National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 23, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a CNMI joint advisory group meeting consisting of the Council's CNMI Regional Ecosystem Advisory Committee (REAC), CNMI Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) Advisory Panel (AP) and CNMI members of its Plan Team, Fishing Industry Advisory Committee (FIAC), Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC), and Marine Planning and Climate Change Committee (MPCCC); and a Guam joint advisory group meeting consisting of the Council's Guam REAC and Guam members of its Plan Team, FIAC, SSC, and MPCCC to discuss and make recommendations on fishery management issues in the Western Pacific Region.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Groundfish Committee 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 Fishery Management Council's (MAFMC's) Demersal Committee will hold a public meeting.

Notice is hereby given that permits or permit amendments have been issued to the following entities under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as applicable.

NMFS solicits nominations for the Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel (AP). NMFS consults with and considers the comments and views of the HMS AP when preparing and implementing Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) or FMP amendments for Atlantic tunas, swordfish, sharks, and billfish. Nominations are being sought to fill approximately one-third (11) of the seats on the HMS AP for a 3-year appointment. Individuals with definable interests in the recreational and commercial fishing and related industries, environmental community, academia, and non-governmental organizations are considered for membership on the HMS AP.

We, NMFS, announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the chambered nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) as a threatened species or an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We have completed a comprehensive status review of the species in response to this petition. Based on the best scientific and commercial information available, including the status review report (Miller 2017), and after taking into account efforts being made to protect the species, we have determined that the chambered nautilus is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout its range. Therefore, we propose to list the chambered nautilus as a threatened species under the ESA. Any protective regulations determined to be necessary and advisable for the conservation of the proposed threatened chambered nautilus under ESA section 4(d) will be proposed in a separate Federal Register announcement. Should the proposed listing be finalized, we would also designate critical habitat for the species, to the maximum extent prudent and determinable; however, we have determined that critical habitat is not determinable at this time. We solicit information to inform our final listing determination, the development of potential protective regulations, and potential designation of critical habitat in the event the proposed threatened listing for the chambered nautilus is finalized.