Department of Commerce September 15, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS or sanctuary) was designated in May 1994. It spans 3,310 square miles of marine waters off the rugged Olympic Peninsula coast, covering much of the continental shelf and the heads of several major submarine canyons. The present management plan was written as part of the sanctuary designation process and published in the Final Environmental Impact Statement in 1993. In accordance with Section 304(e) of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, as amended, (NMSA) (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.), the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is initiating a review of the OCNMS management plan, to evaluate substantive progress toward implementing the goals for the Sanctuary, and to make revisions to the plan and regulations as necessary to fulfill the purposes and policies of the NMSA. NOAA will conduct public scoping meetings to gather information and other comments from individuals, organizations, tribes, and government agencies on the scope, types and significance of issues related to the Sanctuary's management plan and regulations. The scoping meetings are scheduled as detailed below.

The Department of Commerce is issuing interim procedures implementing provisions under the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (``the Act''), enacted in its entirety by Congress on June 18, 2008. Title XV, Subtitle D, Part I of the Act contains amendments to the special rules for apparel and other textiles from Haiti in Section 213A(b) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (``CBERA'') (19 U.S.C. 2703a(b)), including rules enacted in 2006 by the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2006 (``HOPE''). These amendments are also cited as the ``Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008'' (``HOPE II''). Under Section 15402 of the Act, Section 213A(b) of CBERA is amended by creating a benefit for apparel wholly assembled or knit- to-shape in Haiti that meets a ``3 for 1'' earned import allowance. The amendment requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish a program to provide earned import allowance certificates to any producer or entity controlling production of apparel in Haiti, such that apparel wholly assembled or knit-to-shape in Haiti from any combination of fabrics, fabric components, components knit-to-shape, or yarns, regardless of their source, and imported directly from Haiti or the Dominican Republic may enter the United States duty-free, pursuant to the satisfaction of the terms governing issuance of the earned import allowance certificate by the producer or entity controlling production of apparel in Haiti.

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 4314(c)(4), NOAA announces the appointment of four new members to serve with the current membership on the NOAA Performance Review Board (PRB). The NOAA PRB is responsible for reviewing performance appraisals and ratings of Senior Executive Service and Senior Professional members and making written recommendations to the appointing authority on retention and compensation matters, including performance-based pay adjustments, awarding of bonuses and reviewing recommendations for potential Presidential Rank Award nominees. The appointment of members to the NOAA PRB will be for a period of 12 months.

Due to a paucity of fishery-independent monitoring information, stock assessments of Southeastern fisheries resources conducted through SEDAR rely heavily on evaluating fishery-dependent data sources to detect population abundance signals. Recently, assessment methods were developed that allowed for relaxation of the constant catchability assumption typically used when analyzing fishery dependent catch per unit effort information. While both assessment scientists and participating constituent representatives agree it is highly unlikely that catchability has remained constant, agreeing on the specifics that allow incorporating catchability changes remains a challenge. SEDAR will convene a workshop including representatives from Federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, Council technical and constituent advisors, and university researchers to evaluate catchability issues. Participants will review information addressing catchability changes, develop recommendations for incorporating catchability changes in SEDAR assessments, and recommend criteria for consideration when developing catchability profiles for individual species or fisheries. Participants will prepare a SEDAR procedures document addressing their recommendations that will be used to guide future SEDAR assessments.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene the 99th meeting of its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) in Honolulu, HI.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Habitat/MPA/Ecosystem Committee, in October, 2008, to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.