement complementary
measures to those approved in the addendum.
On May 12, 2010, NMFS published a proposed rule that would
implement compatible management measures in the EEZ in the Federal
Register (75 FR 26703) with a 30-day comment period that ended on June
11, 2010. NMFS received a request from the State of North Carolina to
extend the comment period for the proposed rule so that they could
complete an analysis of the economic impacts of the proposed rule on
North Carolina fisheries and submit that information as part of the
State's comments on the rule. This additional information would be
beneficial to our analysis of economic impacts of the proposed rule.
Therefore, to allow for additional public comment to be submitted
beyond the initial 30-day deadline, NMFS is reopening the comment
period on the proposed rule through June 30, 2010.
Dated: June 11, 2010.
Eric C. Schwab,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheies, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-14541 Filed 6-11-10; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S