National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration December 1, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS withdraws the temporary rule that would have closed the U.S. pelagic longline fishery for bigeye tuna in the western and central Pacific Ocean as a result of the fishery reaching the 2011 catch limit. NMFS no longer expects that the fishery will reach the limit by the date specified in the temporary rule.

This notice sets forth the schedule and topics of an upcoming forum hosted by the NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina on January 11-13, 2012. Invited participants will discuss topics as outlined below. Members of the public are invited to attend the forum and are required to RSVP to Brooke.Stewart@noaa.gov by 5 p.m. EST, Wednesday, December 28, 2011 if they wish to attend. The forum is to be held in a federal facility; building security restrictions preclude attendance by members of the public who do not RSVP by the deadline. Space is also limited and public attendees will be admitted based on the order in which RSVPs are received. Members of the public will be invited to offer their comments during a 30-minute period to be held from 9:30 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 11, 2012. Each individual or group making a verbal presentation will be limited to a total time of five minutes. Please indicate your intention to participate in the public comment period when submitting your RSVP. Time for public comments will be allotted based on the order in which RSVPs are received. Written comments may be submitted via email or in hardcopy and must be received by December 28, 2011. For information on how to submit written comments, please see addresses below. Special Accommodations: These meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Brooke Stewart (828) 257- 3020, Brooke.Stewart@noaa.gov) by December 28, 2011.

NMFS proposes regulations to implement the Comprehensive Annual Catch Limit Amendment (Comprehensive ACL Amendment) to the Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Snapper-Grouper), the Golden Crab Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Golden Crab), the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery off the Atlantic States (Dolphin and Wahoo), and the Pelagic Sargassum Habitat of the South Atlantic Region (Sargassum) as prepared and submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). If implemented, this rule would specify annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for species in the FMPs for Snapper- Grouper, Dolphin and Wahoo, and Golden Crab. The rule would also describe the current terminology and measures in place in the Sargassum FMP that are equivalent to an ACL and AMs. For Sargassum, the rule would not specifically set an ACL because there is currently a commercial quota in place which functions as an ACL, and there are commercial closure provisions in the event the quota is met or projected to be met which functions as an AM. In addition, the rule would revise the snapper-grouper fishery management unit (FMU), including the removal of some species, designation of ecosystem component (EC) species, and the development of species groups. This rule would establish a daily vessel limit for the recreational possession of wreckfish, create a closed season for the wreckfish recreational sector, prohibit recreational bag limit sales of dolphin from for-hire vessels, and set a minimum size limit for dolphin off most of the South Atlantic states. The intent of this rule is to specify ACLs for species not undergoing overfishing while maintaining catch levels consistent with achieving optimum yield (OY) for the resource.

On May 26, 2000, President Clinton signed Executive Order (EO) 13158, directing federal agencies (led by NOAA and DOI) to establish a comprehensive national system of MPAs serving multiple conservation and management goals. To this end, the EO directs NOAA to establish a National Marine Protected Area Center (``MPA Center'') within NOAA (Sec. 4(e)) to carry out several provisions in cooperation with the Department of the Interior. Over the past decade, the MPA Center has conducted a variety of efforts to establish and support the growing national system through targeted science, information resources, coordination and policy development. An external review of the MPA Center is needed to maximize its effectiveness and transparency and to ensure that the MPA Center is conducting high quality work of significant value to NOAA and the nation. To this end, the MPA Center is seeking external feedback, including public comment on the program's approach to balancing competing priorities. All comments received in response to this request will be summarized and provided to an expert review panel scheduled to convene in late January, 2012.