Department of Commerce February 7, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that Daniel P. Costa, Ph.D., Department of Biology and Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 has been issued a permit to conduct research on pinnipeds in Antarctica and California.

On January 30, 2007, NMFS published a final rule implementing 2007 specifications and management measures for Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish (MSB) and modifying existing management measures. The preamble to the final rule contains Table 1 announcing the specifications for Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish fisheries for the 2007 fishing year. Table 2 of the preamble to the final rule announces the trimester allocation of the Loligo squid quota in 2007. The headings to both tables inadvertently indicated that the specifications and allocation for 2007 were ``proposed'' rather than ``final''. This document corrects those errors.

This final rule will implement additional handling, release, and disentanglement requirements for sea turtles and other non-target species caught in the commercial shark bottom longline (BLL) fishery. These requirements increase the amount of handling, release, and disentanglement gear that are required to be on BLL vessels and are intended to reduce post hooking mortality of sea turtles and other non- target species consistent with the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This final rule will also implement management measures, consistent with those recommended by the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (CFMC) and implemented by NMFS on October 28, 2005, that prohibit vessels issued HMS permits with BLL gear onboard from fishing in six distinct areas off the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, year-round. These six closures are intended to minimize adverse impacts to Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for reef- dwelling species.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

NMFS issues a proposed rule that would implement Amendment 85 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP) and that would implement recent changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). If approved, Amendment 85 would modify the current allocations of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) among various harvest sectors and seasonal apportionments thereof. This action also would establish a hierarchy for reallocating projected unharvested amounts of Pacific cod from certain sectors to other sectors, revise catcher/ processor sector definitions, modify the management of Pacific cod incidental catch that occurs in other groundfish fisheries, eliminate the Pacific cod nonspecified reserve, adjust the seasonal allowances of Pacific cod, subdivide among sectors the annual prohibited species catch (PSC) limits currently apportioned to the Pacific cod trawl and nontrawl fisheries, and modify the sideboard restrictions for American Fisheries Act (AFA) catcher/processor (CP) vessels. In addition, this proposed rule would increase the percentage of the BSAI Pacific cod TAC apportioned to the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program. Amendment 85 is necessary to reduce uncertainty about the availability of yearly harvests within sectors caused by reallocations, and to maintain stability among sectors in the BSAI Pacific cod fishery. This would be accomplished by establishing allocations that more closely reflect historical use by sector than do current allocations while considering socioeconomic and community factors, thus reducing the need for reallocations during the fishing year (inseason). This proposed rule also is necessary to partially implement recent changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Act that require a total allocation of 10.7 percent of the TAC of each directed fishery to the CDQ Program starting January 1, 2008. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.