Department of Commerce 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has received an application from the United States Navy (Navy) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting physical oceanographic studies in the southwest Indian Ocean, January through February, 2012. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to the Navy to incidentally harass, by Level B harassment only, 29 species of marine mammals during the specified activity.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council (Council) and its Administrative Committee will hold meetings.

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 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)).

Notice is hereby given that Michael Salmon, Ph.D., Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, P.O. Box 3091, Boca Raton, FL 33431, has been issued a permit to take green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) for the purposes of scientific research.

The National Advisory Council for Minority Business Enterprise (NACMBE) will hold its fourth meeting to discuss the work of the three subcommittees and deliverables to fulfill the NACMBE's charter mandate. The agenda may change to accommodate Council business.

NMFS is closing the U.S. pelagic longline fishery for bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean as a result of the fishery reaching the 2011 catch limit.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold meetings of its Spiny Lobster Committee; Law Enforcement Committee; Ecosystem-Based Management Committee; Advisory Panel Selection Committee (Closed Session); Information and Education Committee; Executive Finance Committee; Personnel Committee (Closed Session); King and Spanish Mackerel Committee; Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) Committee; Golden Crab Committee; Snapper Grouper Committee; and a meeting of the Full Council. The Council will take action as necessary. The Council will also hold a public hearing, an informal public question and answer session regarding agenda items, and a public comment session. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for additional details.

The Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Board of Overseers) will meet in open session on December 13, 2011. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss and review information received from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and from the Chair of the Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The agenda will include: Report from the Judges' Panel, Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) Update, Baldrige Fellows Program Status Report, Baldrige Program Changes in 2011, and Recommendations for the NIST Director.

NMFS has received an application from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for a 2-year Letter of Authorization (LOA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to training and research within the Hawaii Range Complex (HRC). The Navy is proposing additional mitigation measures tailored to the use of timed-delay firing devices (TDFDs) during mine neutralization training. The current regulations and previous LOAs analyzed the training event rather than the detonation method. NMFS is requesting comments on the proposed change because it constitutes a substantial modification to the described work, in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

NMFS apportions amounts of the non-specified reserve to the initial total allowable catch of Greenland turbot in the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. This action is necessary to allow fishing operations to continue. It is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the fishery management plan for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area.

NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS[supreg]) Program publishes this notice on behalf of the Interagency Ocean Observation Committee (IOOC) to announce a formal meeting of the IOOC's Data Management and Communications Steering Team (DMAC-ST). The DMAC-ST membership is comprised of IOOC-approved federal agency representatives and non-federal participants representing academic, non-profit, private, regional and state sectors who will discuss issues outlined in the agenda.

The Technology Innovation Program (TIP) Advisory Board will hold a meeting via teleconference on Tuesday, December 6, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, Eastern time. The primary purpose of this meeting is to discuss the future of TIP. Interested members of the public will be able to participate in the meeting from remote locations by calling into a central phone number.

On November 3, 2011, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published in the Federal Register the amended final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on polyethylene retail carrier bags from Thailand for the period August 1, 2009, through July 31, 2010. The notice did not include the names and margins of two companies subject to the amended final results of the review. The names and the respective margins are indicated below.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, and implementing regulations, notice is hereby given that NMFS has issued a Letter of Authorization (LOA) to the U.S. Navy (Navy) to take marine mammals incidental to Navy training and research activities to be conducted within the Northwest Training Range Complex (NWTRC), off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. These activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2004 (NDAA).

NMFS announces that the Hudson Canyon Scallop Access Area will close to Limited Access General Category IFQ scallop vessels for the remainder of the 2011 fishing year. As of November 12, 2011, no scallop vessel fishing under Limited Access General Category IFQ regulations may declare its intent to enter or fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the Hudson Canyon Scallop Access Area. This action will prevent the allocation of LAGC IFQ trips in the Hudson Canyon Scallop Access Area from being exceeded during the 2011 fishing year.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is currently conducting a new shipper review (NSR) of the antidumping duty order on chlorinated isocyanurates from the People's Republic of China (PRC) for the period of June 1, 2010, through December 31, 2010. As discussed below, we preliminarily determine that the producer and exporter Heze Huayi Chemical Co. Ltd. (Heze Huayi) did not satisfy the regulatory requirements to request a new shipper review; therefore, we are preliminarily rescinding this new shipper review. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results. See ``Comments'' section below. If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results of this review, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess antidumping duties on all appropriate Heze Huayi's entries of subject merchandise during the period of review (POR).

NMFS apportions amounts of the non-specified reserve to the initial total allowable catch of Pacific ocean perch in the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. This action is necessary to allow fishing operations to continue. It is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the fishery management plan for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) publishes this final rule to amend certain requirements in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) that apply to the Principality of Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein). In this final rule, BIS aligns license requirements and licensing policy under the EAR for Liechtenstein with those for Switzerland. As a result, for purposes of the EAR, Liechtenstein will be treated the same as Switzerland. By virtue of a Customs Union Treaty with Switzerland, Liechtenstein has adopted the export controls implemented under Swiss law, including controls equivalent to those prescribed under multilateral regimes, and has authorized Switzerland to administer and enforce export controls within Liechtenstein's territory. As a result of this arrangement, Liechtenstein and Switzerland serve as one territory for customs and export purposes. Having recently been made aware of the full scope of this arrangement and its consequences on export controls, BIS has determined that it is appropriate to codify the treatment of Liechtenstein and Switzerland as one territory for purposes of the EAR. This treatment of Liechtenstein is consistent with the effort of the United States to streamline licensing requirements where export controls prescribed by the multilateral regimes are implemented.

NMFS and the Pacific Fishery Management Council announce their intent to prepare an EIS in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 to analyze the impacts on the human (biological, physical, social, and economic) environment of setting harvest specifications (including Overfishing Limits (OFLs), Acceptable Biological Catches (ABCs), and Annual Catch Limits (ACLs)) and management measures for 2013 and 2014, pursuant to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan.

This action serves as a notice that NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), has determined that Pacific ocean perch, (Sebastes alutus), which is managed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, is in an overfished condition. NMFS notifies the appropriate fishery management council (Council) whenever it determines that overfishing is occurring, a stock is in an overfished condition, or a stock is approaching an overfished condition.