Department of Commerce July 26, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS published a final rule on June 28, 2019, to implement an electronic monitoring (EM) program for catcher vessels in the Pacific whiting fishery and fixed gear vessels in the shorebased groundfish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) fishery. The final rule established an application process for interested vessel owners; performance standards for EM systems; requirements for vessel operators; a permitting process and standards for EM service providers; and requirements for processors (first receivers) for receiving and disposing of prohibited and protected species from EM trips. This action corrects the numbering of two paragraphs in the Code of Federal Regulations. These corrections are necessary so that the implementing regulations are accurate and implement the action as intended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council).

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scientific & Statistical Committee 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.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Committee (Committee) will hold a public meeting.

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) determines that Colakoglu Dis Ticaret A.S. (COTAS) and Colakoglu Metalurji A.S. (Colakoglu Metalurji) (collectively, Colakoglu), Icdas Celik Enerji Tersane ve Ulasim Sanayi A.S. (Icdas), and Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret A.S. (Kaptan Demir) and Kaptan Metal Dis Ticaret Ve Nakliyat A.S. (Kaptan Metal) (collectively, Kaptan), producers and/ or exporters of steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from the Republic of Turkey (Turkey), received countervailable subsidies during the period of review (POR) January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. This review also covered 11 companies not individually examined, which Commerce determines received net countervailable subsidies during the POR. In addition, Commerce is rescinding the review with respect to DufEnergy Trading SA (DufEnergy), Duferco Celik Ticaret Limited (Duferco), Ekinciler Demir ve Celik Sanayi A.S. (Ekinciler), and Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi A.S. (Habas).

NMFS has received an application from Orsted Wind Power LLC (Orsted) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to high-resolution geophysical (HRG) survey investigations associated with marine site characterization activities off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the areas of Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) currently being leased by the Applicant's affiliates Deepwater Wind New England, LLC and Bay State Wind LLC, respectively. These are identified as OCS-A 0486, OCS-A 0487, and OCS-A 0500 (collectively referred to as the Lease Areas). Orsted is also proposing to conduct marine site characterization surveys along one or more export cable route corridors (ECRs) originating from the Lease Areas and landing along the shoreline at locations from New York to Massachusetts, between Raritan Bay (part of the New York Bight) to Falmouth, Massachusetts (see Figure 1). Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to Orsted to incidentally take, by Level B harassment only, small numbers of 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.