Department of Commerce February 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has received a request from Statoil Wind U.S. LLC (Statoil) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys off the coast of New York as part of the Empire Wind Project in the area of the Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS-A 0512) (Lease Area) and coastal waters where one or more cable route corridors will be established. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.

NMFS has received a request from the National Park Service (NPS) for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals incidental to glaucous-winged gull and climate monitoring/research in Glacier Bay National Park (GLBA NP), Alaska over the course of five years from the date of issuance. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of the NPS' request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals. NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on the NPS' application and request.

Notice is hereby given that Waikiki Aquarium, 2777 Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96815 (Dr. Andrew Rossiter, Responsible Party), has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on and enhancement of captive Hawaiian monk seals.

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 (Commerce) is rescinding the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain cold- rolled steel flat products from the United Kingdom (U.K.) for the period March 7, 2016, through August 31, 2017.

The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 36A to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (Reef Fish FMP) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. Amendment 36A would require owners or operators of federally permitted commercial Gulf reef fish vessels landing any commercially caught, federally managed reef fish from the Gulf to provide notification prior to landing and to land at approved locations; require shares of red snapper individual fishing quota (IFQ) (RS-IFQ) program and groupers and tilefishes IFQ (GT-IFQ) program from non-activated accounts to be returned to NMFS for redistribution; and allow NMFS to hold back a portion of IFQ allocation at the start of the fishing year in anticipation of a commercial quota reduction. The purpose of Amendment 36A is to improve compliance and increase management flexibility in the RS-IFQ and GT-IFQ programs, and increase the likelihood of achieving optimum yield (OY) for reef fish stocks managed under these programs.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Ad hoc Community Advisory Board (CAB) will hold a one-day meeting in Rohnert Park, CA. The meeting is open to the public.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold its Social Science Planning Committee (SSPC) meeting, 128th Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) meeting, 172nd Council meeting and its associated meetings to take actions on fishery management issues in the Western Pacific Region. A portion of the Council's Executive, Budget and Legislative Standing Committee meeting will be closed to the public.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2018 total allowable catch of pollock for Statistical Area 630 in the GOA.

This notice announces the voting age population estimates as of July 1, 2017 for each state and the District of Columbia. We are providing this notice in accordance with the 1976 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act.

NMFS proposes some of the measures included in Framework Adjustment 29 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan that establish scallop specifications and other measures for the Northern Gulf of Maine scallop management area for fishing years 2018 and 2019. This action is necessary to prevent overfishing and improve both yield- per-recruit and the overall management of the Atlantic sea scallop resource in the Northern Gulf of Maine. The intended effect of this rule is to notify the public of these proposed measures and to solicit comment on the potential scallop fishery management changes.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels using pot gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2018 Pacific cod total allowable catch apportioned to vessels using pot gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) with this final rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding twenty-one entities to the Entity List. The twenty-one entities that are added to the Entity List have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. BIS is taking this action to ensure the efficacy of existing sanctions on the Russian Federation (Russia) for violating international law and fueling the conflict in eastern Ukraine. These entities will be listed on the Entity List under the destinations of Georgia, Poland and Russia.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding the administrative review of the countervailing duty order on hot-rolled steel products from Brazil for the period of review (POR) January 15, 2016, through December 31, 2016.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain magnesia carbon bricks from Mexico for the period of review (POR) September 1, 2016, through August 31, 2017.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan, this action adjusts the 2018 catch limits in the four herring management areas (Areas 1A, 1B, 2, and 3) to account for underages and overages in those areas during 2016. In order to ensure that the carryover of underages do not cause overfishing of the herring resource, management area-specific carryover does not increase the stock-wide annual catch limit. This action is necessary to ensure that NMFS accounts for herring catch consistent with the requirements of the Atlantic Herring 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.

NMFS will hold a 3-day Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel (AP) meeting in March 2018. The intent of the meeting is to consider options for the conservation and management of Atlantic HMS. The meeting is open to the public.

The Census Bureau is publishing this notice in the Federal Register to request comments from the public and other government agencies on census tracts. The Census Bureau will respond to the comments received as part of the publication of final criteria in the Federal Register. After the final criteria are published in the Federal Register,the Census Bureau will offer designated governments or organizations an opportunity to review and, if necessary, suggest updates to the boundaries and attributes of the census tracts in their geographic area under the Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP). In addition to reviewing and updating census tracts, the program also reviews and updates census block groups, census designated places, census county divisions, and statistical tribal geographic areas. The Census Bureau will issue notices in the Federal Register for each of these geographies.

The Census Bureau is publishing this notice in the Federal Register to request comments from the public and other government agencies on the criteria and guidelines for identifying Census designated places (CDPs). The Census Bureau will respond to the comments in the Federal Register notice announcing the final criteria. After the final criteria are published in the Federal Register, the Census Bureau will offer designated governments or organizations an opportunity to review and, if necessary, suggest updates to the boundaries and attributes of the CDPs in their geographic area under the Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP). In separate Federal Register notices, the PSAP program is seeking comment on the review and update of census tracts, block groups, and census county divisions.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by trawl catcher vessels in the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2018 Pacific cod allocation of the total allowable catch (TAC) for the Bering Sea Trawl Catcher Vessel A- Season Sector Limitation in the Bering Sea subarea of the BSAI.