National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 9, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that Daniel P. Costa, Ph.D., Long Marine Laboratory, University of California at Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, California 95060, has been issued a minor amendment to Scientific Research Permit No. 87-1743.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 610 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2009 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock for Statistical Area 610 in the GOA.

We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), designate critical habitat for the threatened Southern distinct population segment of North American green sturgeon (Southern DPS of green sturgeon) pursuant to section 4 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Specific areas proposed for designation include: Coastal U.S. marine waters within 60 fathoms (fm) depth from Monterey Bay, California (including Monterey Bay), north to Cape Flattery, Washington, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington, to its United States boundary; the Sacramento River, lower Feather River, and lower Yuba River in California; the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun, San Pablo, and San Francisco bays in California; the lower Columbia River estuary; and certain coastal bays and estuaries in California (Humboldt Bay), Oregon (Coos Bay, Winchester Bay, Yaquina Bay, and Nehalem Bay), and Washington (Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor). This rule designates approximately 515 kilometer (km) (320 miles (mi)) of freshwater river habitat, 2,323 km\2\ (897 mi\2\) of estuarine habitat, 29,581 km\2\ (11,421 mi\2\) of marine habitat, 784 km (487 mi) of habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and 350 km\2\ (135 mi\2\) of habitat within the Yolo and Sutter bypasses (Sacramento River, CA) as critical habitat for the Southern DPS of green sturgeon.