List of Foreign Fisheries, 2961-2962 [2017-00201]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 6 / Tuesday, January 10, 2017 / Notices
the following information: (1) Full
name, address, telephone, and email
address of nominee; (2) nominee’s
organization(s) or professional
affiliation(s) serving as the basis for the
nomination, if any; and (3) a
background statement, not to exceed
one page in length, describing the
nominee’s qualifications, experience
and interests, specifically as related to
the fisheries covered by the Convention.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 6902.
Dated: January 4, 2017.
Emily H. Menashes,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017–00259 Filed 1–9–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
RIN 0648–XF139
List of Foreign Fisheries
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for information.
AGENCY:
NMFS is seeking information
on foreign commercial fishing
operations that export fish and fish
products to the United States and the
level of incidental and intentional
mortality and serious injury of marine
mammals in those fisheries. NMFS will
use this information to identify
harvesting nations with commercial
fishing operations that export fish and
fish products to the United States and
classify those fisheries based on their
frequency of marine mammal
interactions as either ‘‘exempt’’ or
‘‘export’’ fisheries.
DATES: Information should be received
on or before March 1, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Information may be
submitted by mail to: NMFS Office of
International Affairs and Seafood
Inspection, Attn: MMPA List of Foreign
Fisheries Information, F/IS 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD
20910, or electronically to:
Nina.Young@noaa.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Nina Young, phone 301–427–8383, or
email Nina.Young@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS
published a final rule (81 FR 54390,
August 15, 2016) implementing the
import provisions of the Marine
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). This
pmangrum on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
14:59 Jan 09, 2017
Jkt 241001
rule establishes conditions for
evaluating a harvesting nation’s
regulatory program to address incidental
and intentional mortality and serious
injury of marine mammals in fisheries
that export fish and fish products to the
United States.
Under this rule, fish and fish products
from fisheries identified by the
Assistant Administrator for Fisheries in
the List of Foreign Fisheries can only be
imported into the United States if the
harvesting nation has applied for and
received a comparability finding from
NMFS. The rule establishes procedures
that a harvesting nation must follow and
conditions to meet to receive a
comparability finding for a fishery. The
rule also establishes provisions for
intermediary nations to ensure that
intermediary nations do not import and
re-export to the United States fish or
fish products subject to an import
prohibition.
NMFS will identify harvesting nations
with commercial fishing operations that
export fish and fish products to the
United States and classify those
fisheries based on the frequency of
marine mammal interactions. NMFS
will classify foreign commercial fishing
operations exporting fish and fish
products to the United States as either
an ‘‘exempt fishery’’ or ‘‘export fishery’’
based on the reliable information
provided by the harvesting nation or
other readily available information.
NMFS defines ‘‘exempt fishery’’ as a
foreign commercial fishing operation
determined by the Assistant
Administrator to be the source of
exports of commercial fish and fish
products to the United States that have
a remote likelihood of, or no known,
incidental mortality and serious injury
of marine mammals in the course of
commercial fishing operations. A
commercial fishing operation that has a
remote likelihood of causing incidental
mortality and serious injury of marine
mammals is one that collectively with
other foreign fisheries exporting fish
and fish products to the United States
causes the annual removal of:
(1) Ten percent or less of any marine
mammal stock’s bycatch limit, or
(2) More than 10 percent of any
marine mammal stock’s bycatch limit,
yet that fishery by itself removes 1
percent or less of that stock’s bycatch
limit annually, or
(3) Where reliable information has not
been provided by the harvesting nation
on the frequency of incidental mortality
and serious injury of marine mammals
caused by the commercial fishing
operation, the Assistant Administrator
may determine whether the likelihood
of incidental mortality and serious
PO 00000
Frm 00023
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
2961
injury is ‘‘remote’’ by evaluating
information concerning factors such as
fishing techniques, gear used, methods
used to deter marine mammals, target
species, seasons and areas fished,
qualitative data from logbooks or fisher
reports, stranding data, the species and
distribution of marine mammals in the
area, or other factors at the discretion of
the Assistant Administrator.
A foreign fishery will not be classified
as an exempt fishery unless the
Assistant Administrator has reliable
information from the harvesting nation,
or other information to support such a
finding.
