National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration June 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, will host an interim session of the Council Coordination Committee (CCC), consisting of the Regional Fishery Management Council chairs, vice chairs, and executive directors, on July 17, 2023. The intent of this virtual meeting is to discuss priorities and process for distributing funds provided under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to the Councils for climate-ready fisheries and to describe the agencies planned investment in various scientific data collection, processing, and analysis efforts with IRA funds.

NMFS has received a request from the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to the refurbishment of the Alameda Main Street Ferry Terminal in Alameda, California. 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 is also requesting comments on a possible one-time, one-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. 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.

The MAFMC will hold a public meeting (webinar) of its Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish (MSB) Advisory Panel. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for agenda details.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Monkfish Research Set-Aside Working Group 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 Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils will hold a public meeting of their joint Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to Attentive Energy LLC (AE) to incidentally harass marine mammals during marine site characterization surveys off of New York and New Jersey in the New York Bight.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

NMFS has received a request from Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Bight, LLC (Atlantic Shores) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys offshore of New Jersey and New York in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lease Area OCS-A 0541 and associated export cable route (ECR) area. NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS is also requesting comments on a possible one-time, 1-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in the Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. 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.

The MAFMC will hold a public joint meeting (webinar) of its River Herring and Shad (RH/S) Committee and Advisory Panel to review recent RH/S developments and develop recommendations for the MAFMC, including for the Atlantic mackerel fishery's RH/S cap.

The SEDAR 87 assessment process of U.S. Caribbean yellowtail snapper and stoplight parrotfish will consist of a Data Workshop, and a series of assessment webinars, and a Review Workshop. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council's (Council) Outreach and Education Advisory Panel (OEAP) will hold a public hybrid meeting to address the items contained in the tentative agenda included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will hold a meeting.

NMFS is implementing harvest specifications and management measures for the 2023 non-tribal directed commercial Pacific halibut fishery that operates south of Point Chehalis, WA (46[deg]53.30' N lat.) in the International Pacific Halibut Commission's regulatory Area 2A off Washington, Oregon, and California. Specifically, this final rule establishes directed commercial fishing periods and fishing period catch limits by vessel size class for the 2023 fishing season. These actions are intended to conserve Pacific halibut and provide fishing opportunity where available.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, its implementing regulations, and NMFS' MMPA Regulations for Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Geophysical Surveys Related to Oil and Gas Activities in the Gulf of Mexico, notification is hereby given that a Letter of Authorization (LOA) has been issued to Murphy Exploration and Production Company (Murphy) for the take of marine mammals incidental to geophysical survey activity in the Gulf of Mexico.

This action corrects an inadvertent drafting error in final regulations published in the Federal Register on February 27, 2023, and effective on February 27, 2023. NMFS is correcting regulations to revise the date after which only an eligible community resident of Adak, Alaska may receive by transfer any individual fishing quota (IFQ) held by a community quota entity (CQE) in the Aleutian Islands subarea. In the final rule published on February 27, 2023, NMFS intended to extend by five years the date after which only an eligible community resident of Adak, AK may use or receive by transfer CQE IFQ. This action completes the removal of the Adak CQE residency requirement for a period of five years.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Highly Migratory Species Committee will hold a public meeting.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will host a presentation on Larval Dispersal from Spawning Special Management Zones via webinar July 11, 2023.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Ecosystem and Ocean Planning (EOP) Committee and Advisory Panel (AP) will hold a joint meeting. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for agenda details.

We, FWS and NMFS (collectively referred to as the ``Services'' or ``we''), propose to amend portions of our regulations that implement section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The Services are proposing these changes to further clarify and improve the interagency consultation processes, while continuing to provide for the conservation of listed species.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) submitted Amendment 49 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper- Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, Amendment 49 to the FMP would revise the overfishing limit (OFL), acceptable biological catch (ABC), annual optimum yield (OY), sector allocations, the total and sector annual catch limits (ACLs), commercial minimum size limit, the commercial seasonal trip limits, and the April spawning season closure. In addition, Amendment 49 would remove the recreational annual catch targets (ACTs) for species in the FMP. The purpose of Amendment 49 is to ensure catch limits are based on the best scientific information available and to ensure overfishing does not occur for the South Atlantic greater amberjack stock, while increasing social and economic benefits.

NMFS has received a request from Vineyard Northeast, LLC (Vineyard Northeast) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys offshore from Massachusetts to New Jersey in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf Lease Areas OCS-A 0522 and OCS-A 0544 (Lease Areas) and associated offshore export cable corridor (OECC) routes.

NMFS implements an accountability measure for commercial greater amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) reef fish fishery for the 2023 fishing year through this temporary rule. NMFS has determined that Gulf greater amberjack landings have exceeded the commercial annual catch target (ACT). Therefore, the commercial fishing season for greater amberjack in the Gulf exclusive economic zone (EEZ) will close on June 18, 2023, and the sector will remain closed until the start of the next commercial fishing season on January 1, 2024. This closure is necessary to protect the Gulf greater amberjack resource.

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 Exempted Fishing Permit would allow commercial fishing vessels to fish outside fishery regulations in support of research conducted by the applicant. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed Exempted Fishing Permits.