[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 97 (Tuesday, May 20, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 28847-28849]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-11537]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
50 CFR Part 17
[Docket Number FWS-HQ-ES-2013-0055; FXES111809F2070B6]
RIN 1018-AY76
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing the
Southern White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) as Threatened
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Affirmation of interim rule as final rule.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are adopting
as a final rule an interim rule to list the southern white rhino
(Ceratotherium simum simum) as threatened under the authority of
section 4(e) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act),
due to the similarity in appearance with the endangered Javan
(Rhinoceros sondaicus), Sumatran (Dicerorhinos sumatrensis), Indian
(Rhinoceros unicornis), black (Diceros bicornis) and northern white
rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni). The interim rule was necessary, as
differentiating between the horns and other products made from the
southern white rhino and the endangered Javan, Sumatran, Indian, black,
and northern white rhino is difficult for law enforcement to determine
without genetic testing, decreasing their ability to enforce and
further the provisions and policies of the Act. This similarity of
appearance has resulted in the documented trade of listed rhinoceros
species, often under the guise of being the unprotected southern white
rhinoceros, and this difficulty in distinguishing between the rhino
species protected under the Act and the southern white rhino
constitutes an additional threat to all endangered rhinoceros species.
The determination that the southern white rhino should be treated as
threatened due to similarity of appearance will substantially
facilitate law enforcement actions to protect and conserve all
endangered rhino species. Therefore, for the reasons given in the
interim rule and in this document, we are adopting the interim rule as
a final rule without substantive change.
DATES: Effective May 20, 2014, we are adopting as a final rule the
interim rule published at 78 FR 55649 on September 11, 2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janine Van Norman, Chief, Branch of
Foreign Species, Endangered Species Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 420, Arlington, VA 22203;
telephone 703-358-2171; facsimile 703-358-1735. If you use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In an interim rule we published in the Federal Register on
September 11, 2013 (78 FR 55649-55656, http://www.regulations.gov
Docket No. FWS-HQ-ES-2013-0055), we listed the southern white rhino
(Ceratotherium simum simum) (SWR) as threatened under the ``similarity
of appearance'' provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (Act), 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq. The effective date of the listing
was September 11, 2013. We amended subpart B of chapter I, title 50 of
the Code of Federal Regulations at Sec. 17.11(h), by adding the
southern white rhinoceros to the List of Endangered and Threatened
Wildlife due to a similarity of appearance. Public comments on the
interim rule were received on or before October 11, 2013.
Comments
We received 32,139 comments from both the public and
nongovernmental institutions; all but two commenters supported the
interim rule. One comment conditionally supported the interim rule; the
other did not support the interim rule. A brief description of the two
comments and our responses are provided below.
Comment: Both commenters expressed concern regarding the permitting
requirements related to the legal take and importation of trophy
specimens. One of the commenters also requested a special rule (under
section 4(d) of the Act) that would waive the ``enhancement''
requirement associated with the ESA importation permit for SWR that are
listed as Appendix I under the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES),
[[Page 28848]]
including sport-hunted trophies imported from Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Response: The Service's regulatory criteria for issuance of permits
for any activity otherwise prohibited with a species designated as
endangered or threatened due to its similarity of appearance are found
at 50 CFR 17.52(b). Under these criteria, the Director shall consider,
in addition to the general permitting criteria found at 50 CFR
13.21(b), whether the information submitted by the applicant
identifying the species and the origin of the wildlife or plant in
question appears reliable and whether it adequately identifies the
wildlife or plant so as to distinguish it from any Endangered or
Threatened wildlife or plant. Therefore, ESA permits for importation of
SWRs from populations listed under CITES Appendix I may be issued
according to the regulatory criteria mentioned above, and there is no
requirement for the Service to find that the otherwise prohibited
activity involving these specimen of SWRs enhances the survival or
propagation of the species. Current requirements to import legally
obtained SWRs listed as CITES Appendix I already require a CITES permit
from the country of origin, as well as CITES import permit issued by
the U.S. For SWRs exported from South Africa or Swaziland, which are
currently the only populations listed in Appendix II of CITES, no ESA
regulatory permit for importation is required, provided that the
specimen was legally exported from one of those two countries, the
importation was not made in the course of a commercial activity, and
other applicable requirements under section 9(c)(2) of the Act are met;
a CITES Appendix II permit from the country of export would still be
required for these specimens. More information regarding permitting
requirements can be found at http://www.fws.gov/ permits/ ImportExport/
ImportExport.html.
