Fisheries off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; West Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 12

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 970318059-7059-01; I.D. 022197B]

RIN 0648-AI82

Fisheries off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; West

Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 12

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: NMFS issues this proposed rule to implement portions of

Amendment 12 to the Fishery Management Plan for Commercial and

Recreational Salmon Fisheries off the Coasts of Washington, Oregon, and

California (Salmon FMP). Amendment 12 to the Salmon FMP would include,

as management objectives for the Salmon FMP, the NMFS jeopardy

standards or the objectives of NMFS recovery plans for salmon species

that are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered

Species Act (ESA) and would eliminate from the Code of Federal

Regulations a table that summarizes management goals. This proposed

rule would implement that change. The intended effect of this rule is

to ensure that ESA listed salmon are given proper consideration in

formulating management measures under the Salmon FMP.

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule must be received on or before May

19, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the proposed rule for Amendment 12 should be

sent to Mr. William Stelle, Administrator, Northwest Region, National

Marine Fisheries Service, 7600 Sand Point Way NE., BIN C15700, Seattle,

WA 98115-0070; or to Mr. William Hogarth, Acting Administrator,

Southwest Region, National Marine Fisheries Service, 501 West Ocean

Boulevard, Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802-4213.

Copies of Amendment 12 (combined with Amendment 10 to the Fishery

Management Plan for the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery (Groundfish

FMP)), the Environmental Assessment (EA)/Regulatory Impact Review

(RIR)/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) are available from

Larry Six, Executive Director, Pacific Fishery Management Council, 2130

SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 224, Portland, OR 97201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William L. Robinson at 206-526-6140,

Rodney McInnis at 310-980-4040, or the Pacific Fishery Management

Council at 503-326-6352.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS is proposing this rule based on a

recommendation of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council),

under the authority of the FMP and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery

Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). The background

and rationale for the Council's recommendations are summarized below.

More detail appears in the EA/RIR/IRFA that the Council prepared for

this action (see ADDRESSES).

At its October 1996 meeting, the Council adopted a package that

consists of Amendment 12 to the Salmon FMP and Amendment 10 to the

Groundfish FMP. Amendment 12 would allow adoption of rules to permit

retention of, but not sale of, salmon bycatch in Pacific Coast

groundfish trawl fisheries under a monitoring program that meets

certain guidelines; specify ESA standards as management objectives for

salmon species listed under the ESA;

[[Page 15875]]

and update the Salmon FMP, without changing the FMP management

objectives. Amendment 10 would authorize modification of the

regulations governing the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery to allow

retention of salmon bycatch as authorized under Amendment 12.

A Notice of Availability for Amendments 12 and 10, inviting

comments from the public, was published in the Federal Register on

February 27, 1997 (62 FR 8921). Public comments on the proposed rule

must be received by the end of the comment period on the amendments,

April 28, 1997, to be considered in the approval/disapproval decision

on the amendments.

Management Objectives for Listed Salmon Species

Amendment 12 to the Salmon FMP would specify that the Council will

manage ocean salmon fisheries consistent with NMFS jeopardy standards

or NMFS recovery plans for species listed under the ESA. This portion

of Amendment 12 is needed to bring the Salmon FMP into compliance with

the March 1996 Biological Opinion issued under section 7 of the ESA,

regarding the impacts of the Pacific Coast salmon fishery on salmon

stocks listed under the ESA. The Biological Opinion's first reasonable

and prudent alternative (RPA) requires the Council to adopt by October

1996, and NMFS to implement by May of 1997, an amendment that includes

ESA management objectives in the FMP. This portion of Amendment 12 is

being implemented through this proposed rule.

Update of the Salmon FMP

The Salmon FMP has not had a comprehensive update since 1984. The

Council wishes to provide a comprehensive Salmon FMP that incorporates

into a single document all of the amendments that have been made to the

Salmon FMP since 1984. The updated Salmon FMP has been designed to be

the operative salmon FMP, rather than an amendment to any existing

document. It incorporates or references all the parts required for a

complete Salmon FMP but contains only the operative language necessary

to understand and implement the Council's salmon management plan. If

approved, this updated, comprehensive Salmon FMP would be much easier

for the public to review and understand for any future amendment

considerations. This comprehensive Salmon FMP update also includes a

summary of specific management goals for stocks in the salmon

management unit, which allows NMFS to make minor modifications to the

salmon regulations. The table of management goals that currently

appears in the salmon regulations at Sec. 660.410 would be deleted from

the regulations because it already exists in the Salmon FMP. In

accordance with the current Salmon FMP framework procedure, future

updates to stock management goals may be made without amending the

Salmon FMP.

Future Proposed Regulations

Salmon Bycatch Retention

The salmon bycatch retention provisions of Amendments 10 and 12 are

not being implemented in this rule. These provisions would authorize

regulations to permit groundfish trawl vessels to retain, but not sell,

their bycatch of Pacific salmon under a monitoring program that meets

certain guidelines. The Biological Opinion under section 7 of the ESA

regarding the groundfish fishery requires monitoring of the groundfish

fisheries for salmon bycatch rates, but the Salmon and Groundfish FMPs

and associated regulations limit flexibility in how this is done,

because they do not allow for retention of trawl-caught salmon. The

monitoring program has operated under an EFP for the past few years,

and this plan amendment allows the Council to adopt regulations to

implement appropriate monitoring. The Council has not yet developed and

proposed such a program, so no implementing regulations are currently

being proposed in connection with this portion of the amendments. NMFS

expects that the Council will submit a proposal to implement a bycatch

monitoring program for the 1998 fishery.

Classification

At this time, NMFS has not determined that the FMP Amendment that

this rule would implement is consistent with the national standards of

the Magnuson-Stevens Act and other applicable laws. NMFS, in making

that determination, will take into account the data, views, and

comments received during the comment period.

This proposed rule has been determined to be not significant for

the purposes of E.O. 12866.

The Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and Regulation of the

Department of Commerce certified to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of

the Small Business Administration (SBA) that this proposed rule, if

adopted, would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities as follows:

The proposed rule would implement changes to the Fishery

Management Plan for Commercial and Recreational Salmon Fisheries off

the Coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California (Salmon FMP) to

specify Endangered Species Act (ESA) standards as management

objectives for salmon species listed under the ESA. It would also

eliminate a table from the regulations that would be made redundant

by Amendment 12.

This proposed rule to specify ESA standards as salmon management

objectives would bring the Salmon FMP into compliance with the March

8, 1996, Biological Opinion on the impacts of ocean fisheries for

Pacific salmon on stocks listed under the ESA. It formalizes in the

FMP what was already required by the ESA. The elimination of the

table is a housekeeping measure that has no substantive impact on

the regulated public or other government agencies.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

Fisheries, Fishing, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: March 27, 1997.

Charles Karnella,

Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries

Service.

For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 50 CFR 660 is proposed

to be amended as follows:

PART 660--FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES AND IN THE WESTERN

PACIFIC

1. The authority citation for part 660 continues to read as

follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

2. In Sec. 660.410, the section heading and paragraph (a) are

revised, the table ``Summary of Specific Management Goals for Stocks in

the Salmon Management Unit'' is removed, and a new paragraph (c) is

added to read as follows:

Sec. 660.410 Escapement and management goals.

(a) The escapement and management goals are summarized in Table 6-1

of the Fishery Management Plan for Commercial and Recreational Salmon

Fisheries off the Coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California.

* * * * *

(c) The annual management measures will be consistent with NMFS

jeopardy standards or NMFS recovery plans for species listed under the

Endangered Species Act.

[FR Doc. 97-8462 Filed 4-2-97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-22-F