Notice of Continuing Effect of List of Fisheries

AGENCY:

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice of list of fisheries for 2000.

SUMMARY:

NMFS provides notification that the List of Fisheries (LOF) published on February 24, 1999, remains in effect.

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS must place all U.S. commercial fisheries on the LOF, which categorizes those fisheries based upon the level of incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals that occurs in that fishery. The categorization of a fishery in the LOF determines whether participants in that fishery are subject to certain provisions of the MMPA, such as registration, observer coverage, and take reduction plan requirements. The intent of this action is to provide notice that the LOF remains in effect.

ADDRESSES:

See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for addresses of NMFS Regional Offices, where fishery participants may obtain information on registering and reporting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patricia Lawson, Office of Protected Resources, 301-713-2322; Kim Thounhurst, Northeast Region, 978-281-9138; Kathy Wang, Southeast Region, 727-570-5312; Irma Lagomarsino, Southwest Region, 562-980-4016; Brent Norberg, Northwest Region, 206-526-6733; Brian Fadely, Alaska Region, 907-586-7642. Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf may call the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Section 118 of the MMPA requires that NMFS place all U.S. commercial fisheries into one of three categories (I, II, III) based on the level of incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals that occurs in that fishery. The categorization of a fishery in the LOF determines whether participants in that fishery are subject to certain provisions of the MMPA, such as registration, observer coverage, and take reduction plan requirements. The most recent LOF was published in the Federal Reister on February 24, 1999 (64 FR 9067).

Participants in a Category I or II Fishery are required to be registered under MMPA section 118. This section requires that such participants provide the name of the vessel owner and operator, the name and description of the vessel, the fisheries in which it will be engaged, the approximate time, duration and location of such fishery operations, and the general type and nature of use of the fishing gear and techniques used.

NMFS generally provides registration and reporting forms to fishery participants for their use. However, the Office of Management and Budget(OMB) approval for NMFS registration and reporting forms expired on December 31, 1999. Accordingly, NMFS may not require that participants in a fishery use its forms to register until OMB approval has been received. NMFS expects to have OMB approval by May 2000 and will publish notice in the Federal Register of OMB approval when received. Nonetheless, under section 118 of the MMPA, fishery participants still remain obligated to register and report as required by MMPA section 118. Failure to register or report. Failure to register or report in accordance with MMPA section 118 is a violation of the MMPA. Some states have integrated the NMFS registration process into the existing state fishery registration progran and are exempt from submitting a registration packet. For a list of fisheries that have integrated registration programs, see 64 FR 9068 (February 24, 1999). Fishery participants that do not have an intergrated registration program maay register with and report to the following regional offices:

NMFS, Northeast Region, One Blackburn Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930-2298, Attn: Sandra Arvilla;

NMFS, Southeast Region, 9721 Executive Center Drive North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702, Attn: Joyce Mochrie;

NMFS, Southwest Region, Protected Species Management Division, 501 W. Ocean Blvd., Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802-4213, Attn: Don Peterson;

NMFS, Northwest Region, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115, Attn: Permits Office;

NMFS, Alaska Region, Protected Resources, P.O. Box 22668, 709 West 9th Street, Juneau, AK 99802, Attn: Ursula Jorgensen.

The following tables list U.S. commercial fisheries according to their assigned categories under section 118 of the MMPA. When possible, we express the estimated number of vessels in terms of the number of active participants in the fishery. If this information is not available, we provide the estimated number of vessels or persons licensed for a particular fishery. If no recent information is available on the number of participants in a fishery, we use the number from the 1998 LOF. The tables also list the marine mammal species/stocks that are incidentally killed or injured in each fishery based on observer data, logbook data, stranding reports, and fishers reports. This list includes all species or stocks known to incur injury or mortality for a given fishery; however, not all species or stocks identified are necessarily independently responsible for a fisheries categorization. There are a few fisheries that are in Category II that do not have any recently documented interactions with marine mammals; the justification for categorization of these fisheries are by analogy to similar gear types that are known to injure or kill marine mammals, as discussed in the final LOF for 1996 (60 FR 45086, December 28, 1995).

Commercial fisheries in the Pacific Ocean are listed in Table 1—commercial fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean are listed in Table 2. An asterisk (*) indicates that the stock is a strategic stock; a plus (+) indicates that the stock is listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

List of Fisheries for 2001

NMFS is currently conducting a thorough review of the current fisheries classifications and will publish proposed changes to the LOF in the summer of 2000.