Department of Commerce February 27, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) requires NMFS to publish in the Federal Register a list of fisheries that have been authorized to take threatened or endangered marine mammals. A list of such fisheries was published December 29, 2010, which authorized the taking of certain marine mammals listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) incidental to commercial fishing. With issuance of this notice, NMFS adds West Coast groundfish fisheries to this list for one stock of marine mammalsthe Eastern U.S. stock of Steller sea lions.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 24 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper- Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. Amendment 24 proposes actions to revise definitions of management thresholds for South Atlantic red grouper; establish a rebuilding plan; establish red grouper sector annual catch limits (ACLs) based on allocation decisions, a recreational annual catch target (ACT), and sector accountability measures (AMs); and remove the combined gag, black grouper, and red grouper ACLs and AMs. The intent of Amendment 24 is to implement a rebuilding plan for red grouper to help achieve optimum yield (OY) for the red grouper resource in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

NMFS closes the hook-and-line component of the commercial sector of the coastal migratory pelagic fishery for king mackerel in the southern Florida west coast subzone. This closure is necessary to protect the Gulf king mackerel resource.

On October 20, 2011, the Department of Commerce (Department) published the partial preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on fresh garlic from the People's Republic of China (PRC) covering the period of review (POR) of November 1, 2009, through October 31, 2010. The Department is issuing these partial final results for the PRC-wide entity only. Based on the analysis of the record and the comments received, the Department finds that seven companies subject to this review, including mandatory respondents, Shandong Longtai Fruits and Vegetables Co., Ltd. (Longtai) and Weifang Hongqiao International Logistic Co., Ltd. (Hongqiao), did not demonstrate their eligibility for separate rate status and, thus, will be considered part of the PRC-wide entity for purposes of these final results. These companies are listed in Appendix I. The Department is also rescinding the review with respect to 14 exporters who had ``no shipments'' during the POR. A list of these companies is found in Appendix II.