Department of Commerce March 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Sea Turtle Advisory Committee (STAC) in Honolulu, HI.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene scoping meetings on a proposed amendment addressing crew size limits and earned income requirements.

The Department of Commerce (Department) is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp (shrimp) from Thailand with respect to 152 companies. The respondents which the Department selected for individual examination are Marine Gold Products Co., Ltd. (MRG) and Pakfood Public Company Limited and its affiliated subsidiaries (collectively, ``Pakfood'').\1\ The respondents which were not selected for individual examination are listed in the ``Preliminary Results of Review'' section of this notice. This is the fifth administrative review of this order. The period of review (POR) is February 1, 2009, through January 31, 2010.

The Department of Commerce (Department) is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp (shrimp) from India with respect to 202 companies.\1\ The respondents which the Department selected for individual examination are Apex Exports (Apex) and Falcon Marine Exports Limited (Falcon). The respondents which were not selected for individual examination are listed in the ``Preliminary Results of the Review'' section of this notice. This is the fifth administrative review of this order. The period of review (POR) is February 1, 2009, through January 31, 2010.

NMFS is suspending directed fishing for Pacific sardine off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California through June 30, 2011. This action is necessary because the proposed directed harvest allocation total for Pacific sardine the first seasonal period (January 1-June 30) of 15,214 metric tons (mt) is projected to be reached by the effective date of this rule. Under this rule, Pacific sardine may be harvested only as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries; the incidental harvest of Pacific sardine is limited to 30-percent by weight of all fish caught per trip. Vessels with Pacific sardine catch must be at shore and in the process of offloading at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) on the date of this closure. This rule is necessary to help conserve and manage Pacific sardine off the West Coast.

The ONMS is seeking applications for the following vacant seats on the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council: Fishing, Primary and Alternate seats; Research, Primary and Alternate seats; Community-at-Large Mann County, Primary and Alternate seats. Applicants are chosen based upon their particular expertise and experience in relation to the seat for which they are applying; community and professional affiliations; philosophy regarding the protection and management of marine resources; and possibly the length of residence in the area affected by the sanctuary. Applicants who are chosen as members should expect to serve three-year terms, pursuant to the council's Charter.

The U.S. Government recognizes that economic recovery and job creation will depend significantly on its ability to work collaboratively with key trading partners to promote free and open trade and investment. In our trade and investment relationships with Mexico and Canada, and within North America as a whole, the main impediments to greater trade and investmentand more open foreign markets for U.S. exporters and investorsare not tariffs or quotas, but rather unnecessary differences in product regulations that increase costs for producers and consumers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. With this Notice, the Commerce Department, on behalf of the Administration, is seeking public input to help identify such divergences in North America, so that the U.S. Government can work cooperatively with Mexico and Canada to address them. President Obama explicitly linked trade to job creation when he announced the National Export Initiative in his 2010 State of the Union address, and set the ambitious goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next five years to support millions of jobs here at home. The President has focused particularly on efforts to remove unnecessary divergences in regulations with Canada and Mexico, our first and second largest export markets, respectively, and officials from the three countries have discussed strengthening regulatory cooperation to promote better regulation and facilitate trade, both bilaterally and trilaterally. President Obama met with President Felipe Calder[oacute]n of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada at the the North American Leaders' Summit on August 10, 2009, in Guadalajara, Mexico. In the joint statement they issued at the end of that meeting they noted the progress that each of their governments had made in reducing unnecessary regulatory differences and they instructed their respective governments, ``* * * to continue this work by building on the previous efforts, developing focused priorities and a specific timeline.'' The United States Government is working with both Mexico and Canada to reduce unnecessary regulatory differences and to explore further regulatory cooperation activities aimed at reducing or eliminating such differences where they hinder trade and reduce competitiveness. In order to do so, the United States has established a High-Level Regulatory Cooperation Council with Mexico and a Regulatory Cooperation Council with Canada. While these councils are bilateral, regulatory divergences exist that have consequences for firms in all three countries. Therefore, with this Notice, the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA), in support of the National Export Initiative (NEI) and pursuant to the Secretary of Commerce's role as the chair of Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, is requesting stakeholders to assist the Administration to identify opportunities for cooperation between or among the United States, Canada, and Mexico to reduce or eliminate regulatory divergences that disrupt trade in goods in the region, as well as any existing or emerging sectors that may benefit from regulatory coordination between these countries. Canada has already solicited similar input from its stakeholders, and Mexico has committed to do the same.

Notice is hereby given that Robin Baird, PhD, Cascadia Research, 218\1/2\ W. 4th Avenue, Olympia, WA 98501, has applied in due form for a permit to take marine mammals in the Pacific Ocean for the purposes of scientific research.

Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of Commerce (the Department) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), the Department is issuing a countervailing duty order on drill pipe from the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') and the International Trade Commission (the ``ITC''), the Department is issuing an antidumping duty order on drill pipe from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). On February 24, 2011, the ITC notified the Department of its affirmative determination of threat of material injury to a U.S. industry, and its negative determination of critical circumstances. See Drill Pipe and Drill Collars from China (Investigation Nos. 701-TA-474 and 731-TA-1176 (Final), USITC Publication 4213, February 2011).

This final rule makes inseason adjustments to commercial and recreational fishery management measures for several groundfish species taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. These actions, which are authorized by the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), are intended to allow fisheries to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting overfished and depleted stocks.

The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship will hold a meeting on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. The meeting will be conducted from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and will be opened to the public via listen only conference call, as well as limited number of open seats, at the event. The Council was chartered on November 10, 2009, to advise the Secretary of Commerce on matters relating to innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) for 24 hours. This action is necessary to fully use the A season allowance of the 2011 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the GOA.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'') is discontinuing the practice of coding newly registered trademarks that include a design element with design mark codes based on the old paper search designations. The USPTO will continue to code all pending applications that contain a design element using a numerical design code system modeled after the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (``USPTO Design Classification'').

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 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 the revision of a currently approved collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

NMFS is opening directed fishing for sablefish with fixed gear managed under the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program and the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program. The season will open 1200 hrs, Alaska local time (A.l.t.), March 12, 2011, and will close 1200 hrs, A.l.t., November 18, 2011. This period is the same as the 2011 commercial halibut fishery opening dates adopted by the International Pacific Halibut Commission. The IFQ and CDQ halibut season is specified by a separate publication in the Federal Register of annual management measures.

NMFS announces final 2011 and 2012 harvest specifications and prohibited species catch allowances for the groundfish fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to establish harvest limits for groundfish during the 2011 and 2012 fishing years, and to accomplish the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the BSAI (FMP). The intended effect of this action is to conserve and manage the groundfish resources in the BSAI in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

In accordance with section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''), the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is automatically initiating a five-year review (``Sunset Review'') of the antidumping duty orders and suspended investigation listed below. The International Trade Commission (``the Commission'') is publishing concurrently with this notice its notice of Institution of Five-Year Review which covers the same orders.