National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration January 24, 2018 – 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 U.S. Department of the Navy (Navy) to incidentally harass, by Level A and Level B harassment, marine mammals during construction activities associated with waterfront improvement projects at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (the Shipyard) in Kittery, Maine.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Ecosystem Workgroup (EWG) will hold a webinar, which is open to the public.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) is sponsoring a series of four webinars presenting information relevant to the Fishery Ecosystem Plan Initiative on Climate and Communities. The webinars are open to the public.

The SEDAR 52 assessment process of Gulf of Mexico red snapper will consist of an in-person workshop and a series of assessment webinars. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

Notice is hereby given that ONMS will solicit applications to fill seats on its 13 national marine sanctuary advisory councils and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Advisory Council (advisory councils), under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Executive Order, respectively. Vacant seats, including positions (i.e., primary and alternate), for each of the advisory councils will be advertised differently at each site in accordance with the information provided in this notice. This notice contains web page links and contact information for each site, as well as additional resources on advisory council vacancies and the application process.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office for Coastal Management is reopening the public comment period for the performance evaluation of the U.S. Virgin Islands Coastal Management Program that covers the time period of December 2007 to August 2017. The public comment period is being reopened until March 16, 2018 as Hurricane Irma impacted the U.S. Virgin Islands two days before the previous comment period closed and Hurricane Maria subsequently impacted the U.S. Virgin Islands.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher/processors using pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season apportionment of the 2018 Pacific cod total allowable catch allocated to catcher/processors using pot gear in the BSAI.

NMFS issues this proposed rule for the 2018 Pacific whiting fishery under the authority of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), and the Pacific Whiting Act of 2006. This proposed rule would allocate 17.5 percent of the U.S. Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of Pacific whiting for 2018 to Pacific Coast Indian tribes that have a Treaty right to harvest groundfish.