Commercial fishing operations that
NMFS determines meet the definition of
an exempt fishery would still be
required to obtain a comparability
finding by having the harvesting nation
demonstrate that it has either prohibited
the intentional mortality or serious
injury of marine mammals in the course
of commercial fishing operations in
these exempt fisheries, unless the
intentional mortality or serious injury of
a marine mammal is imminently
necessary in self-defense or to save the
life of a person in immediate danger; or
that it has procedures to reliably certify
that exports of fish and fish products to
the United States are not the product of
an intentional killing or serious injury
of a marine mammal unless the
intentional mortality or serious injury of
a marine mammal is imminently
necessary in self-defense or to save the
life of a person in immediate danger.
Exempt fisheries would not have to
meet the comparability finding
requirement to have a regulatory
program for incidental mortality and
serious injury comparable in
effectiveness to the U.S. regulatory
program.
NMFS defines ‘‘export fishery’’ as a
foreign commercial fishing operation
determined by the Assistant
Administrator to be the source of
exports of commercial fish and fish
products to the United States and to
have more than a remote likelihood of
incidental mortality and serious injury
of marine mammals (as defined in the
definition of an ‘‘exempt fishery’’) in the
course of its commercial fishing
operations. Where reliable information
has not been provided by the harvesting
nation on the frequency of incidental
mortality and serious injury of marine
mammals caused by the commercial
fishing operation, the Assistant
Administrator may determine whether
the likelihood of incidental mortality
and serious injury is more than
‘‘remote’’ by evaluating information
concerning factors such as fishing
techniques, gear used, methods used to
E:\FR\FM\10JAN1.SGM
10JAN1
pmangrum on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES
2962
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 6 / Tuesday, January 10, 2017 / Notices
deter marine mammals, target species,
seasons and areas fished, qualitative
data from logbooks or fisher reports,
stranding data, and the species and
distribution of marine mammals in the
area, or other factors at the discretion of
the Assistant Administrator that may
inform whether the likelihood of
incidental mortality and serious injury
of marine mammals caused by the
commercial fishing operation is more
than ‘‘remote.’’
Commercial fishing operations not
specifically identified in the current List
of Foreign Fisheries as either exempt or
export fisheries are deemed to be export
fisheries until the next List of Foreign
Fisheries is published unless the
Assistant Administrator has reliable
information from the harvesting nation
to classify the foreign commercial
fishing operation. Additionally, the
Assistant Administrator may request
additional information from the
harvesting nation and may consider
other relevant information about such
commercial fishing operations and the
frequency of incidental mortality and
serious injury of marine mammals, to
properly classify the foreign commercial
fishing operation.
NMFS will publish in the Federal
Register a List of Foreign Fisheries by
harvesting nation, their fisheries, and
their classifications. NMFS will publish
a proposed List of Foreign Fisheries for
public comment and a subsequent final
List. To develop this list, NMFS has
notified each harvesting nation with
fisheries that export to the United States
and requested that within 90 days of
notification the harvesting nation
submit reliable information about the
commercial fishing operations
identified, including the number of
participants, number of vessels, gear
type, target species, area of operation,
fishing season, and any information
regarding the frequency of marine
mammal incidental mortality and
serious injury, including programs to
assess marine mammal populations.
Harvesting nations will also be
requested to submit copies of any laws,
decrees, regulations, or measures to
reduce incidental mortality and serious
injury of marine mammals in those
fisheries or prohibit the intentional
killing or injury of marine mammals.
NMFS will evaluate each harvesting
nation’s submission, any readily
available information, request
additional information from the
harvesting nations, as necessary, and
use this information to classify the
fisheries. In the absence of quantifiable
information or reliable information from
the harvesting nation, NMFS will
classify fisheries by analogy with
VerDate Sep<11>2014
14:59 Jan 09, 2017
Jkt 241001
similar U.S. fisheries and gear types
interacting with similar marine mammal
stocks using readily available
information or available observer or
logbook information per the procedures
outlined in 50 CFR 229.2. Where no
information or analogous fishery or
fishery information exists, NMFS will
classify the commercial fishing
operation as an export fishery until such
time as the harvesting nation provides
reliable information to classify the
fishery or such information is readily
available to the Assistant Administrator
in the course of preparing the List of
Foreign Fisheries.
