National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration September 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a two- day meeting, Release Mortality Science Workshop.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Legislative Committee will meet in October.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scientific & Statistical Committee 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.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold public meetings of the Council and its Committees.

NMFS announces that the date for the Safe Handling, Release, and Identification workshop originally scheduled for September 4, 2019, in Warwick, RI, has been changed to September 23, 2019. The date is being changed because inclement weather resulting from Hurricane Dorian prevented the instructors from traveling safely to the original workshop. The workshop time and location remains unchanged: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Warwick, RI. The remaining September 2019, workshop in Panama City, FL, also remains unchanged. Safe Handling, Release, and Identification workshop are mandatory for shark and swordfish limited- access permit holders who fish with longline or gillnet gear. Additional free workshops will be conducted during 2019.

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) to extend the time period from December 2023 to December 2025 for Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulations authorizing the take of marine mammals incidental to Navy training and testing activities conducted in the Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing (HSTT) Study Area. In August 2018, the MMPA was amended by the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 to allow for 7- year authorizations for military readiness activities, as compared to the previously allowed five years. The Navy's activities qualify as military readiness activities pursuant to the MMPA as amended by the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2004. In making the request to extend the time period covered by the MMPA HSTT regulations from five to seven years, the Navy proposes no changes to their specified activities, the geographical region in which those activities would be conducted, mitigation measures, monitoring, or reporting over the longer seven- year period. Pursuant to the MMPA, NMFS is requesting comments on the proposed seven-year rule and associated Letters of Authorization (LOAs) to cover the same activities covered by the existing 2018 HSTT regulations. NMFS will consider all public comments prior to issuing any final rule and making final decisions on the issuance of the requested LOAs, and agency responses will be summarized in the notice of the final decision.

NMFS announces a public meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Consultative Committee. This meeting will help to ensure that the interests of U.S. stakeholders in the fisheries of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean are adequately represented at the Annual Meeting of the Organization. Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Consultative Committee members and all other interested U.S. stakeholders are invited to attend.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its System Management Plan (SMP) Workgroup.

The SEDAR 58 assessment of the Atlantic stock of Cobia will consist of a series of workshops and webinars: Data Workshop, Assessment Webinars, and a Review Workshop.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Sablefish Management and Trawl Allocation Attainment Committee (SaMTAAC) will hold a meeting, which will be open to the public.

This proposed rule would require commercial groundfish bottom longline vessels 26 feet length overall and longer managed under the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan to deploy streamer lines or to set gear between civil dusk and civil dawn when fishing in Federal waters north of 36[deg] North latitude. The action is necessary to fulfill terms and conditions of a 2017 United States Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion to minimize incidental take of Endangered Species Act-listed short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) by vessels in the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery. This proposed rule is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan, and other applicable laws, including the Endangered Species Act.

NMFS issues regulations to implement management measures described in Framework Amendment 6 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Coastal Migratory Pelagics (CMP) of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) and Atlantic Region (FMP), as prepared by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule revises the Atlantic migratory group king mackerel commercial trip limits in the Atlantic southern zone during the March through September fishing season. The purpose of this final rule is to support increased fishing activity and economic opportunity while continuing to constrain harvest to the annual catch limit and providing for year-round access for the commercial sector.

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.

Notice is hereby given that Wildstar Films, South Parade Mansions, 71 Oakfield Road, Bristol BS8 2BB, U.K. (Responsible Party: Hugh Pearson), has applied in due form for a permit to conduct commercial photography on common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), northern right whale dolphins (Lissodelphis borealis), and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus).

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Citizen Science Program's Projects Advisory Committee via webinar.

NMFS adjusts the 2019 baseline quotas for U.S. North Atlantic albacore tuna (northern albacore), North and South Atlantic swordfish, and the Atlantic bluefin Reserve category based on available underharvest of the 2018 adjusted U.S. quotas. This action is necessary to implement binding recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), as required by the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA), and to achieve domestic management objectives under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish (MSB) Advisory Panel will hold a meeting.

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

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Fishery Monitoring Advisory Committee will meet September 23, 2019 through September 24, 2019.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel will hold a public webinar meeting, jointly with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisory Panel.

NMFS announces its intent to conduct a 5-year review for the four distinct population segments (DPSs) of the scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini): Eastern Atlantic DPS, Eastern Pacific DPS, Central & Southwest Atlantic DPS, and Indo-West Pacific DPS. NMFS is required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to conduct 5-year reviews to ensure that listing classifications of species are accurate. The 5- year review must be based on the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of the review. We request submission of any such information on these scalloped hammerhead shark DPSs, particularly information on the status, threats, and recovery of the DPSs that have become available since their listing on July 3, 2014 (79 FR 38214).

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod, except for the Community Development Quota program (CDQ), in the Aleutian Islands subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the non-CDQ allocation of the 2019 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) in the Aleutian Islands subarea of the BSAI.

NMFS's Office of Protected Resources (OPR), upon request from NMFS's Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC), hereby issues regulations to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to fisheries research conducted in multiple specified geographical regions over the course of five years. These regulations, which allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization (LOA) for the incidental take of marine mammals during the described activities and specified 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.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the annual allowance of the 2019 Pacific cod total allowable catch apportioned to trawl catcher vessels in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

NMFS announces the availability of a scoping document and its intent to initiate an amendment to the 2006 Consolidated Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Given recent revisions to the National Standard guidelines and recent NMFS policy directives, which aim to improve and streamline fishery management procedures to enhance their utility for managers and the public, NMFS has determined it is necessary to: Reassess current HMS FMP objectives to reflect the changing needs of the HMS fisheries, and potentially adopt revised FMP objectives; review stock status determination criteria (SDC) for internationally-managed HMS and adopt such criteria, rather than continue to apply domestic criteria, which at times differ; review the standardized bycatch reporting methodology (SBRM) for certain HMS fisheries and update, if necessary; consider triggers for initiating allocation reviews for quota-managed HMS stocks and adopt such triggers, if appropriate; and consider revising the publication date of the annual HMS Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report and adopt such revision. The goal of the scoping document is to examine potential options and modify domestic HMS fishery management measures to be consistent with the national standards guidelines and recent NMFS policy directives, and to request additional information and input from consulting parties and the public prior to development of Amendment 12 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic HMS FMP.