Department of Commerce January 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (MAFMC) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will hold a public meeting.

This final rule restructures western Pacific fishery regulations to be consistent with five new area-specific fishery ecosystem plans (FEP). This final rule also amends references to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) information collection requirements to reflect the restructuring. The purpose of this rule is to make the regulations easier for the public to use by organizing existing fishing regulations by geographic location.

The NOAA National Ocean Service is publishing the NOAA Ocean and Coastal Mapping Contracting Policy. This replaces the 2006 NOAA Hydrographic Services Contracting Policy.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold six public hearings to solicit comments on proposals to be included in the Draft Amendment 5 to the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a 3-day Council meeting to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

NMFS is rescinding the trawl closure in the Chiniak Gully Research Area. This action is necessary to allow vessels using trawl gear to participate in directed fishing for groundfish in the Chiniak Gully Research Area.

The SEDAR assessment review of the Atlantic stocks of croaker and menhaden will be conducted at a Review Workshop. This is the twentieth SEDAR. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

On December 2, 2009, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced the closing date for receipt of applications for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP). NTIA now announces that $18 million has been appropriated for fiscal year (FY) 2010 grants.

NMFS will accept applications from persons applying to receive a charter halibut permit under the Limited Access System for Guided Sport Charter Vessels in Alaska. Potential eligible applicants are notified of the one-time opportunity to apply for a charter halibut permit for the 60-day period from February 4, 2010, through April 5, 2010. Any applications received by NMFS after the ending date will be considered untimely and will be denied.

We, NMFS, are extending the date by which public comments are due concerning the proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas, under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). We published a proposed rule to designate critical habitat for this species in the Federal Register of December 2, 2009. The original due date for receipt of public comments was scheduled to end on February 1, 2010, and today we extend the public comment period to March 3, 2010.

The Department of Commerce (``Department'') preliminarily determines that wire decking from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (``LTFV''), as provided in section 733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice. Pursuant to requests from interested parties, we are postponing the final determination and extending the provisional measures from a four-month period to not more than six months. Accordingly, we will make our final determination not later than 135 days after publication of the preliminary determination.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces the establishment of the NIST Smart Grid Advisory Committee (Committee). The Committee will advise the Director of NIST in carrying out duties authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

In February of 2009, Congress enacted the Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act of 2009, which in part was intended to establish a new Community Trade Adjustment Assistance (Community TAA) Program under chapter 4 of title II of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2371 et seq.) (Trade Act) to help communities respond to the loss of jobs caused by the layoffs at firms and other types of employers impacted by trade competition. This notice announces general policies and application requirements for the Community TAA Program. Grants made under the program may be used to support a wide range of technical, planning, and infrastructure projects to help communities adapt to pressing trade impact issues and diversify their economies.

NMFS proposes regulations to implement international conservation and management measures adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), and the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP). The measures pertain to vessels that have been identified by these regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) as having engaged in illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing activities and included on their respective IUU vessel lists. As a party to these RFMOs, the United States is obligated to take certain actions against the listed IUU vessels in a manner consistent with our laws and policies. This proposed rule would clarify the domestic processes by which the United States intends to meet these obligations. Specifically, it would implement obligations to restrict entry into any port or place of the United States and access to port services by vessels on the IUU vessel lists of the aforementioned RFMOs. It would also prohibit the provision by persons and business entities subject to U.S. jurisdiction of certain services to, and commercial transactions with, such vessels. NMFS is seeking public comment on the proposed rule.

NMFS is modifying the Northeast (NE) Region experimental fishing regulations to authorize the NMFS NE Regional Administrator (RA), or the RA's designee, to issue a Letter of Authorization (LOA) to eligible researchers on board federally permitted fishing vessels that plan to temporarily possess fish in a manner not compliant with applicable fishing regulations for the purpose of collecting scientific data on catch.

This document contains a correction to the final regulations that were published in the Federal Register on December 10, 2009, and are effective January 11, 2010. This change ensures that the process is preserved for closing the Hawaii-based shallow-set longline fishery as a result of the fishery reaching interaction limits for sea turtles.