Department of Commerce February 28, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Purse Seine and Reserve category quotas for 2019, as it has done annually since 2015. NMFS also is transferring 25 metric tons (mt) of BFT quota from the Reserve category to the General category January 2019 period (from January 1 through March 31, 2019, or until the available subquota for this period is reached, whichever comes first). The transfer to the General category 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 with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that cast iron soil pipe from the People's Republic of China (China) is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is July 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017.

This action reduces that the commercial per-trip possession limit for northern red hake for the remainder of the 2018 fishing year. Regulations governing the small-mesh multispecies fishery require this action because the northern red hake fishery is projected to reach 37.9 percent of its total allowable landing limit for the year. This action is intended to prevent this limit from being exceeded. This announcement also informs the public of the reduced northern red hake possession limit.