General Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and Scientific Advisory Subcommittee to the General Advisory Committee; Meeting Announcements, 36562-36563 [2020-13073]
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36562
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 17, 2020 / Notices
temporal or spatial scale of the
activities.
Based on the analysis contained
herein of the proposed activity
(including the proposed mitigation and
monitoring measures) and the
anticipated take of marine mammals,
NMFS preliminarily finds that small
numbers of marine mammals will be
taken relative to the population size of
the affected species or stocks.
Unmitigable Adverse Impact Analysis
and Determination
There are no relevant subsistence uses
of the affected marine mammal stocks or
species implicated by this action.
Therefore, NMFS has determined that
the total taking of affected species or
stocks would not have an unmitigable
adverse impact on the availability of
such species or stocks for taking for
subsistence purposes.
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered
Species Act of 1973 (ESA: 16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) requires that each Federal
agency insure that any action it
authorizes, funds, or carries out is not
likely to jeopardize the continued
existence of any endangered or
threatened species or result in the
destruction or adverse modification of
designated critical habitat. To ensure
ESA compliance for the issuance of
IHAs, NMFS consults internally
whenever we propose to authorize take
or propose mitigation measures that
would avoid incidental take of
endangered or threatened species, in
this case with the Greater Atlantic
Regional Field Office (GARFO). In the
absence of proposed mitigation
measures take of North Atlantic right
whale, fin whale, sei whale, and sperm
whale could potentially occur.
The Permits and Conservation
Division has requested initiation of
Section 7 consultation with GARFO for
the issuance of this IHA. NMFS will
conclude the ESA consultation prior to
reaching a determination regarding the
proposed issuance of the authorization.
Proposed Authorization
As a result of these preliminary
determinations, NMFS proposes to issue
an IHA to Dominion for conducting
HRG surveys off the coast of Virginia for
a period of one year after the issuance
of the IHA, provided the previously
mentioned mitigation, monitoring, and
reporting requirements are incorporated.
A draft of the proposed IHA can be
found at https://
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/permit/
incidental-take-authorizations-undermarine-mammal-protection-act.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:44 Jun 16, 2020
Jkt 250001
Request for Public Comments
We request comment on our analyses,
the proposed authorization, and any
other aspect of this Notice of Proposed
IHA for the proposed HRG surveys. We
also request at this time comment on the
potential Renewal of this proposed IHA
as described in the paragraph below.
Please include with your comments any
supporting data or literature citations to
help inform decisions on the request for
this IHA or a subsequent Renewal IHA.
On a case-by-case basis, NMFS may
issue a one-time one-year Renewal IHA
following notice to the public providing
an additional 15 days for public
comments when (1) up to another year
of identical or nearly identical, or nearly
identical, activities as described in the
Specified Activities section of this
notice is planned or (2) the activities as
described in the Specified Activities
section of this notice would not be
completed by the time the IHA expires
and a Renewal would allow for
completion of the activities beyond that
described in the Dates and Duration
section of this notice, provided all of the
following conditions are met:
• A request for renewal is received no
later than 60 days prior to the needed
Renewal IHA effective date (recognizing
that the Renewal IHA expiration date
cannot extend beyond one year from
expiration of the initial IHA).
• The request for renewal must
include the following:
(1) An explanation that the activities
to be conducted under the requested
Renewal IHA are identical to the
activities analyzed under the initial
IHA, are a subset of the activities, or
include changes so minor (e.g.,
reduction in pile size) that the changes
do not affect the previous analyses,
mitigation and monitoring
requirements, or take estimates (with
the exception of reducing the type or
amount of take); and
(2) A preliminary monitoring report
showing the results of the required
monitoring to date and an explanation
showing that the monitoring results do
not indicate impacts of a scale or nature
not previously analyzed or authorized;
• Upon review of the request for
Renewal, the status of the affected
species or stocks, and any other
pertinent information, NMFS
determines that there are no more than
minor changes in the activities, the
mitigation and monitoring measures
will remain the same and appropriate,
and the findings in the initial IHA
remain valid.
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Dated: June 11, 2020.
