Department of Commerce 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NOAA is soliciting nominations for members of the NOAA Science Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB is the only Federal Advisory Committee with the responsibility to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator on long- and short-range strategies for research, education, and application of science to resource management and environmental assessment and prediction. The SAB consists of approximately fifteen members reflecting the full breadth of NOAA's areas of responsibility and assists NOAA in maintaining a complete and accurate understanding of scientific issues critical to the agency's missions. Composition and Points of View: The Board will consist of approximately fifteen members, including a Chair, designated by the Under Secretary in accordance with FACA requirements. Members will be appointed for three-year terms, renewable once, and serve at the discretion of the Under Secretary. If a member resigns before the end of his or her first term, the vacancy appointment shall be for the remainder of the unexpired term, and shall be renewable twice if the unexpired term is less than one year. Members will be appointed as special government employees (SGEs) and will be subject to the ethical standards applicable to SGEs. Members are reimbursed for actual and reasonable travel and per diem expenses incurred in performing such duties but will not be reimbursed for their time. As a Federal Advisory Committee, the Board's membership is required to be balanced in terms of viewpoints represented and the functions to be performed as well as the interests of geographic regions of the country and the diverse sectors of U.S. society. The SAB meets in person three times each year, exclusive of teleconferences or subcommittee, task force, and working group meetings. Board members must be willing to serve as liaisons to SAB working groups and/or participate in periodic reviews of the NOAA Cooperative Institutes and overarching reviews of NOAA's research enterprise. Nominations: Interested persons may nominate themselves or third parties. Applications: An application is required to be considered for Board membership, regardless of whether a person is nominated by a third party or self-nominated. The application package must include: (1) The nominee's full name, title, institutional affiliation, and contact information; (2) the nominee's area(s) of expertise; (3) a short description of his/her qualifications relative to the kinds of advice being solicited by NOAA in this Notice; and (4) a current resume (maximum length four [4] pages).

In accordance with section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''), the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is automatically initiating the five-year review (``Sunset Review'') of the antidumping and countervailing duty (``AD/ CVD'') order(s) listed below. The International Trade Commission (``the Commission'') is publishing concurrently with this notice its notice of Institution of Five-Year Review which covers the same order(s).

This final rule announces inseason changes to management measures in the Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries. This action, which is authorized by the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (PCGFMP), is intended to allow fisheries to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting overfished and depleted stocks.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee will hold a public meeting.

We, NMFS, announce a 5-year review of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), to ensure that the listing classification of the species is accurate. The 5-year review will be based on the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of the review. Therefore, we request submission of any such information on Mediterranean monk seals that has become available since their original listing as endangered in June 1970. Based on the results of this 5-year review, we will make the requisite determination under the ESA.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for species that comprise the deep-water species fishery by vessels using trawl gear in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because the fourth seasonal apportionment of the Pacific halibut bycatch allowance specified for the trawl deep-water species fishery in the GOA has been reached.

Notice is hereby given that permits or permit amendments have been issued to the following entities: Permit No. 15543-06: Randy Wells, Ph.D., Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, c/o Mote Marine Laboratory, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, FL 34236; Permit No. 15488-01: Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GADNR), Wildlife Resources Division, 2070 U.S. Hwy 278 SE., Social Circle, GA 30025 (Dan Forster, Responsible Party); Permit No. 15537-02: Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS), P.O. Box 207, Gulfport, MS 39502 (Moby Solangi, Ph.D., Responsible Party); Permit No. 18890: Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG), 1255 West 8th Street, Juneau, Alaska, 99811-5526 (Robert Small, Ph.D., Responsible Party); Permit No. 19091: NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), 8901 La Jolla Shore Dr., La Jolla, CA 92037, [Lisa Ballance, Ph.D., Responsible Party]; Permit No. 19116: Brandon Southall, Ph.D., Southall Environmental Services Inc., 9099 Soquel Drive, Suite 8, Aptos, CA 95003; Permit No. 19638: Paul Ponganis, Ph.D., University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093; and Permit No. 20283: Demian Chapman, Ph.D., School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794.

NMFS implements accountability measures (AMs) for commercial blueline tilefish in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. Commercial landings for blueline tilefish are projected to reach the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) by August 30, 2016. Therefore, NMFS is closing the commercial sector for blueline tilefish in the South Atlantic EEZ at 12:01 a.m., local time, August 30, 2016, and it will remain closed until the start of the next fishing year on January 1, 2017. This closure is necessary to protect the blueline tilefish resource.

