National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration February 15, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Acting Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that an exempted fishing permit application contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. This permit would allow Coonamessett Farm Foundation to test the selectivity of alternate gillnet configurations to target haddock while reducing catch of other groundfish species. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed exempted fishing permits.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA) requires the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to establish and maintain an inventory of marine mammals in zoos and aquariums. The Office of Protected Resources maintains the inventory for marine mammals under NMFS' jurisdiction including cetaceans and pinnipeds [excluding walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)]. The MMPA requires that the holders of marine mammals in human care provide the inventory data. We propose to make our current database, the National Inventory of Marine Mammals (NIMM), accessible to holders of marine mammals for inventory reporting and to the public for access to the inventory data, which is regularly requested through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). NMFS is requesting public comment on proposed policies and procedures for the administration and maintenance of the online inventory database, NIMM, including maintenance of historical information, reporting births and stillbirths, reporting cause of death, and other administrative procedures for NIMM.