Notice2025-05802
Mariana Arc of Fire National Wildlife Refuge and Mariana Trench Marine National Monument; Corrections
Primary source
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Published
April 4, 2025
Effective
April 4, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce corrections to the spelling of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument and to the coordinates of geographic features (hydrothermal vent fields) within the Mariana Arc of Fire National Refuge. This notice corrects the spelling "Marianas Trench Marine National Monument" to "Mariana Trench Marine National Monument" for consistency in official documents and other publications. It also makes corrections to coordinates of hydrothermal vent fields. This will ensure proper mapping and data management and facilitate enforcement of protections within the Refuge boundaries. These corrections are nonsubstantive.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 64 (Friday, April 4, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 64 (Friday, April 4, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14850-14852]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-05802]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R1-NWRS-2024-N042; FXRS12610100000-256-FF01R07000]
Mariana Arc of Fire National Wildlife Refuge and Mariana Trench
Marine National Monument; Corrections
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of correction.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce corrections
to the spelling of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument and to
the coordinates of geographic features (hydrothermal vent fields)
within the Mariana Arc of Fire National Refuge. This notice corrects
the spelling ``Marianas Trench Marine National Monument'' to ``Mariana
Trench Marine National Monument'' for consistency in official documents
and other publications. It also makes corrections to coordinates of
hydrothermal vent fields. This will ensure proper mapping and data
management and facilitate enforcement of protections within the Refuge
boundaries. These corrections are nonsubstantive.
DATES: These corrections are effective April 4, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Background documents, including the 2009 Presidential
proclamation establishing the Monument, the 2011 Federal Register
notice announcing the Service's and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) intent to prepare a draft
monument management plan (MMP), and the 2020 draft MMP, which was
announced for public comment in 2021, are available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> in Docket
[[Page 14851]]
No. NOAA-NMFS-2021-0003. However, the agencies are no longer taking
comments on these documents. The final environmental assessment (EA) is
available at <a href="https://www.fws.gov/national-monument/mariana-trench-marine">https://www.fws.gov/national-monument/mariana-trench-marine</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sean Macduff, Superintendent, Mariana
Trench Marine National Monument, by phone at 670-234-7207, extension
4003, or by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#deadbbbfb081b3bfbdbaabb8b89eb8a9adf0b9b1a8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="dba8bebab584b6bab8bfaebdbd9bbdaca8f5bcb4ad">[email protected]</span></a>. Individuals in the United
States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech
disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services offered within their country to
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We are correcting the spelling of the
Mariana Trench Marine National Monument and the coordinates of
geographic features (hydrothermal vent fields) within the Mariana Arc
of Fire National Refuge. This notice corrects the spelling ``Marianas
Trench Marine National Monument'' to ``Mariana Trench Marine National
Monument'' for consistency in official documents and other
publications. It also makes corrections to coordinates of hydrothermal
vent fields. This will ensure proper mapping and data management and
facilitate enforcement of protections within the Refuge boundaries. The
corrections make no substantive changes to existing regulations and do
not expand or otherwise alter the size of the Monument.
As the lead Federal agency for promulgation of fisheries
regulations, NOAA will publish the corrected Monument name and Refuge
coordinates as part of updating fisheries regulations for the Mariana
Trench Marine National Monument.
Background
The Mariana Trench Marine National Monument was established by
Presidential Proclamation 8335 (Proclamation), signed by President
George W. Bush on January 6, 2009 (74 FR 1557, January 12, 2009). The
Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce (Secretaries) share
responsibility for managing the Monument. The Proclamation required the
Secretaries to prepare management plans within their respective
authorities and promulgate implementing regulations to address specific
actions necessary for the proper care and management of the Monument.
On April 5, 2011, the Service and NOAA published a Federal Register
notice announcing the intent to prepare a draft monument management
plan (MMP) for the Monument (76 FR 18773). The MMP would also satisfy
the Service's comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) requirements for
two units of the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) within the
Monument. In the notice, the Service and NOAA requested suggestions and
information on the scope of issues to consider during the planning
process and announced that, under the National Environmental Policy Act
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), an EA to evaluate the potential effects of
various management alternatives would be prepared. The EA would provide
resource managers with the information needed to determine whether the
potential effects may be significant and warrant preparation of an
environmental impact statement, or if the potential impacts would lead
to a finding of no significant impact (FONSI).
On February 24, 2021, the Service and NOAA published a Federal
Register notice announcing the availability of the draft MMP and EA (86
FR 11238). The draft MMP included elements similar to a NWRS CCP, and
the agencies conducted the planning process for those elements in a
manner similar to the CCP planning and public involvement process. The
National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (Refuge
Administration Act; 16 U.S.C. 668dd-668ee), as amended by the National
Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, requires the Service to
develop a CCP for each national wildlife refuge. The draft MMP
incorporated CCP requirements and defined each agency's management
roles and responsibilities. The draft MMP included an EA of the
potential impacts of the MMP on the human environment. The draft MMP,
EA, and public comments received on the documents were made publicly
available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> in Docket No. NOAA-NMFS-2021-
0003. The comment period ended on May 25, 2021; however, on May 24,
2021, the agencies published a notice extending the comment period by
60 days, through July 26, 2021 (86 FR 27834).
