Department of Commerce January 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS is adjusting the 2016 total allowable catch (TAC) amounts for the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) pollock and Pacific cod fisheries. This action is necessary because NMFS has determined these TACs are incorrectly specified, and will ensure the GOA pollock and Pacific cod TACs are the appropriate amounts based on the best available scientific information for pollock and Pacific cod in the GOA. This action is consistent with the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces the Genome in a Bottle ConsortiumProgress and Planning Workshop to be held on Thursday, January 28, 2016, and Friday, January 29, 2016. The Genome in a Bottle Consortium is developing the reference materials, reference methods, and reference data needed to assess confidence in human whole genome variant calls. A principal motivation for this consortium is to enable performance assessment of sequencing and science-based regulatory oversight of clinical sequencing. The purpose of this workshop is to update participants about progress of the consortium work, continue to get broad input from individual stakeholders to update or refine the consortium work plan, continue to broadly solicit consortium membership from interested stakeholders, and invite members to participate in work plan implementation. Topics of discussion at this workshop will include progress and planning of the Analysis Group, which is analyzing and integrating the large variety of sequencing data for four candidate NIST Reference Materials (RMs), with a particular focus on challenging types of variants and challenging regions of the genome. Other potential NIST RMs that might be developed by the consortium will also be discussed.

NMFS proposes regulations to implement Comprehensive Ecosystem-Based Amendment 1 (CEBA 1), which includes amendments to the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council's) four fishery management plans (FMPs): The Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) FMP, the Pacific Coast Groundfish FMP, the FMP for U.S. West Coast Highly Migratory Species (HMS), and the Pacific Coast Salmon FMP. If approved, CEBA 1 would amend the Council's FMPs to bring new ecosystem component species (collectively, ``Shared EC Species'') into each of those FMPs, and would prohibit directed commercial fisheries for Shared EC Species within the U.S. West Coast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Implementing regulations for CEBA 1 would define and prohibit directed commercial fishing for Shared EC Species, and would prohibit, with limited exceptions, at-sea processing of Shared EC Species.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (MAFMC) Ecosystem and Ocean Planning Committee will hold a public meeting.

The Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') preliminarily determines that certain corrosion-resistant steel products (``corrosion-resistant steel'') from the Republic of Korea (Korea) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (``LTFV''), as provided in section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). The period of investigation (``POI'') is April 1, 2014, through March 31, 2015. The estimated weighted- average dumping margins of sales at LTFV are shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

The Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') preliminarily determines that certain corrosion-resistant steel products (``corrosion-resistant steel'') from Italy are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less-than-fair-value (``LTFV''), as provided in section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the ``Act''). The period of investigation (``POI'') is April 1, 2014, through March 31, 2015. The estimated weighted-average dumping margins shown in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section of this notice. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

NMFS is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Purse Seine and Reserve category quotas for 2016, based on regulations implementing Amendment 7 to the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan. NMFS also is transferring inseason 34 metric tons (mt) of BFT quota from the Reserve category to the Longline category. This action is based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments. The transfer to the Longline category is applied to eligible Atlantic Tunas Longline category permitted vessels with Individual Bluefin Quota (IBQ) shares, and as a result of this transfer, current IBQ vessel accounts will be distributed 0.25 mt of IBQ allocation each.