Department of Commerce November 18, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene a meeting of its Ecosystem Scientific and Statistical Committee.

Notice is hereby given that NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 3333 North Torrey Pines Court, La Jolla, CA 92037-1023, has applied in due form for a permit to take green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtles for scientific research.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) publishes its proposed Annual Determination (AD) for 2010, pursuant to its authority under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Through this proposed AD, NMFS would identify commercial fisheries operating in state and Federal waters in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific Ocean that would be required to take observers upon NMFS' request. The purpose of observing identified fisheries is to learn more about sea turtle interactions in a given fishery, evaluate existing measures to reduce or prevent sea turtle takes, and to determine whether additional

NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amount of halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) from rockfish cooperatives in the Central Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Rockfish Pilot Program to vessels using trawl gear in the GOA. This action is necessary to provide the opportunity to vessels using trawl gear to harvest available GOA groundfish total allowable catch (TAC) under existing PSC limits.