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

This supplemental proposed rule provides specific information and further explanation regarding a June 29, 2007 (72 FR 35748) NMFS proposed rule that set out new recordkeeping and reporting requirements; a new electronic groundfish catch reporting system, Interagency Electronic Reporting System, and its data entry component, eLandings; the integration of eLandings with existing logbook requirements and future electronic logbooks; a variety of fisheries permits provisions and revisions to regulations governing the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area Crab Rationalization Program, including fee calculations; a revision to a Sitka Pinnacles Marine Reserve closure provision; and a revision to a groundfish observer provision regarding at-sea vessel-to-vessel transfers.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2, notice is hereby given that the NIST Blue Ribbon Commission on Management and Safety, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will meet Monday, October 6, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m., in the NIST laboratory in Boulder, CO. This notice is the second meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Management and Safety. The purpose of this meeting is to continue a high level review of NIST's management structure and systems as they relate to safety at the Institute. The Commission will ultimately provide consensus advice to the Department of Commerce on whether (a) The training, safety, security, and response protocols, (b) the implementation of those protocols and internal controls, and (c) the management structure at NIST are appropriate to ensure safe operations of all NIST programs. The agenda for this meeting will focus on NIST safety and management structure at the Boulder laboratories. The agenda may change to accommodate Commission business. The final agenda will be posted on the NIST Web site at https://www.nist.gov/director/blueribbon/.

NMFS authorizes green[dash]stick gear for the harvest of Atlantic tunas, including bluefin tuna (BFT), and requires a sea turtle control device in Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) pelagic longline (PLL) and bottom longline (BLL) fisheries. At this time, NMFS is not authorizing harpoon gear for the harvest of Atlantic tunas in the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat (CHB) category as originally proposed. The purpose of this final rule is to ensure fishermen harvest Atlantic tunas within quotas, size limits, or other established limitations and to distinguish green[dash]stick fishing gear from current definitions of other authorized gear types. This final rule also addresses use of sea turtle control devices in the PLL and BLL fisheries to achieve and maintain low post[dash]release mortality of sea turtles thus maintaining consistency with the 2004 Biological Opinion (BiOp) for the Atlantic PLL fishery and to increase safety at sea for fishermen when handling sea turtles caught or entangled in longline fishing gear. NMFS also has revised its list of equipment models that NMFS has approved as meeting the minimum design specifications for the careful release of sea turtles caught in hook and line fisheries.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific sardine. This action is necessary because the directed harvest allocation total for the third allocation period (September 15 - December 31) is projected to be reached. From the date of closure until the new fishing season begins on January 1, 2009, Pacific sardine may only be harvested incidental to other fisheries, with incidental harvest constrained by a 20-percent by weight incidental catch rate. Fishing vessels must be in the process of offloading at the time of closure.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by pot catcher processors in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2008 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) allocated to pot catcher processors in the BSAI.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene its Law Enforcement Advisory Panel (LEAP).

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a three-day Council meeting, on October 7-9, 2008, to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

On August 21, 2008, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the preliminary determination of sales at less than fair value (LTFV) in the antidumping investigation of small diameter graphite electrodes (graphite electrodes) from the People's Republic of China (PRC). See Small Diameter Graphite Electrodes From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, Postponement of Final Determination, and Affirmative Preliminary Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part, 73 FR 49408 (August 21, 2008) (Preliminary Determination). We are amending our Preliminary Determination to correct certain ministerial errors with respect to the antidumping duty margin calculation for the Fangda Group.\1\ The corrections to the Fangda Group's margin also affect the margin applied to companies receiving a separate rate.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) on October 6-7, 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.

This rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding additional persons to the Entity List (Supplement No. 4 to Part 744) on the basis of section 744.11 of the EAR. These additional persons being added to the Entity List have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. Two types of persons are being added to the Entity List by this rule. The first type is persons that were listed on General Order No. 3 prior to publication of this rule, that are now moved to the Entity List with publication of this rule. There were 33 persons listed on the general order and all of those persons are now listed on the Entity List with the publication of this rule. These were persons concerning whom the U.S. Government possessed information regarding the acquisition or attempted acquisition of electronic components and devices (``commodities'') capable of being used in the construction of Improvised Explosive Devices (``IEDs''). These commodities have been, and may continue to be, employed in IEDs or other explosive devices used against Coalition Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The second type of persons being added to the Entity List with this rule are certain additional persons that were not previously listed on the general order, but are of concern to the U.S. Government for the same reasons as those other persons that were previously listed on the general order. This rule adds these additional persons to the Entity List also on the basis of section 744.11. This rule removes and reserves the general order because all of the persons from the general order are now listed on the Entity List with the publication of this rule. The Entity List provides notice to the public that certain exports and reexports to parties identified on the Entity List require a license from the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and that availability of License Exceptions in such transactions is limited.

