Sea Turtle Conservation; Restrictions Applicable to Shrimp Trawl Activities; Leatherback Conservation Zone

NMFS issues this interim rule to establish all inshore and offshore waters from Cape Canaveral, FL (28 deg.24.6' N. lat.) to the North Carolina-Virginia border (36 deg.30.5' N. lat.) as the leatherback conservation zone and to provide for short-term closures of areas in that zone when high abundance levels of leatherback turtles are documented. Upon such documentation, NMFS will prohibit, in the closed areas, fishing by any shrimp trawler required to have a turtle excluder device (TED) installed in each net that is rigged for fishing, unless the TED installed is specified in the regulations as having an escape opening large enough to exclude leatherback turtles. This interim rule is necessary to reduce mortality of endangered leatherback sea turtles incidentally captured in shrimp trawls. In addition, NMFS is publishing a proposed rule elsewhere in this Federal Register to establish on a permanent basis the leatherback conservation zone and procedure for imposing short-term [[Page 25621]] restrictions designed to protect leatherbacks.