Department of Commerce August 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that a major amendment to Permit No. 16160 has been issued to The Whale Museum (Responsible Party: Jenny Atkinson), PO Box 945, Friday Harbor, WA 98250.

Notice is hereby given that the Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce is announcing a thirty day public comment period for the Rookery Bay, Florida and the Kachemak Bay, Alaska National Estuarine Research Reserve Management Plan Revisions. Pursuant to 15 CFR section 921.33(c), these revisions will bring these plans into compliance. The Rookery Bay, Florida Reserve is updating their last plan approved in 2003; and the Kachemak Bay, Alaska Reserve is updating their last plan approved in 2006. The revised management plans outline the administrative structure; the research, education, training, and stewardship goals of the reserve; and the plans for future land acquisition and facility development to support reserve operations. The Rookery Bay Reserve takes an integrated approach to management, linking research, education, training and stewardship functions to address high priority issues including land use changes affecting freshwater inflow, loss of native biodiversity, lack of public awareness and community involvement in stewardship, incompatible use by visitors, and ecological impacts of catastrophic change events. Since the last management plan, the reserve has constructed additional exhibits and a pedestrian bridge that connects the Environmental Learning Center to a boardwalk and interpretive trails describing several ecosystems and functions. The revised management plan will serve as the guiding document for the 110,000 acre Rookery Bay Reserve for the next five years. The Kachemak Bay Reserve takes an integrated approach to management, linking research, education, and training functions to address high priority issues including climate change and harvested species, such as salmon and shellfish. The reserve will continue research on coastal dynamics and their impact to coastal communities, and will be enhancing monitoring programs on invasive species and harmful algal blooms to transfer information to coastal decision makers. Since the last management plan, the reserve has constructed additional exhibits, completed habitat maps of the benthic and shoreline habitats of the bay, and contributed to the body of knowledge on the ecological value of headwater streams to juvenile salmon. The revised management plan will serve as the guiding document for the 372,000 acre Kachemak Bay Reserve for the next five years. No additional lands have been added to the reserve boundary; the discrepancy in designated and current acreage is due to improved mapping accuracy. View the Rookery Bay, Florida Reserve Management Plan revision at www.floridadep.org/rookery/management/plan.htm and provide comments to Penny.Isom@dep.state.fl.us. View the Kachemak Bay, Alaska Reserve Management Plan at www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=kbrr_resources.management and provide comments to dfg.kbrr.managementplan@alaska.gov.

The Department of Commerce (``Department'') hereby publishes a list of scope rulings completed between January 1, 2012, and March 31, 2012. We intend to publish future lists after the close of the next calendar quarter.

Pursuant to the Notice of Motion requesting termination of the panel review by a participant and consented to by all the participants, the panel review is terminated as of August 9, 2012. A panel has not been appointed to this panel review. Pursuant to Rule 71(2) of the Rules of Procedure for Article 1904 Binational Panel Review, this panel review is terminated.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold public hearings to allow for public input on Amendment 3 to the Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

NMFS received an application from ION Geophysical (ION) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment only, incidental to a proposed marine seismic survey in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, Alaska, between October and December 2012. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to ION to take, by harassment, nine species of marine mammals during the specified activity.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice of proposed rulemaking and a notice of proposed examination guidelines to implement the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). The USPTO plans to conduct a roundtable to obtain public input from organizations and individuals on issues relating to the USPTO's proposed implementation of the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA. The USPTO plans to invite a number of roundtable participants from among patent user groups, practitioners, industry, independent inventor organizations, academia, and government. The roundtable also is open for any member of the public to provide input.

In accordance with provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) has been issued to the U.S. Navy (Navy) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) activities at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD).

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'' or ``Office'') is considering adjusting trademark application filing fees so as to promote efficiency for the USPTO and customers by incentivizing complete electronic communication. The USPTO invites the public to submit comments regarding such possible adjustments.

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.

On April 12, 2012, the U.S. Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on saccharin from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') for the period of review (``POR'') July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011.\1\ We invited interested parties to comment on the preliminary results but received no comments. Therefore, our final results remain unchanged from the preliminary results of review.

On March 27, 2012, in King Supply Co. LLC v. United States, 674 F.3d 1343 (Fed. Cir. Mar 27, 2012) (``King Supply III''), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (``CAFC'') reversed the decision of the U.S. Court of International Trade (``CIT'') in King Supply Co. LLC v. United States, Slip Op. 11-2, Court No. 09-477 (January 06, 2011) (``King Supply II''). In King Supply II, pursuant to the CIT's remand order, the Department of Commerce's (``Department'') results of redetermination construed the scope of the Order \1\ as excluding carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') used in structural applications. In King Supply III, the CAFC, reversing the CIT, held that: (1) The Department in its original scope ruling reasonably determined that the scope of the Order did not give rise to an end use restriction, (2) the Department's original scope ruling was supported by substantial evidence, and (3) the CIT gave insufficient deference to the Department in interpreting the Order. 674 F.3d at 1345, 1349, 1350-51. As there is now a final and conclusive court decision with respect to the litigation pertaining to this proceeding, we are hereby publishing the final scope ruling that pipe fittings imported by King Supply are within the scope of the order and amending our January 26, 2011, amended final scope ruling consistent with the CAFC decision.\2\

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulation, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) take small numbers of marine mammals, by Level B harassment, incidental to confined blasting operations in the Port of Miami in Miami, Florida.

On May 21, 2012, we published a final rule to revise the turtle excluder devices (TEDs) requirements to allow new materials and to modify existing approved TED designs. In this notice, we are correcting a technical error in the definition of a brace bar included in the allowable modifications to hard TEDs and special hard TEDs.

This notice lists the membership of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Performance Review Board (NIST PRB) and supersedes the list published on September 9, 2011.

Notice is hereby given that PRBO Conservation Science, 3820 Cypress Drive, 11, Petaluma, California 94954 (Responsible Party: Russ Bradley), has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on pinnipeds in California.

Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS[supreg]) Advisory Committee (Committee) in Washington, DC.

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 take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.