Department of Commerce January 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has received a request from the United States Department of the Navy (Navy) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to the replacement of Pier 3 at Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia. 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 is also requesting comments on a possible one-time, one-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. 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.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) published notice in the Federal Register on December 2, 2021 in which Commerce announced the final results of the 2019 administrative reviews of the antidumping duty (AD) order on softwood lumber from Canada. This notice incorrectly excluded the name Fraserview Remanufacturing Inc., d.b.a. Fraserview Cedar Products.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels using trawl 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 2022 total allowable catch of Pacific cod by catcher vessels using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

Notice is hereby given that the Office for Coastal Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce approves the revised management plan for the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Alaska. In accordance with applicable Federal regulations, the University of AlaskaAnchorage's Alaska Center for Conservation Science revised the reserve's management plan, which replaces the plan previously approved in 2012.

We are finalizing specifications for the 2022 Atlantic deep- sea red crab fishery, including an annual catch limit and total allowable landings limit. This action is necessary to fully implement previously projected allowable red crab harvest levels that will prevent overfishing and allow harvesting of optimum yield. This action is intended to establish the allowable 2022 harvest levels, consistent with the Atlantic Deep-Sea Red Crab Fishery Management Plan.

NMFS will convene the Research Track Assessment Peer Review Meeting for the purpose of reviewing Gulf of Maine haddock stock. The Research Track Assessment Peer Review is a formal scientific peer- review process for evaluating and presenting stock assessment results to managers for fish stocks in the offshore U.S. and Canadian waters of the northwest Atlantic. Assessments are prepared by the research track working group and reviewed by an independent panel of stock assessment experts from the Center of Independent Experts (CIE). The public is invited to attend the presentations and discussions between the review panel and the scientists who have participated in the stock assessment process.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of granular polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin from India.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports of granular polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) resin from the Russian Federation (Russia) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV).

NMFS announces the availability of a supplement to Draft Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Draft Amendment 14 is being undertaken to revise the mechanism or ``framework'' used in establishing quotas and related management measures for Atlantic shark fisheries. The revised framework would modify the procedures followed in establishing the acceptable biological catch (ABC) and annual catch limits (ACLs) for Atlantic sharks and the process used to account for carryover or underharvests of quotas. NMFS provides details for application of the tiered ABC control rule and reopens the comment period on the ABC control rule for Atlantic HMS shark fisheries and Amendment 14 will not make changes to the current quotas or other management measures. Any operational changes to HMS fishery management measures as a result of Amendment 14 will be considered in future rulemakings, as appropriate. NMFS will hold a half-day HMS Advisory Panel (AP) meeting on this topic in February 2022. The intent of the HMS AP meeting is to discuss the ABC control rule for Atlantic HMS shark fisheries and collect comments regarding the application of the tiered ABC control rule. The meeting is open to the public.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold public meetings of the Council including a joint session with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fisheries Management Program (ISFMP) Policy Board.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a one-and-a-half-day meeting of its Coral Advisory Panel (AP) and Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) via webinar.

This notice announces the Secretary of Commerce's approval of Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 201-3, Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors. FIPS 201-3 includes clarifications to existing text, additional text in cases where there were ambiguities, adaptation to changes in the environment since the publication of FIPS 201-2, and specific changes requested by Federal agencies and implementers.

The Department of Commerce (Department), with the assistance of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is seeking information in order to inform the planning and design of potential programs to: Incentivize investment in semiconductor manufacturing facilities and associated ecosystems; provide for shared infrastructure to accelerate semiconductor research, development, and prototyping; and support research related to advanced packaging and advanced metrology to ensure a robust domestic semiconductor industry. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will inform the planning of the Department of Commerce for the potential implementation of these programs.

Notice is hereby given that individuals and institutions have been issued Letters of Confirmation (LOCs) for activities conducted under the General Authorization for Scientific Research on marine mammals. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for a list of names and addresses of recipients.

The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is requesting written comments to facilitate ONMS' five-year review of the nomination for the Mariana Trench National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) at the five-year interval. In particular, NOAA is requesting relevant information as it pertains to its 11 evaluation criteria for inclusion in the inventory. In this five-year review, NOAA will pay particular attention to any new information about the significance of the area's natural or cultural resources, changes to any threats to these resources, and any updates to the management framework of the area. NOAA has provided the original nominating parties, The Pew Charitable Trusts and Friends of the Marianas Trench, an opportunity to share their views on these same questions. Following this information gathering and internal analysis, NOAA will make a final determination on whether or not the Mariana Trench NMS nomination will remain in the inventory for another five- year period.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is seeking written comments on its five-year review of the nomination for Hudson Canyon National Marine Sanctuary (NMS). Comments should focus solely on any new and relevant information relating to NOAA's 11 sanctuary nomination evaluation criteria. NOAA will pay particular attention to any additional details about the significance of the area's natural or cultural resources, changes to any threats to these resources, and evolving management efforts, or human uses in the proposed area (e.g., wind energy proposals in the area). NOAA will make a final determination on whether the Hudson Canyon NMS nomination remains relevant and responsive to the evaluation criteria after it analyzes the comments it receives and, if so, whether Hudson Canyon NMS is to remain in the nomination inventory for another five-year period. With this five-year review, NOAA is not seeking comments on whether to start the sanctuary designation process for the Hudson Canyon NMS proposal.

In this final rule, NMFS implements an annual catch limit (ACL) of 492,000 lb (223,167 kg) for Deep 7 bottomfish in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) for each of the three fishing years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24. As an in-season accountability measure (AM), if NMFS projects that the fishery will reach the ACL in any given fishing year, we would close the commercial and non-commercial fisheries in Federal waters for the remainder of the fishing year. As a post-season AM, if NMFS determines that the catch exceeded the ACL in a fishing year, we would reduce the ACL for the following fishing year by the amount of the overage. This rule supports the long-term sustainability of Deep 7 bottomfish.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by American Fisheries Act (AFA) trawl catcher/processors in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season apportionment of the 2022 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) allocated to AFA trawl catcher/processors in the BSAI.

NMFS has approved two additional companies to provide Northeast multispecies sector electronic monitoring services in fishing year 2022. Regulations implementing the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan require at-sea and electronic monitoring companies to be approved by NMFS to provide monitoring services to sectors. This action will allow sectors to contract for electronic monitoring services with any of the approved service providers for fishing year 2022.

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.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that producers and/or exporters subject to this administrative review made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value during the period of review (POR), July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020.