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

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is resoliciting applications for a regional innovation systems research project under FY 2009 National Technical Assistance, Training, Research and Evaluation program (NTA Program) funding. Under a FY 2008 competition, EDA funded two projects under the regional innovation systems research topic. EDA now is interested in making another award exploring regional innovation systems in an additional geographic location.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scientific and Statistical Committee, on November 17-18, 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.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BS/AI) Groundfish Plan Teams will meet in Seattle, WA.

The SEDAR assessments of the Atlantic stock of red drum will consist of a series of three workshops: a Data Workshop, an Assessment Workshop, and a Review Workshop. This is the eighteenth SEDAR. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

In preparation for the 2010 Census, the Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) adopts the following American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) policy statement. This final policy outlines the principles to be followed in all Census Bureau interactions with federally recognized AIAN tribal governments. The policy affirms the unique government-to- government relationship that exists between AIAN tribal governments and the Census Bureau and is consistent with the AIAN policy statement adopted by the Department of Commerce (DOC) on March 30, 1995. The adoption of this policy satisfies a long-standing request from AIAN populations, and the Census Bureau believes it will encourage and facilitate greater cooperation from these populations during decennial censuses and help us to better communicate with and enumerate this difficult-to-count population. This Notice also summarizes comments received on the draft AIAN policy statement published in the Federal Register on May 23, 2007 (72 FR 28952) and the Census Bureau's response to these comments. The policy statement adopted in this Notice differs from the proposed policy statement as follows: (a) The Introduction section was modified in response to comments received; (b) the definition of Federally Recognized Indian Tribe was modified in response to comments; (c) the definition of trust responsibility was deleted after agency review; (d) the definition of American Indian or Alaska Native Tribal Government was modified after agency review; (e) proposed Policy Principle No. 2 is renumbered as Policy Principle No. 4; (f) proposed Policy Principle No. 3 is renumbered as Policy Principle No. 5; (g) proposed Policy Principle No. 4 was modified in response to comments and is renumbered as Policy Principle No. 2; (h) proposed Policy Principle No. 5 is renumbered as Policy Principle No. 6; (i) proposed Policy Principle No. 6 was modified in response to comments and is renumbered as Policy Principle No. 7; (j) proposed Policy Principle No. 7 is renumbered as Policy Principle No. 8; (k) proposed Policy Principle No. 8 is renumbered as Policy Principle No. 9; and (l) proposed Policy Principle No. 9 was modified in response to comments and is renumbered as Policy Principle No. 3.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is requesting public comments on the effectiveness of its licensing procedures as defined in the Export Administration Regulations for the export of agricultural commodities to Cuba. BIS will include a description of these comments in its biennial report to the Congress, as required by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.), as amended.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) has received requests to conduct administrative reviews of various antidumping and countervailing duty orders and findings with September anniversary dates. In accordance with the Department's regulations, we are initiating those administrative reviews. The Department also received a request to defer the initiation of an administrative review for one antidumping duty order.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is extending the time limit for the final results of the changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on certain hot- rolled carbon steel flat products (``hot-rolled steel'') from Thailand. The period of review is October 1, 2005, through September 30, 2006. This extension is made pursuant to 19 CFR 351.216(e).

NMFS issues this proposed rule that would implement Amendment 4 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Spiny Lobster Fishery of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Caribbean FMP) prepared by the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (Caribbean Council) and Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Spiny Lobster Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic (Gulf and South Atlantic FMP) prepared by the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (Gulf and South Atlantic Councils). This proposed rule would establish two minimum size restrictions for importation of spiny lobster into the United States -one applicable to spiny lobster imported into any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States other than Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a more restrictive minimum size limit that applies to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In addition, this proposed rule would prohibit importation of egg-bearing spiny lobsters and importation of spiny lobster tail meat that is not in whole tail form with the exoskeleton attached. The intended effect of this proposed rule is to enhance the conservation of the spiny lobster resource and improve effectiveness of law enforcement related to such conservation.

Pursuant to the Order of the Binational Panel dated September 10, 2008, affirming the final determination described above, the panel review was completed on September 22, 2008.

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.

