National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration May 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene its Ecosystem SSC via conference call to discuss planning of an ecosystem modeling workshop to be held by the SSC later in the year.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meetings of its Magnuson-Stevens Committee in June, 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 Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene its Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) Selection Committee via Conference Call to select participants for SEDAR 12 for red grouper for recommendation to the Council.

NMFS announces an adjustment in the Atlantic bluefish commercial quota available to New York. This action complies with regulations implementing the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which require that landings in excess of a state's commercial quota be deducted from that state's quota the following year. The public is advised that a quota adjustment has been made and is informed of the revised quota for New York.

NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia is transferring 100,000 lb (45,359 kg) of commercial bluefish quota to the State of North Carolina from its 2006 quota. By this action, NMFS adjusts the quotas and announces the revised commercial quota for each state involved.

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Northeast Region, NMFS (Assistant Regional Administrator) has made a preliminary determination that the subject Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application from the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association (CCCHFA) for exemptions from the Georges Bank Closed Areas (CA) I and II, Western Gulf of Maine (WGOM) Closure Area, Cashes Ledge (Cashes) Closure Area, and Rolling Closure Areas III and IV, as well as the GB hook gear restrictions, for the purposes of tagging haddock, contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. The Assistant Regional Administrator has also made a preliminary determination that the activities authorized under the EFP would be consistent with the goals and objectives of the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). However, further review and consultation may be necessary before a final determination is made to issue the EFP. Therefore, NMFS announces that the Assistant Regional Administrator proposes to issue an EFP that would allow vessels to conduct fishing operations that are otherwise restricted by the regulations governing the fisheries of the Northeastern United States. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed EFPs.

NMFS has received an application from Conoco Phillips Alaska, Inc, (Conoco) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take small numbers of marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting open-water seismic data aquisition in the Chukchi Sea during the summer of 2006. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an authorization to Conoco to incidentally take, by harassment, small numbers of several species of marine mammals during the seismic survey.

NMFS is implementing the regulatory provisions of Amendment 19 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Amendment 19 provides for a comprehensive program to describe and protect essential fish habitat (EFH) for Pacific Coast Groundfish. The management measures to implement Amendment 19, which are authorized by the FMP and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management or Magnuson-Stevens Act), are intended to minimize, to the extent practicable, adverse effects to EFH from fishing. The measures include fishing gear restrictions and prohibitions, areas that are closed to bottom trawling, and areas that are closed to all fishing that contacts the bottom.

Notice is hereby given that D. Ann Pabst, Ph.D., Biological Sciences and Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, North Carolina 28403 has been issued a permit to conduct scientific research.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meetings of its Scientific and Statistical (SSC) Committee in June, 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.

We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), are publishing this final rule to implement our determination to list elkhorn (Acropora palmata) and staghorn (A. cervicornis) corals as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended. We have reviewed the status of the species and efforts being made to protect the species, and we have made our determinations based on the best scientific and commercial data available. We also solicit information that may be relevant to our analysis of protective regulations and to the designation of critical habitat for these two species.

In accordance with provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) has been issued to the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) to take small numbers of California sea lions, Pacific harbor seals, harbor porpoises, and gray whales, by harassment, incidental to construction of a replacement bridge for the East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (SF- OBB) in California.

The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries (AA), NOAA, announces temporary restrictions consistent with the requirements of the ALWTRP's implementing regulations. These regulations apply to lobster trap/pot and anchored gillnet fishermen in an area totaling approximately 1,615 to 1,881 nm\2\ (5,539 to 6,452 km\2\), east of Boston, MA, for 15 days. The purpose of this action is to provide protection to an aggregation of northern right whales (right whales).

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Ad Hoc Policy Advisory Panel (Panel) will hold public meetings with officials from the NMFS.

