[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 15, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13353-13355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3750]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[I.D. 010606B]
Antarctic Marine Living Resources Convention Act of 1984;
Conservation and Management Measures
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notice to notify the public that the United
States has accepted conservation and management measures pertaining to
fishing in Antarctic waters managed by the Commission for the
Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (Commission or
CCAMLR). The Commission adopted these measures at its twenty-forth
meeting in Hobart, Tasmania, October 24 to November 4, 2005. The
measures have been agreed upon by the Member countries of CCAMLR,
including the United States, in accordance with Article IX of the
Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
(the Convention). The conservation and management measures accepted:
restrict overall catches, research catch and bycatch of certain species
of fish, krill and crab; limit participation in several exploratory
fisheries; restrict fishing in certain areas and to certain gear types;
set fishing seasons; clarify seabird mitigation measures; clarify
Member data reporting timelines and vessel monitoring reporting; adopt
definitions for use in operating the Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS).
The Commission adopted a list of vessels suspected to be engaged in
illegal, unregulated or unreported fishing (IUU vessel list) in the
Convention Area. The Commission also adopted a resolution urging Member
participation in a non-Contracting Party Cooperation Enhancement
Program.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the CCAMLR conservation and management measures
may be obtained from the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NOAA,
National Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver
Spring, MD 20910.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robin Tuttle, 301-713-2282.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The full text of the conservation and management measures agreed to
by consensus by CCAMLR at its 2005 meeting and published by the U.S.
Department of State in a formal notice in the Federal Register on
January 26, 2006 (71 FR 4406).
Public comments were invited on the notice, but no public comments
were received. Through this action, NMFS notifies the public that the
United States has accepted the measures adopted at CCAMLR's twenty-
fourth meeting. NMFS provides the following summary of these
conservation and management measures as a courtesy.
[[Page 13354]]
Prohibitions on Directed Fishing
The Commission renewed the prohibition on directed fishing for
Dissostichus species except in accordance with specific conservation
measures. Accordingly, directed fishing for Dissostichus species in
Subarea 48.5 was prohibited in the 2005/2006 season.
Bycatch
The Commission agreed to apply the existing bycatch limits in
Division 58.5.2 in the 2005/2006 season. The Commission also agreed to
apply the existing bycatch limits for exploratory fisheries in the
2005/2006 season, taking account of the revised catch limit for
Dissostichus species in Subareas 88.1 and 88.2 and the consequential
change to the bycatch limits in those subareas.
The Commission agreed to include sleeper shark (Somniosus species)
on the list of selected species for which its existing move-on rule
apples when 2 tons or more are caught in any one haul. In addition, the
Commission agreed to a new move-on rule in exploratory fisheries
designed to encourage Members and their vessels to further improve the
selectivity of fishing gear and fishing methods. The new move-on rule
requires vessels to monitor the bycatch of Macrourus species relative
to that of Dissostichus species at ten-day intervals.
Environmental Protection
The Commission agreed to extend the environmental protection
provisions implemented in the fisheries in Subareas 88.1 and 88.2 to
fisheries in Subarea 48.6, south of 60[deg] S, Division 58.4.2 and
Division 58.4.1, south of 60[deg] S. The provisions regulate the
disposal of plastic packaging bands, the dumping or discharge of oil,
garbage, food wastes, poultry, sewage, offal or incineration ash, and
the translocation of poultry.
Seabird Mitigation Measures
The Commission amended the conservation measure requiring longline
sink rate testing prior to entering the Convention Area for vessels
choosing to fish longlines during daylight hours. As amended, the
conservation measure now requires a vessel to test a minimum, rather
than a maximum, length of longline. The Commission also amended the
measure to allow Commission-endorsed experimental trials to test the
bottom-line system.
The Commission revised its conservation measure on the minimization
of the mortality of seabirds in the course of longline fishing so as to
allow fishers to test variations on the design of mitigation measures
for longlines.
Exploratory Fishing
The Commission revised the notification procedure for exploratory
fisheries to clarify that information on the license issued to a vessel
requesting participation in an exploratory fishery must be included at
the time the notification is submitted by the Flag State to the
Secretariat.
Icefish
The Commission adopted area specific conservation measures for
Champsocephalus gunnari for the 2005/2006 season.
The Commission set the overall catch limit for the C. gunnari trawl
fishery in Subarea 48.3 for the 2005/2006 season at 2,244 tons, limited
the catch of this total to 561 tons during the spawning period (March
1, 2005 through May 31, 2006) and continued previously adopted
restrictions on the fishery. Any catch taken between October 1, 2005
and November 14, 2005 will be counted against the total catch limit for
the 2005/2006 season.
