Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of Reopening of Comment Period on the Proposed Rule To List the Alabama Sturgeon as Endangered

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

RIN 1018-AF56

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of

Reopening of Comment Period on the Proposed Rule To List the Alabama

Sturgeon as Endangered

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service, give notice that we are

reopening the comment period on the proposed rule to list the Alabama

sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus suttkusi) as endangered. We are reopening the

comment period to enter into the record Dr. Stephen Fain's 1999 study,

The Development of a DNA Procedure for the Forensic Identification of

Caviar, and any comments we receive related specifically to the

relationship of this study, as it pertains to the proposed listing of

the Alabama sturgeon as endangered. We invite all interested parties to

submit comments on this study as it relates to the proposed

determination.

DATES: We will accept comments until February 10, 2000. We will

consider any comments received by the closing date in the final

decision on this proposal.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may submit your comments by any

one of several methods. You may mail or hand-deliver comments to the

Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mississippi Field

Office, 6578 Dogwood View Parkway, Jackson, Mississippi 39213. You may

also comment via the Internet to [email protected]. See

Supplementary Information for comment procedures.

To obtain a copy of the aforementioned study, you can download or

print one from http://endangered.fws.gov/listing/index.htm (under

Announcements) or contact Kelly Bibb at 404/679-7132 (phone) or 404/

679-7081 (facsimile) to receive a faxed or mailed copy.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Hartfield (see ADDRESSES

section), 601/321-1125; facsimile 601/965-4340.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Alabama sturgeon is a small freshwater sturgeon that was

historically found only in the Mobile River Basin of Alabama and

Mississippi. The Alabama sturgeon's historic range once included about

1,600 kilometers (km) (1,000 miles (mi)) of the Mobile River system in

Alabama (Black Warrior, Tombigbee, Alabama, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Mobile,

Tensaw, and Cahaba rivers) and Mississippi (Tombigbee River). Since

1985, all confirmed captures of this fish have been from a short, free-

flowing reach of the Alabama River below Miller's Ferry and Claiborne

Locks and Dams in Clarke, Monroe, and Wilcox counties, Alabama. The

decline of the Alabama sturgeon is attributed to over-fishing, loss and

fragmentation of habitat as a result of historical navigation-related

development, and water quality degradation. Current threats primarily

result from its small population numbers and its inability to offset

mortality rates with reproduction and recruitment.

On March 26, 1999, we published a rule proposing endangered status

for the

[[Page 1584]]

Alabama sturgeon in the Federal Register (64 FR 14676). Section

4(b)(5)(E) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) requires that we hold a

public hearing if it is requested within 45 days of the publication of

the proposed rule. Sheldon Morgan, Chairman, Alabama-Tombigbee Rivers

Coalition, requested a public hearing within the allotted time period.

On May 25, 1999, we published a notice in the Federal Register

announcing a public hearing and extending the comment period until July

5, 1999 (64 FR 28142). We held a public hearing on June 24, 1999, at

the Montgomery Civic Center in Montgomery, Alabama. We published

another extension of the comment period on July 12, 1999 (64 FR 37492).

While the proposed rule was out for comment, we received a wide range

of comments on numerous issues which will be addressed in our final

determination. The purpose of reopening the comment period through

February 10, 2000, is to enter into the record Dr. Stephen Fain's 1999

study, The Development of a DNA Procedure for the Forensic

Identification of Caviar, and any comments we receive that address the

relationship of this study to the proposed listing of the Alabama

sturgeon as endangered.

Public Comments Solicited

We intend that any final action resulting from this proposal will

be as accurate and as effective as possible. Therefore, we request

comments or suggestions from the public, other concerned governmental

agencies, the scientific community, industry, or any other interested

party concerning this study and its relation to the proposed rule. In

making a final decision, we will take into consideration the comments

we receive and their relationship to the proposed action. Such

communications may lead to a final determination that differs from this

proposal.

The previous comment period on this proposal closed on September

10, 1999. To allow all interested parties time to submit their comments

for the record, we are reopening the comment period until February 10,

2000.

Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII file, avoiding the use

of special characters and any form of encryption. Please also include

``Attention: [Alabama sturgeon]'' and your name and return address in

your Internet message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the

system that we have received your Internet message, contact us directly

at the above address or by telephone at 601/965-4900. Finally, you may

hand-deliver comments to the above address. Our practice is to make

comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, available

for public review during regular business hours. Individual respondents

may request that we withhold their home address from the rulemaking

record, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There also

may be circumstances in which we would withhold from the rulemaking

record a respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you wish us to

withhold your name and/or address, you must state this prominently at

the beginning of your comment. However, we will not consider anonymous

comments. We will make all submissions from organizations or

businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials or organizations or businesses, available

for public inspection in their entirety. Comments and materials

received will be available for public inspection, by appointment,

during normal business hours at the above address.

References Cited

Fain, S.R., J.P. Lemay, J. Shafer, R.M. Hoesch, and B.H. Hamlin. 1999.

Unpublished report. National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory,

Ashland, OR. 23 pp. with figures.

Author

The primary author of this notice is Paul Hartfield (see ADDRESSES

section).

Authority

The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 1973

(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Dated: January 4, 2000.

H. Dale Hall,

Acting Regional Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 00-564 Filed 1-10-00; 8:45 am]

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