Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Expansion of Emergency Fishery Closure Due to the Presence of the Toxin that Causes Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning

This action expands an area currently closed to the harvest of bivalve shellfish, except for sea scallop adductor muscles harvested and shucked at sea, identified in a temporary final rule initially published on October 18, 2005. The regulations contained in the temporary rule, emergency action, published on October 18, 2005, and subsequently extended several times at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), were effective through December 31, 2008. This temporary rule supersedes the previous rule. This rule will expire on December 29, 2008. This temporary rule expands the closure area of Federal waters previously closed since the original emergency closure. The FDA has determined that current oceanographic conditions and alga sampling data warrant expanding the Northern Temporary Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP) Closure Area to encompass the current closure area and an adjacent area in the Federal waters southeast of Massachusetts around Nantucket Island and eastward to the George's Bank PSP Closure Area. This expanded area is closed to the harvest of bivalve molluscan shellfish, except for sea scallop adductor muscles harvested and shucked at sea. The remaining segment of the Southern Temporary PSP Closure Area continues to be closed to the harvest of whole or roe-on scallops only.