Department of Commerce July 30, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On June 28, 2011, NMFS published a proposed rule that considered requiring, among other things, Federal Atlantic swordfish, shark, and tunas dealers (except for dealers reporting Atlantic bluefin tuna) to report commercially-harvested Atlantic sharks, swordfish, and bigeye, albacore, yellowfin, and skipjack (BAYS) tunas through one centralized electronic reporting system. This electronic reporting system will allow dealers to submit Atlantic sharks, swordfish, and BAYS tuna data on a more real-time basis and more efficiently, which will reduce duplicative data submissions from different regions. We proposed to delay the effective date of the electronic reporting requirements until 2013 in order to give sufficient time for dealers to adjust to implementation of the new system and the additional requirements. On June 29, 2012, we announced the date and location for nine upcoming workshops in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic area to introduce the new reporting system to Highly Migratory Species (HMS) dealers. In this notice, we announce the date and location for an additional training workshop in the Caribbean.

NMFS apportions amounts of the non-specified reserve to the initial total allowable catch of arrowtooth flounder in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to allow the fisheries to continue operating. It is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the fishery management plan for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area.