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

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.

This action would implement revisions to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program affecting the limited entry midwater trawl fisheries managed under the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This action would revise the Shorebased Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Program regulations to change the primary season opening date for the shorebased whiting fishery and the shorebased non-whiting midwater trawl fishery to May 15 north of 40[deg]30' N. lat. to the U.S./Canada border. This moves the season a month earlier off Washington and Oregon, and a month and half later off northern California (north of 40[deg]30' N. lat.), increasing consistency in the season start date along the coast and between the shorebased and at-sea midwater trawl fleets.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold meetings of the: Joint Habitat and Environmental Protection Committee and the Ecosystem-Based Management Committee; the Law Enforcement Advisory Panel; Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) Committee (partially Closed); Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Selection Committee; Protected Resources Committee; Spiny Lobster Committee, Snapper Grouper Committee; King and Spanish Mackerel Committee; Executive Finance Committee; Golden Crab Committee; Data Collection Committee; and a meeting of the Full Council. The Council will also hold a Council Member Visioning Workshop for the Snapper Grouper Fishery. The Council will take action as necessary. The Council will also hold an informal public question and answer session regarding agenda items and a formal public comment session.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting of the Coastal Migratory Pelagics Advisory Panel.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Groundfish Advisory Subpanel (GAP) will hold an online webinar, which is open to the public.

Notice is hereby given that a major amendment to Permit No. 13430-01 has been issued to the NMFS National Marine Mammal Laboratory (Responsible Party: John Bengtson, Ph.D.), 7600 Sand Point Way, NE., BIN C15700, Bldg. 1, Seattle, WA 98115-0070.

Notice is hereby given that the Texas Sealife Center, 14220 South Padre Island Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78418, [Responsible Party: Tim Tristan], has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

NMFS' Office of Protected Resources has received a request from NMFS' Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to fisheries research conducted in multiple specified geographical regions, over the course of five years from the date of issuance. As required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is proposing regulations to govern that take, specific to each geographical region, and requests comments on the proposed regulations.

This notice amends the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration Notice of Request for Applicants for Appointment to the United States Section of the United States-Turkey Business Council (Council) of February 2, 2015 (80 FR 5511) to revise the eligibility criteria to permit federally-registered lobbyists to apply for appointment to the Council. The Department of Commerce recently revised its policy regarding appointment of federally-registered lobbyists to Department advisory committees and related entities following a policy clarification by the Office of Management and Budget that the eligibility restriction does not apply to persons serving on advisory committees, boards, or commissions if they are specifically appointed to represent the interests of a nongovernmental entity, a recognizable group of persons or nongovernmental entities (an industry sector, labor unions, environmental groups, etc.), or state or local governments (see 79 FR 47482). The Under Secretary for International Trade will now consider applications of federally-registered lobbyists for appointment on the Council. This notice also extends the deadline for submitting applications to March 6, 2015. All other eligibility criteria continue to apply. In December 2009, the Governments of the United States and Turkey agreed to establish a U.S.-Turkey Business Council. This notice announces membership opportunities for appointment as American representatives to the U.S. Section of the Council. The current U.S. Section term expired on November 5, 2014.

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)).

NMFS announces a public meeting to solicit comments on the proposed revisions to the General section of the National Standard (NS) guidelines and the guidelines for NS1, NS3, and NS7 of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), which published January 20, 2015.

NMFS is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Purse Seine and Reserve category quotas for 2015, based on regulations implementing Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan.

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.

Notice is hereby given that Dr. Terrie Williams, Long Marine Laboratory, Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California at Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, CA has been issued a minor amendment to Permit No. 13602-01.

On January 25, 2013, we, NMFS, received a petition submitted by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Foundation to remove the exclusion of captive animals from the endangered species listing of Southern Resident killer whale DPS, as well as, recognize the captive killer whale (Orcinus orca) ``Lolita'' as a protected member of the endangered Southern Resident killer whale Distinct Population Segment (DPS). We completed a status review and published a proposed rule, and we are now amending the regulatory language of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing of the DPS by removing the exclusion for captive members of the population. We have further determined that Lolita, a female killer whale captured from the Southern Resident killer whale population in 1970 who resides at the Miami Seaquarium in Miami, Florida, is not excluded from the Southern Resident killer whale DPS due to her captive status. We proposed to amend the regulatory language of the ESA listing to remove the exclusion for captive whales from the Southern Resident killer whale DPS on January 27, 2014. Additionally, we solicited scientific and commercial information pertaining to the proposed rule and also conducted a peer review of the status review information on Lolita that informed the proposed rule. We have determined that captive members of the Southern Resident killer whale population should be included in the listed Southern Resident killer whale DPS. This rule amends the regulatory language of the listing to remove the exclusion for captive members of the DPS.

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.

This notice announces that the Under Secretary for Industry and Security has determined that foreign availability exists for anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment controlled for national security reasons under Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 3B001.c on the Commerce Control List. This foreign availability determination is in response to a submission from the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) industry association. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has provided a proposal to the Department of State to submit to the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies to remove the 3.B.1.c control from the Arrangement's Dual-Use List. This determination was made pursuant to Section 5(f) of the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended, and Part 768 of the EAR.