Department of Commerce April 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received an application to modify an existing permit for scientific research from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) in Santa Cruz, California (1112). Notice is also given that NMFS has received applications to renew and modify permits for scientific research from Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) in Corte Madera, California (1047), Campbell Timberland Management, LLC. (CTM) in Fort Bragg, California (1079), Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) in Forest Knolls, California (1162), and Mendocino Redwood Company, LLC. (MRC) in Fort Bragg, California (1181). The permits would affect federally threatened Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast coho salmon, endangered Central California Coast coho salmon, threatened California Coastal Chinook salmon, endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, threatened Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon, threatened Northern California steelhead, threatened Central California Coast steelhead, and threatened Central Valley steelhead. This document serves to notify the public of the availability of the permit applications for review and comment.

On March 6, 2006, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments regarding its calculation of the weighted average dumping margin during an antidumping duty investigation (71 FR 11189). The Department has decided to extend the rebuttal comment period, making the new deadline for the submission of public rebuttal comments May 4, 2006.

NMFS implements measures to establish target total allowable catch (TAC) levels for the monkfish fishery for the 2006 fishing year (FY), and adjusts trip limits and establishes days-at-sea (DAS) restrictions for limited access monkfish vessels fishing in the Southern Fishery Management Area (SFMA) based upon the annual target TAC setting, trip limit, and DAS adjustment methods established in Framework Adjustment 2 (Framework 2) to the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The action is necessary to comply with the rebuilding plan established in the FMP and modified in Framework 2. The intent of this action is to help eliminate overfishing and rebuild the monkfish resource in accordance with Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requirements.

Based on recommendations contained in Amendment 6 to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass (Amendment 6) and comments received from an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR), NMFS previously announced its intent to begin a scoping process to gather information for the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS). Initial scoping occurred during nine public hearings in November-December 2003. Due to the significant time that had passed since these initial scoping hearings, NMFS is seeking additional scoping on its preliminary draft analyses of Federal management options to open the EEZ to the harvest of Atlantic Striped Bass. The purpose of this notice is to alert the interested public of this further scoping process and to provide for public participation in compliance with environmental documentation requirements.

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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

NMFS proposes changes to the regulations implementing the Crab Rationalization Program. This action is necessary to correct two discrepancies in the scope of the sideboard protections for Gulf of Alaska (GOA) groundfish fisheries provided in a previous rulemaking. Specifically, this action would remove the sideboard restrictions from vessels that did not generate Bering Sea snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) quota share and would apply the sideboards to federally permitted vessels operating in the State of Alaska (State) parallel fisheries. This proposed rule is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) King and Tanner Crabs (FMP), the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), and other applicable law.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is publishing the proposed List of Fisheries (LOF) for 2006, as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The proposed LOF for 2006 reflects new information on interactions between commercial fisheries and marine mammals. NMFS must categorize each commercial fishery on the LOF into one of three categories under the MMPA based upon the level of serious injury and mortality of marine mammals that occurs incidental to each fishery. The categorization of a fishery in the LOF determines whether participants in that fishery are subject to certain provisions of the MMPA, such as registration, observer coverage, and take reduction plan requirements.

NMFS has received an application from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting RIMPAC ASW training events, in which submarines, surface ships, and aircraft from the United States and multiple foreign nations participate in ASW training exercises, utilizing mid-frequency sonar (1 kilohertz (kHz) to 10 kHz), in the U.S. Navy's Hawaiian Operating Area (OpArea) in the summer of 2006. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an authorization to the Navy to incidentally harass several species of marine mammals during the training exercises.

This final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations to implement the Wassenaar Arrangement's December 2005 agreement to revise the formula for calculating computer performance from Composite Theoretical Performance (CTP) measured in Millions of Theoretical Operations Per Second (MTOPS) to Adjusted Peak Performance (APP) measured in Weighted TeraFLOPS (Trillion Floating point Operations Per Second) (WT). This rule also establishes new control levels in Category 4 of the Commerce Control List (CCL) expressed in WT. In addition, this rule renames License Exception CTP to License Exception APP (Adjusted Peak Performance) to correspond to the new formula. This rule also makes conforming changes to the EAR based on the new computer parameter, such as, revising the parameters for eligibility of License Exception APP. This rule also moves Bulgaria from Computer Tier 3 to Computer Tier 1, removes High Performance Computer (XP) and Missile Technology (MT) controls from certain Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) in Category 4 of the CCL, and removes the section of the EAR dedicated to various requirements for high performance computers.

NMFS announces the meeting of the General Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section to the IATTC.

On December 28, 2005, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published in the Federal Register (70 FR 76774) a notice announcing the initiation of a new shipper review of the antidumping duty order on certain softwood lumber products from Canada, covering the period May 1, 2005, to October 31, 2005. The review covers International Forest Products Corporation (IFP Corp.). We are now rescinding this review as a result of our determination that IFP Corp. was not the first party in the chain of distribution with knowledge that the merchandise was destined for the United States.

NMFS proposes regulations implementing Amendment 21 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) King and Tanner crabs (FMP). This action proposes a change to the BSAI Crab Rationalization Program (Program). If approved, Amendment 21 and its implementing rule would modify the timing for harvesters and processors to match harvesting and processing shares and the timing for initiating arbitration proceedings incorporated in the Program to resolve price and other delivery disputes. This action is necessary to increase resource conservation and economic efficiency in the crab fisheries that are subject to the Program. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the FMP, and other applicable law.

NOAA Research (OAR) publishes this notice on behalf of the NOAA Science Advisory Board (SAB) to announce the availability of the preliminary report of the External Review of NOAA's Ecosystem Research and Science Enterprise panel (here called the External Ecosystem Task Team) for public comment. The preliminary report of the External Ecosystem Task Team is compiled pursuant to the request from the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to the SAB to conduct an external review of NOAA's ecosystem research and science enterprise.

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Northeast Region, NMFS (Assistant Regional Administrator), has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) application submitted by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. The Assistant Regional Administrator has made a preliminary determination that the activities authorized under this EFP would be consistent with the goals and objectives of the Northeast (NE) Multispecies and Monkfish Fishery Management Plans (FMPs). However, further review and consultation may be necessary before a final determination is made to issue an EFP. Therefore, NMFS announces that the Assistant Regional Administrator proposes to recommend that an EFP be issued that would allow one commercial fishing vessel to conduct fishing operations that are otherwise restricted by the regulations governing the fisheries of the Northeastern United States. The EFP, which would enable researchers to study the biology of large monkfish, would grant exemptions from the NE Multispecies FMP as follows: Western Gulf of Maine (GOM) Closure Area; GOM Rolling Closure Areas I and II; and monkfish effort control measures. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed EFPs.

NMFS issues a final rule to amend regulations supporting the North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program (Observer Program). This action is necessary to revise requirements facilitating observer data transmission, improve support for observers, and provide consistency with current regulations. The final rule will promote the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area and the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMPs).