National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 21, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule removes obsolete language in the Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) regulations requiring that a Billfish Certificate of Eligibility accompany certain product. The requirement to possess a Billfish Certificate of Eligibility no longer applies because passage of 2018 amendments to the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 prohibited the associated product sales. This amendment removes a now-obsolete requirement consistent with an already-effective statutory provision. As further discussed below, we anticipate finding good cause that notice is unnecessary and that it will not be necessary to provide an opportunity for public comment. No aspect of this action is controversial.

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that an application submitted by the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance for an exempted fishing permit contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. This exempted fishing permit would allow two commercial fishing vessels participating in an electronic monitoring program to fish in the Southern New England Regulated Mesh Area with a 6-inch (15.24 cm) diamond mesh codend. 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.

NMFS announces 22 inseason actions in the ocean salmon fisheries. These inseason actions modified the commercial and recreational salmon fisheries in the area from the U.S./Canada border to the U.S./Mexico border.

This announcement provides notice that the Department of Commerce (Department) has received a ``Notice of Appeal'' filed by WesternGeco (Appellant) requesting that the Secretary override an objection by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to a consistency certification for a proposed project to conduct a marine Geological and Geophysical seismic survey in the Atlantic Ocean.