National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration June 3, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an IHA to the City of San Diego to take small numbers of marine mammals, by Level B harassment, incidental to the conduct of sand quality study activities at the Children's Pool Beach in La Jolla, California.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council, NEFMC) will hold a three-day meeting to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

On June 13, 2014, NOAA published a final rule re-establishing the Sanctuary Nomination Process (SNP) which allows communities to submit nominations to NOAA for consideration as new national marine sanctuaries. The rule included the final review process, national significance criteria, and management considerations that NOAA uses to evaluate community nominations for inclusion in the inventory of areas that could be considered for designation as national marine sanctuaries. The rule also states that NOAA will publish a Federal Register notice when areas have been added to the inventory. This notice announces that NOAA has added four sanctuary nominations to the SNP inventory between June 2014 and April 2016.

We, the NMFS, propose to designate critical habitat for the endangered Carolina distinct population segment of the Atlantic sturgeon (Carolina DPS of Atlantic sturgeon) and the endangered South Atlantic distinct population segment of the Atlantic sturgeon (South Atlantic DPS of Atlantic sturgeon) pursuant to section 4 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Specific occupied areas proposed for designation as critical habitat for the Carolina DPS of Atlantic sturgeon contain approximately 1,997 kilometers (km; 1,241 miles) of aquatic habitat within the following rivers: Roanoke, Tar-Pamlico, Neuse, Cape Fear, Northeast Cape Fear, Waccamaw, Pee Dee, Black, Santee, North Santee, South Santee, and Cooper, and the following other water body: Bull Creek. In addition, we propose to designate unoccupied areas for the Carolina DPS totaling 383 km (238 miles) of aquatic habitat within the Cape Fear, Santee, Wateree, Congaree, and Broad Rivers, and within Lake Marion, Lake Moultrie, rediversion canal, and diversion canal. Specific occupied areas proposed for designation as critical habitat for the South Atlantic DPS of Atlantic sturgeon contain approximately 2,911 km (1,809 miles) of aquatic habitat within the Edisto, Combahee-Salkehatchie, Savannah, Ogeechee, Altamaha, Ocmulgee, Oconee, Satilla, and St. Marys Rivers. In addition, we propose to designate an unoccupied area within the Savannah River for the South Atlantic DPS that contains 33 km (21 miles) of aquatic habitat. We have considered positive and negative economic, national security, and other relevant impacts of the proposed critical habitat. We do not propose to exclude any particular area from the proposed critical habitat. We are soliciting comments from the public on all aspects of the proposal, including our identification and consideration of impacts of the proposed action.