In revising the list, NMFS may
reclassify a fishery if new substantive
information indicates the need to reexamine and possibly reclassify a
fishery. The List of Foreign Fisheries
will be organized by harvesting nation
and other defining factors including
geographic location of harvest, geartype, target species or a combination
thereof. Based upon the List of Foreign
Fisheries, the Assistant Administrator
will consult with harvesting nations,
informing them of the regulatory
requirements for exempt and export
fisheries to import fish and fish
products into the United States. More
information regarding this process can
be found in the regulations codified at
50 CFR 216.24.
NMFS is soliciting information from
harvesting nations; other foreign,
regional, and local governments;
regional fishery management
organizations; nongovernmental
organizations; industry organizations;
academic institutions; and citizens and
citizen groups to identify commercial
fishing operations with intentional or
incidental mortality and serious injury
of marine mammals. For each item we
are requesting you identify the
exporting nation as the harvesting
nation, the processing or intermediary
nation, or both. For fisheries exporting
fish and fish products to the United
States NMFS is requesting the following
information:
• Number of participants,
• Number of vessels,
• Gear type,
• Target species,
• Area of operation,
• Fishing season, and
• Information regarding the frequency
of marine mammal incidental and
intentional mortality and serious injury.
Such information may include fishing
vessel records; reports of on-board
fishery observers; information from offloading facilities, port-side government
officials, enforcement agents,
transshipment vessel workers and fish
importers; government vessel registries;
PO 00000
Frm 00024
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
RFMO or intergovernmental agreement
documents, reports, and statistical
document programs; appropriate catch
certification programs; and published
literature and reports on commercial
fishing operations with intentional or
incidental mortality and serious injury
of marine mammals.
NMFS will consider all available
information, as appropriate, when
making a classification. Information
should be as specific as possible as this
will assist NMFS in its review. NMFS
will consider several criteria when
determining whether information is
appropriate for use in making
identifications, including:
• Corroboration of information;
• Whether multiple sources have
been able to provide information in
support of an identification;
• The methodology used to collect
the information;
• Specificity of the information
provided;
• Susceptibility of the information to
falsification and alteration; and
• Credibility of the individuals or
organization providing the information.
Dated: January 4, 2017.
John Henderschedt,
Director, Office for International Affairs and
Seafood Inspection, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017–00201 Filed 1–9–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will
submit to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for clearance the
following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35).
Agency: National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Title: Educational Partnership
Program (EPP), Ernest F. Hollings
Undergraduate Scholarship Program, Dr.
Nancy Foster Scholarship Program,
Recruitment, Training, and Research
Program.
OMB Control Number: 0648–0568.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Regular (revision
and extension of a current information
collection).
Number of Respondents: 1,754.
Average Hours per Response: Student
Performance Achievement Reporting
E:\FR\FM\10JAN1.SGM
10JAN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 10, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2961-2962]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-00201]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
RIN 0648-XF139
List of Foreign Fisheries
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS is seeking information on foreign commercial fishing
operations that export fish and fish products to the United States and
the level of incidental and intentional mortality and serious injury of
marine mammals in those fisheries. NMFS will use this information to
identify harvesting nations with commercial fishing operations that
export fish and fish products to the United States and classify those
fisheries based on their frequency of marine mammal interactions as
either ``exempt'' or ``export'' fisheries.
DATES: Information should be received on or before March 1, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Information may be submitted by mail to: NMFS Office of
International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, Attn: MMPA List of
Foreign Fisheries Information, F/IS 1315 East-West Highway, Silver
Spring, MD 20910, or electronically to: Nina.Young@noaa.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nina Young, phone 301-427-8383, or
email Nina.Young@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS published a final rule (81 FR 54390,
August 15, 2016) implementing the import provisions of the Marine
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). This rule establishes conditions for
evaluating a harvesting nation's regulatory program to address
incidental and intentional mortality and serious injury of marine
mammals in fisheries that export fish and fish products to the United
States.
