National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration September 24, 2019 – 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 the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to incidentally harass, by Level B harassment only, marine mammals during Arctic Research Activities in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. ONR's activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the MMPA, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (NDAA).

This notice announces receipt of an exempted fishing permit (EFP) application from United Catcher Boats for pollock catcher vessels (CVs) using pelagic trawl gear in the eastern Bering Sea (BS) and Gulf of Alaska (GOA) to evaluate the efficacy of electronic monitoring (EM) systems in lieu of observers for at-sea monitoring of vessels for compliance with fishery management regulations. If granted, this EFP would allow approximately 49 pollock CVs and nine tender vessels to participate in the proposed EFP to evaluate whether the use of EM systems is a cost and operationally effective means for monitoring vessel compliance with catch and discard requirements. If issued, the EFP would be in effect during 2020 and 2021 for the pollock fishing seasons (both A and B seasons in the BS and A/B and C/D seasons in the GOA). Results from this proposed EFP are intended to inform future North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) analyses in consideration of a regulatory program to implement EM systems aboard pollock CVs using pelagic trawl gear in the BS and GOA as a compliance monitoring tool in these fisheries. This proposed project has the potential to promote the objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).