National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration September 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 Hilcorp Alaska, LLC (Hilcorp) to incidentally harass marine mammals during production drilling support activities in Cook Inlet, Alaska.

This notice announces NMFS' receipt of an application and the public comment period for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from Trident Seafoods. If issued, this permit would allow the applicant to develop and test modifications to the footrope of pelagic trawl gear. The purpose and goal of this EFP, if issued, would be to exempt participating vessels from complying with the regulation defining the footrope for pelagic trawl gear. Field testing would be conducted between January 20, 2025 and December 31, 2027, and the EFP would expire at the end of that period. This experiment would test trawl gear design that aims to minimize seafloor contact by the footrope when targeting pollock that are on or near the seafloor and thus promote the objective of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) to protecting habitat that fish need to spawn, breed, feed, and grow to maturity.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock by vessels using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2024 Chinook salmon prohibited species catch limit established for vessels using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

This emergency action extends the 2024 emergency action specifications for the spiny dogfish fishery through the remainder of the 2024 fishing year and implements an accountability measure consistent with the regulations implementing the Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan. This action is necessary to maintain allowable harvest levels for the spiny dogfish fishery to prevent overfishing while minimizing adverse economic impacts on fishing communities, using the best scientific information available.

NMFS announces that the State of New Jersey is transferring a portion of their 2024 commercial bluefish quota to the State of North Carolina. This quota adjustment is necessary to comply with the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised 2024 commercial bluefish quotas for New Jersey and North Carolina.

NMFS implements an accountability measure (AM) for the commercial harvest of snowy grouper in South Atlantic Federal waters. NMFS projects commercial landings of snowy grouper will reach the commercial quota for the July through December season. Therefore, NMFS closes Federal waters in the South Atlantic for the commercial harvest of snowy grouper to protect the resource.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting of its Law Enforcement Technical Committee (LETC), in conjunction with the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission's (GSMFC) Law Enforcement Committee (LEC).

This action serves as a notice that NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), has found that Western Atlantic sailfish is now overfished and the Pribilof Islands blue king crab remains overfished. NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary, is required to provide this notice whenever it determines that a stock or stock complex is subject to overfishing, overfished, or approaching an overfished condition.

Federal commercial tilefish permit holders are prohibited from fishing for, catching, possessing, transferring or landing blueline tilefish in the Tilefish Management Unit for the remainder of the 2024 fishing year. This action is required because NMFS has determined that 100 percent of the 2024 total allowable landings have been caught. This action is intended to prevent over-harvest of blueline tilefish for the fishing year.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, the National Marine Fisheries Service (hereafter, "NMFS") promulgates regulations to govern the incidental taking of marine mammals by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1, LLC, the project company of the original applicant, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC, a joint venture between EDF-RE Offshore Development LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of EDF Renewables, Inc.) and Shell New Energies US LLC, during the construction of the Atlantic Shores South Project (hereafter, "Atlantic Shores South" or the "Project"), an offshore wind energy project located in Federal and State waters offshore of New Jersey, specifically within the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (hereafter, "BOEM") Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (hereafter, "OCS") Lease Areas OCS-A-0499 and OCS- A-0570 (hereafter, "Lease Areas") and along export cable routes to sea-to-shore transition points. The Project will be divided into 2 projects in 2 areas: Project 1 and Project 2 (the combined hereafter referred to as the "Project Area"), over the course of 5 years (January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2029). Of note, the proposed rule for this action named only OCS-A-0499 and the parent company, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC, with 2 subsidiaries who control each component of the Project (i.e., Project 1 is controlled by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1, LLC, and Project 2 is controlled by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 2, LLC). However, after publication of the proposed rule, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind LLC notified NMFS that this rulemaking should be issued for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1, LLC ("Project Company 1"). Furthermore, Project Company 1 now maintains ownership of both Project 1 and Project 2, rather than 2 separate subsidiaries for each of Project 1 and Project 2. As a result of this, the applicant requested that the Letter of Authorization (hereafter, "LOA"), if issued, be issued to Project Company 1, which would oversee the construction of both Project 1 and Project 2 (where the latter Project would be operated by "Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 2, LLC" ("Project Company 2")). These regulations, which allow for the issuance of a LOA for the incidental take of marine mammals during construction-related activities within the Project Area during the effective dates of the regulations, 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 ocean perch in the Central Aleutian district (CAI) of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) by vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access sector fishery. This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2024 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific ocean perch in the CAI allocated to vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access sector fishery.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is holding a hybrid meeting of its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) 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 SEDAR 91 assessment process of U.S. Caribbean spiny lobster will consist of a Data Workshop, and a series of assessment webinars, and a Review Workshop. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

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 NMFS has issued a Letter of Authorization (LOA) to LLOG Exploration Offshore, LLC (LLOG) for the take of marine mammals incidental to geophysical survey activity in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Department of the Navy (including the U.S. Navy (Navy) and the U.S. Marine Corps) and on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard; hereafter, Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and Coast Guard are collectively referred to as Action Proponents) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to training and testing activities conducted in the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) Study Area over the course of 7 years from November 2025 through November 2032. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of the Action Proponents' request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals and issuance of three, 7-year Letters of Authorization (LOAs). NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on the Action Proponents' application and request.

On November 24, 2023, NMFS published a final rule to implement amendment 123 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Management Area (BSAI FMP). The final rule included a formatting error in table 58 that caused the column headings to be incorrectly aligned with the column contents in the table. This correction fixes the error.

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

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 the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to incidentally harass marine mammals during Arctic Research Activities (ARA) in the Beaufort Sea and eastern Chukchi Sea. The ONR's activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the MMPA, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (2004 NDAA).

NMFS announces inseason action for the Pacific halibut recreational fishery in the International Pacific Halibut Commission's (IPHC) regulatory Area 2A off Washington, Oregon, and California. Specifically, this action transfers 12,000 pounds (lb; 5.4 metric tons (mt)) of the Area 2A Pacific halibut recreational allocation, in net pounds, from the Oregon recreational fishery to the Washington recreational fishery. This action is intended to provide opportunity for anglers to achieve the total Area 2A recreational fishery allocation.

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 Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to incidentally harass marine mammals during construction activities associated with the Seattle Slip 3 Vehicle Transfer Span (VTS) Replacement Project in Seattle, Washington.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific ocean perch in the Western Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2024 total allowable catch of Pacific ocean perch in the Western Regulatory Area of the GOA.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Atka mackerel in the Central Aleutian district (CAI) of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) by vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access sector fishery. This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2024 total allowable catch (TAC) of Atka mackerel in the CAI allocated to vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access sector fishery.

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