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

This final rule implements 2011 specifications and management measures for the Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish (MSB) fisheries. Specifically, this action sets quotas for the MSB fisheries, modifies the measure that transfers Loligo squid (Loligo) quota underages from Trimester I to Trimesters II and III by limiting the Trimester II quota increase to no more than 50 percent, and revises the 72-hr pre-trip observer notification requirement for the Loligo fishery to accommodate vessels departing for multiple day trips in a week. These specifications and management measures promote the utilization and conservation of the MSB resource.

NMFS announces the adoption of the Columbia River Estuary Endangered Species Act (ESA) Recovery Plan Module for Salmon and Steelhead (Estuary Module). The Estuary Module addresses the estuary recovery needs of all ESA-listed salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin. All Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead ESA recovery plans will incorporate the Estuary Module by reference.

Notice is hereby given that Paul E. Nachtigall, PhD, Marine Mammal Research Program Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, P.O. Box 1106, Kailua, Hawaii 96734 has been issued a minor amendment to Scientific Research Permit No. 978-1791-00.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Research Steering Committee (Committee), in February 2011, 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.

NMFS proposes regulations to revise recordkeeping and reporting regulations and make other miscellaneous revisions to NOAA regulations concerning fisheries of the exclusive economic zone off Alaska. The proposed revisions would add a requirement that the Registered Crab Receiver record in eLandings the region in which the stationary floating processor is located at time of crab delivery; standardize reporting time limits for recording discard, disposition, product, and other required information in the daily fishing logbook, daily cumulative production logbook, eLandings, or the electronic logbook so that the information corresponds with fishing and processing operations; incorporate miscellaneous edits and corrections to regulatory text and tables, including standardizing the use of the terms ``recording,'' ``submitting,'' ``landings,'' and ``landing;'' and reinstate regulations that were inadvertently removed in a previous final rule about locations where NMFS will conduct scale inspections. This proposed action is necessary to update and clarify regulations and is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the fishery management plans and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other applicable laws.

In accordance with provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, notification is hereby given that a Letter of Authorization (LOA) to take four species of marine mammals incidental to testing and training during Precision Strike Weapons (PSW) testing and training in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), a military readiness activity, has been issued to Eglin Air Force Base (AFB).

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 closes the western zone of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) to commercial king mackerel fishing in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This closure is necessary to protect the Gulf king mackerel resource.

We, NMFS, are extending the date by which public comments are due concerning the proposed rule to list the Beringia and Okhotsk Distinct Population Segments (DPSs) of the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). On December 10, 2010, we published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to list these DPSs as threatened. As part of that proposal, we announced a public comment period to end on February 8, 2011. Today we extend the public comment period to March 25, 2011.

In January 2009, pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS issued three 5-year final regulations to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to Navy training and associated activities conducted in the Hawaii Range Complex (HRC), the Southern California Range Complex (SOCAL Range Complex), and the Atlantic Fleet Active Sonar Training (AFAST) Study Area. These regulations, which allow for the issuance of ``Letters of Authorization'' (LOAs) for the incidental take of marine mammals during the specified activities and described timeframes, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, as well as requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking. These rules quantify the specific amounts of individual sound source use that will occur over the course of the 5-year rules, and indicate that marine mammal take may only be authorized in an LOA incidental to the source types and amounts described. Specifically, no language was initially included expressly allowing for deviation from those precise levels of source use if the total number of takes remain within the analyzed and authorized limits. Since the issuance of the 2009 rules, the Navy realized that their evolving training programs, which are linked to real world events, necessitate greater flexibility in the types and amounts of sound sources that they use. In response to this need, when the Navy requested incidental take authorizations for other areas (e.g., the Mariana Islands and the Northwest Training Range Complexes), NMFS included language explicitly allowing for greater flexibility. NMFS has, through this interim final rule, amended the HRC, SOCAL Range Complex, and AFAST regulations to explicitly allow for greater flexibility in the types and amount of sound sources that they use. NMFS has issued new LOAs for each of these actions, which supersede those issued in January 2011, and which authorize the Navy to take marine mammals incidental to their planned training in 2011, and reflect the greater flexibility addressed in this amendment. The take authorized in these LOAs does not exceed that analyzed and allowed by the original 2009 final rules.

