National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration November 30, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS publishes standard prices and fee percentages for cost recovery for the Amendment 80 Program, the American Fisheries Act (AFA) Program, the Aleutian Islands Pollock (AIP) Program, and the Western Alaska Community Development Quota (CDQ) groundfish and halibut Programs. The fee percentage for 2017 is 0.71 percent for the Amendment 80 Program, 0.19 percent for the AFA inshore cooperatives, 0.21 percent for the AFA catcher/processor sector, 0.22 percent for the AFA mothership cooperative, 0 percent for the AIP program, and 0.55 percent for the CDQ groundfish and halibut Programs. This action is intended to provide the 2017 standard prices and fee percentages to calculate the required payment for cost recovery fees due by December 31, 2017.

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Department of the Navy (Navy) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to continued construction activities as part of waterfront improvement projects at several Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (the Shipyard) berths in Kittery, Maine. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorization and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.