Department of Commerce 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with 5 U.S.C., 4314(c)(4), Department of Commerce (DOC) announces the appointment of persons to serve as members of the Departmental Performance Review Board (DPRB). The DPRB provides an objective peer review of the initial performance ratings, performance-based pay adjustments and bonus recommendations, higher- level review requests and other performance-related actions submitted by appointing authorities for Senior Executive Service (SES) members whom they directly supervise, and makes recommendations based upon its review. The term of the new members of the DPRB will expire December 31, 2015.

We, NMFS, announce 90-day findings on two petitions received to list the pinto abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana) as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to designate critical habitat concurrently with the listing. We find that the petitions and information in our files present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted. We will conduct a status review of the species to determine if the petitioned action is warranted. To ensure that the status review is comprehensive, we are soliciting scientific and commercial information pertaining to this species from any interested party.

NMFS publishes Fraser River salmon inseason orders to regulate treaty and non-treaty (all citizen) commercial salmon fisheries in U.S. waters. The orders were issued by the Fraser River Panel (Panel) of the Pacific Salmon Commission (Commission) and subsequently approved and issued by NMFS during the 2013 salmon fisheries within the U.S. Fraser River Panel Area. These orders established fishing dates, times, and areas for the gear types of U.S. treaty Indian and all citizen commercial fisheries during the period the Panel exercised jurisdiction over these fisheries.

NMFS has received an application from Tetra Tech EC, Inc. (Tetra Tech), on behalf of the Northeast Gateway[supreg] Energy BridgeTM, L.P. (Northeast Gateway or NEG) and Algonquin Gas Transmission, L.L.C. (Algonquin), for authorization to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to operating, maintaining, and repairing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) port and the Algonquin Pipeline Lateral (Pipeline Lateral) facilities by NEG and Algonquin, in Massachusetts Bay. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an authorization to Northeast Gateway to incidentally take, by harassment, small numbers of marine mammals for a period of 1 year.

The United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service is amending notice for the Travel and Tourism Trade Mission to Taiwan, Japan and Korea scheduled for March 10-14, 2014, published at 78 FR 34344, June 7, 2013, to notify applicants that the fee for each additional participant (SME or larger) is $700 per participant.

This action implements revisions to the Pacific coast groundfish trawl rationalization program (program), a catch share program, and includes clarifications of regulations that affect the limited entry trawl and limited entry fixed gear sectors managed under the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This action implements trailing actions for the program that are either original provisions of the program, such as quota share (QS) permit application and transfer regulations, or are provisions that increase flexibility or efficiency, or address minor revisions/clarifications.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council's Advisory Panel (AP) will meet.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

ONMS is seeking applications for vacant seats for 7 of its 13 national marine sanctuary advisory councils and for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Advisory Council (advisory councils). Vacant seats, including positions (i.e., primary member and alternate), for each of the advisory councils are listed in this notice under Supplementary Information. Applicants are chosen based upon their particular expertise and experience in relation to the seat for which they are applying; community and professional affiliations; philosophy regarding the protection and management of marine resources; and possibly the length of residence in the area affected by the sanctuary. Applicants who are chosen as primary members or alternates should expect to serve two- or three-year terms, pursuant to the charter of the specific national marine sanctuary advisory council or the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Advisory Council.

The Department of Commerce (Department) has determined that requests for new shipper reviews of the antidumping duty order on freshwater crawfish tail meat (crawfish) from the People's Republic of China (PRC), meet the statutory and regulatory requirements for initiation. The period of review (POR) for these new shipper reviews is September 1, 2012, through August 31, 2013.\1\

NMFS implements accountability measures (AMs) for the commercial sector for gag in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. Commercial landings for gag, as estimated by the Science Research Director, have reached the commercial annual catch limit (ACL). Therefore, NMFS closes the commercial sector for gag on November 13, 2013, for the remainder of the 2013 fishing year, through December 31, 2013. This action is necessary to prevent overfishing of the South Atlantic gag resource.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for vessels participating in the BSAI trawl yellowfin sole fishery in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2013 allocation of yellowfin sole total allowable catch for vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access fishery in the BSAI.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as part of its continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this revision of a continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

NMFS proposes regulations to implement Amendment 102 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI FMP), and amend the Individual Fishing Quota Program for the Fixed-Gear Commercial Fisheries for Pacific Halibut and Sablefish in Waters in and off Alaska (IFQ Program). Amendment 102 and its proposed implementing regulations would create a Community Quota Entity (CQE) Program in halibut IFQ regulatory area 4B (Area 4B) and the sablefish Aleutian Islands regulatory area that is similar to the existing CQE Program in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). Amendment 102 would also allow an eligible community in Area 4B and in the Aleutian Islands to establish a non-profit organization as a CQE to purchase halibut catcher vessel quota share (QS) assigned to Area 4B and sablefish QS assigned to the Aleutian Islands. The CQE could assign the resulting annual halibut and sablefish IFQ to participants according to defined CQE Program elements. An additional proposed revision to the IFQ Program regulations would allow IFQ derived from D share halibut QS to be fished on Category C vessels in Area 4B. These actions are necessary to provide additional fishing opportunities for residents of fishery dependent communities and sustain participation in the halibut and sablefish IFQ fisheries. These actions are intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982, the BSAI FMP, and other applicable law.

The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is conducting the 2014 Annual Surveys in the Manufacturing Area. The 2014 Annual Surveys consist of the Annual Survey of Manufactures, the Business R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS), and the Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders Survey. We have determined that annual data collected from these surveys are needed to aid the efficient performance of essential governmental functions, and have significant application to the needs of the public and industry. The data derived from these surveys, most of which have been conducted for many years, are not publicly available from nongovernmental or other governmental sources.

The Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO), hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), announces the release for public comment of two AMNPO draft documents entitled Draft Guidance on Intellectual Property Rights for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation and Draft Institute Performance Metrics for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. The first document describes draft guidance pertaining to intellectual property (IP) management, and the second document describes draft institute performance metrics, for the proposed National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) and the individual manufacturing innovation institutes that compose the network. These two documents were produced by the federal interagency AMNPO, hosted by NIST. The AMNPO seeks public comments on the two documents. All comments received will be made publicly available.

The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that the National Defense Stockpile Market Impact Committee, co-chaired by the Departments of Commerce and State, is seeking public comments on the potential market impact of the proposed Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Stockpile Annual Materials Plan. The role of the Market Impact Committee is to advise the National Defense Stockpile Manager on the projected domestic and foreign economic effects of all acquisitions and disposals involving the stockpile and related material research and development projects. Public comments are an important element of the Committee's market impact review process.

The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is announcing the delay of the effective date of the final rule published March 14, 2013, scheduled to take effect on January 8, 2014, until April 5, 2014. This rule also announces the approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of modifications to an existing information collection and the collection of two new data elements in the Automated Export System (AES) under control number 0607-0152.