Bristol Bay Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Meeting; Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska

This notice informs the public of the Regional Council meeting identified above. The public is invited to attend and observe meeting proceedings. In addition, the public invited to provide oral testimony before the Bristol Bay Advisory Council on a Special Action request to change Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska for the 1998-1999 regulatory year as set forth in a final rule on June 29, 1998 (63 FR 35332-35381). The Regional Council will receive testimony and consider six requests from local villages asking that federal public lands in Unit 9(E) be closed to taking of caribou by non-qualified subsistence users. Three requests from local villages additionally ask that federal lands be closed to the taking of moose by non-qualified subsistence users. The requests cite recent information on the continuing decline in population of the North Alaska Peninsula caribou herd. In addition, the severe reduction in the commercial fishery incomes this year is said to result in higher reliance on subsistence food resources.