Donna S. Wieting,
Director, Office of Protected Resources,
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020–12997 Filed 6–16–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XW033]
General Advisory Committee to the
U.S. Section to the Inter-American
Tropical Tuna Commission and
Scientific Advisory Subcommittee to
the General Advisory Committee;
Meeting Announcements
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting;
consolidation of two meetings.
AGENCY:
NMFS announces a
consolidation of the public meeting of
the Scientific Advisory Subcommittee
(SAS) to the General Advisory
Committee (GAC) scheduled on June 17,
2020, with the public meeting of the
GAC to the U.S. Section to the InterAmerican Tropical Tuna Commission
(IATTC) scheduled on June 18, 2020.
This newly consolidated SAS and GAC
meeting will be held on June 18, 2020,
via webinar. The meeting topics are
described under the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this notice.
DATES: The consolidated meeting of the
SAS and GAC will be held on June 18,
2020, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PDT
(or until business is concluded).
ADDRESSES: Please notify William
Stahnke (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT) if you plan to attend the
webinar. Instructions will be emailed to
meeting participants before the meeting
occurs.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
William Stahnke, West Coast Region,
NMFS, at william.stahnke@noaa.gov, or
at (562) 980–4088.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March
5, 2020, NMFS announced that it
scheduled a public meeting of the SAS
to the GAC on June 17, 2020, and a
public meeting of the GAC to the U.S.
Section to the IATTC on June 18, 2020
(85 FR 12907). On May 19, 2020, NMFS
announced a revision to the format of
the public meetings of the SAS and the
GAC, which would be held solely by
webinar instead of in-person;
additionally NMFS announced that the
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\17JNN1.SGM
17JNN1
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 117 / Wednesday, June 17, 2020 / Notices
U.S. Stakeholder conference call to
discuss IATTC tropical tuna
management in the eastern Pacific
Ocean scheduled for May 22, 2020, was
cancelled, and the content of that call
would be included in the SAS and GAC
webinars (85 FR 29931). However, due
to the unexpected and recent
postponement of the IATTC Scientific
Advisory Committee (SAC) Virtual
Discussion scheduled for June 16, 2020,
and the resulting delay of the release of
information and recommendations,
there will be limited information
available to hold a standalone SAS
meeting. Therefore, NMFS is
consolidating the SAS and GAC
meetings into one webinar on June 18,
2020. This consolidated meeting also
includes the content of the cancelled
U.S. Stakeholder conference call to
discuss tropical tuna management in the
eastern Pacific Ocean.
In accordance with the Tuna
Conventions Act (16 U.S.C. 951 et seq.),
the U.S. Department of Commerce, in
consultation with the Department of
State (the State Department), appoints a
GAC to the U.S. Section to the IATTC,
and a SAS that advises the GAC. The
U.S. Section consists of the four U.S.
Commissioners to the IATTC and
representatives of the State Department,
NOAA, Department of Commerce, other
U.S. Government agencies, and
stakeholders. The GAC advises the U.S.
Section with respect to U.S.
participation in the work of the IATTC,
focusing on the development of U.S.
policies, positions, and negotiating
tactics. The purpose of the SAS is to
advise the GAC on scientific matters.
NMFS West Coast Region staff provide
administrative support for the GAC and
SAS. The meetings of the GAC and SAS
are open to the public, unless in
executive session. The time and manner
of public comment will be at the
discretion of the Chairs for the GAC and
SAS.
Currently, the 95th meeting of the
IATTC, the 41st Meeting of the Parties
to the Agreement on the International
Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP),
and IATTC and AIDCP working group
meetings are scheduled to be held, in
whatever format, from October 26 to
November 6, 2020. However, these dates
are subject to change. For more
information and updates on these
meetings, please visit the IATTC’s
website: https://www.iattc.org/
MeetingsENG.htm.
SAS and GAC Meeting Topics
In a memorandum from the IATTC
Director to the IATTC Commissioners
and Heads of Delegation on June 9, 2020
(Ref. No. 0287–410), the IATTC Director
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:44 Jun 16, 2020
Jkt 250001
announced that the pre-recorded SAC
presentations and the live SAC virtual
discussion that were scheduled to occur
on June 12 and June 16, 2020,
respectively, would be postponed until
after the dates scheduled for the
meetings of the SAS and GAC. As such,
the consolidated SAS and GAC meeting
will have a streamlined agenda.