NMFS has received an application from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (L-DEO), a part of Columbia University, for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting a marine geophysical survey in the eastern tropical Pacific (ETP) Ocean off Costa Rica, April through May, 2011. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to L-DEO to incidentally harass, by Level B harassment only, 19 species of marine mammals during the specified activity.

NMFS is reopening the comment period for its proposed evaluation and pending determination on the 2010-2014 Puget Sound Chinook Resource Management Plan. The comment period is being reopened to provide additional opportunity for public comment.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, and implementing regulations, notification is hereby given that a letter of authorization (LOA) has been issued to the 30th Space Wing, U.S. Air Force (USAF), to take four species of seals and sea lions incidental to rocket and missile launches on Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California, a military readiness activity.

Notice is hereby given that George Church, PhD, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA 02115, has been issued a permit to conduct research on bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) parts.

NMFS has received an application from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to construction activities as part of a pile replacement project. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to the Navy to take, by Level B Harassment only, five species of marine mammals during the specified activity.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Groundfish Essential Fish Habitat Review Committee (EFHRC) will hold a work session by conference call to follow up on work assignments from its December 20, 2010 meeting.

On January 14, 2011, NOAA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to revise the regulations for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (76 FR 2611). This notice extends the public comment period stated in that proposed rule by an additional 10 days.

Notice is hereby given that Blair Witherington, PhD, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 9700 South A1A, Melbourne Beach, FL 32951, has requested a modification to scientific research Permit No. 14726.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels harvesting Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2011 Pacific total allowable catch (TAC) apportioned to vessels harvesting Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component of the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Crab Rationalization Program (Program) allocates BSAI crab resources among harvesters, processors, and coastal communities. Amendment 37 would amend the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (FMP) and the Program by establishing a process for eligible fishery participants to request that NMFS exempt holders of West- designated individual fishing quota (IFQ) and individual processor quota (IPQ) in the Western Aleutian Islands golden king crab fishery from the West regional delivery requirements. Federal regulations require West-designated golden king crab IFQ to be delivered to a processor in the West region of the Aleutian Islands with an exact amount of unused West-designated IPQ. However, processing capacity may not be available each season. Amendment 37 is necessary to prevent disruption to the Western Aleutian Islands golden king crab fishery, while providing for the sustained participation of municipalities in the region. This proposed action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the FMP, and other applicable laws.

NMFS announces that it is establishing a new control date to control future access to the king and Spanish mackerel components of the coastal migratory pelagics fishery operating in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. If changes to the management regime are developed and implemented under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), a control date could be used to further limit the number of participants in the fishery. This announcement is intended, in part, to promote awareness of the potential eligibility criteria for future access so as to discourage speculative entry into the fishery while the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS consider whether and how access to the fishery should be controlled.

Due to inclement weather, NMFS cancelled the Protected Species Safe Handling, Release, and Identification workshop that was originally scheduled for January 13, 2011, in Manahawkin, NJ. This workshop was announced on December 1, 2010. NMFS has rescheduled the workshop for February 10, 2011, to be held at the same time (of day) and location: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Holiday Inn, 151 Route 72 East, Manahawkin, NJ 08050.

Notice is hereby given that Dan Salden, Ph.D., Hawaii Whale Research Foundation, 52 Cheshire Drive, Maryville, IL 62062, has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) will convene a meeting of the Ecosystem Advisory Subpanel (EAS), which is open to the public.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS intend to prepare a DEIS to describe and analyze management alternatives to be included in an amendment to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Reef Fish Fishery of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Amendment 6), an amendment to the FMP for Corals and Reef Associated Plants and Invertebrates of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Amendment 3), an amendment to the FMP for the Spiny Lobster Fishery of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Amendment 5), and an amendment to the FMP for the Queen Conch Fishery of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Amendment 3). These alternatives will consider measures to revise management reference points and status determination criteria, implement annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) to prevent overfishing in both the commercial and recreational sectors, revise management of aquarium trade species, establish recreational bag limits, establish exclusive economic zone sub-boundaries for purposes of applying accountability measures, and establish frameworks to adjust management measures as needed to constrain harvest to specified ACLs. The purpose of this notice of intent is to solicit public comments on the scope of issues to be addressed in the DEIS.