National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration October 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule announces routine inseason adjustments to management measures in commercial groundfish fisheries. This action is intended to allow commercial fishing vessels to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting rebuilding and depleted stocks.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a joint public meeting of its Skate Committee and Advisory Panel via webinar to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

NMFS announces a meeting to present the results of research studies conducted on seabird cable strikes in the West Coast at-sea whiting fishery. The meeting topics are described under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

On May 6, 2021, the U.S. Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality released a preliminary report on Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful (Report). The Report recommends a decade-long national initiative to advance locally led conservation and restoration in public, private, and tribal lands and waters toward addressing three threats: Disappearance of nature, climate change, and inequitable access to the outdoors. Guided by eight core principles and six focus areas for early action and progress in the Report, NOAA is seeking public input on how NOAA should, using its existing authorities and associated measures, conserve and restore America's ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

NMFS informs surfclam and ocean quahog individual transferable quota allocation holders that they will be required to purchase their fishing year 2022 (January 1, 2022-December 31, 2022) cage tags from the National Band and Tag Company. The intent of this notice is to comply with regulations for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries and to promote efficient distribution of cage tags.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Groundfish Plan Teams will meet November 15, 2021 through November 19, 2021.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a series of public hearings via webinar pertaining to Amendment 34 to the Fishery Management Plan for Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region. The amendment addresses Atlantic migratory group king mackerel catch levels and Atlantic king and Spanish mackerel management measures.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

This notice extends the proposal submission deadline for the NOAA Rear Admiral Richard T. Brennan Ocean Mapping Matching Fund program by two weeks to November 12, 2021. Notice of the Brennan Matching Fund opportunity originally appeared in the Federal Register on July 27, 2021 (86 FR 40197, pages 40197-40200, 2021-15970, or at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/07/27/2021-159 70/notice- of-matching-fund-opportunity-for-ocean-and-coastal-mapping-an d-request- for-partnership).

NMFS proposes a 2022 limit of 2,000 metric tons (t) of longline-caught bigeye tuna for each U.S. Pacific territory (American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), collectively ``the territories''). NMFS would allow each territory to allocate up to 1,500 t to U.S. longline fishing vessels through specified fishing agreements that meet established criteria. However, the overall allocation limit among all territories may not exceed 3,000 t. As an accountability measure, NMFS would monitor, attribute, and restrict (if necessary) catches of longline-caught bigeye tuna, including catches made under a specified fishing agreement. The proposed catch limits and accountability measures would support the long-term sustainability of fishery resources of the U.S. Pacific Islands.

NMFS proposes revisions to monitoring provisions that specify exemptions for non-groundfish trawl vessels participating in the Pacific coast pink shrimp fishery and for groundfish midwater trawl vessels. In a final rule on vessel movement, monitoring, and declaration management for the Pacific coast groundfish fishery published on June 11, 2020, vessels in the pink shrimp trawl fishery were incorrectly included with other open access non-groundfish trawl vessels that became subject to a higher position transmission rate on their NMFS type-approved vessel monitoring system (VMS) units. This proposed rule would correct the error and return the required transmission rate for vessels in the pink shrimp trawl fishery to once every 60 minutes, as recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council. This proposed rule would also correct a citation error in the VMS regulations with regards to exemptions for midwater trawl vessels, as well as a typographical error in the trawl fishery prohibitions.

NMFS reviewed the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regional marine mammal stock assessment reports (SARs) in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). SARs for marine mammals in the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regions were revised according to new information. NMFS solicits public comments on the draft 2021 SARs. NMFS is also requesting new information for strategic stocks that were not updated in 2021.

This temporary rule extends emergency measures that allow at- sea Pacific whiting processing vessels to operate as both a mothership and a catcher-processor during the 2021 Pacific whiting fishery. These emergency measures were originally authorized until November 10, 2021. This temporary rule extends the emergency measures through December 31, 2021. This action is necessary to ensure catcher vessels in the at- sea whiting sector are able to fully harvest sector allocations. Emergency measures under this extended temporary rule will allow catcher-processors to operate as motherships and replace mothership processing vessels that are unable to operate in the at-sea whiting sector during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting high economic uncertainty in 2021.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (MAFMC's) Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committee will hold a public meeting.

NMFS announces that the states of New Jersey and Maryland are transferring a portion of their 2021 commercial bluefish quota to the States of Rhode Island and North Carolina, respectively. These quota adjustments are necessary to comply with the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised commercial bluefish quotas for New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland, and North Carolina.

The Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (``ACCRES'') will meet for 2 half-day meetings on November 3-November 4, 2021.

The SEDAR 79 assessment process of Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic mutton snapper will consist of a Data Workshop, and a series of assessment webinars, and a Review Workshop. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Groundfish Management Team (GMT) will hold a webinar meeting to discuss items on the Pacific Council's November 2021 meeting agenda. The meeting is open to the public.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council's (Council) Outreach and Education Advisory Panel (OEAP) will hold a 2-day public virtual meeting in November to discuss the items contained in the agenda in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The SEDAR 77 assessment of the Atlantic stocks of hammerhead sharks will consist of a stock identification (ID) process, data webinars/workshop, a series of assessment webinars, and a review workshop. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 610 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the annual 2021 total allowable catch of pollock for Statistical Area 610 in the GOA.

NMFS announces the extension of the public comment period on the Administrative Law Judge's recommended decision on NMFS' proposal to issue a waiver and regulations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow the Makah Indian Tribe to take a limited number of Eastern North Pacific gray whales for ceremonial and subsistence purposes. We announced a 20-day comment period to end on October 19, 2021. Today, we extend the public comment period on the recommended decision by 25 days to November 13, 2021. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Habitat Protection and Ecosystem-Based Management (Habitat) AP.

NMFS proposes to implement management measures described in a framework action to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) as prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). For Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) lane snapper, this proposed rule would modify the annual catch limit (ACL) and revise an accountability measure (AM). The purposes of this proposed rule are to prevent overfishing of lane snapper and achieve optimum yield (OY). This proposed rule would also make minor administrative changes to replace outdated NMFS website addresses and language about required software for the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) programs.