Department of Commerce May 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) River Herring and Shad (RH/S) Advisory Panel (AP) will meet to develop recommendations for the 2015 RH/S Cap on the Atlantic mackerel fishery and provide general input on RH/S conservation.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 8 to the Fishery Management Plan for Coral, Coral Reefs, and Live/Hardbottom Habitats of the South Atlantic Region (FMP) (Amendment 8) for review approval, and implementation by NMFS. Amendment 8 proposes actions to expand portions of the northern and western boundaries of the Oculina Bank habitat area of particular concern (HAPC) (Oculina Bank HAPC) and allow transit through the Oculina Bank HAPC by fishing vessels with rock shrimp onboard; modify vessel monitoring systems (VMS) requirements for rock shrimp fishermen transiting through the Oculina Bank HAPC; expand a portion of the western boundary of the Stetson Reefs, Savannah and East Florida Lithotherms, and Miami Terrace Deepwater Coral HAPC (CHAPC) (Stetson- Miami Terrace CHAPC), including modifications to the shrimp fishery access area 1; and expand a portion of the northern boundary of the Cape Lookout Lophelia Banks Deepwater CHAPC (Cape Lookout CHAPC).

Notice is hereby given that Warnell School of Forest Resources, Fisheries Division, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 [Douglas Peterson: Responsible Party], has been issued a permit modification (Permit No. 16482-01) to take to take Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) and shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) for purposes of scientific research. Additionally, Permit No. 14394 issued to the same Permit Holder for study of shortnose sturgeon is hereby terminated.

NMFS is closing the commercial aggregated large coastal sharks (LCS) and hammerhead sharks management groups in the Gulf of Mexico region. This action is necessary because the commercial landings of Gulf of Mexico aggregated LCS for the 2014 fishing season have exceeded 80 percent of the available commercial quota as of May 13, 2014.

NMFS has received a petition to ``designate the Sakhalin Bay- Amur River stock of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) as a depleted stock under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).'' In accordance with the MMPA, NMFS announces the receipt of the petition and its availability for public review and is soliciting comments on the petition.

This action serves as a notice that NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), has found that the following stocks are subject to overfishing or are in an overfished condition: Thorny skate is subject to overfishing and continues to be in an overfished condition; winter skate is subject to overfishing but is not in an overfished condition; Gulf of Mexico red snapper continues to be in an overfished condition; the Gulf of Mexico jacks complex is subject to overfishing; Gulf of Mexico hogfish is subject to overfishing; and South Atlantic blueline tilefish is subject to overfishing and in is an overfished condition. In addition, the Western and Central North Pacific (WCNP) stock of striped marlin, which is jointly managed by the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council and the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, continues to be subject to overfishing and is now in an overfished condition. NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary, notifies the appropriate fishery management council (Council) whenever it determines that overfishing is occurring, a stock is in an overfished condition, a stock is approaching an overfished condition, or when a rebuilding plan has not resulted in adequate progress toward ending overfishing and rebuilding affected fish stocks.

The SEDAR Steering Committee will meet via Webinar.

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.

The Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board (ISPAB) will meet Wednesday, June 11, 2014, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, June 12, 2014, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and Friday, June 13, 2014, from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. All sessions will be open to the public.

On August 10, 2012, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') initiated a changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on certain pasta from Italy in order to determine whether Delverde Industrie Ailimentari S.p.A. (``Delverde'') is the successor-in-interest to Del Verde S.p.A., a company excluded from the order.\1\ We preliminarily determine that Delverde is not the successor-in-interest to Del Verde S.p.A. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of the Standing, Special Reef Fish and Ecosystem Scientific and Statistical Committees (SSC).

This action corrects the Pacific coast groundfish harvest specifications and management measures regulations that published in the Federal Register on January 3, 2013. Specifically, this rule corrects the 2014 shorebased trawl allocations for several species of groundfish in the shorebased trawl allocation table that were inadvertently misreported. Quota share accounts will be updated to reflect this correction within two weeks from May 16, 2014.

