[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 205 (Tuesday, October 24, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62241-62242]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-17777]
[[Page 62241]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2006-0007]
Exotic Fruit Fly Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2006-2010
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has prepared a final Exotic Fruit Fly Strategic Plan
for fiscal years 2006 through 2010 and is making it available for
review. The final strategic plan has been updated in response to the
comments we received on the draft strategic plan.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael B. Stefan, Director, Fruit
Fly Exclusion and Detection Programs, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit
137, Riverdale, MD 20737-1229; (301) 734-4387.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) responds to
exotic fruit fly risks with an integrated system that incorporates
surveillance activities, fruit fly control programs, and regulatory
actions. To outline how APHIS, along with its domestic and global
partners, will harmonize these exotic fruit fly safeguarding programs
and activities over the next 5 years, we prepared a draft document
entitled ``Exotic Fruit Fly Strategic Plan FY 2006-2010.'' This draft
strategic plan focused on the activities funded through APHISs' Fruit
Fly Exclusion and Detection programs, whose primary mission is to
protect the health and value of American agriculture resources
threatened by the establishment of exotic fruit fly pests.
On February 17, 2006, we published in the Federal Register (71 FR
8563, Docket No. APHIS-2006-0007) a notice \1\ advising the public we
had prepared the draft strategic plan and made it available to the
public for review and comment.
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\1\ To view the draft strategic plan and the comments we
received, go to http://www.regulations.gov, click on the ``Advanced
Search'' tab, and select ``Docket Search.'' In the Docket ID field,
enter APHIS-2006-0007, then click on ``Submit.'' Clicking on the
Docket ID link in the search results page will produce a list of all
documents in the docket.
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We solicited comments concerning the draft strategic plan for 30
days ending March 20, 2006. We received eight comments by that date,
from producers, private citizens, a not-for-profit organization, and
representatives of State governments. All of the commenters supported
the implementation of the 5-year exotic fruit fly strategic plan;
however, some of the commenters also expressed concerns regarding the
information provided, and the questions posed, in the appendices to the
draft plan. The issues raised by the commenters are discussed below.
In Appendix A we offered up for discussion the potential actions we
could take in response to the closing of the sterile Mediterranean
fruit fly (Medfly) production facility in Waimanalo, HI. The following
options were presented: (1) Do not replace the facility; (2) build a
new production facility in Hawaii; (3) partner with California
Department of Food and Agriculture to expand their sterile fruit fly
production facility in Hawaii; or (4) build a multispecies facility in
the continental United States or on foreign soil. The commenters all
agreed on the need for a multispecies exotic fruit fly facility to
provide backup capacity for our sterile fruit fly programs and
emergency needs. Additionally, several commenters suggested potential
sites for the new facility.
APHIS is in agreement with these commenters regarding the need for
a backup multispecies sterile fruit fly production facility. We have
begun to explore the available options, including the construction of a
multispecies exotic fruit fly facility, either within or outside the
continental United States, and the privatization of sterile fly
production. We will be seeking additional information and suggestions
from the public on this subject and expect to publish a request for
information in a future issue of the Federal Register.
In Appendix B, we offered up for discussion a question as to
whether or not we should continue to support the current Moscamed
Program, a cooperative program of the Guatemalan, Mexican, and U.S.
Governments to eradicate Medfly in Mexico and suppress Medfly
populations in Guatemala. In the past, reliance on uncertain emergency
funds has severely impacted the ability of Moscamed managers to plan
and implement an effective program. In order to successfully maintain a
Medfly barrier in southern Mexico, and, ultimately eradicate the pest
from Central America, funding and management issues must be stabilized.
Due to a potential loss of emergency funding ($10 million of Commodity
Credit Corporation funds per year), the draft strategic plan suggested
four options for altering the current program: (1) Eradicate Medfly
from Guatemala and create a new barrier zone to maintain; (2) shift the
barrier zone to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; (3) pull out of the
cooperative agreement with Mexico and use all $19 million to fight
Medfly in Guatemala; or (4) pull out of the cooperative Moscamed
Program in Mexico and Guatemala, and establish an emergency fund for
preventative measures along the U.S.-Mexico border and for emergency
outbreaks in the United States. As a result of these suggestions, a
majority of the commenters expressed concern that altering the current
Moscamed Program would diminish its effectiveness. Though it was not
offered as an option, several commenters requested that we continue
with the currently implemented Moscamed Program, unchanged.
APHIS is in agreement with these commenters with regard to
continuing the currently implemented Moscamed Program. Because of the
potential loss of emergency funding for the program, we have requested
an additional $14 million in appropriated funds for the Moscamed
Program in our 2007 Presidential Budget Proposal.
A few commenters requested we clarify the strategic plan by
including additional specific information in the scientific support
section before the draft's finalization.
In response to these comments, we have updated the scientific
support section of the strategic plan by identifying specific detection
and population suppression technologies through which APHIS will seek
to reduce the number and severity of exotic fruit fly outbreaks within
the United States. We have also included additional risk mitigation
information regarding the use of molecular diagnostic techniques and
tools that identify foreign sources of fruit fly pest introductions, as
well as assurance that risk assessment will be a high priority in
quality assurance of the fruit fly program.
We are making the final document available to the public for
review. You may view the document on the Regulations.gov Web site (see
footnote 1 in this notice for instructions for accessing
Regulations.gov), or you may request copies from the person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to the title of the
document when requesting copies. Finally, the document is available for
review in our reading room. The reading room is located in room 1141 of
the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC. Normal reading room
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hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays.
To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 690-2817
before coming.
Done in Washington, DC, this 18th day of October 2006.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E6-17777 Filed 10-23-06; 8:45 am]
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