Comment: One of the commenters questioned why the Service lists
foreign species.
Response: The Act requires the Service to list ``species'' as
endangered if they are in danger of extinction, or threatened if they
are likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future, regardless
of the country in which the species lives. By regulating import;
export; take within the U.S., the territorial sea of the U.S, or upon
the high seas; certain activities for species taken in violation of the
ESA's prohibitions on take and import/export; delivery, receipt,
carrying, transport, or shipment in interstate or foreign commerce in
the course of a commercial activity; or sell or offer for sale in
interstate or foreign commerce, the United States ensures that people
under the jurisdiction of the United States do not contribute to the
further decline of species that meet the definition of threatened or
endangered under the Act.
Therefore, for the reasons given in the interim rule and in this
document, we are adopting the interim rule as a final rule without
substantive change. However, we are taking this opportunity to correct
a nonsubstantive omission in the regulatory text. We are adding a
number to the ``When Listed'' column of the List of Endangered and
Threatened Wildlife to provide the public with the Federal Register
citation and date of publication of the interim rule.
Required Determinations
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.)
This rule does not contain any new collections of information that
require approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the
Paperwork Reduction Act. This rule will not impose new recordkeeping or
reporting requirements on State or local governments, individuals,
businesses, or organizations. We may not conduct or sponsor, and you
are not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control number.
National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.)
The Service has analyzed this rule in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The Council on Environmental
Quality's (CEQ) regulations implementing NEPA, at 40 CFR 1508.4, define
a ``categorical exclusion'' as a category of actions which do not
individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human
environment and which have been found to have no such effect on the
human environment. CEQ's regulations further require Federal agencies
to adopt NEPA procedures, including the adoption of categorical
exclusions for which neither an environmental assessment nor an
environmental impact statement is required (40 CFR 1507.3). The Service
has determined that this rule is categorically excluded from further
environmental analysis under NEPA in accordance with the Department's
NEPA regulations at 43 CFR 46.210(i), which categorically excludes
``[p]olicies, directives, regulations, and guidelines: that are of an
administrative, financial, legal, technical, or procedural nature.'' In
addition, the Service has determined that none of the extraordinary
circumstances listed under the Department's regulations at 43 CFR
46.215, in which a normally excluded action may have a significant
environmental effect, applies to this final rule.
References Cited
A complete list of all references cited in the interim rule is
available on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov or by
contacting the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Author
The primary author of this rule is the staff of the Branch of
Foreign Species, Endangered Species Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 420, Arlington, VA 22203 (see
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
Authority
The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 17
Endangered and threatened species, Exports, Imports, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Transportation.
Regulation Promulgation
Accordingly, we are adopting as a final rule the interim rule that
amended part 17, subchapter B of chapter I, title 50 of the Code of
Federal Regulations and that was published at 78 FR 55649 on September
11, 2013, with the following changes:
PART 17--[AMENDED]
0
1. The authority citation for part 17 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1361-1407; 1531-1544; 4201-4245; unless
otherwise noted.
0
2. Amend Sec. 17.11(h) by revising the entry for ``Rhinoceros,
southern white'' under Mammals in the List of Endangered and Threatened
Wildlife to read as follows:
Sec. 17.11 Endangered and threatened wildlife.
* * * * *
(h) * * *
[[Page 28849]]
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Species Vertebrate
------------------------------------------------------ population where Critical Special
Historic range endangered or Status When listed habitat rules
Common name Scientific name threatened
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Mammals
* * * * * * *
Rhinoceros, southern white...... Ceratotherium simum Botswana, South Entire............. T(S/A) 832 N/A N/A
simum. Africa, Swaziland,
Zambia, Zimbabwe.
* * * * * * *
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Dated: April 4, 2014.
Daniel M. Ashe,
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-11537 Filed 5-19-14; 8:45 am]
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