National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that a major amendment to Permit No. 17115-02 has been issued to James Lloyd-Smith, Ph.D., Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, 610 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Box 723905, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7239.

Notice is hereby given that a permit has been issued to Terrie M. Williams, Ph.D., Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Center for Ocean Health, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, to conduct research on Weddell seals (Leptonycotes weddellii).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program (DARRP) is announcing new indirect cost rates on the recovery of indirect costs for its component organizations involved in natural resource damage assessment and restoration activities for fiscal year (FY) 2013 . The indirect cost rates for this fiscal year and date of implementation are provided in this notice. More information on these rates and the DARRP policy can be found at the DARRP Web site at www.darrp.noaa.gov.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scallop Advisory Panel on 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.

This proposed rule would revise regulations for the Pacific Coast Groundfish fishery with a target implementation date of January 1, 2015. Final implementation of the 2015-2016 biennial harvest specifications and management measures will likely be delayed beyond January 1, 2015. NMFS has identified two issues that must be addressed prior to January 1, 2015, to prevent interruption of ongoing fisheries and to allow harvest of the total allowable groundfish catch. This action would address those issues by revising groundfish regulations in two ways. First, this action would replace language that was inadvertently deleted after a series of temporary rulemakings. This would reinstate a mechanism whereby NMFS can issue interim groundfish allocations at the beginning of the year, allowing the Pacific coast groundfish fishery to continue in years when annual groundfish harvest specifications are expiring and new ones are not yet finalized, as is likely for January 1, 2015. Second, this action would amend regulations to extend NMFS' authority to issue the full shorebased trawl allocation of groundfish to current quota share holders in the Shorebased Individual Fishing Quota Program. Specifically, the rule would allow NMFS to issue that portion of the allowable catch currently allocated to an Adaptive Management Program (AMP), to quota share holders until final criteria and a process for distribution of the AMP quota shares is developed and implemented.

NMFS is prohibiting retention of ``other rockfish'' in the Aleutian Islands subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary because the 2014 total allowable catch (TAC) of ``other rockfish'' in the BSAI has been reached.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Joint VMS/Enforcement Committee and Advisory Panel Meeting 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.

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a forthcoming meeting of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC). The members will discuss and provide advice on issues outlined in the agenda below.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 104 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). If approved, Amendment 104 to the FMP would designate six areas of skate egg concentration as Habitat Areas of Particular Concern (HAPC). Designating the six areas of skate egg concentration as HAPC in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) would highlight the importance of this essential fish habitat for conservation. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.

NMFS proposes regulations under authority of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act (WCPFC Implementation Act) to establish restrictions on the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) by U.S. purse seine vessels in the western and central Pacific Ocean. The restrictions would include a prohibition on the use of FADs during January and February and July through September of 2015, and a limit of 3,061 purse seine sets that may be made on FADs in 2015. This action is necessary for the United States to implement provisions of a conservation and management measure (CMM) adopted by the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC) and to satisfy the obligations of the United States under the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention), to which it is a Contracting Party.

NMFS is considering the adoption of a new competitive, merit- based, financial assistance program supporting research on Alaska pinniped populations (seals and sea lions). To this end, NMFS is soliciting comments from the public and the marine mammal research community concerning possible program priorities to consider for an annual Alaska Pinniped Research Program. The objective of the program would be to support effective conservation and management of pinnipeds in waters off Alaska through a grant program focused on high priority research objectives related to NMFS recovery plans, conservation plans, research plans (including those developed with Alaska Native co- management organizations), or post-delisting monitoring plans for these species. Final competitive program priorities will be selected by NMFS after considering input received from the public.

NMFS apportions amounts of the non-specified reserve to the initial total allowable catch of Bering Sea (BS) Greenland turbot, BS Pacific ocean perch, Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Kamchatka flounder, and BSAI squids and the total allowable catch of BSAI sharks in the BSAI management area. This action is necessary to allow the fisheries to continue operating. It is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the fishery management plan for the BSAI management area.

NMFS received a revised application from Excelerate Energy, L.P. (Excelerate) and Tetra Tech, Inc. (Tetra Tech), on behalf of the Northeast Gateway[supreg] Energy BridgeTM, L.P. (Northeast Gateway or NEG) and Algonquin Gas Transmission, L.L.C. (Algonquin), for authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to operating, maintaining, and repairing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) port and the Algonquin Pipeline Lateral (Pipeline Lateral) facilities by NEG and Algonquin, in Massachusetts Bay, with changes to the proposed monitoring measures only. Due to the proposed revision, the IHA would be effective later than originally anticipated, although it still would be effective for a one-year period. NMFS is requesting comments on changes to the proposed monitoring in its proposal to issue an authorization to Northeast Gateway to incidentally take, by harassment, small numbers of marine mammals for a period of 1 year.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the 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.

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.

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.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Salmon Subcommittee of the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will hold a joint methodology review meeting with the Salmon Technical Team (STT) and Model Evaluation Workgroup (MEW), followed by a single-day meeting of the STT, all of which will be open to the public.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold meetings of its 117th Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and its 161st Council meeting to take actions on fishery management issues in the Western Pacific Region. The Council will also convene meetings of the Council's Education Steering Committee, Fishery Data Collection and Research Committee, Pelagic Standing Committee, and Executive and Budget Standing Committee.

NMFS reopens the comment period on the proposed rule to implement an information collection program for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fishery that published on August 7, 2014. The original comment period closed on September 8, 2014. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council requested the comment period be reopened to allow for additional public comment through October 17, 2014, to be submitted after this proposed action is discussed at the upcoming Council meeting.