SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In title 50, parts 600, 622, and 679 contain regulations issued under authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. On January 12, 2007, the President signed into law the MSRA (Public Law 109-479), which ( printed page 67810) amended the Magnuson-Stevens Act and set forth, among other things, general and more specialized provisions pertaining to parts 600, 622, and 679. NMFS makes minor changes to these parts to resolve inconsistencies between the specified regulations and the governing changes presented in the MSRA that have a direct bearing on the regulations. This final rule makes changes following the provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act as amended by the MSRA in the order of their presentation in the regulations. The applicable Magnuson-Stevens Act citation is in parentheses.

In § 600.10 the definition of term “limited access system” is added, as this term is used very often in current fishery management plans and regulations (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 3(27)).

Section 600.345 is modified to add the MSRA requirement to National Standard 8 — Communities, that fishery conservation and management measures take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities by using economic and social data that is based on the best scientific information available (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 301(a)(8)).

Section 600.350 revises National Standard 9 — Bycatch, by reformatting paragraph (c), the definition, and adding an exclusion of “bycatch” scientifically tagged and released highly migratory species fish harvested in a commercial fishery managed by a Council or the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 304(g)(2)).

Section 600.516 updates the language and specifies that allocations of the total allowable level of foreign fishing are discretionary and such allocations shall be zero for fisheries that have adequate or excess domestic harvest capacity (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 201(d)).

Section 622.2, revises the definition of “Caribbean” to reflect the extended jurisdiction of the Caribbean Fishery Management Council to the U.S. waters surrounding all U.S. territories in the Caribbean Sea (Magnuson-Stevens Act sec. 302(a)(1)(D)). Previously, Council jurisdiction was only over fisheries seaward of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Section 218 of the MSRA amended section 802 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 (Public Law 108—199; section 802) to extend the duration of the Central Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Rockfish Program from two to five years. In section 802, Congress required the Secretary in consultation with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to establish a management program for Central GOA rockfish and other groundfish fisheries with specific provisions. Section 802 states in part, “...The pilot program will sunset when a GOA groundfish comprehensive rationalization plan is authorized by the Council and implemented by the Secretary, or 2 years from date of implementation, whichever is earlier.”

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted the Central GOA Rockfish Program on June 6, 2005. NMFS approved the amendment to the Gulf of Alaska Groundfish Fishery Management Plan and adopted regulations establishing the Program beginning in 2007 and expiring December 31, 2008. Section 218 of the MSRA has now extended the expiration date to five years after implementation. The GOA groundfish comprehensive rationalization plan is not yet complete.

This rule amends regulations at 50 CFR 679.80(a)(2) to be consistent with the statutory requirements of section 218 of the MSRA that the Central GOA Rockfish Program be extended from December 31, 2008 (i.e., two years after implementation by the Secretary), to December 31, 2011 (i.e., five years after implementation by the Secretary).

Classification

The Office of Management and Budget has determined that this final rule is not significant for purposes of Executive Order 12866.

Through this action, NMFS seeks to ensure that the regulations implementing the Magnuson-Stevens Act conform to the statutory requirements. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), the NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries finds good cause to waive prior notice and an opportunity for public comment on this action, as notice and comment are unnecessary for the following reasons. First, the actions taken in this final rule are non-discretionary. As noted previously in the preamble, these actions either change current regulations to conform to the statute or add definitions that exist in the statute to the regulations. Since these changes are non-discretionary, notice and comment on them would not allow the agency to make any changes to them, making notice and comment unnecessary. Second, the regulations as they exist present out-of-date information, due to the MSRA amendments. This situation causes confusion to the public as they try to reconcile the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Act with those of the regulations. Bringing the regulations in line with the overriding requirements of the statute is consistent with the public interest. Further, because the rule is only administrative in nature, is non-discretionary, and imposes no new substantive requirements or restrictions on the public, the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA, under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), finds inapplicable the requirement to delay its effective date for 30 days.

50 CFR Part 600

Administrative practice and procedure, Confidential business information, Fisheries, Fishing, Fishing vessels, Foreign relations, Intergovernmental relations, Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Statistics.

50 CFR Part 622

Fisheries, Fishing, Puerto Rico, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Virgin Islands.

50 CFR Part 679

Alaska, Fisheries.

For the reasons discussed in the preamble, NMFS amends 50 CFR parts 600, 622, and 679 as follows:

Chapter VI

1. The authority citation for part 600 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 561 and 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

2. In § 600.10, the definition of “Limited access system” is added in alphabetical order to read as follows:

3. In § 600.345, paragraph (a) introductory text is revised to read as follows:

4. In § 600.350, paragraph (c) is revised to read as follows:

5. In § 600.516, paragraph (a) is revised to read as follows:

6. The authority citation for part 622 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

7. In § 622.2, the definition of “Caribbean” is revised to read as follows:

8. The authority citation for 50 CFR part 679 is revised to read as follows:

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 773 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 1540(f); 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.; 16 U.S.C. 3631 et seq.; Pub. L. 105-277; Pub. L. 106-31; Pub. L. 106-554; Pub. L. 108-199; Pub. L. 108-447; Pub. L. 109-241; Pub. L. 109-479.

9. In § 679.80, paragraph (a)(2) is revised to read as follows: