National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration July 13, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scallop Committee in July, 2006 to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

The proposed rule would implement measures adopted by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to facilitate conservation and management of AMLR. The proposed rule would require the use of the Centralized satellite-linked vessel monitoring system by all U.S. vessels harvesting AMLR and would be a condition of import for all U.S. dealers seeking to import shipments of toothfish (Dissostichus) into the United States. This proposed rule would also exempt all shipments of fresh toothfish from the NMFS preapproval process and allow importers of frozen toothfish to submit the U.S. Customs 7501 entry number subsequent to their initial application for preapproval. The proposed rule would require the use of Electronic Catch Documents, after a 60-day transition period, for all U.S. dealers seeking to import shipments of toothfish into the United States. Paper-based catch documents for toothfish would no longer be accepted. The proposed rule would also require the use of a seal excluder device on krill vessels using trawl gear in the Area of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (Convention Area). The proposed rule would add or amend definitions of ``Antarctic marine living resources'', ``export'', ``import'', ``international observer'', ``land or landing'', ``mobile transceiver unit'', ``national observer'', ``Office for Law Enforcement (OLE)'', ``Port State'', ``re-export'', ``seal excluder device'', ``transship or transshipment'', and ``vessel monitoring system (VMS)''. The proposed rule would also expand the list of requirements and prohibitions regarding scientific observers and clarify the duties and responsibilities of the observers on the vessels and of the vessel owners hosting the observers. The proposed rule identifies new information on all vessels licensed by CCAMLR Members to harvest AMLR in the area identified in the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (Convention). The intent of this rule is to incorporate new conservation measures, to revise procedures to facilitate enforcement, and to fulfill U.S. agreements in CCAMLR.