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APHIS
Public Meeting
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 98-085-3]
Aquaculture; Public Meeting
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
SUMMARY: This is to notify the aquaculture
industries, interested parties, and the
general public that a public meeting will be held to discuss
how and to what extent the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
should regulate aquatic species, and to discuss any other issues
concerning possible regulation of aquaculture by the Agency.
DATES: The public meeting will be held on Friday,
February 16, 2001, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the
Radisson Inn Cincinnati Airport,
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Hebron,
KY, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the North Central Regional
Aquaculture Center.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information
about the APHIS public meeting, contact Dr.
Otis Miller, Jr., National Aquaculture Coordinator,
Center for Planning, Certification, and Monitoring, VS, APHIS,
4700 River Road Unit 46, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231, (301) 734-
6188. For
information regarding the annual meeting of the North Central Regional
Aquaculture Center, contact Liz Bartels at bartels@pilot.msu.edu
or (517) 353-1962.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 4, 1999, the
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) published in the Federal Register (64 FR 23795-23796,
Docket No. 98-085-1) an advance notice of proposed rulemaking
(ANPR) titled ``Aquaculture: Farm-Raised Fin Fish.'' We
published this ANPR after receiving petitions \1\
asking us to regulate aquaculture in
various ways. Many petitioners asked us to define farmed aquatic
animals as livestock. In general, the petitioners seemed to be interested
in receiving the same services that domestic producers of
livestock receive for animals moving in interstate
and foreign commerce. However, based on the
petitions alone, it was difficult for us to
determine what segments of the industry want services and exactly what
services they want. It was also difficult to determine the objectives
sought by the petitioners who were requesting Federal regulation.
We published the ANPR in an attempt to clarify the industry's
needs, the nature of the services sought, and the concerns the
petitioners had with regard to such regulations.
\1\ All the petitions and
comments we received are a part of the rulemaking
record for Docket No. 98-085-1. You may read the petitions
and comments in our reading room. The reading room is locatd
in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence
Avenue SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be
sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 690-2817 before
coming.
We received 55 comments \2\ in
response to the ANPR. A majority of the
commenters supported the idea of APHIS regulation of cultured finfish.
Unfortunately, the commenters generally did not clearly distinguish
between fin fish raised for food and ornamental fin fish.
Commenters who wanted regulation were, however,
very clear that they want programs to
prevent and control disease and to support increased commerce,
both domestic and export.
\2\ All the petitions and
comments we received are a part of the rulemaking
record for Docket No. 98-085-1. You may read the petitions
and comments in our reading room. The reading room is locatd
in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and Independence
Avenue SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be
sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 690-2817 before
coming.
The commenters also suggested
that any rulemaking initiated by APHIS be a
negotiated rulemaking. In negotiated rulemaking, industry representatives
and other interested persons meet with APHIS officials and
draft proposed regulations together. The proposed regulations are then
published for public comment. Negotiated rulemaking is designed to ensure
that all interested persons are involved together from the start in
the development of regulations. Unfortunately,
negotiated rulemaking is not suitable for all situations.
It works well when there is a small number of interested parties,
and the parties are easy to identify. This is not the case with
regard to aquaculture. The aquaculture industry is very large and diverse.
It would be difficult for us to identify everyone who should be
represented in a negotiated rulemaking. In addition, there are many parties
outside aquaculture that would have a substantial interest in such
a rulemaking. In our view, the number of people who would need to participate
in a negotiated rulemaking would be too large and would suggest
that negotiated rulemaking is not appropriate. Furthermore, a
negotiated rulemaking would be expensive, and
APHIS does not have adequate funds.
Therefore, we have concluded that it would not be appropriate
to pursue an aquaculture negotiated rulemaking. We
have not, however, decided whether to pursue aquaculture rulemaking
by other means. Before we make that decision, we want to have
as much information as possible from all interested persons, and we
want to provide the aquaculture industries and other interested
persons with as much opportunity as possible to
discuss with us and inform us regarding the
relevant issues. Therefore, we are holding
a series of public meetings. Public meetings
allow anyone who is interested--industry representatives, producers,
consumers, and others--to present their views and to exchange
information among themselves and with APHIS. There
are no set agendas for the meetings. Any issues and concerns related
to aquaculture and possible APHIS regulatory action can be discussed.
However, there are three specific issues on which we would
like more information. These are issues that the
people and organizations who commented on
our ANPR either did not address or were unclear
about. Specifically, if APHIS does propose regulations: (1) Should
our program be mandatory or voluntary; (2) should we cover shell fish;
and (3) should we cover ornamental fin fish? Information
elicited at the meetings could result in a new APHIS regulatory
program, or in changes to aquaculture-[[Page 3533]] related
services currently provided by APHIS. We
have scheduled this public meeting, the second meeting in our series,
for Friday, February 16, 2001, at the Radisson Inn Cincinnati Airport.
If you wish to speak at the meeting, please register in advance
by calling the Regulatory Analysis and Development voice mail at
(301) 734-8139. Leave a message with your name, telephone number,
organization, if any, and an estimate of the time you need to speak.
You may also register at the meeting itself.
Please register at the meeting room between
8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., before the meeting officially
begins. Starting with the advance registrants, we will call speakers
in the order in which they registered. The
meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and is scheduled to end at 3 p.m. We
may end the meeting early if all the registered speakers have had a chance
to speak and if no one else wants to speak. We may also extend the
meeting, or limit the time allowed for each speaker, if necessary, so all
interested persons have an opportunity to participate. An
APHIS representative will preside at the meeting. The meeting will
be recorded. We encourage speakers to present written statements, though
it is not required. If you choose to present a written statement, please
provide the chairperson with a copy. The complete record, including the
transcript and all written comments, will be available
to the public. This meeting is the
second in our series of public meetings. The first
public meeting will be held on January 25, 2001, in Lake Buena Vista, FL. We
plan to hold additional meetings in Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Pennsylvania,
and Washington. We will publish a notice or notices
in the Federal Register announcing the dates, times, and
locations of the meetings.
Done in Washington, DC, this
9th day of January 2001.
Bobby R. Acord,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 01-1199 Filed 1-12-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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