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

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Greenland turbot in the Aleutian Islands subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2017 Greenland turbot initial total allowable catch (ITAC) in the Aleutian Islands subarea of the BSAI.

Through this final rule, NMFS establishes fishery management measures for the 2017 ocean salmon fisheries off Washington, Oregon, and California and the 2018 salmon seasons opening earlier than May 1, 2018. The temporary rule for emergency action (emergency rule), under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), implements the 2017 annual management measures for the West Coast ocean salmon fisheries for the area from the U.S./Canada border to Cape Falcon, OR, from May 1, 2017, through October 28, 2018. The emergency rule is required because allocation of coho harvest between recreational and commercial fisheries will not be consistent with the allocation schedule specified in the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP) in order to limit fishery impacts on Queets coho and meet conservation and management objectives. The fishery management measures for the area from Cape Falcon, OR, to the U.S./Mexico border are consistent with the FMP and are implemented through a final rule. Specific fishery management measures vary by fishery and by area. The measures establish fishing areas, seasons, quotas, legal gear, recreational fishing days and catch limits, possession and landing restrictions, and minimum lengths for salmon taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) (3-200 NM) off Washington, Oregon, and California. The management measures are intended to prevent overfishing and to apportion the ocean harvest equitably among treaty Indian, non- treaty commercial, and recreational fisheries. The measures are also intended to allow a portion of the salmon runs to escape the ocean fisheries in order to provide for spawning escapement and inside fisheries (fisheries occurring in state internal waters).

NOAA, on behalf of the Federal and state natural resource trustees for the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (Louisiana TIG Trustees) for the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, is initiating two actions with this notice. First, the Louisiana TIG Trustees are announcing their intent to prepare a Strategic Restoration Plan for Barataria Basin, Louisiana, pursuant to the Deepwater Horizon Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PDARP/PEIS) (Feb 2016). This Barataria Basin Strategic Restoration Plan, referred to herein as the Phase I Plan, will consider identifying habitat restoration components of the Louisiana Draft 2017 Coastal Master Plan (draft 2017 CMP) to serve as an Oil Pollution Act (OPA) Strategic Restoration Plan for restoring wetland, coastal, and nearshore habitat in Barataria Basin, Louisiana, consistent with OPA and with the Trustees' PDARP/PEIS. The Louisiana TIG Trustees will consider whether a combination of Barataria Basin habitat restoration projects in the draft 2017 CMP constitutes a preferred alternative, among other feasible alternatives, for fulfilling OPA's and the PDARP/ PEIS's intent for the trustees to address ecosystem-level injuries and to restore, rehabilitate, replace, or acquire the equivalent of the injured wetland, coastal and nearshore habitat resources and services and compensate for interim losses of those resources from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Any projects or suites of projects that are ultimately included in the resulting Strategic Restoration Plan will be further analyzed in subsequent phased restoration plans and their accompanying environmental impact analyses as required by OPA, NEPA, and the Trustees' PDARP/PEIS. Second, the Louisiana TIG Trustees are providing notice of the initiation of restoration planning, including analysis of the Mid- Barataria Sediment Diversion and appropriate alternatives to partially restore ecosystem and wetland, coastal and nearshore habitat resources and services in Barataria Basin, and compensate for interim losses of those resources and services, injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This potential Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Restoration Plan is referred to herein as the Phase 2 Plan. The Louisiana TIG Trustees are evaluating whether the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is an appropriate project for restoring injuries from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the Louisiana TIG Trustees anticipate that their decision in that regard will be informed by the results of the Phase 1 Plan. Further, by separate Supplemental Notice of Intent, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is announcing its intent, as part of its review under section 404 of the Clean Water Act, section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (``Section 10/404''), and section 408 of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, as amended (``Section 408''), to prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (``EIS'') pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). USACE will use the EIS, in conjunction with other relevant materials, to inform decision-making on the Department of the Army, section 10/404 and section 408 requests for permits and permissions for the Mid- Barataria Sediment Diversion. In order to capitalize on that ongoing environmental review, the Louisiana TIG Trustees are, at this time, requesting input on the scope of the USACE EIS via the process outlined in the coordinated USACE NOI. The LA TIG is supporting the development of the USACE EIS with the potential for the EIS to serve as the EIS for the Phase 2 Restoration Plan. The Louisiana TIG Trustees will additionally seek formal public involvement in the Phase 2 Draft Restoration Plan process in accordance with applicable Federal regulations and consistent with the PDARP/PEIS.

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for authorization to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting operations of Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) Low Frequency Active (LFA) sonar in areas of the world's oceans (with the exception of Arctic and Antarctic waters and certain geographic restrictions), from August 15, 2017, through August 14, 2022. The Navy's activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (FY 2004 NDAA). Pursuant to the MMPA, NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue regulations to govern the incidental take of marine mammals by Level B harassment during the specified activity.

