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

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for authorization for the take of marine mammals incidental to vehicle launches from San Nicolas Island (SNI), California, for the period 2009 2014. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of the Navy's request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals and inviting information, suggestions, and comments on the Navy's application and request.

NMFS will hold a 3-day Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel (AP) meeting in September and October 2008. The intent of the meeting is to consider options for the conservation and management of Atlantic HMS. The meeting is open to the public. A public hearing and scoping meetings will be held in conjunction with the AP meeting.

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.

Notice is hereby given that Niladri Basu, Ph.D., Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, 109 South Observatory Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, has been issued a scientific research permit to import marine mammal specimens for scientific research.

NMFS announces that the 2008 summer flounder commercial quota allocated to the State of New York has been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in New York for the remainder of calendar year 2008, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer from another state. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication of this notification to advise New York that the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel permit holders and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for landing summer flounder in New York.

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 Wednesday, September 17, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on the NIST campus in Gaithersburg, MD. This notice is in follow-up to the preliminary notice of a public meeting by the Commission on August 15, 2008, (Ref. Federal Register Notice: August 15, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 159, pages 47882-47883). The Blue Ribbon Commission on Management and Safety is composed of 7 members appointed by the Secretary of Commerce who are eminent in one or more of the following areas: Management and organizational structure; Training and human resources operations; Laboratory management and safety; Hazardous materials safety; Emergency medical response; Environmental safety; Environmental remediation; and Security for hazardous materials. The purpose of this meeting is to review and ultimately provide 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 as well as a discussion of the findings from recent safety audits and investigations. The agenda may change to accommodate Commission business.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for species that comprise the deep-water species fishery by Amendment 80 vessels subject to sideboard limits in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because the fourth seasonal apportionment of the 2008 Pacific halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) limit specified for the deep-water species fishery by Amendment 80 vessels subject to sideboard limits in the GOA has been reached.

This proposed rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to amend the reporting requirements for the BE-11, Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad. The BE-11 survey is conducted annually and is a sample survey that obtains financial and operating data covering U.S. parent companies and their foreign affiliates. BEA proposes changes in the reporting criteria that will raise the thresholds for reporting.

The inventions listed below are owned in whole or part by the U.S. Government, as represented by the Secretary of Commerce. The U.S. Government's interest in these inventions is available for licensing in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 207 and 37 CFR Part 404 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally funded research and development.

The Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Crab Rationalization Program (Program) allocates BSAI crab resources among harvesters, processors, and coastal communities. Amendment 27 would amend the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (FMP) and the Program to include the statutory requirements of section 122(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 and modify the methods used to determine individual processor quota share (IPQ) use caps when crab are processed under custom processing arrangements. Amendment 27 also would modify limits on the amount of Aleutian Islands golden and red king crab IPQ that could be processed at a facility. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.

NMFS withdraws regulations that placed limits on charter vessel anglers, including a one-halibut daily bag limit in International Pacific Halibut Commission Area 2C. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on June 10, 2008 (amended on June 13, 2008), and a Preliminary Injunction (PI) on June 20, 2008, enjoining and restraining NMFS from giving any effect to or otherwise taking any action to enforce the one- halibut daily bag limit restriction for charter vessel anglers. The TRO (as amended) and the PI direct that the daily bag limit should revert to the two-fish daily bag limit with one fish no more than 32 inches (81.3 cm) head-on length that was in place prior to the one-fish daily bag limit. This action ensures that regulatory text provides accurate information to the regulated public. The intended effect is to make regulatory requirements consistent with a duly issued court order.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 meters (m)) length overall (LOA) using hook-and-line or pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to fully use the 2008 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod allocated to catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 m) LOA using hook-and-line or pot gear in the BSAI.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) advisory bodies will hold meetings, which are open to the public, on October 7-9, 2008. The primary purpose of the meetings is to review the current Pacific sardine stock assessment update and draft terms of reference for the 2009 CPS stock assessment review process.

The New England Fishery Management Council's (Council) Herring Oversight Committee will meet to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

This proposed rule amends regulations of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce (BEA) to set forth reporting requirements for the BE-15, Annual Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States. The BE-15 is conducted annually and is a sample survey that obtains financial and operating data on U.S. affiliates of foreign companies. BEA proposes the addition and deletion of items on the survey forms and changes to the reporting criteria. The changes to the BE-15 annual survey will: Reduce detail and raise reporting thresholds; extend the coverage of the survey to include banks; and bring the survey forms and instructions into conformity with the 2007 BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States.