National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration March 23, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS announces the 2021 recreational fishing season for the Federal charter vessel/headboat (for-hire) component for red snapper in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) through this temporary rule. The red snapper recreational for-hire component in the Gulf EEZ opens on June 1, 2021, and will close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on August 3, 2021. This closure is necessary to prevent the Federal for-hire component from exceeding its quota and to prevent overfishing of the Gulf red snapper resource.

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application submitted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in support of the 2021 Study Fleet Program contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. This Exempted Fishing Permit would exempt participating vessels from minimum fish sizes and possession limits for species of interest, for sampling purposes only. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notice to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on Exempted Fishing Permit applications.

NMFS announces approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of revisions to collection-of-information requirements published in a final rule on June 22, 2020 (June 2020 Final Rule). The June 2020 Final Rule revised the management regime for U.S. fishing vessels that target tunas and other highly migratory species (HMS) in the area of overlapping jurisdiction in the Pacific Ocean between the Inter- American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC) and revised the reporting and recordkeeping requirements applicable in that area. The June 2020 Final Rule did not include an effective date for those changes because OMB had not yet approved the collection-of-information revisions. This final rule announces OMB approval of the revisions to the collection- of-information requirements under OMB Control Numbers 0648-0649 and 0648-0218 and an effective date for the revisions to reporting requirements included in the June 2020 Final Rule.