National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration September 16, 2024 – 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 Vineyard Wind 1 LLC (Vineyard Wind 1) to incidentally harass marine mammals during the completion of construction activities associated with the Vineyard Wind 1 Offshore Wind Project in the northern portion of Lease Area OCS-A 0501 offshore of Massachusetts.

NMFS closes the General category fishery for Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) for the remainder of the September time period. The General category may only retain, possess, or land large medium and giant (i.e., measuring 73 inches (185 centimeters (cm) curved fork length (CFL) or greater) BFT when open. This action applies to Atlantic Tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) Charter/Headboat permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT. This action also waives the previously scheduled restricted-fishing days (RFDs) for the remainder of the September time period. With the RFDs waived during the closure, fishermen aboard General category permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat permitted vessels may tag and release BFT of all sizes, subject to the requirements of catch-and-release and tag-and-release programs. On October 1, 2024, the fishery will reopen automatically and previously scheduled RFDs for October will resume.