Department of Commerce 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS announces a valid specified fishing agreement that allocates up to 1,000 metric tons (t) of the 2020 bigeye tuna limit for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to U.S. longline fishing vessels. The agreement supports the long-term sustainability of fishery resources of the U.S. Pacific Islands, and fisheries development in the CNMI.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scallop Committee via webinar 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 Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

This final rule delays implementation of the Electronic Monitoring (EM) Program for the West Coast Groundfish Trawl Rationalization Program to January 1, 2022. NMFS is making this change to provide additional time for industry and prospective service providers to prepare for implementation, to strengthen Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and industry support for the EM program, and to increase participation when it is implemented in 2022.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is simultaneously initiating and issuing the preliminary results of a changed circumstances review (CCR) of the antidumping duty order on diamond sawblades and parts thereof (diamond sawblades) from the People's Republic of China (China) to determine whether Protech Diamond Tools Inc. (Protech) is eligible to participate in a certification process because Protech has demonstrated that it can identify diamond sawblades that it produced in Canada using non-Chinese cores and Chinese segments. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) will conduct its final calendar year 2020 tribal consultation meeting on December 16 via a webinar. The tribal consultation meetings reflect the Census Bureau's commitment to strengthen government-to-government relationships with federally recognized tribes. The Census Bureau will provide updates and seek input on the 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance System (DAS). The Census Bureau conducted one national tribal consultation webinar in September 2019 and two formal tribal consultation meetings in October 2019 specific to the 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance System. The Census Bureau is planning one national webinar on December 16, 2020 with federally recognized tribes, which will provide a forum for tribes to receive an update and to provide input on the 2020 Census Disclosure Avoidance System regarding work done specifically for the American Indian and Alaska Native tribal areas. The Census Bureau will provide information directly to tribes prior to the national webinar to give tribes time to review and provide input.

We, NMFS, announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the giant devil ray (Mobula mobular) as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The petition requests that we list the giant devil ray (M. mobular) as a distinct species with a limited range throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Information in our files indicates a recent taxonomic revision that found M. mobular and M. japanica (spinetail devilray) to be synonymous species (i.e., same taxon described and named more than once independently) with circumglobal distribution in tropical and warm temperate seas. The petition relies on obsolete information to identify the species, and therefore we find that the petition does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Herring Advisory Panel via webinar 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 South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold meetings of the following: Snapper Grouper Committee; Dolphin Wahoo Committee; Habitat and Ecosystem-Based Management Committee, Mackerel Cobia Committee; Executive Committee (partially Closed Session); and Citizen Science Committee. The meeting week will also include a formal public comment session and a meeting of the Full Council (with a partially Closed Session). Due to public health concerns associated with COVID-19 and current travel restrictions, the meeting originally planned for Wrightsville Beach, NC will be held via webinar.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that prestressed concrete steel wire strand (PC strand) from Ukraine is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that prestressed concrete steel wire strand (PC strand) from Spain is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that prestressed concrete steel wire strand (PC strand) from Malaysia is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that prestressed concrete steel wire strand (PC strand) from Indonesia is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

NMFS issues this proposed rule to revise the annual reference points, including the overfishing limit (OFL), acceptable biological catch (ABC) and annual catch limit (ACL), for the central subpopulation of northern anchovy in the U.S. exclusive economic zone off the west coast under the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan. NMFS prepared this rulemaking in response to a September 2020 court decision (Oceana, Inc. v. Ross et al.) that vacated the OFL, ABC, and ACL for the central subpopulation of northern anchovy and ordered NMFS to promulgate a new rule in compliance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and Administrative Procedure Act. NMFS is proposing an OFL of 119,153 metric tons (mt), an ABC of 29,788 mt, and an ACL of 25,000 mt. If the ACL for this stock is reached or projected to be reached, then fishing will be closed until it reopens at the start of the next fishing season. This rule is intended to conserve and manage the central subpopulation of northern anchovy off the U.S. West Coast.

NMFS will hold a 1-day Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel (AP) meeting via webinar in December 2020. The intent of the meeting is to consider options for the conservation and management of Atlantic HMS. The meeting is open to the public.

On January 24, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its Report to the President of the United States titled ``Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods'' (DHS Report). The report was prepared in response to the April 3, 2019, Presidential Memorandum titled ``Memorandum on Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods'' (Presidential Memorandum). Among the action items identified in the DHS Report was action 11, titled ``Establish a National Consumer Awareness Campaign.'' To start implementation of this action item, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is seeking information from stakeholders, including, but not limited to, intellectual property rights holders, online third-party marketplaces, third-party intermediaries, and other private sector stakeholders, on the development of a National Consumer Awareness Campaign on Combating the Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Products as a public-private partnership.

The Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Board) will meet in open session on Tuesday, December 8, 2020. The purpose of this meeting is to review and discuss the work of the private sector contractor, which assists the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in administering the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Award), and information received from NIST and from the Chair of the Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in order to make such suggestions for the improvement of the Award process as the Board deems necessary. Details on the agenda are noted in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.