On August 2, 2016, the United States Court of International Trade (the CIT) sustained the Department of Commerce (the Department)'s final results of redetermination concerning the less-than-fair-value (LTFV) investigation of certain oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from the Republic of Korea. The Department is notifying the public that the CIT's final judgment in this case is not in harmony with the Department's final determination in the LTFV investigation, and that the Department is amending the weighted-average dumping margins from the final determination.

NMFS is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) General category daily retention limit from the default limit of one large medium or giant BFT to five large medium or giant BFT for the September, October through November, and December subquota time periods of the 2016 fishing year. This action is based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments, and applies to Atlantic Tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels when fishing commercially for BFT.

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a forthcoming meeting of the Ocean Exploration Advisory Board (OEAB). OEAB members will discuss and provide advice on Federal ocean exploration programs, with a particular emphasis on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) activities; federal ocean exploration partners, including the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology, the Office of Naval Research, and NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System program; advising NOAA on out-year budget development with respect to ocean exploration; and other matters as described in the agenda found on the OEAB Web site at https:// oeab.noaa.gov.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is continuing its efforts to expedite and improve the overall patent process. Accordingly, the USPTO is exploring how to best utilize available electronic resources to provide examiners with information (e.g., prior art, search reports, etc.) from applicant's other applications as early as possible to increase patent examination quality and efficiency. These other applications, for example, could have the same or substantially the same disclosure (e.g., domestic parent and counterpart foreign applications) as the U.S. application being examined. In addition to improving patent examination quality and efficiency, providing the examiner with this information from applicant's other applications will reduce applicant's burden to provide this information to the USPTO. Further, the USPTO is seeking to reduce the issuance time of a patent by eliminating potentially unnecessary information from the front page of the patent. In particular, the USPTO is seeking public comment on what information, beyond a copy of the specification and drawing that is required by statute, should be part of the patent considering that complete information concerning U.S. patents and U.S. patent application publications are accessible to the public via the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. To assist the USPTO in determining the best way to address these two topics, the USPTO is hosting a roundtable event to obtain public input. The roundtable will be open for any member of the public and will provide a forum for a discussion of the questions identified in this notice. Written comments in response to these questions set forth in this Notice also are requested.

The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) of the Mid- Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scallop Advisory Panel to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) and its advisory entities will hold public meetings.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold meetings of the: Habitat Protection and Ecosystem-Based Management Committee; Information and Education Committee, Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Selection Committee (Closed Session); Advisory Panel (AP) Selection Committee (Closed Session); Southeast Data, Assessment and Review (SEDAR) Committee; Snapper Grouper Committee; Joint Dolphin Wahoo, Snapper Grouper, and Mackerel Cobia Committees; Mackerel Cobia Committee; Law Enforcement Committee; Protected Resources Committee; Data Collection Committee; Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Committee; Executive Finance Committee; and a meeting of the Full Council. The Council will also hold a Parliamentary Practice Workshop, an informal Q&A session, and a formal public comment session. The Council will take action as necessary.

Notice is hereby given that Craig Matkin, North Gulf Oceanic Society, 3430 Main St., Suite B1, Homer, Alaska 99603, has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on cetaceans.

Notice is hereby given that the Center for Coastal Studies, Right Whale Ecology Program, 5 Holway Avenue, P.O. Box 1036, Provincetown, MA 02657 [Responsible Party: Richard Delaney] and Scott Kraus, Ph.D., New England Aquarium, Edgerton Research Lab, Central Wharf, Boston MA 02110 have applied in due form for a permit to take 22 species of cetaceans and pinnipeds, including endangered North Atlantic right (Eubalaena glacialis), humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae), fin (Balaenoptera physalus), blue (B. musculus), sei (B. borealis), bowhead (Balaena mysticetus), and sperm (Physeter macrocephalus) whales, for purposes of scientific research.

The United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration is replacing a notice published June 30, 2016, at 81 FR 42654, for its Healthcare Business Development Mission to China, to amend the dates of that mission to Oct. 16-21, 2016.

We are partially approving Framework Adjustment 9 to the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan. This action is necessary to better achieve the goals and objectives of the management plan and achieve optimum yield. It is intended to increase monkfish landings by enhancing the operational and economic efficiency of existing management measures.