National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration May 9, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene its Special Coral Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC).

There are two shark tour operations based in Haleiwa. The operations are banned from operating in Hawaii State Waters. The staff of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene a public scoping meeting to: (1) gather comment on shark viewing operations in Federal waters, and (2) to disseminate and gather information on the Council's Community Based Management initiatives.

The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere has requested the NOAA Science Advisory Board (SAB) to conduct an external review of NOAA's hurricane intensity research and development enterprise. The SAB is chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act and is the only Federal Advisory Committee with the responsibility to advise the Under Secretary on long- and short-range strategies for research, education, and application of science to resource management and environmental assessment and prediction. The SAB is forming an external panel to conduct a review and draft recommendations that will lead to future generations of numerical hurricane model forecasts as well as improvements in operational forecasting. Nominations to the panel are being solicited. The intent is to select from the nominees; however, the SAB retains the prerogative to name people to the review team that were not nominated if it deems it necessary to achieve the desired balance. Once selected, the SAB will post the review panel members' names at https://www.sab.noaa.gov.

We, the NMFS, have completed a comprehensive status review of elkhorn (Acropora palmata) and staghorn (A. cervicornis) corals and determined that a petitioned action to list both species is warranted. We have determined that fused-staghorn coral (A. prolifera) is a hybrid and therefore does not warrant listing. We have made our determination based on the best scientific and commercial data available and efforts being made to protect the species, and we propose to place both elkhorn and staghorn corals on the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). We are announcing that hearings will be held at four locations in June to provide additional opportunities and formats to receive public input.