The meeting agenda will include, but
is not limited to, the following topics:
(1) Overview of the 2020 IATTC
Meetings;
(2) Outcomes of the 2020 stock
assessments and stock status updates for
tuna, tuna-like species, and other
species caught in association with those
fisheries in the eastern Pacific Ocean;
(3) Evaluation of the IATTC Staff’s
Recommendations to the Commission
for 2020;
(4) Issues related to non-target
species, such as sharks, seabirds, sea
turtles;
(5) Evaluation of U.S. priorities for the
95th meeting of the IATTC and
priorities from other IATTC members;
(6) Recommendations and evaluations
by the SAS and GAC; and
(7) Other issues as they arise.
Special Accommodations
Requests for sign language
interpretation or other auxiliary aids
should be directed to William Stahnke
(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 951 et seq.
Dated: June 12, 2020.
He´le`ne M.N. Scalliet,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020–13073 Filed 6–12–20; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XA183]
Endangered Species; File No. 21516
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request
for public comments.
AGENCY:
NMFS has received a revised
application from Virginia Electric and
Power Company, D.B.A. Dominion
Virginia Power for an incidental take
permit, pursuant to the Endangered
Species Act for activities associated
with the otherwise lawful continued
operation and maintenance of the
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00037
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
36563
Dominion Chesterfield Power Station in
Chesterfield, VA. We are publishing this
notice to inform the public that we are
considering issuing a 5-year permit to
the applicant that would authorize take
of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser
oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) from the
Chesapeake Bay.
DATES: To allow for timely processing of
the permit application, we must receive
your comments no later than July 17,
2020.
ADDRESSES: The application is available
for download and review at https://
www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/esa_
review.htm under the section heading
ESA Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permits and
Applications and at https://
www.regulations.gov. The application is
also available upon request by emailing
nmfs.gar.dominionitp@noaa.gov.
Submit your comments by including
NOAA–NMFS–2017–0051–0001, by
either of the following methods:
• Electronic Submissions: Submit all
electronic public comments via the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal.
1. Go to www.regulations.gov/
document?D=NOAA-NMFS-2017-00510001.
2. Click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon,
complete the required fields.
3. Enter or attach your comments.
• Email: Submit information to
nmfs.gar.dominionitp@noaa.gov.
Instructions: We may not consider
comments if they are sent by any other
method, to any other address or
individual, or received after the end of
the specified period. All comments
received are a part of the public record
and will generally be posted for public
viewing on www.regulations.gov
without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address, etc.)
confidential business information, or
otherwise sensitive or protected
information submitted voluntarily by
the sender is publicly accessible. We
will accept anonymous comments (enter
‘‘N/A’’ in the required fields if you wish
to remain anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie
Crocker, (978) 282–8480.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We,
NMFS, published notice in the Federal
Register on August 14, 2017 (82 FR
37849), of an application from Virginia
Electric and Power Company, D.B.A.
Dominion Virginia Power (Dominion)
for an incidental take permit (ITP) to
take federally listed Atlantic sturgeon
belonging to the Chesapeake Bay
Distinct Population Segment
(Chesapeake Bay DPS) over a 10-year
period as a result of impingement and
entrainment in the Chesterfield Power
Station (CPS) cooling water intake
E:\FR\FM\17JNN1.SGM
17JNN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 117 (Wednesday, June 17, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36562-36563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-13073]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[RTID 0648-XW033]
General Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section to the Inter-
American Tropical Tuna Commission and Scientific Advisory Subcommittee
to the General Advisory Committee; Meeting Announcements
AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting; consolidation of two meetings.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NMFS announces a consolidation of the public meeting of the
Scientific Advisory Subcommittee (SAS) to the General Advisory
Committee (GAC) scheduled on June 17, 2020, with the public meeting of
the GAC to the U.S. Section to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna
Commission (IATTC) scheduled on June 18, 2020. This newly consolidated
SAS and GAC meeting will be held on June 18, 2020, via webinar. The
meeting topics are described under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section of this notice.
