National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration September 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amounts of the 2007 pollock incidental catch allowance (ICA) to the directed fisheries in the Bering Sea subarea. This action is necessary to provide opportunity for harvest of the 2007 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock, consistent with the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP).

NMFS is opening directed fishing for 12 hours for shallow- water species by vessels using trawl gear in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to allow the shallow-water species fishery in the GOA to resume.

NMFS issues a final rule to implement Amendment 80 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). Amendment 80 (hereinafter the ``Program'') primarily allocates several Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) non-pollock trawl groundfish fisheries among fishing sectors, and facilitates the formation of harvesting cooperatives in the non-American Fisheries Act (AFA) trawl catcher/processor sector. The Program establishes a limited access privilege program (LAPP) for the non-AFA trawl catcher/processor sector. This action is necessary to increase resource conservation and improve economic efficiency for harvesters who participate in the BSAI groundfish fisheries. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the FMP, and other applicable law.

The Department of Commerce's Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration has renewed the charter for the Science Advisory Board (SAB) for a 2-year period, through August 8, 2009. The SAB is a federal advisory committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463).

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received an application from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) for an incidental take permit pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). The duration of the proposed Permit is 5- years. This document serves to notify the public of the availability for comment of the permit application and of the associated draft environmental assessment (EA) before a final decision on whether to issue a Finding of No Significant Impact and the permit is made by NMFS. All comments received will become part of the public record and will be available for review pursuant to section 10(c) of the ESA.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene a public meeting of the Ad Hoc Grouper Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Advisory Panel (AHGIFQAP).

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.

Notice is hereby given that Molly Lutcavage has been issued a modification to scientific research Permit No. 1557.

Notice is hereby given that Gary Matson, Matson's Laboratory, LLC, PO Box 308, 8140 Flagler Road, Milltown, MT 59851, has applied in due form for a permit to receive, import and export specimens for scientific research.

A Groundfish Stock Assessment Review (STAR) Panel will hold a work session which is open to the public. The STAR Panel will review new assessments for the southern portion of the black rockfish stock and blue rockfish off California, as well as rebuilding analyses for seven overfished West Coast rockfish species.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific ocean perch by catcher processors participating in the rockfish limited access fishery in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2007 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific ocean perch allocated to catcher processors participating in the rockfish limited access fishery in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for northern rockfish for catcher processors participating in the rockfish limited access fishery in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2007 total allowable catch (TAC) of northern rockfish allocated to catcher processors participating in the rockfish limited access fishery in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

Notice is hereby given that Robert A. Garrott, Ecology Department, Montana State University, 310 Lewis Hall, Bozeman, MT, 59717 has been issued a permit to conduct research on Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii).

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulations, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) for the take of marine mammals, by Level B harassment only, incidental to conducting a low-energy marine seismic survey in the northeastern Pacific Ocean during September, 2007.

This announcement provides notice that AES Sparrows Point LNG, LLC and Mid-Atlantic Express, L.L.C. (collectively, ``AES'') have filed an administrative appeal with the Department of Commerce asking that the Secretary override the State of Maryland's objection to AES's proposed LNG terminal in Baltimore County, Maryland.

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, 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.

NMFS issues a final rule to establish catch accounting requirements for persons who receive, buy, or accept Pacific whiting deliveries of 4,000 pounds (lb) (1.18 mt) or more from vessels using midwater trawl gear during the Pacific whiting primary season for the shore-based sector. This action is intended to improve NMFS's ability to effectively monitor the Pacific whiting shoreside fishery such that catch of Pacific whiting and incidentally caught species, including overfished groundfish species, do not result in a species' optimum yield (OY), harvest guideline, allocations, or bycatch limits being exceeded. This action is also intended to provide for timely reporting of Chinook salmon take as specified in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 Biological Opinion for Chinook salmon catch in the Pacific groundfish fishery. This action is consistent with the conservation goals and objectives of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

Notice is hereby given that the Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce has approved the revised management plan, which includes an expansion of the boundary of the reserve, for the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. The Wells Reserve was designated in February 1984 pursuant to Section 315 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, 16 U.S.C. 1461. The reserve has been operating under a management plan approved in 1996. Pursuant to 15 CFR 921.33(c), a state must revise their management plan every five years. The submission of this plan fulfills this requirement and sets a course for successful implementation of the goals and objectives of the reserve. Since the last management plan, the Wells Reserve acquired two key parcels of land, changed its boundary, constructed needed facilities, and implemented several system-wide programs. It acquired the 27-acre Alheim property and the 2\1/2\-acre Lord parcel, and changed its boundary to include 359 acres of the watershed areas of the Reserve. The Reserve built the Maine Coastal Ecology Center, new interpretive exhibits, the Alheim Commons dormitory, and the Forest Learning Shelter, and equipped and opened the Coastal Resource Library. This new management plan serves as the primary guidance document for the operation of the Wells Reserve's core and system-wide programs in research and monitoring, education and coastal training, and resource management and stewardship. The plan provides guidance on the acquisition of land to be added to the Reserve and on the construction and renovation of buildings and exhibits that support reserve programs. It also guides the Reserve in important related programs, such as volunteerism and outreach to communities to encourage stewardship of coastal resources in southern Maine. The Wells Reserve is a public/private partnership whose administrative oversight is vested in the Reserve Management Authority (RMA). This independent state agency was established in 1990 to support and promote the interests of the Wells Reserve. The RMA has a Board of Directors composed of representatives having a property, management, or program interest in the Wells Reserve. The RMA members represent the Maine Department of conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Town of Wells, the Laudholm Trust, the Maine State Planning Office, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene a joint meeting of its Ecosystem Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), Standing and Special Reef Fish SSC and Reef Fish Advisory Panel, in St. Petersburg, FL, on September 24 - 28, 2007.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a two-day Council meeting on September 18-19, 2007, to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

NMFS issues a final rule to implement Amendment 85 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP) as partially approved by NMFS, and to implement recent changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). This final rule modifies the current allocations of Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) among various harvest sectors and seasonal apportionments thereof, establishes a hierarchy for reallocating projected unharvested amounts of Pacific cod from certain sectors to other sectors, revises catcher/processor (CP) sector definitions, modifies the management of Pacific cod incidental catch that occurs in other groundfish fisheries, eliminates the Pacific cod nonspecified reserve, subdivides the annual prohibited species catch (PSC) limits currently apportioned to the Pacific cod hook-and-line gear fisheries between the catcher vessel (CV) and CP sectors, and modifies the sideboard restrictions for American Fisheries Act (AFA) CP vessels. In addition, this final rule increases the percentage of the BSAI Pacific cod TAC apportioned to the Community Development Quota (CDQ) Program. The proposed rule for Amendment 85 included regulations that would have subdivided the annual PSC limits currently apportioned to the Pacific cod trawl fisheries among trawl sectors. However, NMFS disapproved these regulations. Therefore, this final rule does not subdivide the annual PSC limits for Pacific cod trawl fisheries among trawl sectors. This final rule is necessary to implement Amendment 85 and reduce uncertainty about the availability of yearly harvests within sectors caused by reallocations and maintain stability among sectors in the BSAI Pacific cod fishery. This final rule also is necessary to partially implement recent changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Act that require a total allocation of 10.7 percent of the TAC of each directed fishery to the CDQ Program starting January 1, 2008. This final rule is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.