The Commission set the catch limit for C. gunnari trawl fishery
within defined areas of Division 58.5.2 for the 2005/2006 season at
1,210 tons and continued previously adopted restrictions on and
reporting requirements for the fishery.
Crab
The Commission set the total allowable catch level for the pot
fishery for crab for the 2005/2006 fishing season at 1,600 tons and
continued to limit participation to one vessel per member country
conducted as an experimental harvest regime.
Squid
The Commission set the total allowable catch limit for the
exploratory jig fishery for Martialia hyadesi for the 2005/2006 fishing
season at 2,500 tons.
Krill
The Commission carried forward the precautionary catch limits for
krill in Statistical Area 48 at 4.0 million tons overall and, as
divided by subareas, at 1.008 million tons in Subarea 48.1, 1.104
million tons in Subarea 48.2, 1.056 million tons in Subarea 48.3, and
0.832 million tons in Subarea 48.4.
Dissostichus Species
The Commission removed the requirement to carry out specific
research sets in the exploratory fisheries in Subareas 88.1 and 88.2.
In its place, the Commission agreed that there be a requirement that
all fish of each Dissostichus species in a haul (up to a maximum of 35
fish) be measured and randomly sampled for biological studies from all
lines hauled in Subareas 88.1 and 88.2.
The Commission set a combined catch limit of 3,556 tons for the
longline and pot fisheries for D. eleginoides in the Shag Rocks and
South Georgia areas of Subarea 48.3 in the 2005/2006 season. The
Commission closed the West Shag Rocks area and set bycatch limits on
other species.
The Commission established a mark-recapture program for the 2005/
06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 seasons to assess the population of toothfish
in Subarea 48.4 and revised the limit on the catch of Dissostichus
eleginoides to 100 tons per season, revised the fishing season to April
1 through September 30, and required each vessel operating in the
fishery to undertake a tagging program in accordance with a CCAMLR
Tagging Protocol.
The Commission set a combined catch limit of 2,584 tons of D.
eleginoides in Division 58.5.2 west of 79[deg]20' E from December 1,
2005, to November 30, 2006, for trawl and pot fishing and from May 1,
2006, to August 31, 2006, for longline fishing. The Commission extended
the season to September 30 for vessels which complete longline sink
rate testing using CCAMLR testing protocols.
The Commission designated several Dissostichus fisheries as
exploratory fisheries for the 2005/2006 fishing season. These fisheries
are total allowable catch fisheries and are open only to the flagged
vessels of countries that notified CCAMLR of an interest by named
vessels to participate in the fisheries.
The exploratory fisheries for Dissostichus species authorized by
the Commission for the 2005/2006 fishing season include the following:
(1) Longline fishing in Statistical Division 58.4.1 by Australia (one
vessel), Chile (two vessels), Republic of Korea (two vessels), New
Zealand (three vessels), Spain (two vessels) and Ukraine (one vessel);
(2) longline fishing in Statistical Subarea 48.6 by one vessel per
country at any one time by Japan and New Zealand; (3) longline fishing
in Statistical Division 58.4.2 by Australia (one vessel), Chile (two
vessels), Republic of Korea (one vessel), New Zealand (two vessels),
and Spain (two vessels); (4) longline fishing in Statistical Division
58.4.3a (the Elan Bank) outside areas under national jurisdiction to no
more than one vessel per country at a time by Australia, Chile,
Republic of Korea and Spain; (5) longline fishing in Statistical
Division 58.4.3b (the BANZARE Bank) outside areas of national
jurisdiction to no more
[[Page 13355]]
than one vessel per country at a time by Australia, Chile, Republic of
Korea, Spain and Uruguay; (6) longline fishing in Statistical Subarea
88.1 by Argentina (two vessels), Republic of Korea (two vessels), New
Zealand (five vessels), Norway (one vessel), Russia (two vessels),
South Africa (one vessel), Spain (three vessels), United Kingdom (two
vessels), and Uruguay (three vessels); and (7) longline fishing in
Statistical Subarea 88.2 by Argentina (two vessels), Republic of Korea
(one vessel), New Zealand (five vessels), Norway (one vessel), Russia
(two vessels), Spain (three vessels), United Kingdom (two vessels), and
Uruguay (one vessel).
Research Catch
The Commission agreed that catches for research purposes will be
considered a part of any catch limits in force for each species taken
unless the catch limit in an area is set at zero. In the event of
research being undertaken in an area with a zero catch limit, the
catches will be considered to be the catch limit for the season in that
area unless the zero catch limit area is part of a group of areas for
which an overall catch limit is set. In this latter case, the research
catches will be considered as part of the overall catch limit for that
group of areas.
