National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration June 7, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Free Atlantic Shark Identification Workshops and Protected Species Safe Handling, Release, and Identification Workshops will be held in July, August, and September of 2013. Certain fishermen and shark dealers are required to attend a workshop to meet regulatory requirements and to maintain valid permits. Specifically, the Atlantic Shark Identification Workshop is mandatory for all federally permitted Atlantic shark dealers. The Protected Species Safe Handling, Release, and Identification Workshop is mandatory for vessel owners and operators who use bottom longline, pelagic longline, or gillnet gear, and who have also been issued shark or swordfish limited access permits. Additional free workshops will be conducted during 2013 and will be announced in a future notice.

The SEDAR 33 assessment of the Gulf of Mexico stocks of Gag (Mycteroperca microlepis) and Greater Amberjack (Seriola dumerili) will consist of two workshops and a series of webinars: a Data Workshop; an Assessment process conducted via webinars; and a Review Workshop. This series of workshops and webinars will be referred to as SEDAR 33. This notice is for an additional webinar prior to the first Assessment Workshop webinar.

We, NMFS, are extending the public comment period soliciting information to inform our status review of Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) in Iliamna Lake, Alaska. On May 17, 2013, we published a notice announcing a positive 90-day finding on a petition to list the harbor seals in Iliamna Lake as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and we initiated a status review. As part of that notice, we solicited scientific and commercial information about the status of the seals and announced a 60-day comment period to end on July 16, 2013. Today, we extend the public comment period to August 16, 2013.