National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration February 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council will hold public informational meetings on potential management measures for non- commercial fishing in the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, Marianas Trench National Marine Monument, and Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

This notice corrects an error contained in the notice published in the Federal Register on January 19, 2010. That notice announced the NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Program Project Grants competition and contained an incorrect date for postmark of hard copy applications.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the environmental impacts of issuing Incidental Take Authorizations (ITAs) pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to the oil and gas industry for the taking of marine mammals incidental to offshore exploration activities (e.g., seismic surveys and exploratory drilling) in Federal and state waters of the U.S. Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off Alaska.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council's (CFMC) Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will hold a meeting. The meeting is open to the public, and will be conducted in English.

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.

NMFS announces the receipt of an application for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from the Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries Foundation, Inc. If granted, the EFP would authorize the applicants, with certain conditions, to collect and retain limited numbers of specimens that would otherwise be prohibited from possession and retention. This study, to be conducted in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico waters, is intended to characterize catch and bycatch within the southeastern shrimp fishery.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) publishes this notice to describe how it will administer the approximately 3 percent of funding that remains from the original allocation provided to NMFS under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). These funds were set aside specifically to manage and mitigate risks to the original habitat restoration investments and ensure program goals are achieved. NMFS is only accepting requests for supplemental funding from existing ARRA grantees that were awarded funds as a result of the original competition. There is the possibility that NMFS may also fund additional projects selected from the ranked list of previously reviewed proposals that was provided to the Selecting Official as part of the original competition.

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.

NMFS announces approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of a collection-of-information requirement contained in Northeast (NE) Multispecies regulations for midwater trawl herring vessels that fish in groundfish Closed Area I (CA I). The intent of this final rule is to implement these additional reporting requirements.

On February 17, 2009, NMFS published the final 2009 and 2010 harvest specifications for groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) management area. Table 8c of that document contained the final 2009 and 2010 prohibited species bycatch allowances for the BSAI trawl limited access sector and non-trawl fisheries of the BSAI management area. That table contained an error that is corrected in this rule.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allocation of the 2010 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod apportioned to vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component of the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

NMFS, Southeast Region, in collaboration with the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) intends to prepare a DEIS to describe and analyze management alternatives to be included in an amendment to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP). These alternatives will consider measures to end overfishing of gag; create a rebuilding plan for the gag stock that will restore the stock to its maximum sustainable yield level (MSY); adjust gag and red grouper annual catch limits (ACLs), annual catch targets (ACTs), and other management measures; and revise shallow-water grouper accountability measures (AMs). In addition, the DEIS will consider separating the recreational sector of the grouper component of the reef fish fishery, revising multi-use individual fishing quota (IFQ) shares, methods to reduce gag bycatch, and improving data collection and monitoring of the recreational sector. The purpose of this notice of intent (NOI) is to solicit public comments on the scope

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by pot catcher vessels greater than or equal to 60 feet (18.3 meters (m)) length overall (LOA) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2010 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) specified for pot catcher vessels greater than or equal to 60 feet (18.3 m) LOA in the BSAI.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, and implementing regulations, notification is hereby given that a letter of authorization (LOA) has been issued to the 30th Space Wing, U.S. Air Force (USAF), to take four species of seals and sea lions incidental to rocket and missile launches on Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California, a military readiness activity.

NOAA, the Department of the Interior (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon are collectively referred to as the ``Trustees'' for this case. The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Nation, although a Trustee for Portland Harbor, has withdrawn from the Trustee Council and is no longer participating in the restoration planning efforts of the group of Trustees identified here. The Trustees for this case are providing notice of their efforts to plan restoration projects to compensate for injuries to natural resources in Portland Harbor in the Lower Willamette River. The Trustees seek damages from potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to restore, rehabilitate, replace or acquire the equivalent of natural resources and services injured by the release of hazardous substances. The Trustees will prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement

NMFS proposes regulations to implement measures in Framework Adjustment 44 (FW 44) to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP), and specifications for the FMP for fishing years (FY) 2010- 2012. FW 44 measures and specifications, if approved, would be implemented in conjunction with approved measures in Amendment 16 to the FMP, as well as with approved sector operations plans authorized under the FMP. Specifically, FW 44 would modify the Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod and pollock trip limits proposed in Amendment 16; provide the Regional Administrator (RA) authority to implement inseason trip limits and/or differential day-at-sea (DAS) counting for any groundfish stock in order to prevent catch from exceeding the Annual Catch Limit (ACL); and specify Overfishing Levels (OFLs), Acceptable Biological Catch levels (ABCs), and ACLs for all 20 groundfish stocks in the FMP for fishing years 2010 through 2012, as well as the Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for transboundary Georges Bank (GB) stocks. NMFS also proposes in this rule, pursuant to current Regional Administratory authority under the FMP, to allocate zero trips to the Closed Area II Yellowtail Flounder Special Access Program (SAP); limit the Eastern U.S./Canada Haddock SAP to the use of Category A DAS for common pool vessels; delay the opening of the Eastern U.S./Canada Management Area for trawl vessels; and implement a GB yellowtail flounder trip limit of 2,500 lb (1,125 kg). Finally, this rule would make technical corrections to proposed Amendment 16 regulations.