Department of Commerce September 22, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 17B to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper- Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. The amendment proposes actions to specify annual catch limits (ACLs), and accountability measures (AMs) for nine snapper-grouper species, eight of which are undergoing overfishing; specify recreational and commercial allocations for golden tilefish; modify management measures to limit total mortality of each species to their respective ACLs; and add ACLs, ACTs, and AMs to the management measures that may be amended via the framework procedure. The actions contained in Amendment 17B are intended to address overfishing of eight snapper-grouper species while maintaining catch levels consistent with achieving optimum yield for all nine species included in the amendment.

NMFS is reopening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to fully use the C season allowance of the 2010 total allowable catch of pollock specified for Statistical Area 630 of the GOA.

On February 8, 2010, the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced their intent to establish a new NOAA Climate Service (NCS). The new service will directly support NOAA's vision of ``an informed society that uses a comprehensive understanding of the role of the oceans, coasts, and atmosphere in the global ecosystem to make the best social and economic decisions.'' It will also contribute to NOAA's mission ``to understand and anticipate changes in Earth's environment, and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our Nation's economic, social and environmental needs.'' The reorganization of existing agency assets is intended to help NOAA better work with our partners to respond to the growing demands for climate information from the public, business, industry, local, state and Federal agencies, and decision makers. As part of the process to establish a new NCS, NOAA recently completed a strategic vision and framework document that describes how NOAA proposes to respond to society's growing need for climate services. The document describes the vision and outlines how the NCS can achieve new strategic goals related to the delivery and development of reliable, timely, and authoritative climate science and service to enable a climate-resilient society to grow and prosper. NOAA will accept comments on the strategic vision from September 21 to midnight on October 18, 2010. A copy of the draft document and instructions on how to submit comments can be found at https:// www.noaa.gov/climate. NOAA is also hosting a series of informational webinars for individuals and organizations to learn more about the proposed NCS vision and timeline and to provide an opportunity for to answer questions, and obtain feedback. Each webinar is targeted to a specific sector, and will begin with a presentation from Dr. Chet Koblinsky, Director, NOAA Climate Program Office and Transitional Deputy Director, NOAA Climate service, and will be followed by a question and answer session.