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DOC/NOAA | RIN: 0648-BM52 | Publication ID: Fall 2024 |
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Designation Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Sanctuary | |
Abstract:
NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is developing a proposed rule designating a national marine sanctuary in the waters surrounding the Pacific Remote Islands. This proposed rule for designation under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act would supplement the existing National Marine Monument and further protect and conserve the natural environment and cultural heritage of the Pacific Remote Islands for future generations. |
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Agency: Department of Commerce(DOC) | Priority: Other Significant |
RIN Status: Previously published in the Unified Agenda | Agenda Stage of Rulemaking: Proposed Rule Stage |
Major: No | Unfunded Mandates: No |
CFR Citation: 15 CFR 922 | |
Legal Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq. |
Legal Deadline:
None |
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Statement of Need: The proposed action is needed to protect the resources within the proposed sanctuary’s boundaries from threats and to conserve the health and abundance of those resources. Although the Pacific Remote Islands (PRI) is largely insulated from many of the impacts associated with human activities found in more populated areas, the marine resources in this remote area face growing threats and challenges from climate change; commercial fishing; illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing; marine debris; introduced species; seabed mining; and an insufficient understanding of the natural, cultural, and historic resources there. While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA are addressing some of these threats and challenges within the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the proposed sanctuary designation would include National Marine Sanctuary Act (NMSA) regulatory authority that would supplement and complement the existing management activities within the Monument, and provide resource protection, research, monitoring, education, outreach, interpretation, and community engagement activities throughout the entire proposed sanctuary, including in the areas outside the Monument boundaries.
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Summary of the Legal Basis: ONMS is implementing this rule pursuant to its rulemaking authority under NMSA, 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq. |
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Alternatives: The alternatives include the No Action Alternative and two boundary alternatives that describe different geographic boundaries for the proposed sanctuary. Each boundary alternative includes four regulatory sub-alternatives, which are the same but for the fact they prescribe different approaches to commercial fishery management. The combination of two boundary alternatives each with four regulatory sub-alternatives results in eight action sub-alternatives NOAA considered. NOAA is proposing the three regulations that would apply to the proposed sanctuary under all eight action sub-alternatives. These include a prohibition on oil, gas, and mineral exploration or development throughout the entire proposed sanctuary; a prohibition on the appropriation, injury, destruction, or removal of any proposed sanctuary resource, which would prohibit commercial demersal fishing in both offshore zones and commercial pelagic fishing in the Kingman and Palmyra Offshore Zone; and a prohibition on access without a permit. Additionally, NOAA is proposing exemptions to some of these regulations for law enforcement, military readiness, emergency response, vessel passage without interruption, and existing management activities. The protections described in the presidential proclamations establishing and expanding the Monument and the existing regulations governing Monument management serve as the foundation for these proposed regulations and exemptions. The designation of the proposed sanctuary in the Pacific Remote Islands would only supplement and complement rather than supplant those protections. |
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Anticipated Costs and Benefits: NOAA does not expect a significant economic impact of the proposed sanctuary rule on entities within the commercial fishing industry. The proposed rule’s prohibition on commercial demersal fishing would not impact the commercial fishing industry since NOAA has not issued a permit for bottomfish since 2018 and 2019, when four permits were issued but no catch reported. There has been no catch reported in the bottomfish logbook since its creation in 2006, indicating the permits were issued for non-commercial fishing or never used. Additionally, no permits have been issued for commercial or non-commercial precious coral, coral reef ecosystems, or crustacean fishing in the offshore zones since 2010. The proposed rule’s prohibition on commercial pelagic fishing in the proposed Kingman and Palmyra Offshore Zone would be expected to reduce catch by 1.5 percent from the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, or 0.9 percent of total catch for the U.S. purse seine vessels (valued at about $2.1 million/year) inclusive of all the fleet’s fishing grounds, and would have a de minimis economic impact on longline vessels. This estimate is a worst case scenario because it assumes no replacement; in other words, the estimate assumes vessels cannot make up for the lost catch by fishing elsewhere. NOAA notes that there may be small entities in the territory of American Samoa that partially depend on commercial fishing that could be indirectly impacted by the proposed sanctuary (fuel suppliers, provisioners, etc.). However, given NOAA does not expect significant economic impacts to the commercial fishing industry, NOAA does not expect these small entities to be affected. Further, NOAA does not expect impacts from the proposed rule to small or large non-commercial fishing entities because the exemptions to the regulations would continue to allow vessel passage, overflights, and U.S. Department of Defense or Coast Guard training and activities to occur. There would be no impact on seabed mining operations since there are no such mining activities currently occurring. NOAA estimates the annual costs to the U.S. government for operating and managing the proposed sanctuary to be between $400,000 and $2,500,000. The primary benefit of the proposed sanctuary designation is biodiversity conservation. The proposed sanctuary regulations were developed to help provide the long-term protection of biodiversity. These include a prohibition on oil, gas, and mineral exploration or development throughout the entire proposed sanctuary; a prohibition on the appropriation, injury, destruction, or removal of any proposed sanctuary resource, which would prohibit commercial demersal fishing in both offshore zones and commercial pelagic fishing in the Kingman and Palmyra Offshore Zone; and a prohibition on access without a permit. The prohibition on extractive activities like mining or commercial demersal fishing will maintain the ecological integrity of bottom habitats, ecosystems, and those species that depend on them. The proposed prohibition of appropriation, injury, destruction, or removal of any proposed sanctuary resource will provide additional, lasting protections to all natural, cultural and historical resources within the Core Protection Zone, and extend many of these protections to the Kingman and Palmyra Offshore Zone and the Howland and Baker Offshore Zone. The proposed prohibition on access into the proposed sanctuary mirrors the existing U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prohibition within the Monument and provides a mechanism for NOAA to better manage human uses in the offshore zones through a permit system.
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Risks: This action is essential to provide the most comprehensive and lasting protections to the significant natural and cultural resources of the submerged lands and waters surrounding the seven islands, atolls, and reefs of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument both within and outside the Monument boundary, to the full extent of the seaward limit of the United States Exclusive Economic Zone, as stated in President Biden’s March 24, 2023, Presidential Memorandum on Conserving the Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Pacific Remote Islands. The proposed sanctuary’s regulations and management plan would allow coordinated management of the natural, cultural, and historical resources of the Pacific Remote Islands within the Monument and provide protections to an additional 263,000 sq. miles of submerged lands and waters within the U.S. EEZ that are not currently managed as a Monument or national wildlife refuge. The Pacific Remote Islands area faces increasing pressure to mine the seafloor for minerals and extract more fish (legally by U.S. fleets and illegally by foreign fleets), and is already experiencing negative impacts from climate change, marine debris, and invasive species. The natural, cultural and historic resources of the region will continue to degrade unless the proposed sanctuary is designated in the Pacific Remote Islands and NOAA can work with other resource management agencies in the region to coordinate, prioritize, and pool resources to more effectively manage these threats to an area greater than the size of Alaska. |
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Timetable:
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Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: YES | Government Levels Affected: None |
Small Entities Affected: Businesses, Organizations | Federalism: No |
Included in the Regulatory Plan: Yes | |
RIN Data Printed in the FR: Yes | |
Agency Contact: Jessica Kondel Policy and Planning Division Chief Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1305 East West Highway, Building SSMC4, Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone:240 676-4646 |