[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 210 (Tuesday, October 30, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 65639-65640]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-26675]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
50 CFR Part 660
[Docket No. 100804324-1265-02]
RIN 0648-XC302
Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries Off the West Coast
States; Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; Pacific Whiting and Non-
Whiting Allocations; Pacific Whiting Seasons
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Reapportionment of tribal whiting allocation.
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SUMMARY: This document announces the reapportionment of 28,000 mt of
Pacific whiting from the tribal allocation to the non-tribal commercial
fishery allocations to ensure full utilization of the resource.
DATES: The reapportionment of whiting is effective from 1200 local
time, October 4, 2012, until December 31, 2012, unless modified,
superseded or rescinded. Comments will be accepted through November 14,
2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2012-0041
by any of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov.
To submit comments via the e-Rulemaking Portal, enter NOAA-NMFS-2012-
0041 in the search box. Locate the document you wish to comment on from
the resulting list and click on the ``Submit a Comment'' icon on the
right of that line.
[[Page 65640]]
Fax: 206-526-6736, Attn: Kevin C. Duffy.
Email comments directly to NMFS, Northwest Region at:
[email protected]
Mail: William W. Stelle, Jr., Regional Administrator,
Northwest Region, NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 98115-
0070, Attn: Kevin C. Duffy.
Instructions: All comments received are a part of the public record
and will generally be posted to http://www.regulations.gov without
change. All Personal Identifying Information (for example, name,
address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly
accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information.
NMFS will accept anonymous comments (if submitting comments via the
Federal Rulemaking portal, enter ``N/A'' in the relevant required
fields if you wish to remain anonymous). Attachments to electronic
comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or
Adobe PDF file formats only.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin C. Duffy (Northwest Region,
NMFS), phone: 206-526-4743, fax: 206-526-6736 and email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Electronic Access
This document is accessible via the Internet at the Office of the
Federal Register's Web site at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/home.action. Background information and documents are available at the
Pacific Fishery Management Council's Web site at http://www.pcouncil.org/.
Background
This document announces the reapportionment of 28,000 mt of Pacific
whiting from the tribal allocation to the non-tribal commercial sectors
on October 4, 2012. This action is authorized by regulations
implementing the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan
(FMP), which governs the groundfish fishery off Washington, Oregon, and
California. Regulations at 50 CFR 660.131(h) contain provisions that
allow the Regional Administrator to make Pacific whiting tribal
allocation specified at Sec. 660.50 that will not be harvested by the
tribal fisheries available for harvest to other sectors of the trawl
fishery. For 2012 the Washington Coast treaty tribes were allocated
48,556 mt of Pacific whiting. The best available information through
October 2, 2012 indicated that less than 1,000 mt of the tribal
allocation had been harvested. Approximately 28,000 mt of the 2012
tribal allocation are projected to go unharvested. Therefore, to ensure
full utilization of the resource, NMFS reapportioned 28,000 mt to the
shorebased IFQ, catcher/processor and mothership sectors in proportion
to each sector's original allocation on October 4, 2012. Reapportioning
this amount is not expected to limit tribal harvest opportunities for
the remainder of the year.
The revised Pacific whiting allocations for 2012 are: Tribal 20,556
mt, catcher/processor 55,584 mt; mothership 39,235 mt: and shorebased
IFQ 68,662 mt. Emails sent directly to fishing businesses and postings
on the Northwest Region's internet site were used to provide actual
notice to the affected fishers.
Classification
The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA (AA), finds that
good cause exists for this notification to be issued without affording
prior notice and opportunity for public comment pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
553(b)(B) because such notification would be impracticable and contrary
to the public interest. As previously noted, actual notice of the
reapportionment was provided to fishers. Prior notice and opportunity
for public comment was impracticable because NMFS had insufficient time
to provide prior notice and the opportunity for public comment between
the time the information about the progress of the fishery needed to
make this determination became available and the time at which fishery
modifications had to be implemented in order to allow fishers access to
the available fish during the remainder of the fishing season.
Reapportioning as quickly as possible was necessary to allow fishers
access to the available fish prior to the onset of weather conditions
that would make fishing unsafe. For the same reasons, the AA also finds
good cause to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness required under 5
U.S.C. 553(d)(3).
These actions are authorized by 50 CFR sections 660.55 (i),
660.60(d) and 660.131(h) and are exempt from review under Executive
Order 12866.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: October 25, 2012.
James P. Burgess,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National
Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-26675 Filed 10-29-12; 8:45 am]
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