National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration March 19, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS proposes Amendment 24 the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (FMP) to: specify a five-tier system for determining the status of the crab stocks managed under the FMP, establish a process for annually assigning each crab stock to a tier and for setting the overfishing and overfished levels, and reduce the number of crab stocks managed under the FMP. Amendment 24 is necessary to establish new overfishing definitions that contain objective and measurable criteria for determining whether each managed stock is overfished or whether overfishing is occurring and to remove several crab stocks managed by the State of Alaska from FMP management. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.

Notice is hereby given that the University of Wisconsin Extension, the WI Department of Administration's Coastal Management Program and the WI Department of Natural Resources with the support of the Estuarine Reserves Division of the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce, will hold a public hearing for the purpose of receiving comments on the preliminary recommendation that the St. Louis River Estuary be proposed for designation as a National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wisconsin. The state agencies will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. on April 3rd, 2008 at the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical CollegeSuperior Conference Center, 600 North 21st Street, Superior, WI 78701. The views of interested persons and organizations on the proposed site recommendation are solicited, and may be expressed orally and/or in written statements. An informational presentation on the St. Louis River Estuary and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) is scheduled for 7 p.m. All comments received at the hearing will be considered in a formal nomination by the state to NOAA. The NERRS is a federal-state partnership that is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The system protects more than 1.3 million acres of estuarine habitat for long-term research, monitoring, education and stewardship throughout the coastal United States. Established by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, each reserve is managed by a lead state agency or university, with input from local partners. NOAA provides funding and national programmatic guidance. The NERR site selection effort is a culmination of several years of local, grassroots support for a Wisconsin NERR on Lake Superior. The recommendation of the St. Louis site follows a year-long process to gather information about all of the freshwater estuaries on Lake Superior's south shore. The site selection process involved dozens of meetings with scientists, agency land managers, public officials and citizens.

NMFS proposes regulations to approve and implement Framework Adjustment 19 (Framework 19) to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP) which was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council). Framework 19 proposes the following management measures for the scallop fishery: Limited access scallop fishery specifications for 2008 and 2009 (open area days-at-sea (DAS) and Sea Scallop Access Area (access area) trip allocations); Elephant Trunk Access Area (ETAA) and Delmarva Access Area (Delmarva) in-season trip adjustment procedures; new Hudson Canyon Access Area (HCAA) measures; DAS allocation adjustments if an access area yellowtail flounder (yellowtail) total allowable catch (TAC) is caught; adjustments to the scallop overfishing definition; a prohibition on deckloading of scallops on access area trips; adjustments to the industry-funded observer program; a 30-day vessel monitoring system (VMS) power down provision; general category access area specifications for 2008 and 2009; and general category measures dependent on the implementation of Amendment 11 to the FMP as proposed by the Council, including a quarterly TAC, 2008 and 2009 general category quota allocations, and individual fishing quota (IFQ) permit cost recovery program requirements. NMFS will disapprove the Council's recommendation to eliminate the September 1 through October 31, ETAA seasonal closure, which was implemented under Framework 18 to the FMP to reduce sea turtle interactions with the scallop fishery. NMFS has determined that the Council's recommendation is not consistent with National Standard 2 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).