Department of Commerce 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has determined that the Atlantic tunas General category daily Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) retention limit should be adjusted for the September, October-November, and December time periods of the 2009 fishing year, based on consideration of the determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments. This action applies to Atlantic Tunas General category permitted vessels and Highly Migratory Species Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels (when fishing commercially for BFT). NMFS has also determined that a quota transfer to allow continued fishing in the Harpoon category is appropriate, and therefore transfers 25 metric tons (mt) from the Reserve to the Harpoon category for the remainder of the 2009 fishing year. This action applies to Atlantic Tunas Harpoon category permitted vessels.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold Meetings of its Limited Access Privilege Program (LAPP) Committee, Spiny Lobster Committee, Mackerel Committee, a joint meeting of its Executive and Finance Committees, Law Enforcement Committee, Snapper Grouper Committee, joint Ecosystem-Based Management and Habitat Committees, Golden Crab Committee, and Dolphin Wahoo Committee, and a meeting of the full Council. There will also be a swearing in of new Council members. The Council will hold an informal public question and answer session with NMFS Regional Administrator and Council Chairman as well as open public comment periods relative to agenda items. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for additional details.

OER is seeking pre-proposals and full proposals to support its mission, consistent with NOAA's Strategic Plan to search, investigate, and document poorly-known and unknown areas of the ocean and Great Lakes through interdisciplinary exploration, and to advance and disseminate knowledge of the ocean environment and its physical, chemical, and biological resources.

NMFS announces a workshop to solicit comments from owners and operators of trawl catcher/processors and motherships in the Bering Sea pollock fishery about proposed equipment and operational requirements to monitor salmon bycatch. The workshop is open to the public, but NMFS is particularly seeking participation by people who are knowledgeable about the operations of the catcher/processors and motherships and who can discuss with NMFS the potential operational impacts of proposed monitoring requirements.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Crab Plan Team will meet September 14-16, 2009. The Crab Plan Team will meet jointly with the Council's Groundfish Plan Teams on September 16.

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.

The New England Fishery Management Council's (Council) Scallop Advisory Panel and Scallop Oversight Committee will hold two meetings to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

On April 27, 2009, the U.S. Department of Commerce (the Department) published a notice of initiation of an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on glycine from the People's Republic of China (PRC). The review covers 86 producers/exporters of glycine from the PRC, including mandatory respondent Baoding Mantong Fine Chemistry Co., Ltd. (Baoding Mantong). Based on a withdrawal of request from GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc. (GEO), a domestic producer of glycine, we are now rescinding this administrative review in full.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2, notice is hereby given that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Advisory Board, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will meet Thursday, September 24, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This meeting is being held in conjunction with MEP's Quarterly Update meeting in Dallas, TX. The MEP Advisory Board is composed of 10 members appointed by the Director of NIST who were selected for their expertise in the area of industrial extension and their work on behalf of smaller manufacturers. The Board was established to fill a need for external input on MEP. MEP is a unique program consisting of centers across the United States and Puerto Rico, with partnerships at the state, federal, and local levels. The Board works closely with MEP to provide input and advice on MEP's programs, plans, and policies. For this meeting, discussions will focus on a review of key findings and policy implications from the MEP Advisory Board's Future of Manufacturing paper. In addition, MEP will provide an overview of its strategy for technology acceleration and gather Board input and advice on open source innovation, including methods and tools for fostering technology adoption by smaller manufacturers. The agenda may change to accommodate Board business.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulations, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (L-DEO), a part of Columbia University, to take small numbers of marine mammals, by Level B harassment only, incidental to conducting a marine seismic survey in the northeast Pacific Ocean.

NOAA Fisheries announces three inseason actions in the ocean salmon fisheries. Inseason action 1 modified the commercial fishery in the area from Cape Falcon, Oregon to Humbug Mountain, Oregon, and from Humbug Mountain, Oregon to the Oregon/California Border. Inseason action 2 modified the recreational fishery in the area from Cape Falcon, Oregon to Humbug Mountain, Oregon. Inseason action 3 modified the commercial fishery in the area from U.S./Canada Border to Cape Falcon, Oregon.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by non- American Fisheries Act (AFA) crab vessels that are subject to sideboard limits catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2009 Pacific cod sideboard limit established for non-AFA crab vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

RUS and NTIA announce additional measures to ensure that any pending electronic applications experiencing difficulties uploading attachments into the Easygrants[reg] System for the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) can be submitted by the extended application deadline of August 20, 2009. The Easygrants[reg] System will not accept applications after 5 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on August 20, 2009. In order to ensure that all pending electronic applications experiencing difficulties uploading attachments can be completed, the core application must be electronically submitted using the Easygrants[reg] System by 5 p.m. ET on August 20, 2009. The extension described herein pertains only to the attachments listed in the ``Uploads Checklist'' of the ``Uploads'' page of the Easygrants[reg] System, including documents submitted as Supplemental Information. The core application is defined as all fields and questions in the application, not including the attachments listed in the ``Uploads Checklist'' of the ``Uploads'' page. Any attachments that the applicant is unable to upload to the Easygrants[reg] System must be submitted by August 24, 2009, using one of the following methods of delivery: hand-delivery, overnight express, or regular mail.

NMFS proposes to specify establish a total allowable catch (TAC) for the 2009-10 fishing year of 254,050 lb (115,235 kg) of Deep 7 bottomfish in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). The TAC would be set in accordance with regulations established to support long-term sustainability of Hawaii bottomfish in the Hawaiian Archipelago.

We, NMFS, announce that the Upper Columbia River steelhead is reclassified as a threatened species consistent with a recent court ruling. We also correct the table of threatened fishes to indicate that the same species is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). This species was inadvertently dropped from the table during an unrelated rulemaking.

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.

Seven Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) advise the Department of Commerce on the technical parameters for export controls applicable to dual-use commodities and technology and on the administration of those controls. The TACs are composed of representatives from industry, academic and Government representing diverse points of view on the concerns of the exporting community. Industry representatives are selected from firms producing a broad range of goods, technologies, and software presently controlled for national security, non-proliferation, foreign policy, and short supply reasons or that are proposed for such controls, balanced to the extent possible among large and small firms.

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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).