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.

NMFS is issuing regulations under the Tuna Conventions Act to implement Resolution C-13-02 of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC or the Commission) by specifying limits on U.S. commercial catch of Pacific bluefin tuna from the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) waters of the IATTC Convention Area in 2014. This action is necessary for the United States to satisfy its obligations as a member of the IATTC to conserve Pacific Bluefin tuna, which is an overfished stock.

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.

Section 1(h) of the Act to correct and improve certain provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and title 35, United States Code (AIA Technical Corrections Act) revised the patent law provisions pertaining to patent term adjustment. Section 1(h) of the AIA Technical Corrections Act revised the date from which the fourteen- month patent term adjustment period is measured, and clarified the date from which the three-year patent term adjustment period is measured, with respect to international applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Under section 1(h) of the AIA Technical Corrections Act, the fourteen-month patent term adjustment period and the three- year patent term adjustment period is measured from the same date: the date on which an application was filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) in an application under 35 U.S.C. 111; or the date of commencement of the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371 in an international application. Section 1(h) of the AIA Technical Corrections Act also revised the provisions for notifying applicants of patent term adjustment determinations and revised the time period for requesting reconsideration and judicial review of the Office's patent term adjustment determinations and decisions. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) published an interim rule on April 1, 2013 (patent term adjustment interim rule), amending the rules of practice to implement the changes to the patent term adjustment provisions in section 1(h) of the AIA Technical Corrections Act. This final rule adopts as final the amendments to the rules of practice originally set forth in the patent term adjustment interim rule. The Office is further providing an optional procedure for requesting a recalculation of patent term adjustment, as an alternative to the petition and fee otherwise required to request reconsideration of a patent term adjustment determination, for patents issued between January 14, 2013 (the date of enactment of the AIA Technical Corrections Act) and May 20, 2014 (patents issued on or after this date will have patent term adjustment determinations consistent with the AIA Technical Corrections Act) that resulted directly from international applications. The Office is providing this optional procedure for requesting a recalculation of patent term adjustment because the Office has experienced a significant delay in modifying the computer program used to calculate patent term adjustment with respect to the changes resulting from the AIA Technical Corrections Act.

ONMS is seeking applications for vacant seats for 8 of its 13 national marine sanctuary advisory councils (advisory councils). Vacant seats, including positions (i.e., primary member and alternate), for each of the advisory councils are listed in this notice under Supplementary Information. Applicants are chosen based upon their particular expertise and experience in relation to the seat for which they are applying; community and professional affiliations; views regarding the protection and management of marine or Great Lake resources; and possibly the length of residence in the area affected by the sanctuary. Applicants who are chosen as primary members or alternates should expect to serve two- or three-year terms, pursuant to the charter of the specific national marine sanctuary advisory council.

On March 3, 2014, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') initiated the sunset review of the antidumping duty order on frontseating service valves from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'').\1\ Because no domestic interested party filed a notice of intent to participate in response to the Initiation Notice by the applicable deadline, the Department is revoking the antidumping duty order on frontseating service valves from the PRC.

Pursuant to the regulations governing the subsistence taking of northern fur seals, this document summarizes the annual fur seal subsistence harvests on St. George and St. Paul Islands (the Pribilof Islands) for 2011-2013 and proposes annual estimates of fur seal subsistence harvests for 2014-2016 on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. NMFS solicits public comments on the proposed estimates.

This proposed rule would adjust the 2014 fishing season quotas for North and South Atlantic swordfish based upon 2013 commercial quota underharvests and international quota transfers consistent with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) Recommendations 13-02 and 13-03. Additionally, this proposed rule would modify the regulations to comply with future changes to the North Atlantic swordfish underharvest carryover limits, which become effective in 2015. This proposed rule could affect commercial and recreational fishing for swordfish in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. This action implements ICCAT recommendations, consistent with the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA), and furthers domestic management objectives under the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).