NMFS announces the receipt of a request for a scientific research permit (SRP) to survey and determine abundance and distribution of pelagic sharks, inject pelagic sharks with tetracycline for age validation studies, track the survival and movement of Highly Migratory Species (HMS) with conventional and satellite pop-up tags in the Atlantic Ocean, and collect biological samples. While this research will occur in waters from the Gulf of Maine to Delaware, NMFS invites comments from interested parties on this SRP request with regards to tagging and biological sampling of HMS (sharks, blue and white marlin, and bluefin and yellowfin tuna) in the Northeastern United States closed area.

NMFS establishes fishery management measures for the 2006 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California and the 2007 salmon seasons opening earlier than May 1, 2007. The temporary rule for emergency action, under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), implements the 2006 annual management measures for the west coast ocean salmon fisheries for the area from Cape Falcon, OR, to Point Sur, CA, from May 1 to August 31, 2006. The emergency rule is required because Klamath River fall Chinook (KRFC) are projected to not meet their conservation objective, or escapement floor, of 35,000 adult natural spawners established in the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (Salmon FMP). Specific fishery management measures vary by fishery and by area. The measures establish fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, recreational fishing days and catch limits, possession and landing restrictions, and minimum lengths for salmon taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (3-200 nm) off Washington, Oregon, and California. The management measures are intended to prevent overfishing and to apportion the ocean harvest equitably among treaty Indian, non- treaty commercial, and recreational fisheries. The measures are also intended to allow a portion of the salmon runs to escape the ocean fisheries in order to provide for spawning escapement and to provide for inside fisheries (fisheries occurring in state internal waters).

NMFS received a request from The Boeing Company (Boeing) for a reauthorization to take small numbers of marine mammals by harassment incidental to harbor activities related to the Delta IV/Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) at south Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA (VAFB). Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS requests comments on its proposal to authorize Boeing to take, by Level B harassment, small numbers of several species of pinnipeds at south VAFB beginning in June 2006.

NMFS has received two applications from Shell Offshore, Inc. and WesternGeco, Inc. (Shell) for Incidental Harassment Authorizations (IHAs) to take small numbers of marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting a marine geophysical program, including deep seismic surveys, on oil and gas lease blocks located on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) waters in the mid- and eastern-Beaufort Sea and on pre-lease areas in the Northern Chukchi Sea. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue a single IHA to Shell to take, by Level B harassment, small numbers of several species of marine mammals between July and November, 2006 incidental to conducting seismic surveys.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for species that comprise the deep-water species fishery by vessels using trawl gear in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because the second seasonal apportionment of the 2006 Pacific halibut bycatch allowance specified for the deep-water species fishery in the GOA has been reached.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program publishes this notice to announce the availability of funding for proposals that address the NOAA Climate Program's overall goal, which is to better understand climate variability and change to enhance society's ability to plan and respond. The NOAA Climate Program represents a contribution to national and international programs designed to improve our ability to observe, understand, predict, and respond to changes in the global environment. The Program builds on NOAA's mission requirements and long-standing capabilities in global change research and prediction. The Program is a key contributing element of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) that is coordinated by the interagency Committee on Environmental and Natural Resources (CENR). NOAA's Climate Program is designed to complement other agencies' contributions to that national effort.

NMFS announces three public hearings on the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region, Measures to End Bottomfish Overfishing in the Hawaii Archipelago (DSEIS). The DSEIS was prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, the Council on Environmental Quality NEPA regulations, and NOAA Administrative Order Series 216-6 Environmental Review Procedures for Implementing the National Environmental Policy Act.

NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amount of Pacific cod from vessels using jig gear to catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 meters (m)) length overall (LOA) using pot or hook-and-line gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). These actions are necessary to allow the 2006 B season total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod to be harvested.

NMFS announces partial approval of an Operations Plan and Sector Contract titled Amendment 2 to Georges Bank Cod Hook Sector (Sector) Operations Plan and Agreement (together referred to as the Sector Agreement), and the associated allocation of GB cod, consistent with regulations implementing Amendment 13, as modified by Framework Adjustment 40-B to the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for fishing year (FY) 2006. The intent is to allow regulated harvest of groundfish by the GB Cod Hook Sector (Sector), consistent with the objectives of the FMP.