NMFS proposes regulations to implement Amendment 27 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (FMP). These proposed regulations would amend the Crab Rationalization Program to: implement the statutory requirements of section 122(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act that specifically directs NMFS to modify how individual processing quota (IPQ) use caps apply to a person who is custom processing Chionoecetes opilio crab in the North Region, clarify that for other crab fisheries, IPQ crab that is processed at a facility through contractual arrangements with the facility owners would not be applied against the IPQ use cap of the facility owners provided specific conditions are met, and modify IPQ use caps that limit the amount of IPQ that may be used at a facility by persons processing Eastern Aleutian Islands golden king crab and Western Aleutian Islands red king crab. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable law.

On May 29, 2008, the Court of International Trade (``CIT'') affirmed the Department's remand determination and entered judgment in Wuhan Bee Healthy Co., Ltd., and Presstek Inc., v. United States, Court No. 05-00438, Slip Op. 08-61 (Ct. Int'l Trade) (May 29, 2008) (``Wuhan v. U.S.''), which challenged certain aspects of the Department of Commerce's (``the Department'') findings in Honey from the People's Republic of China: Final Results and Final Rescission, In Part, of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 70 FR 38873 (July 6, 2005) (``Final Results'') and the accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum. As explained below, in accordance with the order contained in the CIT's May 29, 2008, Wuhan v. U.S., the Department is amending the Final Results of the review to apply the recalculated surrogate value for labor in the Department's normal value calculation.

The New England Fishery Management Council has cancelled the public meeting of its Groundfish Committee that was scheduled for Monday, September 29, 2008 beginning at 9 a.m., in Peabody, MA.

NMFS announces the availability of an draft integrated environmental impact statement and fishery management plan amendment pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that examines alternatives to revise existing Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Essential Fish Habitat (EFH); considers additional Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPCs); and analyzes fishing and non-fishing impacts on EFH consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and other relevant Federal laws.

On September 10, 2008, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) published a notice in the Federal Register, 73 Fed. Reg. 52646, reopening the deadline for applications from persons interested in serving on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) for new two year terms to commence in December 2008. Due to an administrative error, the application due date published in that notice was incorrect. This notice corrects that error.

NMFS has changed the time and location of the Small Coastal Shark (SCS) Amendment 3 scoping meeting that was scheduled to be held in Gloucester, MA, on October 9, 2008. The list of all scheduled scoping meetings was previously published on July 2, 2008 (73 FR 37932).

To minimize impacts on canary rockfish, NMFS announces the end of the 2008 Pacific whiting primary season for the catcher-processor, mothership and shore-based sectors at noon local time (l.t.) August 19, 2008. This action is intended to keep the harvest of canary rockfish, an overfished species, within its 2008 optimum yield (OY).

Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of Commerce (the Department) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), the Department is issuing an antidumping duty order on raw flexible magnets from Taiwan. We released a Notice of Antidumping Duty Order to the parties on August 28, 2008. The notice we released on August 28, 2008, contained incorrect language regarding suspension of liquidation. This notice contains the correct language. See ``Antidumping Duty Order'' section below. The error was discovered prior to publication in the Federal Register. Consequently, this notice is being published in its place.

The Science Advisory Board (SAB) was established by a Decision Memorandum dated September 25, 1997, and is the only Federal Advisory Committee with responsibility to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere on strategies for research, education, and application of science to operations and information services. SAB activities and advice provide necessary input to ensure that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) science programs are of the highest quality and provide optimal support to resource management. Time and Date: The meeting will be held Wednesday, October 15, 2008, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday, October 16, 2008, from 8:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. These times and the agenda topics described below are subject to change. Please refer to the Web page https:// www.sab.noaa.gov/Meetings/meetings.html for the most up-to-date meeting agenda. Place: The meeting will be held both days at the Hilton Washington DC/Silver Spring, 8727 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, Md. 20910. Please check the SAB Web site https://www.sab.noaa.gov for confirmation of the venue and for directions. Status: The meeting will be open to public participation with a 30- minute public comment period on October 15 (check website to confirm time). The SAB expects that public statements presented at its meetings will not be repetitive of previously submitted verbal or written statements. In general, each individual or group making a verbal presentation will be limited to a total time of five (5) minutes. Written comments should be received in the SAB Executive Director's Office by October 10, 2008 to provide sufficient time for SAB review. Written comments received by the SAB Executive Director after October 10, 2008, will be distributed to the SAB, but may not be reviewed prior to the meeting date. Seats will be available on a first-come, first- served basis. Matters to be Considered: The meeting will include the following topics: (1) Final Report from the Fire Weather Research Working Group; (2) Preliminary Draft Report from Social Sciences Working Group; (3) Climate Working Group Development of Options for a National Climate Service; (4) NOAA Response to the Report from the SAB on Examining Advisory Options for Improving Communications Among NOAA's Partners; (5) SAB Strategic Planning Discussion; and (6) NOAA Transition to the Next Administration.