Groundfish Fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea/ Aleutian Islands Area

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 102699G]

Groundfish Fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea/

Aleutian Islands Area

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

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notification of draft alternatives; extension of scoping and

comment period.

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SUMMARY: NMFS is publishing draft alternatives to be analyzed in a

programmatic supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) on

Federal groundfish fishery management in the Exclusive Economic Zone

(EEZ) off Alaska. This document also provides an extension of the

scoping period from November 15 until December 15, 1999.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before December 15,

1999.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Lori Gravel, Sustainable

Fisheries Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, P.O. Box 21668,

Juneau, AK 99802. Comments may also be hand delivered to Room 457-1

Federal Office Building, 907 West 9 Street, Juneau, AK.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Davis, NMFS, (907) 271-3523 or

[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS published in the Federal Register, a

notice of intent to prepare an SEIS on Federal groundfish fishery

management in the EEZ off Alaska and announced scoping meetings (64 FR

53305, October 1, 1999). The reason for undertaking the analysis, and

the issues to be analyzed, are detailed in the notice of intent and are

not repeated here. In the notice, NMFS indicated that, prior to the

scoping meetings, NMFS will publish in the Federal Register draft

alternatives to be developed further during the scoping process.

NMFS manages the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) and Gulf of

Alaska (GOA) groundfish fisheries to achieve the goals and objectives

of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) for the

Groundfish Fisheries in the BSAI Area, and the Groundfish of the GOA.

The goals and objectives reflect the complicated array of often

competing concerns that affect the Alaska groundfish fisheries. In some

instances, contradictory objectives are articulated within a single

goal. For example, paraphrasing from the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the

FMPs, we find they generally contain the following goals and

objectives: Assure continuing availability of food supply and

recreational opportunities; minimize irreversible adverse effects on

fishery resources and the marine environment, including essential fish

habitat; maximize economic benefits to the Nation and to the states;

provide for sustained participation of fishing communities; minimize

waste, reduce bycatch and the mortality of bycatch, encourage

development of underused fisheries; control effort; promote equitable

allocations; keep management options open for the future; prevent

overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks; manage stocks as a unit;

promote protection of the safety of human life at sea; promote

regulatory and fishing efficiency; use the best available data; account

for all fishery related removals. In deciding on particular new

management measures, NMFS and the North Pacific Fishery Management

Council review reasonable alternatives for achieving one or more of

those goals and objectives, then base decisions according to the views

of competing interests and concerns.

With this programmatic environmental impact analysis, NMFS will

evaluate how successfully the current management regime achieves those

goals and objectives. The SEIS will support these determinations by

presenting an analysis of the environmental impacts of the current

regime and compare them to configurations of alternatives management

measures that would also achieve those goals and objectives.

Alternatives

NMFS has chosen to analyze broad thematic alternatives that will

provide, in a programmatic sense, a conceptual framework for

understanding how effectively alternative harvest management regimes

achieve the articulated goals and objectives and what their

environmental impacts would be. The SEIS will look at the themes: (1)

Who harvests groundfish; (2) what groundfish is harvested; (3) when and

where is groundfish harvested; and (4) how groundfish is harvested.

Sub-alternatives will be developed for each theme. The alternatives and

sub-alternatives NMFS is currently considering include the following:

Allocative Schemes (Who harvests groundfish?)

Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Allocation of groundfish harvest is

currently based on the species or species group and is made to

individuals, cooperatives, and Olympic-style fisheries (i.e., non-

Community Development Quota (CDQ), non-Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ)

fisheries) by sector.

Sub-alternative 2 - IFQ: Expand or reduce allocations to

individuals by species or species group.

Sub-alternative 3 - Cooperatives: Expand or reduce allocations to

cooperatives by species or species group.

Sub-alternative 4 - Open access: Reduce or remove limited access

systems.

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Sub-alternative 5 - Allocation: Expand or reduce the use of sector

allocations or alter the amounts of allocations.

Sub-alternative 6 - License Limitation: Expand or reduce the use of

license limitation.

Harvest Level (What is harvested?)

Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Total Allowable Catch levels (TACs)

are set by species or species group and the sum of the TACs must stay

within the OY of the groundfish complex.

Sub-alternative 2 - Increase the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal

to the maximum acceptable biological catch (going above OY of the

groundfish complex).

Sub-alternative 3 - Decrease the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal

to 50 percent of the maximum acceptable biological catch.

Sub-alternative 4 - Stabilize the TACs: Set fishing mortality equal

to the 1994-1998 average fishing mortality.

Sub-alternative 5 - Authorize zero harvest: Set the TACs at zero.

Time/Area Closures (When and Where does harvest occur?)

Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo: Numerous time/area closure schemes

are currently in use serving to achieve various conservation

objectives. Among the purposes served are closures to minimize fishery

interactions with species listed under the Endangered Species Act,

prohibited species, and crab habitat.

Sub-alternative 2 - Steller sea lion focus: Add additional closures

based on their potential to minimize indirect interactions with Steller

sea lion foraging habitat.

Sub-alternative 3 - Prohibited species focus: Add additional

closures based on their potential to minimize take of prohibited

species.

Sub-alternative 4 - Habitat focus: Add additional closures based on

their potential to minimize disturbance of marine substrates.

Sub-alternative 5 - Market focus: Modify seasonal and area

restrictions to increase value of harvest and/or improve the efficiency

of fishing operations.

Gear Limitations (How is groundfish harvested?)

Sub-alternative 1 - Status quo. Fishing gear as described in

regulations with sector allocations made in annual total allowable

catch specifications.

Sub-alternative 2 - Further restrict fishing gear contact with the

sea floor by banning non-pelagic trawl gear in flatfish fisheries.

Sub-alternative 3 - Restrict use of trawl, longline, and/or pot

gear to habitat areas with substrates composed of unconsolidated

sediments.

Sub-alternative 4 - Restrict authorized fishing gear to those

capable of minimizing bycatch significantly below levels presently

considered clean for each directed fishery.

Sub-alternative 5 - Allow all gear types and allow fishermen to

select the most effective type.

Public Involvement

Scoping for the programmatic SEIS began with publication of a

Notice of Intent in the Federal Register on October 1, 1999. This

notice extends the scoping period from November 15, to December 15,

1999, to provide the public and NMFS with additional time to refine

these alternatives.

Dated: October 27, 1999.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine

Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 99-28643 Filed 11-2-99; 8:45 am]

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