NMFS announces the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 30B to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. The amendment proposes actions to end overfishing of gag, revise red grouper management measures as a result of changes in the stock condition, establish annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for gag and red grouper, manage shallow-water grouper (SWG) to achieve optimum yield (OY), and improve the effectiveness of Federal management measures.

NMFS proposes specifications for the 2009 summer flounder, scup, and black sea bass fisheries and provides notice of three conditionally approved projects that will be requesting Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs) as part of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Research Set-Aside (RSA) program. The implementing regulations for the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) require NMFS to publish specifications for the upcoming fishing year for each of these species and to provide an opportunity for public comment. Furthermore, regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson- Stevens Act) require a notice to be published to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for EFPs. The intent of this action is to establish harvest levels that assure that the target fishing mortality rates (F) or exploitation rates specified for these species in the FMP are not exceeded and to allow for rebuilding of the stocks as well as to provide notice of EFP requests, all in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), publish this final rule to remove the Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis) from the list of endangered marine and anadromous species at 50 CFR 224.101 due to extinction of the species. We have reviewed the status of this species and determined that removal of the protections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the Caribbean monk seal is warranted. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) concurred with our recommendation to delist this species in a letter dated October 17, 2008.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) proposes to revise some of its safety codes and standards and requests proposals from the public to amend existing or begin the process of developing new NFPA safety codes and standards. The purpose of this request is to increase public participation in the system used by NFPA to develop its codes and standards. The publication of this notice of request for proposals by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on behalf of NFPA is being undertaken as a public service; NIST does not necessarily endorse, approve, or recommend any of the standards referenced in the notice. The NFPA process provides ample opportunity for public participation in the development of its codes and standards. All NFPA codes and standards are revised and updated every three to five years in Revision Cycles that begin twice each year and that takes approximately two years to complete. Each Revision Cycle proceeds according to a published schedule that includes final dates for all major events in the process. The process contains five basic steps that are followed both for developing new documents as well as revising existing documents. These steps are: Calling for Proposals; Publishing the Proposals in the Report on Proposals; Calling for Comments on the Committee's disposition of the proposals and these Comments are published in the Report on Comments; having a Technical Report Session at the NFPA Annual Meeting; and finally, the Standards Council Consideration and Issuance of documents.

Since 1896, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has accomplished its mission by advocating scientifically based consensus codes and standards, research, and education for safety related issues. NFPA's National Fire Codes[supreg], which holds over 270 documents, are administered by more than 225 Technical Committees comprised of approximately 7,000 volunteers and are adopted and used throughout the world. NFPA is a nonprofit membership organization with approximately 80,000 members from over 70 nations, all working together to fulfill the Association's mission. The NFPA process provides ample opportunity for public participation in the development of its codes and standards. All NFPA codes and standards are revised and updated every three to five years in Revision Cycles that begin twice each year and that take approximately two years to complete. Each Revision Cycle proceeds according to a published schedule that includes final dates for all major events in the process. The process contains five basic steps that are followed both for developing new documents as well as revising existing documents. These steps are: Calling for Proposals; Publishing the Proposals in the Report on Proposals; Calling for Comments on the Committee's disposition of the Proposals and these Comments are published in the Report on Comments; having a Technical Report Session at the NFPA Annual Meeting; and finally, the Standards Council Consideration and Issuance of documents.

The dates for the SEDAR Catchability Procedural Workshop, originally scheduled for November 17 20, 2008, have been changed to February 9-12, 2009. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, ``Services'' or ``we'') previously proposed to amend regulations governing interagency cooperation under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act) (73 FR 47868-47875; August 15, 2008). The Services proposed these regulatory changes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the section 7(a)(2) consultation process. This Federal Register notice advises the public that we (FWS and NOAA) have prepared a Draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that assesses the potential environmental effects of the proposed regulatory changes currently under consideration. The Draft EA is available for public review at the following Web site: https://www.doi.gov/issues/esa.html.

NMFS is announcing that the quotas for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries for 2009 remain status quo. Regulations governing these fisheries require NMFS to notify the public of the allowable harvest levels for Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs from the Exclusive Economic Zone in the Federal Register if the previous year's quota specifications remain unchanged.