Department of Commerce February 12, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On December 18, 2014, the United States Court of International Trade (``the Court'') issued final judgments in Catfish Farmers of America et al. v. United States, Consol. Court No. 11-00109 and Catfish Farmers of America et al. v. United States, Court No. 11-00110, sustaining the Department of Commerce's (``the Department'') AR6 Remand final results which included an aligned new shipper review.\1\ On December 19, 2014, the Court issued final judgment in Catfish Farmers of America et al. v. United States, Court No. 11-00252, sustaining the Department's NSR7 Remand final results.\2\ In the AR6 Remand, the Department recalculated the weighted-average dumping margin for Vinh Hoan Corporation (``Vinh Hoan'') using revised surrogate values for by- products (fish waste, broken meat, and fish skin) and made adjustments for the inventory changes in the surrogate financial statements.\3\ Because Vinh Hoan's margin is now above de minimis, it also becomes the margin for those companies not individually examined but receiving a separate rate.\4\ The margins for the voluntary respondent Vinh Quang Fisheries Corporation (``Vinh Quang'') and the new shipper Cuu Long Fish Joint Stock Company (``CL-Fish'') did not change and remain de minimis.

This action adjusts 2015 annual catch limits for the Atlantic herring fishery to account for the underharvest of herring catch in 2013. The herring fishery caught less than its allocated catch in all herring management areas in 2013. As a result, this action adds unharvested 2013 catch to the 2015 herring catch limits, equal to ten percent of the allocated 2013 annual catch limit for each area. While the annual catch limit for each area increases, the total annual catch limit for the herring fishery will not increase under this action. This will ensure that the carryover pounds do not cause overfishing of the herring resource in 2015. This action is necessary to ensure that NMFS accounts for herring catch consistent with the requirements of the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan.

NMFS issues a proposed rule that would implement Amendment 45 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (Crab FMP). If approved, Amendment 45 would establish, for a limited period of time, a process for NMFS to permanently remove Pacific cod catch limits, known as sideboard limits, which are applicable to certain hook-and-line catcher/processors in the Central and Western Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Regulatory Areas. This action would authorize NMFS to remove these Pacific cod sideboard limits in the Central and/or Western GOA if all eligible participants in the hook- and-line catcher/processor sector in a regulatory area sign and submit a request that NMFS remove the sideboard limit. Each eligible participant would be required to submit the request to NMFS within 1 year of the date of publication of a final rule implementing Amendment 45, if it is approved by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary). This action is necessary to provide participants in the Central and Western GOA hook-and-line catcher/processor sectors with an opportunity to cooperatively coordinate harvests of Pacific cod through private arrangement to the participants' mutual benefit, which would remove the need for sideboard limits in these regulatory areas. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the Crab FMP, and other applicable laws.

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 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, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).