National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration September 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), published a notice in the Federal Register on 07/20/2020, 85 FR 43817, to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission to OMB for review and approval of the information collection for OMB Control Number 0648-0757. This notice serves as a correction to that Federal Register notice.

NMFS announces receipt of a supplemental petition for emergency rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act. Sea Shepherd Legal, Sea Shepherd New Zealand Ltd., and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce and other relevant Departments to initiate emergency rulemaking under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), to ban importation of commercial fish or products from fish that have been caught with commercial fishing technology that results in incidental mortality or serious injury of Maui dolphin in excess of United States standards.

NMFS is correcting a notice that informed the public that the Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. The catch estimates provided in kilograms in Table 1 were incorrect. The table also erroneously included nudibranch in the list of federally managed species.

The Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is announcing the convening of its fall meeting.

The New England Fishery Management Council is convening a public meeting of its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) via webinar 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 Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a one- day meeting of its Outreach & Education (O&E) Technical Committee.

Notice is hereby given that Plimsoll Productions Limited, 51- 55 Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS8 2LY, United Kingdom (Responsible Party: Anuschka Schofield), has applied for an amendment to Permit No. 23807.

This announcement provides notice that the Department of Commerce has stayed, for a period of 60 days, closure of the decision record in an administrative appeal filed by Jordan Cove Energy Project, L.P. and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline, LP (collectively, ``Appellants'') under the Coastal Zone Management Act. Appellants appealed to the Secretary of Commerce to override an objection by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development to a consistency certification for a proposed project to construct and operate a liquified natural gas export terminal and a 229-mile natural gas pipeline and compressor station off the Pacific Coast.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the individual fishing quota (IFQ) and Federal dealer reporting programs specific to the commercial reef fish fishery in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) and the coastal migratory pelagic (CMP) fisheries in the Gulf, the Regional Administrator (RA), Southeast Region, NMFS has determined that Hurricane Sally has caused catastrophic conditions in the Gulf for certain Alabama and Florida counties. This temporary rule authorizes any dealer in the affected area described in this temporary rule who does not have access to electronic reporting to delay reporting of trip tickets to NMFS and authorizes IFQ dealers within the affected area to use paper-based forms, if necessary, for basic required administrative functions, e.g., landing transactions. This temporary rule is intended to facilitate continuation of IFQ and dealer reporting operations during the period of catastrophic conditions.

NMFS announces the availability of Draft Amendment 14 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Draft Amendment 14 is being undertaken to revise the mechanism or ``framework'' used in establishing quotas and related management measures for Atlantic shark fisheries. The current framework was established in Amendment 3 to the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic HMS FMP. The revised framework would modify the procedures followed in establishing the acceptable biological catch (ABC) and annual catch limits (ACLs) for Atlantic sharks and the process used to account for carryover or underharvests of quotas. It would also allow the option to phase-in ABC catch control rules and to adopt multi-year overfishing status determination criteria in some circumstances. Amendment 14 will not make changes to the current quotas or other management measures. Such changes would be adopted through subsequent rulemaking.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an IHA to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDKT) to incidentally harass, by Level A and Level B harassment, marine mammals during construction associated to Seattle Multimodal Project at Colman Dock in Seattle, Washington State.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for northern rockfish in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2020 total allowable catch of northern rockfish in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) will hold seven public hearings via webinar and a written comment period to solicit public comments on a developing management action to consider potential changes to the allocation of the black sea bass commercial quota among the states of Maine through North Carolina.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council's (Council) District Advisory Panels (DAPs), the Outreach and Education Advisory Panel (OEAP), and the Liaison Officers, will hold a joint public virtual meeting to address the items contained in the tentative agenda included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) publishes its proposed List of Fisheries (LOF) for 2021, as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The LOF for 2021 reflects new information on interactions between commercial fisheries and marine mammals. NMFS must classify each commercial fishery on the LOF into one of three categories under the MMPA based upon the level of mortality and serious injury of marine mammals that occurs incidental to each fishery. The classification of a fishery on the LOF determines whether participants in that fishery are subject to certain provisions of the MMPA, such as registration, observer coverage, and take reduction plan (TRP) requirements.

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda for the meeting of the Science Advisory Board (SAB). The members will discuss issues outlined in the section on Matters to be considered.

NMFS is exchanging unused flathead sole and rock sole Community Development Quota (CDQ) for yellowfin sole CDQ acceptable biological catch (ABC) reserves in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. This action is necessary to allow the 2020 total allowable catch (TAC) of yellowfin sole in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area to be harvested.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a 1-day meeting via webinar of its Reef Fish Advisory Panel (AP).

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Citizen Science Operations Committee via webinar.

Notice is hereby given that permits and permit amendments have been issued to the following entities under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as applicable.

We are implementing specifications submitted by the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Councils in Framework Adjustment 12 to the Monkfish Fishery Management Plan. This action sets monkfish specifications for fishing year 2020 and projects specifications for the 2021 and 2022 fishing years. This action is needed to establish allowable monkfish harvest levels that will prevent overfishing.

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

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Advisory Panel will meet via webconference October 2, 2020 through October 16, 2020.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher/processors using pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2020 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) allocated to catcher/processors using pot gear in the BSAI.

NMFS announces the initiation of a 5-year review for the following five foreign sturgeon species: Adriatic sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii), European sturgeon (A. sturio), Chinese sturgeon (A. sinensis), Sakhalin sturgeon (A. mikadoi), and Kaluga sturgeon (Huso dauricus). NMFS is required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to conduct 5-year reviews to ensure that the 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 five sturgeon species, particularly information on the status, threats, and recovery of the species that has become available since their listing, effective July 2, 2014.