Department of Commerce 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish (MSB) Committee will hold a public meeting to review and develop comments regarding options being considered to modify the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, which could impact the MSB fisheries.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on a proposed information collection proposed extension of an existing information collection.

In accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and a Consent Decree with BP Exploration & Production Inc. (BP), entered in: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig ``Deepwater Horizon'' in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, MDL No. 2179 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the Deepwater Horizon Federal and State natural resource trustee agencies for the Texas Trustee Implementation Group (Texas TIG) have prepared the Final 2017 Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; and Oysters (Final RP/EA). The Final RP/EA describes and, in conjunction with the associated Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), selects 13 preferred alternatives considered by the Texas TIG to restore natural resources and ecological services injured or lost as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Texas TIG evaluated alternatives under criteria set forth in the OPA natural resource damage assessment regulations, and evaluated the environmental consequences of the restoration alternatives in accordance with NEPA. The selected projects are consistent with the restoration alternatives selected in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Final Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan/Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PDARP/PEIS). The Federal Trustees of the Texas TIG have determined that implementation of the Final RP/EA is not a major Federal Action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the context of NEPA. They have concluded a FONSI is appropriate, and, therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared. The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of the approval and availability of the Final RP/EA and FONSI.

Based on requests, the Department of Commerce (the Department) is initiating new shipper reviews (NSR) of the antidumping duty order on freshwater crawfish tail meat from the People's Republic of China (PRC) with respect to Anhui Luan Hongyuan Foodstuffs Co., Ltd. (Anhui Luan) and Kunshan Xinrui Trading Co., Ltd. (Kunshan Xinrui). We have determined that these requests meet the statutory and regulatory requirements for initiation.

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 Caribbean Fishery Management Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee is cancelling the 5-day meeting that was to be held from October 30, 2017 to November 3, 2017 due to the devastation of the island from the hurricanes.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is rescinding the administrative review of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain polyethylene terephthalate resin (PET resin) from India for the period August 14, 2015, to December 31, 2016, based on a timely withdrawal of the request for review.

NMFS is prohibiting retention of sablefish by vessels using trawl gear and not participating in the cooperative fishery of the Rockfish Program in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because the 2017 total allowable catch of sablefish allocated to vessels using trawl gear and not participating in the cooperative fishery of the Rockfish Program in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA has been reached.

NMFS informs surfclam and ocean quahog individual transferable quota (ITQ) allocation holders that they will be required to purchase their fishing year 2018 (January 1, 2018-December 31, 2018) cage tags from the National Band and Tag Company. The intent of this notice is to comply with regulations for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries and to promote efficient distribution of cage tags.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting via webinar to discuss revisions to the Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) Control Rule.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a joint public meeting of its Joint Whiting Committee and Advisory Panel on October 30, 2017, 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.

We are closing the Georges Bank Cod Trimester Total Allowable Catch Area for the remainder of Trimester 2, through December 31, 2017. This action also prohibits possession of Georges Bank cod by common pool vessels for the remainder of the fishing year, through April 30, 2018. In addition, we are reducing the 2017 fishing year Georges Bank cod sub-annual catch limit for the common pool due to an overage in fishing year 2016.

On July 25, 2017, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the countervailing duty order on pasta from Italy. The period of review (POR) is January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015. The review covers one producer/exporter of subject merchandise. We invited parties to comment on the Preliminary Results. None were received. Accordingly, for the final results, we continue to find that that Liguori Pastificio dal 1820 S.p.A. (Liguori) received countervailable subsidies during the POR.

Nominations are being sought for appointment by the Secretary of Commerce to fill vacancies on the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC or Committee) that are open or will be pending in February 2018. MAFAC is the only Federal advisory committee with the responsibility to advise the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) on all matters concerning living marine resources that are the responsibility of the Department of Commerce. The Committee makes recommendations to the Secretary to assist in the development and implementation of Departmental regulations, policies, and programs critical to the mission and goals of NMFS. Nominations are encouraged from all interested parties involved with or representing interests affected by NMFS actions in managing living marine resources. Nominees should possess demonstrable expertise in a field related to the management of living marine resources and be able to fulfill the time commitments required for two annual meetings and year round subcommittee work. Individuals serve for a term of three years for no more than two consecutive terms if re-appointed. NMFS is seeking qualified nominees to fill upcoming vacancies being created by term limits.

NMFS implements accountability measures (AMs) for commercial greater amberjack in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. NMFS projects commercial landings of greater amberjack will reach the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) by October 18, 2017. Therefore, NMFS closes the commercial sector for greater amberjack in the South Atlantic EEZ on October 18, 2017, and it will remain closed until the start of the next fishing year on March 1, 2018. This closure is necessary to protect the greater amberjack resource.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily determines that 100- to 150-seat large civil aircraft (aircraft) from Canada is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2016, through March 31, 2017.

NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to the City and Borough of Sitka (CBS) for the taking marine mammals incidental to modifying the Gary Paxton Industrial Park (GPIP) dock in Sawmill Cove, Alaska.

NMFS is prohibiting retention of ``other rockfish'' in the Aleutian Islands subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary because the 2017 ``other rockfish'' total allowable catch (TAC) in the Aleutian Islands subarea of the BSAI has been reached.

On June 6, 2017, the Department of Commerce (Department) published the preliminary results of the 2015-2016 administrative review (AR) of the antidumping duty (AD) order on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube (LWRPT) from Turkey for the period May 1, 2015, through April 30, 2016 (POR). Based on our analysis of the comments received, we made changes to the margin calculations for the final results of this AR. The final weighted-average dumping margins are listed below in the ``Final Results of Review'' section of this notice.