Under this rule, fish and fish products from fisheries identified
by the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries in the List of Foreign
Fisheries can only be imported into the United States if the harvesting
nation has applied for and received a comparability finding from NMFS.
The rule establishes procedures that a harvesting nation must follow
and conditions to meet to receive a comparability finding for a
fishery. The rule also establishes provisions for intermediary nations
to ensure that intermediary nations do not import and re-export to the
United States fish or fish products subject to an import prohibition.
NMFS will identify harvesting nations with commercial fishing
operations that export fish and fish products to the United States and
classify those fisheries based on the frequency of marine mammal
interactions. NMFS will classify foreign commercial fishing operations
exporting fish and fish products to the United States as either an
``exempt fishery'' or ``export fishery'' based on the reliable
information provided by the harvesting nation or other readily
available information.
NMFS defines ``exempt fishery'' as a foreign commercial fishing
operation determined by the Assistant Administrator to be the source of
exports of commercial fish and fish products to the United States that
have a remote likelihood of, or no known, incidental mortality and
serious injury of marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing
operations. A commercial fishing operation that has a remote likelihood
of causing incidental mortality and serious injury of marine mammals is
one that collectively with other foreign fisheries exporting fish and
fish products to the United States causes the annual removal of:
(1) Ten percent or less of any marine mammal stock's bycatch limit,
or
(2) More than 10 percent of any marine mammal stock's bycatch
limit, yet that fishery by itself removes 1 percent or less of that
stock's bycatch limit annually, or
(3) Where reliable information has not been provided by the
harvesting nation on the frequency of incidental mortality and serious
injury of marine mammals caused by the commercial fishing operation,
the Assistant Administrator may determine whether the likelihood of
incidental mortality and serious injury is ``remote'' by evaluating
information concerning factors such as fishing techniques, gear used,
methods used to deter marine mammals, target species, seasons and areas
fished, qualitative data from logbooks or fisher reports, stranding
data, the species and distribution of marine mammals in the area, or
other factors at the discretion of the Assistant Administrator.
A foreign fishery will not be classified as an exempt fishery
unless the Assistant Administrator has reliable information from the
harvesting nation, or other information to support such a finding.
Commercial fishing operations that NMFS determines meet the
definition of an exempt fishery would still be required to obtain a
comparability finding by having the harvesting nation demonstrate that
it has either prohibited the intentional mortality or serious injury of
marine mammals in the course of commercial fishing operations in these
exempt fisheries, unless the intentional mortality or serious injury of
a marine mammal is imminently necessary in self-defense or to save the
life of a person in immediate danger; or that it has procedures to
reliably certify that exports of fish and fish products to the United
States are not the product of an intentional killing or serious injury
of a marine mammal unless the intentional mortality or serious injury
of a marine mammal is imminently necessary in self-defense or to save
the life of a person in immediate danger.
Exempt fisheries would not have to meet the comparability finding
requirement to have a regulatory program for incidental mortality and
serious injury comparable in effectiveness to the U.S. regulatory
program.
NMFS defines ``export fishery'' as a foreign commercial fishing
operation determined by the Assistant Administrator to be the source of
exports of commercial fish and fish products to the United States and
to have more than a remote likelihood of incidental mortality and
serious injury of marine mammals (as defined in the definition of an
``exempt fishery'') in the course of its commercial fishing operations.
Where reliable information has not been provided by the harvesting
nation on the frequency of incidental mortality and serious injury of
marine mammals caused by the commercial fishing operation, the
Assistant Administrator may determine whether the likelihood of
incidental mortality and serious injury is more than ``remote'' by
evaluating information concerning factors such as fishing techniques,
gear used, methods used to
[[Page 2962]]
deter marine mammals, target species, seasons and areas fished,
qualitative data from logbooks or fisher reports, stranding data, and
the species and distribution of marine mammals in the area, or other
factors at the discretion of the Assistant Administrator that may
inform whether the likelihood of incidental mortality and serious
injury of marine mammals caused by the commercial fishing operation is
more than ``remote.''