NMFS has received a request from the City of San Diego for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to Coast Boulevard improvements in La Jolla, California. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities.

NMFS proposes to approve and implement measures included in an omnibus amendment submitted by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council that would manage forage species within Mid-Atlantic Federal waters. This amendment would implement an annual landing limit, possession limits, and permitting and reporting requirements for Atlantic chub mackerel and certain previously unmanaged forage species and species groups within Mid-Atlantic Federal waters. The purpose of this action is to prevent the development of new, and the expansion of existing, commercial fisheries on certain forage species until the Council has adequate opportunity and information to evaluate the potential impacts of forage fish harvest on existing fisheries, fishing communities, and the marine ecosystem.

The SEDAR 51 assessment process of Gulf of Mexico gray snapper will consist of a Data Workshop, an Assessment Workshop and a series of assessment webinars, and a Review Workshop. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is issuing regulations under the Tuna Conventions Act to implement Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC or the Commission) Resolution C-16-08, which establishes limits on the U.S. commercial catch of Pacific bluefin tuna from waters of the IATTC Convention Area for 2017 and 2018. This action is necessary for the United States to satisfy its obligations as a member of the IATTC.

This final rule implements Amendment 18 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. The New England Fishery Management Council developed Amendment 18 to promote fleet diversity and in the groundfish fishery, prevent the acquisition of excessive shares of permits, and enhance sector management. This action limits the number of permits and annual groundfish allocation that an entity can hold. This action also removes several effort restrictions to increase operational flexibility for fishermen on limited access handgear vessels.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office for Coastal Management will hold a public meeting to solicit comments for the performance evaluation of the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Pursuant to the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has received an application for five-year extensions of Deep Seabed Mining Exploration Licenses USA-1 and USA-4 that are held by the Lockheed Martin Corporation (``Lockheed Martin'' or the ``Licensee''). The application includes a revised exploration plan that sets forth the activities to be conducted during the extended period of the license.

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has evaluated one Tribal Resource Management Plan (TRMP or Tribal Plan) submitted by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CTCR) to NMFS pursuant to the limitation on take prohibitions for actions conducted under Tribal Plans promulgated under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Tribal Plan specifies artificial propagation, harvest, predator control, kelt reconditioning, and monitoring and evaluation activities in the Okanogan River basin and portions of the Upper Columbia River (UCR). This document serves to notify the public that NMFS, by delegated authority from the Secretary of Commerce, has determined pursuant to the Tribal ESA section 4(d) Rule for salmon and steelhead that implementing and enforcing the plans will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of survival and recovery of ESA-listed UCR Spring Chinook salmon and steelhead.

NMFS implements accountability measures (AMs) for two species groups in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the U.S. Caribbean off Puerto Rico for the 2017 fishing year through this temporary rule. NMFS has determined that recreational sector annual catch limits (ACLs) in the EEZ off Puerto Rico were exceeded for wrasses and parrotfishes based on average landings during the 2013-2015 fishing years. This temporary rule reduces the lengths of the 2017 fishing seasons for these species groups by the amounts necessary to ensure that landings do not exceed the applicable recreational ACLs in 2017. NMFS closes the recreational sectors for these species groups beginning on the dates specified in the DATES section and continuing through the end of the current fishing year, December 31, 2017. These AMs are necessary to protect the Caribbean reef fish resources in the EEZ off Puerto Rico.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for species that comprise the deep-water species fishery by vessels using trawl gear in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because the second seasonal apportionment of the Pacific halibut bycatch allowance specified for the deep-water species fishery in the GOA has been reached.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan Team (BS FEP) will meet in April, in Homer, AK.

The SEDAR 54 assessment of the HMS Sandbar will consist of a series of assessment webinars. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Subcommittee of the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will hold a meeting via webinar to review the 2017 Pacific mackerel biomass projection estimate. The meeting is open to the public.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Pelagics Plan Team (PPT) in Honolulu, HI to discuss fishery issues and develop recommendations for future management.

NMFS proposes revised black sea bass specifications for the 2017 fishing year and projected specifications for 2018. In addition, this rule proposes to remove an accountability measure implemented at the start of the fishing year designed to account for commercial sector overages in 2015. Updated scientific information regarding the black sea bass stock indicates that higher catch limits should be implemented to obtain optimum yield, and that the accountability measure is no longer necessary or appropriate. This action is intended to inform the public of the proposed specifications for the 2017 fishing year and projected specifications for 2018.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office for Coastal Management will hold a public meeting to solicit comments on the performance evaluation of the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program. Notice is also hereby given of the availability of the final evaluation findings for the American Samoa, Virginia, and Florida Coastal Management Programs and Weeks Bay, San Francisco Bay, and Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserves.

NMFS has received a request from the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to construction activities as part of a ferry terminal expansion and improvements project. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting public comment on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to WETA to incidentally take marine mammals, by Level B harassment only, during the specified activity.