Fisheries off West Coast States and in the Western Pacific; West Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 13

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[Docket No. 990219053-9114-02; I.D. 011999B]

RIN 0648-AK83

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

Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 13

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

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 13 to the

Pacific Coast Salmon Plan (FMP) in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens

Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

Amendment 13 changes the management of Oregon coastal natural (OCN)

coho salmon (coho), Oncorhynchus kisutch, by disaggregating the OCN

stock into four components, restricting total harvest exploitation

rates to a maximum of 35 percent, and linking increases in harvest

rates to increases in marine survival and proven reproductive success

of the present brood year. The only regulatory change that is required

is a technical change to a provision regarding coho allocation south of

Cape Falcon to make it consistent with the new OCN harvest levels. The

intended effect of the final rule is to make the requisite technical

change.

DATES: Effective June 14, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the amendment, including the environmental

assessment and the regulatory impact review/regulatory flexibility

analysis are available from Lawrence D. Six, Executive Director,

Pacific Fishery Management Council, Metro Center, Suite 420, 2000 SW.

First Avenue, Portland, OR 97201-5344.

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

Svein Fougner at 562-980-4040, or Lawrence D. Six at 503-326-6352.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) developed the FMP,

and the Secretary approved it under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C.

1801 et seq., in 1978. Since then, the FMP has been amended 12 times,

with implementing regulations codified at 50 CFR part 660, subpart H.

From 1979 to 1983, the FMP was amended annually. In 1984, a framework

amendment was implemented that provided the mechanism for making

preseason and inseason adjustments in the regulations without annual

amendments.

The Council prepared Amendment 13 to the FMP under the provisions

of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and submitted it on January 15, 1999, for

Secretarial review. NMFS published a notice of availability for

Amendment 13 in the Federal Register on January 27, 1999 (64 FR 4065),

announcing a public 60-day comment period. The proposed rule was

published on March 4, 1999 (64 FR 10439). The public comment period for

the proposed rule ended on April 5, 1999; one comment was received.

Amendment 13 was approved on April 28, 1999.

The amendment resulted from an intensive effort by the State of

Oregon, led by the Governor, to develop the Oregon Coastal Salmon

Restoration Initiative (OCSRI). The OCSRI was intended to restore

coastal coho populations and to prevent the need for listing the stock

under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). While the OCN coho have since

been listed as threatened, NMFS considers the OCSRI important for the

recovery of the stock. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

(ODFW) proposed Amendment 13 to the Council to implement the fisheries

management provisions of the OCSRI throughout both state and Federal

waters wherever OCN coho are harvested. The amendment changes the

management basis for OCN coho from maintaining spawner objectives to

meeting exploitation rates. The determination of appropriate

exploitation rates is based on the habitat production potential,

incorporating the effects on the stocks of the condition of both

freshwater and marine environments. This determination relies heavily

on habitat-based assessment and modeling of OCN coho production. One of

the amendment's primary goals is to remove fishery-related impacts as a

significant impediment to the recovery of depressed OCN coho and to

allow rebuilding the component population subgroups to higher levels.

Although Amendment 13 changes the management goals for OCN coho,

the major provisions of this amendment are not codified because the

salmon escapement goals are in the FMP rather than in the codified

regulations. Therefore, the modification of the OCN escapement goals

required only a minor modification of the regulations that explain that

the coho allocation provisions for south of Cape Falcon apply only when

coho abundance allows a directed harvest of coho. The existing

regulatory language is tied to the existing level of harvest allowed on

OCN coho. Implementation of Amendment 13 requires minor changes to the

regulatory language in 50 CFR part 660 to make it more generic and

accurate.

Comments and Responses

NMFS received no comments on the proposed rule, but received one

comment regarding the Amendment.

Comment: The National Audubon Society and Oregon Trout in a joint

letter supported the overall direction of the Amendment, but commented

that the Council should have adopted the alternative using the fishery

impact limit and spawning rebuilding criteria of full seeding of

spawning habitat. The comment also maintained that the estimated

production potential parameters for freshwater habitat derived from the

Habitat-Based Life Cycle Model developed by Nickelson and Lawson (1996)

overestimates egg-to-spawner parr survival.

Response: NMFS has some of the same concerns. However, the

framework of the Amendment was designed to be flexible so that when new

information is produced from the various monitoring and data collection

activities required under the Amendment, the results would be

incorporated into the management regime. The whole process is scheduled

for a comprehensive adaptive review in 2000.

Classification

The Administrator, Northwest Region, NMFS, determined that the FMP

Amendment 13 is necessary for the conservation and management of the

ocean salmon fisheries and that it is consistent with the Magnuson-

Stevens Act and other applicable law.

This rule has been determined to be not significant for 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 when this rule was proposed that it

would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of

small entities. No comments were received on that certification. The

basis for certification has not changed.

A formal section 7 consultation under the Endangered Species Act

was conducted on the effects of Amendment 13 and the Pacific Coast

Salmon Plan on three distinct population segments, or evolutionarily

significant units (ESU), of coho: The central California Coastal

[[Page 26329]]

(CCC) ESU, the Southern Oregon Northern California Coastal (SONCC) ESU,

and the Oregon Coastal (OC) ESU (61 FR 56138, October 31, 1996; 62 FR

43937 August 18, 1997; 63 FR 42587, August 10, 1998). The biological

opinion issued by NMFS dated April 28, 1999, states that fishing

activities under the FMP and Amendment 13 and its implementing

regulations are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the

OC coho ESU, but because of the lack of specific conservation goals in

the FMP for either SONCC coho or CCC coho, ocean salmon fisheries

conducted in accordance with the FMP and Amendment 13 are likely to

jeopardize the continued existence of SONCC and CCC coho ESUs. The

biological opinion included Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives (RPAs)

that would avoid jeopardy. The FMP requires that annual management

measures must comply with NMFS jeopardy standards. Therefore, fisheries

to be conducted under the Amendment will be crafted to meet the RPAs of

the biological opinion, and thus will avoid jeopardy.

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 660

Administrative practice and procedure, American Samoa, Fisheries,

Fishing, Guam, Hawaiian Natives, Indians, Northern Marianas Islands,

Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: May 10, 1999.

Penelope D. Dalton,

Assitant Adminstrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

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

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. 660.408, paragraph (c)(2)(iv) is revised to read as

follows:

Sec. 660.408 Annual actions.

* * * * *

(c) * * *

(2) * * *

(iv) Oregon coastal natural coho. The allocation provisions in

paragraph (c)(2) of this section provide guidance only when coho

abundance permits a directed coho harvest, not when the allowable

harvest impacts are insufficient to allow coho retention south of Cape

Falcon. At such low levels, allowable harvest impacts will be allocated

during the Council's preseason process.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 99-12270 Filed 5-13-99; 8:45 am]

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