Member Data Reporting
The Commission revised the five-day catch and effort reporting
system to clarify that reports from Members are due to the CCAMLR
Secretariat within 48 hours of the close of each five-day reporting
period and must include data on the number of pots used in pot
fisheries.
The Commission agreed that haul-by-haul data should be submitted
annually by Members for all krill fisheries. The Commission also agreed
that monthly catch reports should be compiled at the spatial scale
relevant to the management of catch limits specified in the
conservation measures setting krill catch limits.
The Commission revised the conservation measures on port
inspections of vessels carrying Dissostichus species to require that
Members submit reports of port inspections on each occasion that a
vessel unloads Dissostichus species in their territories.
The Commission revised the conservation measure on automated
satellite-linked vessel monitoring systems to reinstate a requirement
that Flag States notify the CCAMLR Secretariat as soon as possible of
the movement between subareas and divisions of the Convention Area by
each of its fishing vessels. The Commission encouraged Flag States to
submit all VMS reports to the Secretariat by means of direct reporting
by vessels to the CCAMLR Secretariat via VMS land stations.
Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Vessel List
The Commission consolidated the lists of vessels suspected of
illegal, unregulated or unreported (IUU) fishing or trading (the IUU
vessel list) into a combined List of Contracting Party Vessels and non-
Contracting Party Vessels. The vessels on the consolidated list are:
VIARSA I (Uruguay), MAYA V (Uruguay), AMORINN (Togo), APACHE I
(Honduras), CONDOR (Togo), EOLO (Equatorial Guinea), GOLDEN SUN
(Equatorial Guinea), HAMMER (Togo), JIAN YUAN(Georgia), KANG YUAN
(Georgia), KETA (flag unknown), SOUTH OCEAN (China), RED LION 22
(Equatorial Guinea), SARGO (Togo), SEA STORM (Equatorial Guinea), SOUTH
BOY (Equatorial Guinea), ROSS (Togo) and TARUMAN (Cambodia). A vessel
on the IUU Vessel List will not be permitted to participate in
exploratory fisheries. CCAMLR members are urged to prohibit trade with
the vessels on the CCAMLR IUU Vessel List.
Vessel Monitoring
The Commission reinstated a section in the 2002 version of the
conservation measure for an Automated Satellite-linked Vessel
Monitoring System requiring notification of each movement of a vessel
between subareas and division. The Commission encouraged Flag States to
submit all VMS reports to the CCAMLR Secretariat by means of direct
reporting by vessels to the Secretariat via VMS land stations.
Catch Documentation Scheme
The Commission adopted clarifying definitions of export, import,
landing, port state and transshipment for purposes of administering the
CDS. ``Export'' is defined as any movement of a catch in its harvested
or processed form from the territory under the control of the State or
free trade zone of landing, or, where that State or free trade zone
forms part of a customs union, any other member State of that customs
union. ``Import'' is defined as the physical entering or bringing of a
catch into any part of the geographical territory under the control of
a State, except where the catch is landed or transshipped within the
definitions of ``landing'' or ``transshipment.'' ``Landing'' is defined
as the initial transfer of catch in its harvested or processed form
from a vessel to dockside or to another vessel in a port or free trade
zone where the catch is certified by an authority of the Port State as
landed. ``Port State'' is defined as the State that has control over a
particular port area or free trade zone for the purposes of landing,
transshipment, importing, exporting and re-exporting and whose
authority serves as the authority for landing or transshipment
certification. ``Re-export'' is defined as any movement of a catch in
its harvested or processed form from territory under the control of a
State, free trade zone, or Member State of a customs union of import
unless that State, free trade zone, or any member State of that customs
union of import is the first place of import, in which case the
movement is an export within the definition of export.
``Transshipment'' is defined as the transfer of a catch in its
harvested or processed form from a vessel to another vessel or means of
transport, and where such transfer takes place within the territory
under the control of a Port State, for the purpose of effecting its
removal from that State. For the avoidance of doubt, temporarily
placing a catch on land or on an artificial structure to facilitate
such transfer shall not prevent the transfer from being a transshipment
where the catch is not within the definition of landing.
The Commission added a provision to the text of the CDS
conservation measure and to the data fields of the Dissostichus Catch
Document (DCD) and the Re-Export form requiring the reporting of
transport details of toothfish shipments.
Non-Contracting Party Cooperation Enhancement Program
The Commission adopted a resolution on a non-Contracting Party
Cooperation Enhancement Program. The resolutions urges Members to
provide information, training materials and technical assistance to
non-Contracting Flag and Port States with an interest in controlling
toothfish harvesting and trade, but which lack the expertise and
resources to do so.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 2431 et seq.
Dated: March 9, 2006.
William T. Hogarth,
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries
Service.
[FR Doc. E6-3750 Filed 3-14-06; 8:45 am]
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