Department of Commerce 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to the University of Texas at Austin (UT) to incidentally harass marine mammals during marine geophysical survey activities in coastal waters off of Texas.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a one day in-person meeting of its Shrimp Advisory Panel (AP).

The SEDAR 82 assessment of the South Atlantic stock of gray triggerfish will consist of a data workshop, a series of assessment webinars, and a review workshop. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

NMFS apportions amounts of the non-specified reserve to the initial total allowable catch (ITAC) of Bering Sea (BS) Pacific ocean perch, Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Kamchatka flounder, BSAI northern rockfish, BSAI sharks, and Central Aleutian Islands and Western Aleutian Islands (CAI/WAI) blackspotted/rougheye rockfish. This action is necessary to allow the fisheries to continue operating. It is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the fishery management plan for the BSAI management area.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific ocean perch in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2023 total allowable catch of Pacific ocean perch in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The Groundfish and Economics Subcommittees of the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will convene an online meeting to review the non-trawl commercial fishery sablefish trip limit model used by the Pacific Council's Groundfish Management Team (GMT). The methodology review meeting is open to the public.

As a result of the determinations by the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) order on pure magnesium in granular form from the People's Republic of China (China) would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, Commerce is publishing a notice of continuation of this AD order.

The New England Fishery Management Council's is convening its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) 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.

On August 9, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) published the initiation and preliminary results of the changed circumstances review (CCR) of the antidumping duty (AD) order on large power transformers (LPTs) from the Republic of Korea (Korea). For these final results, Commerce continues to find that HD Hyundai Electric Co., Ltd. (HDHE) is the successor-in-interest to Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Col, Ltd. (HEES) in the context of the AD order on LPTs from Korea. Furthermore, HDHE is entitled to the AD cash deposit rate assigned to HEES with respect to entries of subject merchandise in the above-referenced proceeding.

NMFS announces eight inseason actions for the 2023-2024 ocean salmon fishing season. These inseason actions modify the recreational and commercial salmon fisheries in the area from the U.S./Canada border to Cape Falcon, Oregon.

NMFS has received a request from the Port of Bellingham for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to the maintenance and rehabilitation of the Bellingham Shipping Terminal in Bellingham, WA. 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, 1-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 authorization and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.

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 CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which amended Title XCIX of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (collectively, the CHIPS Act or Act) established an incentives program to reestablish and sustain U.S. leadership across the semiconductor supply chain. The Department of Commerce, through the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is issuing this final rule to implement conditions in the Act that seek to prevent funding provided through the program from being used to directly or indirectly benefit foreign countries of concern. The rule defines terms related to these conditions, describes the types of activities that are prohibited by those conditions, and sets forth procedures for notifying the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) of non-compliance and the process by which the Secretary will enforce these provisions.

The Council will host an oral history of the rock shrimp fishery off the southeastern United States via webinar.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued a renewal incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for the renewal of their IHA to take marine mammals incidental to Arctic Research Activities (ARA) in the Beaufort Sea and eastern Chukchi Sea.

NMFS implements an accountability measure (AM) for commercial Spanish mackerel in the northern zone of the Atlantic exclusive economic zone (EEZ). NMFS projects that the commercial quota for Spanish mackerel in the northern zone of the Atlantic EEZ has been reached. Therefore, NMFS closes the northern zone for commercial harvest of Spanish mackerel to protect the Spanish mackerel resource in the Atlantic.

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 U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that the sole producer/exporter subject to this administrative review made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value (NV) during the period of review (POR) December 1, 2021, through November 30, 2022. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

NMFS has received a request from Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC (Atlantic Shores), a joint venture between EDF-RE Offshore Development LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of EDF Renewables, Inc.) and Shell New Energies US LLC, for Incidental Take Regulations (ITR) and associated Letters of Authorization (LOAs) pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The requested regulations would govern the authorization of take, by Level A harassment and Level B harassment, of small numbers of marine mammals over the course of 5 years (2025-2029) incidental to the construction of Atlantic Shores South located offshore of New Jersey within the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lease Area OCS- A 0499 (Lease Area) and associated ECCs (ECR Area). Atlantic Shores South would be divided into two projects: Project 1 and Project 2 (the combined hereafter referred to as the ``Project Area'') and Atlantic Shores has requested a 5-year LOA for each Project, both issued under these proposed regulations. Atlantic Shores' activities likely to result in incidental take include impact and vibratory pile driving and site assessment surveys using high-resolution geophysical (HRG) equipment within the Lease Area and Export Cable Corridor (ECC). NMFS requests comments on its proposed rule. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the promulgation of the requested ITR and issuance of the LOA; agency responses to public comments will be summarized in the final rule documenting our decision.

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.