Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Proposed Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Coral Reef Ecosystem Fishery Management Plan of the Western Pacific Region (Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP); EIS for the FMP for the Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region; (Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish Fisheries FMP)

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[I.D. 080499B]

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Proposed Fishery

Management Plan (FMP) for the Coral Reef Ecosystem Fishery Management

Plan of the Western Pacific Region (Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP); EIS for

the FMP for the Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish Fisheries of the

Western Pacific Region; (Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish Fisheries

FMP)

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

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare EISs; request for comments; notice

of scoping meeting.

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SUMMARY: NOAA announces its intention to prepare an EIS in accordance

with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for the proposed

Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP, and an EIS for the Bottomfish and Seamount

Groundfish Fisheries FMP. The Western Pacific Fishery Management

Council (Council) will hold a public scoping hearing in American Samoa

on management alternatives to be analyzed under both EISs.

DATES: Written comments on the intent to prepare the EISs will be

accepted on or before August 26, 1999. A public scoping meeting is

scheduled for August 19, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the intent to prepare the EISs or other

aspects of the scoping documents, which contain suggested alternatives

and potential impacts should be sent to and copies of the scoping

documents are available from Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director,

Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, 1164 Bishop St.,

Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 96813, and to Charles Karnella, Administrator,

National Marine Fisheries Service, Pacific Islands Area Office, 1601

Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1110, Honolulu HI 96814.

The following location and time have been set for the scoping

meeting: American Samoa, August 19, 1999, 3-5 p.m., Conference Room,

Division of Marine and Wildlife Resources, Pago Pago, AS. Phone contact

684-633-4456 for information. Subsequent public scoping meetings are

tentatively planned for Hawaii (details regarding times and locations

will follow in a separate Federal Register announcement).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kitty M. Simonds, at 808-522-8220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A summary of the Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP

will be presented including initial recommendations for management

action, as described here. Comments will be solicited from the public

on these and any other management alternatives the public cares to

offer.

Management measures that might be adopted in the Coral Reef

Ecosystem FMP include permit and reporting requirements for non-

subsistence harvest of coral reef resources, marine protected areas to

ensure greater conservation and management to special locations,

allowable gear types to harvest coral reef resources in the U.S.

exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prohibition on use of gear in ways

destructive to habitat, and a framework management process to add

future new measures. The FMP would also include essential fish habitat

and habitat areas of particular concern, including fishing and non-

fishing threats, as well as other components of FMPs required under the

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-

Stevens Act). An additional measure, still under consideration for

possible inclusion, is a ban on the possession or collection, for

commercial purposes, of wild ``live rock'' and coral (other than coral

covered by the Fishery Management Plan for the Precious Corals

Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region). The collection of live rock

or coral for scientific and research purposes and the collection of

small amounts of live coral as brood-stock for captive breeding/

aquaculture would be allowed by permit.

The Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP, and its associated EIS, would be the

Council's fifth FMP for the EEZ for all U.S. Pacific Islands. This area

includes nearly 11,000 km2 (4,000 square miles) of coral

reefs. Development of the Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP is timely,

considering such new mandates and initiatives as the April 1999 report

to Congress by the Ecosystem Principles Advisory Panel on Ecosystem-

Based Fishery Management, the President's 1998 Executive Order on Coral

Reefs (E.O. 13089), and priorities of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force

and the U.S. Coral Reef Initiative, as well as the provisions of the

Magnuson-Stevens Act, as amended by the Sustainable Fisheries Act. The

draft Coral Reef Ecosystem FMP would describe the importance of coral

reef resources to the region and current and potential threats that

warrant an FMP at this time. Information regarding the harvest of these

resources in the EEZ is largely unknown. Potential for unregulated

harvest and bio-prospecting for reef fish, live grouper, live rock and

coral exists throughout the region. Marine debris, largely from fishing

gear, is adversely impacting reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian

Islands.

The public is also invited to assist the Council in developing the

scope of alternatives and impacts that should be analyzed in an EIS for

the Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish Fisheries FMP. An EIS has not

been prepared for the FMP. Since the FMP was implemented in 1986, many

changes have occurred in this fishery, and with the stocks and

management regimes. As part of the scoping process for the EIS for this

FMP, the public is also invited to comment on an alternative being

considered for the addition of bottomfish species, in the EEZ around

the U.S. Pacific Island possessions (and the Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)), to the management unit of the

Bottomfish and Seamount Groundfish FMP. Federal regulations for the EEZ

off the U.S. Island possessions (and the CNMI) that would provide basic

protection and conservation measures are already established in the

EEZs for other parts of the Western Pacific Region, and include no

taking with explosives, poisons, trawl nets or bottom-set gillnets. A

definition of overfishing for a list of identified FMP management unit

species would be established and evaluated annually, with required

action in the event of overfishing.

Public Information Meetings

Additional public information meetings and public hearings on the

proposed EISs may be held in Hawaii later in the year. These meetings

will be advertised in the Federal Register and the local newspapers.

Special Accommodations

This meeting is physically accessible to people with disabilities.

Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids

should be directed to Kitty M. Simonds, (see ADDRESSES), 808-522-8220

(voice) or 808-522-8226 (fax), at least 5 days prior to the meeting

date.

Dated: August 10, 1999.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine

Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 99-21073 Filed 8-11-99; 9:37 am]

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