[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 15 (Wednesday, January 23, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4836-4838]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-01282]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XC455
Endangered and Threatened Species; Take of Anadromous Fish
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of final determination and discussion of underlying
biological analysis.
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SUMMARY: NMFS has evaluated the Tribal Resource Management Plan (Plan)
submitted by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (Tribes) to NMFS pursuant to
the limitation on take prohibitions for actions conducted under the
Tribal Rule of section 4(d) for salmon and steelhead promulgated under
the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The plan specifies fishery management
activities in the Salmon River sub basin of Idaho. This document serves
to notify the public that NMFS, by delegated authority from the
Secretary of Commerce, has determined pursuant to the ESA Tribal 4(d)
Rule for salmon and steelhead that implementing and enforcing the Plan
will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of survival and recovery of
ESA-listed salmon and steelhead.
DATES: The final determination on the Plan was made on January 11,
2013.
ADDRESSES: National Marine Fisheries Service, Salmon Management
Division, 1201 NE. Lloyd Boulevard, Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97232.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Enrique Pati[ntilde]o at (206) 526-
4655, or email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Species Covered in This Notice
Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha): threatened, naturally
produced and artificially propagated Snake River spring/summer.
Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha): threatened, naturally produced and
artificially propagated Snake River fall-run.
Steelhead (O. mykiss): threatened, naturally produced and
artificially propagated Snake River basin.
Sockeye (O. nerka): endangered, naturally produced and artificially
propagated Snake River.
Background
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have submitted to NMFS a Tribal Plan
describing the management of ceremonial and subsistence fisheries in
the Salmon River basin in the State of Idaho. The objective of the
Tribal Plan is to harvest spring Chinook salmon in a manner that does
not appreciably reduce the likelihood of survival and recovery of the
ESU. Impact levels on the listed spring Chinook salmon populations in
the ESU are specified by a sliding-scale harvest rate schedule based on
run size and escapement needs as described in the Tribal Plan. The
Tribal Plan sets maximum harvest rates for each management unit or
population based on its status, and assures that those rates or
objectives are not exceeded. A variety of monitoring and evaluation
tasks to be conducted by the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes is specified in
the Tribal Plan to assess the abundance of spring Chinook salmon and to
determine fishery effort and catch. A comprehensive review of the
Tribal Plan to evaluate whether the fisheries and ESA-listed salmon and
steelhead populations are performing as expected will be done within
the proposed fishery season and at the end of the proposed season.
Under section 4(d) of the ESA, the Secretary is required to adopt
such regulations as he deems necessary and advisable for the
conservation of species listed as threatened. NMFS has issued a final
ESA 4(d) Rule for Tribal Plans adopting regulations necessary and
advisable to harmonize statutory conservation requirements with tribal
rights and the Federal trust responsibility to tribes (50 CFR 223.209).
This 4(d) Rule for Tribal Plans applies the prohibitions enumerated
in section 9(a)(1) of the ESA. NMFS did not find it necessary and
advisable to apply the take prohibitions described in section
9(a)(1)(B) and 9(a)(1)(C) to fishery harvest activities if the
fisheries are managed in accordance with a Tribal Plan whose
implementation has been determined by the Secretary to not appreciably
reduce the likelihood of survival and recovery of the listed salmonids.
As specified in the Tribal 4(d) Rule, before the Secretary makes a
decision on the Tribal Plan, the public must have an opportunity to
review and comment on the pending determination. NMFS made the proposed
evaluation and pending determination available for public review, and
the final evaluation and determination reflect consideration of
comments received.
Discussion of the Biological Analysis Underlying the Determination
The management objective is for the Tribes to conduct fisheries in
a manner that does not appreciably reduce the likelihood of survival
and recovery of listed Chinook salmon. The Plan includes provisions for
monitoring and evaluation to assess fishing-related impacts on Snake
River spring/summer Chinook salmon. Performance indicators include dam,
weir, and redd counts, harvest estimates, and escapement with respect
to escapement goals. The proposed Plan provides the framework through
which Tribal salmon fisheries could be implemented while meeting
requirements specified under the ESA.
The Tribes intend to engage in ceremonial and subsistence harvest
of both hatchery and natural-origin spring/summer Chinook salmon.
Annually, the Tribes would issue season regulations detailing the
timing and season regulations for tributary fisheries consistent with
this long-term Plan. Under the Plan, the Tribes would manage all
Chinook salmon fisheries to achieve escapement objectives using
population-specific, abundance-based harvest rate schedules to limit
ESA take according to year-specific adult escapement abundances. As a
result, weaker populations will sustain less harvest and as the number
of predicted adults increase, the number of fish escaping to the
spawning grounds will also increase.
To achieve its conservation objectives, the Plan employs a number
of key strategies as part of their harvest conservation measures,
including: (1) Fishery-related redistribution of the conservation
burden historically borne by fisheries; (2) use of threshold points to
restrict the take of ESA-listed fish; and (3) application of a sliding
scale approach to determine appropriate ESA take limits on critically
low runs as well as on healthier runs at levels that may not slow
recovery.
The Plan includes provisions for annual reports that will assess
compliance with performance standards established through the Plan. The
monitoring and evaluation described in the Plan will focus on two
primary performance indicators: adult and juvenile abundance, and the
overall assessment of abundance and productivity measures for each
population. Reporting and inclusion of new information derived from
Plan research, monitoring, and evaluation activities provides assurance
that performance standards will be achieved in future seasons.
Summary of Comments Received in Response to the Proposed Evaluation and
Pending Determination
NMFS published notice of its proposed evaluation and pending
determination on the Plan for public review and comment on May 30, 2012
(77 FR 31835). The proposed evaluation and pending determination and an
associated draft environmental assessment were available for public
review and comment for 30 days.
NMFS received one set of comments, from the Nez Perce Tribe.
Several comments were addressed in NMFS' final evaluation and
recommended determination document, but no substantive changes were
required to the Plan or the environmental
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assessment. A detailed summary of the comments and NMFS' responses is
also available on the Salmon Management Division Web site. Based on its
evaluation and recommended determination and taking into account the
public comments, NMFS issued its final determination on the Shoshone-
Bannock Tribes' Salmon River subbasin salmon and steelhead fishery
management Plan.
Authority
Under section 4 of the ESA, the Secretary is required to adopt such
regulations as he deems necessary and advisable for the conservation of
the species listed as threatened. The ESA Tribal 4(d) Rule (50 CFR
223.209) states that the ESA section 9 take prohibitions will not apply
to Tribal Plans that will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of
survival and recovery for the listed species.
Dated: January 17, 2013.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources,
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-01282 Filed 1-22-13; 8:45 am]
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