Commercial fishing operations not specifically identified in the
current List of Foreign Fisheries as either exempt or export fisheries
are deemed to be export fisheries until the next List of Foreign
Fisheries is published unless the Assistant Administrator has reliable
information from the harvesting nation to classify the foreign
commercial fishing operation. Additionally, the Assistant Administrator
may request additional information from the harvesting nation and may
consider other relevant information about such commercial fishing
operations and the frequency of incidental mortality and serious injury
of marine mammals, to properly classify the foreign commercial fishing
operation.
NMFS will publish in the Federal Register a List of Foreign
Fisheries by harvesting nation, their fisheries, and their
classifications. NMFS will publish a proposed List of Foreign Fisheries
for public comment and a subsequent final List. To develop this list,
NMFS has notified each harvesting nation with fisheries that export to
the United States and requested that within 90 days of notification the
harvesting nation submit reliable information about the commercial
fishing operations identified, including the number of participants,
number of vessels, gear type, target species, area of operation,
fishing season, and any information regarding the frequency of marine
mammal incidental mortality and serious injury, including programs to
assess marine mammal populations.
Harvesting nations will also be requested to submit copies of any
laws, decrees, regulations, or measures to reduce incidental mortality
and serious injury of marine mammals in those fisheries or prohibit the
intentional killing or injury of marine mammals.
NMFS will evaluate each harvesting nation's submission, any readily
available information, request additional information from the
harvesting nations, as necessary, and use this information to classify
the fisheries. In the absence of quantifiable information or reliable
information from the harvesting nation, NMFS will classify fisheries by
analogy with similar U.S. fisheries and gear types interacting with
similar marine mammal stocks using readily available information or
available observer or logbook information per the procedures outlined
in 50 CFR 229.2. Where no information or analogous fishery or fishery
information exists, NMFS will classify the commercial fishing operation
as an export fishery until such time as the harvesting nation provides
reliable information to classify the fishery or such information is
readily available to the Assistant Administrator in the course of
preparing the List of Foreign Fisheries.
In revising the list, NMFS may reclassify a fishery if new
substantive information indicates the need to re-examine and possibly
reclassify a fishery. The List of Foreign Fisheries will be organized
by harvesting nation and other defining factors including geographic
location of harvest, gear-type, target species or a combination
thereof. Based upon the List of Foreign Fisheries, the Assistant
Administrator will consult with harvesting nations, informing them of
the regulatory requirements for exempt and export fisheries to import
fish and fish products into the United States. More information
regarding this process can be found in the regulations codified at 50
CFR 216.24.
NMFS is soliciting information from harvesting nations; other
foreign, regional, and local governments; regional fishery management
organizations; nongovernmental organizations; industry organizations;
academic institutions; and citizens and citizen groups to identify
commercial fishing operations with intentional or incidental mortality
and serious injury of marine mammals. For each item we are requesting
you identify the exporting nation as the harvesting nation, the
processing or intermediary nation, or both. For fisheries exporting
fish and fish products to the United States NMFS is requesting the
following information:
Number of participants,
Number of vessels,
Gear type,
Target species,
Area of operation,
Fishing season, and
Information regarding the frequency of marine mammal
incidental and intentional mortality and serious injury.
Such information may include fishing vessel records; reports of on-
board fishery observers; information from off-loading facilities, port-
side government officials, enforcement agents, transshipment vessel
workers and fish importers; government vessel registries; RFMO or
intergovernmental agreement documents, reports, and statistical
document programs; appropriate catch certification programs; and
published literature and reports on commercial fishing operations with
intentional or incidental mortality and serious injury of marine
mammals.
NMFS will consider all available information, as appropriate, when
making a classification. Information should be as specific as possible
as this will assist NMFS in its review. NMFS will consider several
criteria when determining whether information is appropriate for use in
making identifications, including:
Corroboration of information;
Whether multiple sources have been able to provide
information in support of an identification;
The methodology used to collect the information;
Specificity of the information provided;
Susceptibility of the information to falsification and
alteration; and
Credibility of the individuals or organization providing
the information.
Dated: January 4, 2017.
John Henderschedt,
Director, Office for International Affairs and Seafood Inspection,
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-00201 Filed 1-9-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P
