Department of Commerce 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is rescinding its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from the People's Republic of China (PRC) covering the period February 1, 2016, through January 31, 2017.

NMFS announces approval of a Marine Conservation Plan (MCP) for Guam.

In accordance with regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an IHA to Quintillion Subsea Operations, LLC (Quintillion) to take, by harassment, small numbers of 13 species of marine mammals incidental to conducting subsea cable-laying and maintenance activities in the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi seas, during the open-water season of 2017.

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.

NMFS is transferring 30 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) quota from the Reserve category to the Harpoon category. With this transfer, the adjusted Harpoon category quota for the 2017 fishing season is 68.6 mt. The 2017 Harpoon category fishery is open until November 15, 2017, or until the Harpoon category quota is reached, whichever comes first. The action is based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments, and applies to Atlantic tunas Harpoon category (commercial) permitted vessels.

NMFS announces its intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), in order to assess the impacts of issuing annual catch limits for the subsistence harvest of bowhead whales by Alaska Natives from 2019 onward. Publication of this document begins the official scoping period that will help identify issues and alternatives to be considered in the EIS.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific ocean perch in the West Yakutat District of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2017 total allowable catch of Pacific ocean perch in the West Yakutat District of the GOA.

NMFS is closing the U.S. pelagic longline fishery for bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean because the fishery has reached the 2017 catch limit. This action is necessary to ensure compliance with NMFS regulations that implement decisions of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

NMFS announces a public meeting of the Permanent Advisory Committee (PAC) to advise the U.S. Commissioners to the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC) on September 12, 2017.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of silicon metal from Brazil. The period of investigation is January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of silicon metal from the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan). The period of investigation is January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016.

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to the training and testing activities conducted in the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) Study Area from October 2018 through October 2023. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing our receipt of the Navy's request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals and inviting information, suggestions, and comments on the Navy's application and request.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is rescinding the administrative review, in part, of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) for the period February 1, 2016 through January 31, 2017.

On November 17, 2016, the Department of Commerce (the Department) initiated a changed circumstances review (CCR) of the antidumping duty order on glycine from the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Department preliminarily determines that Salvi Chemical Industries Ltd. (Salvi) is eligible to participate in a certification process, because Salvi has demonstrated that glycine produced by Salvi is no longer processed from Chinese-origin glycine. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

NMFS announces the availability of a Final Environmental Assessment (EA) analyzing the impacts of issuing an exempted fishing permit (EFP) to Dr. David Kerstetter of Nova Southeastern University to evaluate pelagic longline (PLL) catch and bycatch rates from within two different sub-areas in the northern portion of the East Florida Coast (EFC) Pelagic Longline (PLL) Closed Area (north and south of 29[deg]50' N. lat.) and compare those rates to rates obtained by authorized samplers from an area outside the EFC PLL Closed Area, with certain terms and conditions. The overall purpose of the research project is to evaluate the effectiveness of existing area closures at meeting current conservation and management goals under current conditions using standardized PLL gear on a specified number of commercial vessels. In response to terms and conditions established by NMFS, the research project is also structured to maximize the survival of shark species, collect data on shark species identification, collect data on PLL soak times to reduce bycatch mortality of species such as dusky sharks, and to increase the Agency's understanding of data poor shark stocks to improve future management of these species. NMFS considered public comments and decided to issue the EFP given the need to assess and compare current catch and bycatch rates during normal commercial fishing operations from areas inside and outside the EFC PLL Closed Area.

Notice is hereby given that Robert Garrott, Ph.D., Montana State University, 310 Lewis Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on Weddell seals (Leptoncychotes weddellii).

The SEDAR 51 assessment process of Gulf of Mexico gray snapper will consist of a Data Workshop, a series of assessment webinars, and a Review Workshop.

The NMFS Southeast Region, in collaboration with the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), is preparing an EA in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for Amendment 43 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Snapper- Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Amendment 43). This notice is intended to inform the public of the change from the preparation of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) to an EA for Amendment 43. Additionally, this notice serves to announce the change of the scope of actions being considered in Amendment 43 by the Council. The purpose of Amendment 43 is to revise annual catch limits (ACLs) for red snapper in the South Atlantic to provide fishing access while preventing overfishing.

The Census Bureau publishes this notice to announce a change in the expected burden for the 2018 End-to-End Census TestAddress Canvassing Operation. The Census Bureau invites public comment on the increase in burden, as described below. Agency: U.S. Census Bureau. Title: 2018 End-to-End Census TestAddress Canvassing Operation. OMB Control Number: 0607-0997. Type of Request: New Collection. Number of Respondents: 85,093. Average Hours per Response: 5 minutes. Burden Hours: 7,091. Needs and Uses: The Address Canvassing operation is the first operation in the 2018 End-to-End Census Test, with field activity beginning in the summer of 2017. The purpose of the Address Canvassing operation is (1) to deliver a complete and accurate address list and spatial database for enumeration and tabulation, and (2) to determine the type and address characteristics for each living quarter. The Address Canvassing operation consists of two major components: In- Office Address Canvassing and In-Field Address Canvassing. Only the latter component involves collection of information from residents at their living quarters. The following objectives are crucial to a successful Address Canvassing operation: Test the listing and mapping capabilities required by In- Field Address Canvassing. Validate the creation of In-Field Address Canvassing workload by In-Office Address Canvassing. Conduct a listing quality control operation during In- Field Address Canvassing. The results of this test will inform the Census Bureau's final preparations for the Address Canvassing Operation in advance of the 2020 Census. The number of housing units with respondent burden in the original OMB package was calculated based on the national estimate of 25 percent of addresses in the Self-Response areas needing In-Field Address Canvassing. This estimate was based on our original approach to In- Office Address Canvassing Operation, which included two phases: Interactive Review and Active Block Resolution. In the Interactive Review phase staff make an initial assessment of the stability of the blocks under review, determining whether a block is ``stable,'' or undergoing minor changes or no changes at all, or ``unstable,'' which indicates that there are significant changes within the block. In the Active Block Resolution phase, which we are no longer pursuing for the 2020 Census, staff would have done a second, ``deep dive'' into the ``unstable'' blocks to attempt to resolve them by accurately identifying the changes taking place. The Census Bureau discontinued this second phase because we were experiencing significant issues with productivity and quality control in the Active Block Resolution phase. The result of this decision is that our estimated national workload for In-Field Address Canvassing has increased from 25 percent to 30 percent. Prior to the suspension of Active Block Resolution, some of the blocks in the three test sites were removed from In-Field Address Canvassing workload as result of this phase of the In-Office Address Canvassing operation. Therefore, in order to ensure that the operations implemented in the 2018 End-to-End Census Test are consistent with the operations we plan to execute in the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau determined it was appropriate to add the blocks originally resolved during Active Block Resolution back into the in-field workload for this test. The original estimate of burden was calculated to be: Estimated Number of Respondents: 43,965 households. Estimated Time per Response: 5 minutes. Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,664 hours.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and the SSC's Groundfish Subcommittee will convene two meetings, which are open to the public. The SSC meetings will also be streamed online for those who want to follow the proceedings remotely.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Habitat Committee (HC) will hold a meeting via webinar that is open to the public.