Department of Commerce February 21, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Under Secretary for Economic Affairs announces the March 6, 2019 inaugural meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board (Workforce Advisory Board). The Advisory Board advises the National Council for the American Worker (National Council) on how the Federal Government can encourage the private sector and educational institutions to combat the skills crisis by investing in and increasing demand-driven education, training, and re-training for American workers. The discussions for this inaugural meeting include a review of the National Council's priority areas and identification of areas of activity for the Workforce Advisory Board.

NMFS establishes the annual harvest guideline for the commercial lobster fishery in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) for calendar year 2019 at zero lobsters.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites organizations to provide products and technical expertise to support and demonstrate security platforms for the Critical Cybersecurity Hygiene: Patching the Enterprise Building Block. This notice is the initial step for the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) in collaborating with technology companies to address cybersecurity challenges identified under the Critical Cybersecurity Hygiene: Patching the Enterprise Building Block. Participation in the building block is open to all interested organizations.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee Subgroup will hold a teleconference on March 27, 2019.

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

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene a public hearing via webinar to discuss Shrimp Amendment 18Evaluation of Shrimp Effort Threshold Reduction in the Area Monitored for Juvenile Red Snapper Bycatch.

NMFS is amending the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) based on the results of the 2017 stock assessment and a subsequent binding recommendation by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) for North Atlantic shortfin mako sharks. The North Atlantic shortfin mako shark stock is overfished and is experiencing overfishing. Consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA), NMFS is implementing management measures that will reduce fishing mortality on shortfin mako sharks and establish the foundation for rebuilding the shortfin mako shark population consistent with legal requirements. The final measures could affect U.S. commercial and recreational fishermen who target and harvest shortfin mako sharks in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, by increasing live releases and reducing landings. NMFS is also clarifying the definition of fork length (FL) in the definitions section of the HMS regulations.

NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2019 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of New Jersey. This quota adjustment is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised commercial quotas for North Carolina and New Jersey.