South Atlantic Fishery Management Council; Public Hearings

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

50 CFR Chapter VI

[I.D. 071095A]

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council; Public Hearings

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

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Public hearings.

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SUMMARY: The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will

hold public hearings to solicit comments on management measures for a

new Fishery Management Plan for Golden Crab (FMP).

DATES: Written comments regarding the issues being discussed at the

hearings will be accepted through August 18, 1995.

The hearings are scheduled as follows:

1. Tuesday, August 1, 1995, 7.00 p.m., Cocoa Beach, FL;

2. Wednesday, August 2, 1995, 7.00 p.m., Fort Lauderdale, FL;

3. Thursday, August 3, 1995, 7.00 p.m., Marathon, FL; and

4. Monday, August 7, 1995, 7.00 p.m., Charleston, SC.

ADDRESSES: To send comments, and to request copies of public hearing

documents, write to: Robert K. Mahood, Executive Director, South

Atlantic Fishery Management Council, One Southpark Circle, Suite 306,

Charleston, SC 29407-4699. The hearings will be held at the following

locations:

1. Cocoa Beach--Holiday Inn, 1300 N. Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach,

FL 32931; telephone (407) 783-2271;

2. Fort Lauderdale--Sheraton Design Center Hotel, 1825 Griffin

Road, Dania, FL 33004; telephone (305) 920-3500;

3. Marathon--Hawk's Cay Resort, MM61, Duck Key, FL 33050; telephone

(305) 743-7000; and

4. Charleston--Town and Country Inn, 2008 Savannah Highway,

Charleston, SC 29407; telephone (803) 571-1000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharon Coste, (803) 571-4366; Fax:

(803) 769-4520.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Increasing interest in fishing opportunities

for golden crab has prompted the Council to consider management of this

species along the U.S. Atlantic coast from the tip of Key West on the

east coast of Florida to the North Carolina/Virginia border. Other

deep-water crabs, such as red crab and jonah crab, are included in the

FMP for data collection purposes only. No management actions are

planned for these species under the initial FMP. Although all three

species of crab are harvested in the exclusive economic zone off the

Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast, the Council believes that the

species are sufficiently separated from one another to be managed

independently. The following types of management measures are under

consideration by the Council:

(1) Definition of terms, including: Optimum yield, overfishing, and

crustacean trap;

(2) Gear controls, including: Use of traps only and a limit on

their size, requirements for trap escape gaps, and degradable escape

panels;

(3) Effort limitations, including: Quotas ranging from 100,000 to

5,000,000 lb (45,359 to 2,267,962 kg) live weight, which may differ by

subarea, limited access with mechanisms (i.e. fees) for recovering

incurred administrative costs, restrictions on the number of traps/pots

per vessel ranging from 100 to 1,000 traps/pots per vessel, and, trip

limits of 10,000 lb (4,536 kg) live weight or 5,000 lb (2,268 kg)

butchered;

(4) Crab size/sex restrictions, including: Minimum size limits of 4

and 3/4 inch (12 cm) carapace width and no retention of females;

(5) Area restrictions, including: Limiting use of traps to depths

of 900 ft (274 m) or greater;

(6) Bait restrictions to protect snapper and grouper;

(7) Enforcement provisions, including: Vessel permits, trap

identification tags, vessel location transponders, and dealer permits;

(8) Collection of information requirements for science and research

purposes, such as use of information from sales reports, and logbook

requirements, and;

(9) Framework procedures to provide administrative flexibility to

change management measures in a timely manner.

The Council plans to finalize the FMP at the Council meeting in

Charleston, SC, from August 21 to 25, 1995. The public will have an

opportunity to comment at the full Council session before the options

are approved. Once finalized, the FMP will be submitted to the

Secretary of Commerce for review. Also, NMFS will provide a 45-day

formal written comment period during the 110-day review period.

The Council hearings are physically accessible to people with

disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other

auxiliary aids should be directed to the Council office by July 18,

1995 (see ADDRESSES).

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

Dated: July 12, 1995.

Richard W. Surdi,

Acting Director, Office of Fisheries Conservation and Management,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 95-17687 Filed 7-18-95; 8:45 am]

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