Subsequently, the Service and NOAA were made aware of
nonsubstantive errors in the draft MMP. The Service publishes this
notice to announce corrections. The Service originally published maps
for the Mariana Arc of Fire National Wildlife Refuge and the Mariana
Trench Marine National Monument in accordance with a map accompanying
the Proclamation. (The map made available with the Proclamation is
available at <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2009-01-12/pdf/E9-496.pdf">https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2009-01-12/pdf/E9-496.pdf</a>.) Upon review of the draft MMP, deep sea researchers noticed
that some of the coordinates for Monument features (hydrothermal vent
fields) did not match published coordinates in the scientific
literature. This notice corrects those errors. This action also makes
corrections to the spelling of Mariana Trench for consistency in future
publications.
These corrections will ensure proper mapping and facilitate
enforcement of protections within the Refuge boundaries. These
corrections make no substantive changes to existing regulations and do
not expand or otherwise alter the size of the monument.
In June 2024, the Service and NOAA, along with the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), announced the availability of the
final EA, with an MMP as an appendix, which describes goals,
objectives, and strategies for managing the Monument over a 15-year
period. These corrections were incorporated in the final MMP. You may
obtain a copy of the MMP and EA at <a href="https://www.fws.gov/national-monument/mariana-trench-marine">https://www.fws.gov/national-monument/mariana-trench-marine</a>.
Corrections
Mariana Arc of Fire National Wildlife Refuge--Coordinates Corrections
The Mariana Arc of Fire National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge; formerly
known as the ``Volcanic Unit'' or ``Vents Unit'') is one of three units
of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. The Refuge comprises 21
hydrothermally active submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal vent fields.
The boundaries of the Refuge are made up of circles drawn with a 1-
nautical-mile radius centered on each of the 16 submarine volcanoes and
5 hydrothermal vent fields. Only the submerged lands and features
within each of the 21 circles are included in the Refuge (not the
overlying water column). Errors were made in the table of coordinates
on the map accompanying the Proclamation and in subsequent
publications. Consequently, the coordinates for Alice Springs and
Mariana Central Trough vent fields do not match the descriptions in
scientific literature or in the most recent sonar mapping and remotely
operated vehicle (ROV) dives at the sites.
The authoritative source for the positions of the Alice Springs and
Mariana Central Trough vent fields is the InterRidge Vent Database, a
database of all the known active hydrothermal
[[Page 14852]]
vents in the world. It is downloadable as a standalone database here:
Beaulieu, S.E., and K.M. Szafra[nacute]ski (2020). InterRidge
Global Database of Active Submarine Hydrothermal Vent Fields Version
3.4. PANGAEA. Accessible at <a href="https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.917894">https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.917894</a>.
The database is described in this journal publication:
Beaulieu, S.E., E.T. Baker, C.R. German, and A. Maffei (2013). An
authoritative global database for active submarine hydrothermal vent
fields. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 14(11): 4892-4905.
The correct coordinates for the Alice Springs vent field are
18.2103[deg] N, 144.7073[deg] E (<a href="https://vents-data.interridge.org/ventfield/alice-springs-field">https://vents-data.interridge.org/ventfield/alice-springs-field</a>). The correct coordinates of the Mariana
Central Trough vent field are 18.0467[deg] N, 144.7533[deg] E (<a href="https://vents-data.interridge.org/ventfield/mariana-trough-central-trough">https://vents-data.interridge.org/ventfield/mariana-trough-central-trough</a>).
These coordinates are recorded in the InterRidge Vent Database and are
consistent with the earlier published scientific papers based on the
vent fields initial discovery during Alvin submersible dives in 1987.
The applicable scientific papers are the following:
<bullet> Hessler, R., P.F. Lonsdale, and J. Hawkins (1988).
Patterns on the ocean floor. New Scientist 24: 47-51.
<bullet> Hessler, R.R., and J.W. Martin (1989). Austinograea
williamsi, new genus, new species, a hydrothermal vent crab (Decapoda:
Bythograeidae) from the Mariana Back-Arc Basin, western Pacific.
Journal of Crustacean Biology 9(4): 645-661.
<bullet> Hessler, R., and P.F. Lonsdale (1991). Biogeography of
Mariana Trough hydrothermal vent communities. Deep-Sea Research 38(2):
185-199.
These corrections are also consistent with the most recent sonar
mapping and ROV dives at the site, summarized in NOAA's FK151121 (2015)
and FK161129 (2016) cruise reports, which are available at <a href="https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/eoi/marianas_site.html">https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/eoi/marianas_site.html</a>.
Mariana Trench Marine National Monument--Spelling Correction
In the Proclamation, two different spellings appeared for the
Mariana Trench; this was also true for the accompanying map (i.e.,
``Mariana'' and ``Marianas'' were used interchangeably). Undersea
feature names are documented on the GEOnet Names Server, which was
developed and is maintained by the National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency. ``Mariana Trench'' is the approved name in that database,
whereas ``Marianas Trench'' is listed as a variant. This notice
corrects the spelling ``Marianas Trench Marine National Monument'' to
``Mariana Trench Marine National Monument'' for consistency in official
documents and other publications. This change is a clarification rather
than a substantive change and has no substantive impact. The substance
of the feature descriptions remains unchanged.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 2 of the Antiquities Act of
June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), the National Wildlife
Refuge System Administration Act (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.), and the
National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Hugh Morrison,
Regional Director, Pacific Region.
[FR Doc. 2025-05802 Filed 4-3-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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