DATES: The consolidated meeting of the SAS and GAC will be held on June
18, 2020, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PDT (or until business is
concluded).
ADDRESSES: Please notify William Stahnke (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT) if you plan to attend the webinar. Instructions will be
emailed to meeting participants before the meeting occurs.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Stahnke, West Coast Region,
NMFS, at [email protected], or at (562) 980-4088.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 5, 2020, NMFS announced that it
scheduled a public meeting of the SAS to the GAC on June 17, 2020, and
a public meeting of the GAC to the U.S. Section to the IATTC on June
18, 2020 (85 FR 12907). On May 19, 2020, NMFS announced a revision to
the format of the public meetings of the SAS and the GAC, which would
be held solely by webinar instead of in-person; additionally NMFS
announced that the
[[Page 36563]]
U.S. Stakeholder conference call to discuss IATTC tropical tuna
management in the eastern Pacific Ocean scheduled for May 22, 2020, was
cancelled, and the content of that call would be included in the SAS
and GAC webinars (85 FR 29931). However, due to the unexpected and
recent postponement of the IATTC Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)
Virtual Discussion scheduled for June 16, 2020, and the resulting delay
of the release of information and recommendations, there will be
limited information available to hold a standalone SAS meeting.
Therefore, NMFS is consolidating the SAS and GAC meetings into one
webinar on June 18, 2020. This consolidated meeting also includes the
content of the cancelled U.S. Stakeholder conference call to discuss
tropical tuna management in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
In accordance with the Tuna Conventions Act (16 U.S.C. 951 et
seq.), the U.S. Department of Commerce, in consultation with the
Department of State (the State Department), appoints a GAC to the U.S.
Section to the IATTC, and a SAS that advises the GAC. The U.S. Section
consists of the four U.S. Commissioners to the IATTC and
representatives of the State Department, NOAA, Department of Commerce,
other U.S. Government agencies, and stakeholders. The GAC advises the
U.S. Section with respect to U.S. participation in the work of the
IATTC, focusing on the development of U.S. policies, positions, and
negotiating tactics. The purpose of the SAS is to advise the GAC on
scientific matters. NMFS West Coast Region staff provide administrative
support for the GAC and SAS. The meetings of the GAC and SAS are open
to the public, unless in executive session. The time and manner of
public comment will be at the discretion of the Chairs for the GAC and
SAS.
Currently, the 95th meeting of the IATTC, the 41st Meeting of the
Parties to the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation
Program (AIDCP), and IATTC and AIDCP working group meetings are
scheduled to be held, in whatever format, from October 26 to November
6, 2020. However, these dates are subject to change. For more
information and updates on these meetings, please visit the IATTC's
website: https://www.iattc.org/MeetingsENG.htm.
SAS and GAC Meeting Topics
In a memorandum from the IATTC Director to the IATTC Commissioners
and Heads of Delegation on June 9, 2020 (Ref. No. 0287-410), the IATTC
Director announced that the pre-recorded SAC presentations and the live
SAC virtual discussion that were scheduled to occur on June 12 and June
16, 2020, respectively, would be postponed until after the dates
scheduled for the meetings of the SAS and GAC. As such, the
consolidated SAS and GAC meeting will have a streamlined agenda.
The meeting agenda will include, but is not limited to, the
following topics:
(1) Overview of the 2020 IATTC Meetings;
(2) Outcomes of the 2020 stock assessments and stock status updates
for tuna, tuna-like species, and other species caught in association
with those fisheries in the eastern Pacific Ocean;
(3) Evaluation of the IATTC Staff's Recommendations to the
Commission for 2020;
(4) Issues related to non-target species, such as sharks, seabirds,
sea turtles;
(5) Evaluation of U.S. priorities for the 95th meeting of the IATTC
and priorities from other IATTC members;
(6) Recommendations and evaluations by the SAS and GAC; and
(7) Other issues as they arise.
Special Accommodations
Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids
should be directed to William Stahnke (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT).
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 951 et seq.
Dated: June 12, 2020.
H[eacute]l[egrave]ne M.N. Scalliet,
Acting Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, National Marine
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-13073 Filed 6-12-20; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P