NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has transmitted Amendment 17 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Secretarial review. Amendment 17 revises the maximum fishing mortality threshold (MFMT) for Quillayute fall coho, revises the FMP to correct typographical errors, updates reporting measures to reflect new technology, and updates or removes other obsolete or unnecessary language.
Comments on Amendment 17 must be received on or before January 8, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2012-0192,
by any one of the following methods:
Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov. To submit comments via the e-Rulemaking Portal,
enter NOAA-NMFS-2011-0227 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.
Mail: William W. Stelle, Jr., Regional Administrator,
Northwest Region, NMFS, 7600 Sand Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 98115-0070
or to Rod McInnis, Regional Administrator, Southwest Region, NMFS, 501
West Ocean Boulevard, Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802-4213.
Fax: 206-526-6736 Attn: Peggy Mundy, or 562-980-4047 Attn:
Heidi Taylor.
Instructions: Comments must be submitted by one of the above
methods to ensure that the comments are received, documented, and
considered by NMFS. Comments sent by any other method, to any other
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period,
may not be considered. All comments received are a part of the public
record and will generally be posted for public viewing on http://www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.)
submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly accessible. Do not
submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or
protected information. NMFS will accept anonymous comments (enter N/A
in the 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.
Electronic copies of the amendment may be obtained from the Council
Web site at http://pcouncil.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peggy Mundy at 206-526-4323, or Heidi
Taylor at 562-980-4039.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The ocean salmon fisheries in the exclusive economic zone off
Washington, Oregon, and California are managed under a ``framework''
fishery management plan entitled the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery
Management Plan (FMP). The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and
Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 (MSRA) requires that each
regional fishery management council submit any FMP or plan amendment it
prepares to NMFS for review and approval, disapproval, or partial
approval. The MSRA also requires that NMFS, upon receiving an FMP or
amendment, immediately publish a notice that the FMP or amendment is
available for public review and comment. NMFS will consider the public
comments received during the comment period described above in
determining whether to approve Amendment 17 to the FMP.
In 2011, the Council transmitted Salmon FMP Amendment 16 to NMFS
(76 FR 57945, September 19, 2011). NMFS partially approved Amendment 16
in December 2011. NMFS disapproved the proposed maximum fishing
mortality threshold (MFMT) for Quillayute coho. During the review of
Amendment 16, a variety of other issues in the FMP were identified as
needing revision, largely to correct typographical errors, update
notification and reporting measures to reflect new technology, and
remove an unnecessary post-final rule comment period from the schedule
for annual management measures. Amendment 17 addresses the issue of
MFMT for Quillayute coho and well as the other, largely editorial,
revisions.
NMFS welcomes comments on the proposed FMP amendment through the
end of the comment period. The Council also transmitted a proposed rule
to implement Amendment 17 for Secretarial review and approval. NMFS
expects to publish and request public review and comment on this rule
in the near future. Public comments on the proposed rule must be
received by the end of the comment period on the amendment to be
considered in the approval/disapproval decision on the amendment. All
comments received by the end of the comment period for the amendment,
whether specifically directed to the amendment or the proposed rule,
will be considered in the approval/disapproval decision.