National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration January 23, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of the Wreckfish Sub-Committee.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2024 total allowable catch of Pacific cod by catcher vessels using trawl gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils (Councils) will hold a public meeting of their joint Northeast Trawl Advisory Panel.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, NMFS hereby promulgates regulations to govern the incidental taking of marine mammals incidental to the Virginia Electric and Power Company, doing business as Dominion Energy Virginia (Dominion Energy), construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial (CVOW-C) Project (hereafter, the CVOW-C Project or the Project) in Federal and State waters offshore of Virginia, specifically within the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lease Area OCS-A 0483 (Lease Area) and along export cable routes to sea-to-shore transition points (collectively referred to as the ``Project Area''), over the course of 5 years (February 5, 2024 through February 4, 2029). These regulations, which allow for the issuance of a Letter of Authorization (LOA) for the incidental take of marine mammals during construction- related activities within the Project Area during the effective dates of the regulations, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, as well as requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking.

NMFS will convene the Research Track Assessment Peer Review Meeting for the purpose of reviewing Applied State Space Modeling. The Research Track Assessment Peer Review is a formal scientific peer- review process for evaluating and presenting results to assessment scientists and fisheries managers. Materials are prepared by the research track working group and reviewed by an independent panel of stock assessment experts from the Center of Independent Experts. The public is invited to attend the presentations and discussions between the review panel and the scientists who have participated in the process.