Department of Commerce July 20, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS will convene the Research Track Assessment Peer Review Meeting for the purpose of reviewing the Atlantic cod stocks western Gulf of Maine, eastern Gulf of Maine, southern New England, Georges Bank. 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. waters of the northwest Atlantic. Assessments are prepared by the research track working group and reviewed by an independent panel of independent stock assessment experts. 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, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, 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 on the proposed revision of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Department), via the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), requests additional input from interested parties on how to enhance NOAA's delivery of climate data, information, science, and tools (``climate services'') and ensure that this delivery is equitable and accounting for the needs and priorities of a diverse set of user communities as they engage in climate preparedness, adaptation, and resilience planning. Building on the work that NOAA is already doing to prepare communities for increasing climate impacts, the input from this Request for Information (RFI) will be used to create an Action Plan that will inform more equitable and inclusive design, production, and delivery of climate services for users of all disciplines and backgrounds.

This notice invites non-Federal entities to partner with the ocean and coastal mapping programs of NOAA's National Ocean Service on jointly-funded projects of mutual interest, and establishes selection criteria and submission requirements for such projects under the NOAA Rear Admiral Richard T. Brennan Ocean Mapping Fund program. With this funding opportunity, NOAA will match selected non-Federal partners at a 70:30 NOAA: partner ratio for projects totaling up to $1,000,000, and proposing to contract for ocean, coastal and/or Great Lakes mapping data. Selected non-Federal partners further benefit from this opportunity by leveraging NOAA's contracting (NOAA has a pool of pre- qualified technical experts in surveying and mapping) and data management expertise. This ocean and coastal mapping funding opportunity is subject to the availability of funds.

We, NMFS, published a proposed rule on April 7, 2023 to list the Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in response to a petition from the Animal Welfare Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity, and VIVA Vaquita to list the species. Following publication of this proposed rule, NMFS became aware of cartographic guidance bulletin 38, issued by the Department of State's Office of the Geographer and Global Issues on December 16, 2020, and determined that the preamble to our proposed rule was not in alignment with the guidance. This correction removes all references to the name ``Western Sahara'' from the proposed rule's preamble and identifies Morocco as a country within the species' range, per the guidance. Additionally, this correction includes changes to the ``International Regulatory Mechanisms'' subsection of the proposed rule resulting from the inclusion of Morocco as a range country for the Atlantic humpback dolphin (S. teuszii). We are also reopening the public comment period for the proposed rule.