Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands; Amendment 58 to Revise the Chinook Salmon Savings Area

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 679

[I.D. 102699B]

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Bering Sea

and Aleutian Islands; Amendment 58 to Revise the Chinook Salmon Savings

Area

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

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of availability of an amendment to a fishery management

plan; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has

submitted Amendment 58 to the Fishery Management Plan for the

Groundfish Fishery in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area (FMP)

for Secretary of Commerce review. The intended effect of this amendment

is to reduce bycatch of chinook salmon by trawl fisheries in the Bering

Sea Aleutian Islands Area (BSAI).

DATES: Comments on Amendment 58 must be submitted by January 3, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments on Amendment 58 should be submitted to Sue

Salveson, Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries,

Alaska Region, NMFS, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802, Attn: Lori

Gravel, or delivered to the Federal Building, 709 West 9th Street,

Juneau, AK. Comments will not be accepted if submitted by e-mail or

Internet. Copies of Amendment 58 and the Environmental Assessment/

Regulatory Impact Review/Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

prepared for this action may be obtained from the same address or by

calling the Alaska Region, NMFS, at 907-586-7228.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shane Capron, 907-586-7228 or

[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: To reduce bycatch of chinook salmon by trawl

fisheries in the BSAI, the Council recommended changes to both the FMP

and the regulations implementing it. Amendment 58 would revise the

FMP's management measures for chinook salmon by (1) removing the

prohibited species catch (PSC) limit of 48,000 chinook salmon from the

FMP and replacing it with a framework that would allow NMFS to

establish the chinook PSC limit through regulations; and (2) revising

the boundaries of the chinook salmon savings area (CHSSA).

The Council also recommended that NMFS use the framework proposed

in Amendment 58 to reduce the chinook PSC limit from 48,000 to 29,000

salmon over a 4-year period, to implement year-round accounting of

chinook salmon bycatch in the pollock fishery beginning on January 1 of

each year, to revise the boundaries of the CHSSA, and to set new CHSSA

closure dates.

The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires that each Regional Fishery Management

Council submit any fishery management plan (FMP) or FMP amendment it

prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial

approval. The Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires that NMFS, upon

receiving an amendment, immediately publish a notification in the

Federal Register that the amendment is available for public review and

comment. NMFS will consider all public comments received during the

comment period in determining whether to approve the FMP or amendment.

Public comments on Amendment 58 must be received by January 3, 2000 to

be considered by NMFS in the decision to approve/disapprove this

amendment. After evaluating Amendment 58 pursuant to the Magnuson-

Stevens Act, NMFS will publish a proposed rule to implement the

amendment and the related regulatory changes the Council recommended in

the Federal Register for public comment. Public comments on the

proposed rule must be received by January 3, 2000, the end of the

comment period for this notice of availability on Amendment 58, to be

considered in the approval/disapproval decision on the amendment.

Comments received after that date will not be considered in the

approval/disapproval decision on the amendment. All comments received

on the amendment or on the proposed rule will be responded to in the

preamble to the final rule.

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

Dated: October 29, 1999.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine

Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 99-28937 Filed 11-3-99; 8:45 am]

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