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

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scallop Advisory Panel 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.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scallop Committee 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.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) has begun its annual preseason management process for the 2020 ocean salmon fisheries off the U.S. West Coast. This notice informs the public of opportunities to provide comments on the development of 2020 ocean salmon management measures.

NMFS has received a request from Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC (Atlantic Shores) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys off the coasts of New York and New Jersey in the area of the Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS-A 0499) and along potential submarine cable routes to a landfall location in New York or New Jersey. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS is also requesting comments on a possible one-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.

On behalf of the Ocean Policy Committee, Ocean Resource Management Subcommittee and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) as Co-Chairs of the Ocean Policy Committee, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requests input from all interested parties on the permitting process for ocean research, mapping, and characterization activities. The public input provided in response to this Request for Information (RFI) will inform the Ocean Policy Committee as it works with Federal agencies and other stakeholders to increase the efficiency of the permitting and authorization processes for ocean research, mapping, and characterization activities across agencies.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

NMFS proposes to implement main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for deepwater shrimp, precious corals, and gray jobfish (uku) in 2019-2021, and for Kona crab in 2019. The proposed ACLs and AMs support the long-term sustainability of Pacific Island fisheries.

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a forthcoming meeting of the National Sea Grant Advisory Board (Board). Board members will discuss and provide advice on the National Sea Grant College Program (Sea Grant) in the areas of program evaluation, strategic planning, education and extension, science and technology programs, and other matters as described in the agenda found on the Sea Grant website.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Highly Migratory Species Advisory Subpanel (HMSAS) and HMS Management Team (HMSMT) will hold a webinar, which is open to the public.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Hawaii Archipelago Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) Advisory Panel (AP), American Samoa FEP AP, Mariana Archipelago FEP- Guam AP, and Mariana Archipelago FEP-Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) AP to discuss and make recommendations on fishery management issues in the Western Pacific Region.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Ecosystem Workgroup (EWG) will hold a webinar, which is open to the public.

Notice is hereby given that Sarah Conner, Wild Space Productions, St. Stephens House, Colston Avenue, Bristol, BS1 4ST, United Kingdom, has applied for an amendment to Permit No. 23467.

This action implements the New England Fishery Management Council's Industry-Funded Monitoring Omnibus Amendment. This amendment allows the New England Council flexibility to increase monitoring in certain fishery management plans to assess the amount and type of catch and reduce uncertainty around catch estimates. This amendment establishes a process to standardize future industry-funded monitoring programs in New England fishery management plans and establishes industry-funded monitoring in the Atlantic herring fishery. This action helps ensure consistency in industry-funded monitoring programs across fisheries and increases monitoring in the Atlantic herring fishery.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council submitted Amendment 109 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA FMP) to the Secretary of Commerce for review. If approved, Amendment 109 would reduce operational and management inefficiencies in the Central Gulf of Alaska and Western Gulf of Alaska trawl catcher vessel Pacific cod fisheries by changing seasonal Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod apportionments to allow greater harvest opportunities earlier in the year. Amendment 109 is necessary to provide participants in the fisheries an opportunity to more fully harvest the total allowable catch of Pacific cod, increase management flexibility, and potentially decrease prohibited species catch while not redistributing fishing opportunities between management areas or harvesting sectors. Amendment 109 is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the GOA FMP, and other applicable laws.

NMFS has hereby issued an incidental harassment authorization to Jordan Cove Energy Project, LP (JCEP) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to pile driving associated with construction of the Jordan Cove Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and ancillary projects. This project is being tracked on the Permitting Dashboard, which can be accessed at https://www.permits.performance.gov/ permitting-projects/jordan-cove-lng-terminal-and-pacific-conn ector-gas- pipeline.

NMFS is adjusting the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) Purse Seine and Reserve category quotas for 2020, as it has done annually since 2015. NMFS also is transferring 51 metric tons (mt) of BFT quota from the Reserve category to the General category January 2020 period (from January 1 through March 31, 2020, or until the available subquota for this period is reached, whichever comes first). The transfer to the General category is based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments and applies to Atlantic tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels with a commercial sale endorsement when fishing commercially for BFT.

NMFS issues regulations to implement management measures described in Amendments 50A, 50B, 50C, 50D, 50E, and 50F to the Fishery Management Plan for Reef Fish Resources in the Gulf of Mexico (FMP), as prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) (Amendments 50A-F). This final rule delegates authority to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas (Gulf states), to establish specific management measures for the harvest of red snapper in Federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) by the private angling component of the recreational sector. The purposes of this final rule and Amendments 50A-F are to increase fishing opportunities and economic benefits by allowing each Gulf state to establish specific management measures for the recreational harvest of red snapper in Federal waters by private anglers landing in that state.

NMFS announces that the commercial per-trip possession limit for southern red hake has been reduced for the remainder of the 2019 fishing year. Regulations governing the small-mesh multispecies fishery require this action to prevent the southern red hake total allowable landing limit from being exceeded. This announcement informs the public of the reduced southern red hake possession limit.

NMFS proposes to implement measures recommended by the New England Fishery Management Council in Framework Adjustment 8 to the Northeast Skate Complex Fishery Management Plan. This action would specify skate catch limits for fishing years 2020 and 2021, and increase seasonal trip limits for both the wing and bait fisheries. This proposed action is necessary to establish skate specifications consistent with the most recent scientific information. The intent of this action is to establish appropriate catch limits for the skate fishery, while providing additional operational flexibility to fishery participants.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Scallop Plan Team will meet on February 19, 2020, in Kodiak, AK.

NMFS proposes to revise measures that govern interactions between the Hawaii shallow-set pelagic longline fishery and sea turtles. Based on recommendations from the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council), we would lower the annual fleet interaction limit (``hard cap'') for leatherback sea turtles from 26 to 16, and remove the annual fleet hard cap for North Pacific loggerhead turtles (currently 17). NMFS would also create individual trip interaction limits of two leatherback and five North Pacific loggerhead turtle interactions, with accountability measures for reaching a limit. The proposed rule would provide managers and fishermen with the necessary tools to respond to and mitigate changes in North Pacific loggerhead and leatherback turtle interactions, to ensure a continued supply of fresh domestic swordfish to U.S. markets, consistent with the conservation needs of these sea turtles. The action also ensures that the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery operates in compliance with the Reasonable and Prudent Measures (RPMs) and associated Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) of a biological opinion (BiOp) issued by NMFS on June 26, 2019.

NMFS took two inseason actions in the commercial Pacific bluefin tuna fishery in 2019. On August 4, 2019, the commercial Pacific bluefin tuna trip limit was reduced to two metric tons (mt). On August 11, the commercial Pacific bluefin tuna trip limit was increased to 15 mt. Additionally, NMFS is using this notice to announce the Pacific bluefin tuna catch limit for U.S. commercial fishing vessels for 2020, which is 356 mt.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council) will convene a webinar meeting of its Groundfish Management Team (GMT) to discuss items on the Pacific Council's March 2020 meeting agenda. The meeting is open to the public.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Tilefish Advisory Panel will hold a meeting.