Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 241 / Thursday, December 16, 2004 / Notices 75307

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

[I.D. 120904B]

Pacific Fishery Management Council; 

Notice of Public Meeting

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), NationalOceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Vessel Monitoring 

System public meetings.

SUMMARY: On November 4, 2003, a final 

rule implementing a pilot vessel 

monitoring system (VMS) Program for 

the Pacific Coast groundfish fishery was 

published in the Federal Register (68 

FR 62374). The VMS requirements 

became effective January 1, 2004, for 

vessels registered to limited entry 

groundfish permits. The Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) is 

considering expansion of the VMS 

program into the open access groundfish 

fisheries. VMS requirements are being 

considered for both directed open 

access groundfish vessels and vessels in 

other target fisheries that incidentally 

take and retain groundfish in Federal 

waters (seaward of 3 nm). VMS coverage 

for vessels that fish only in state waters 

is not being considered at this time.

DATES: For specific dates and times of 

the public meetings, see SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Becky Renko 206–526–6110, 

becky.renko@noaa.gov, or Dayna 

Mathews 360–753–4409 

dayna.mathews@noaa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Dates, Times and Locations of Meetings

January 10, 2005, 7 p.m., Salmon 

Troller’s Hall, 19292 South Harbor 

Drive, Fort Bragg, CA.

January 11, 2005, 7 p.m., Community 

Center Auditorium, 1001 Kennedy Way, 

Morro Bay. Morro Bay, CA.

January 12, 2005, 7 p.m. California 

Department of Fish and Game, Los 

Alamitos Field Office and Laboratory, 

4665 Lampson Ave., Suite C, Los 

Alamitos, CA.

January 25, 2005 6 p.m., Ocasta High 

School, 2580 Montesano Street South, 

Westport, WA.

January 31, 2005, 6 p.m., Hatfield 

Marine Science Center, Room 32, 2040 

SE Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR.

February 1, 2005, 6 p.m., Oregon State 

University, Seafood Laboratory, 2021 

Marine Drive, Astoria, OR, and

February 7, 2005, 6 p.m., Gable 

Chambers at City Hall, 555 W. 20th St. 

Port Orford, OR.

In 2003, the Council began using 

depth-based management for 

commercial and recreational groundfish 

fishing in order to avoid harvest of 

overfished groundfish species. Depthbased management allows or disallows 

fishing in certain depth zones. Depthbased management can be difficult to 

enforce with limited state and Federal 

enforcement resources. To improve the 

enforceability of depth-based 

management areas, the NMFS 

implemented a vessel monitoring 

program on January 1, 2004.

Vessels registered to limited entry 

permits are currently required to carry 

and use a VMS transceiver unit and to 

provide declaration reports before 

fishing with allowed gear in areas with 

depth-based fishing regulations. At this 

time, open access exempted trawl and 

tribal trawl vessels are also required to 

provide declaration reports before 

fishing with allowed gear in areas with 

depth-based fishing regulations. While 

VMS creates additional costs and 

responsibilities for both managers and 

fishermen, it allows more fishing than 

would otherwise be possible using 

traditional enforcement tools. VMS uses 

electronic transmitters, placed on 

fishing vessels, to transmit information 

about a vessel’s position to a 

communications provider via satellite, 

where it is relayed to NMFS 

enforcement. This allows someone on 

land, monitoring such transmissions, to 

determine if a vessel is in a closed area.

Issues related to the implementation 

of VMS include the variety of VMS 

equipment and associated costs, the 

vessels’s physical ability to carry VMS, 

VMS operating requirements, vessel 

coverage (the portion of the fleet that is 

required to carry and use VMS), and 

coordination with traditional 

enforcement techniques. Because most 

of these issues were addressed during 

the initial implementation of VMS, they 

are not being addressed at this time. The 

only issue currently being considered is 

the level of coverage necessary for the 

open access fisheries.

VMS Implementation Timeline

Between September and December 

2002, the Council’s Enforcement 

Consultants group recommended VMS 

equipment requirements, identified 

approximate fleet sizes for fishing 

sectors likely to be considered for VMS 

units, and estimated the cost associated 

with purchase, installation, and 

operation of VMS. In November 2002, 

the Council made recommendations to 

NMFS regarding vessel coverage, costs, 

and gear regulations.

In 2003, NMFS prepared a proposed 

rule for a pilot VMS program for the 

limited entry fleet. The proposed rule 

was published in the Federal Register

on May 22, 2003 (68 FR 27972). On 

November 4, 2003, the final rule 

implementing the pilot VMS program in 

2004 was published in the Federal 

Register (68 FR 62374). A list of 

approved VMS units was published in 

the Federal Register on November 17, 

2003 (68 FR 64860). At its November 

2003 meeting the Council considered 

expansion of the VMS program into 

other sectors of the groundfish fishery. 

However, the Council delayed a 

decision about program expansion until 

the pilot program was fully 

implemented in 2004.

At the June 2004 Council meeting, 

NMFS reported on the successful 

implementation of the VMS program in 

the limited entry fisheries and the 

associated telephone declaration 

system. Nearly 300 VMS units have 

been activated, generating more than 1.6 

million position reports in conjunction 

with over 800 declaration reports. At its 

September 2004 meeting, the Council 

reviewed a range of alternatives for 

program expansion. Incorporating 

comments from the Groundfish 

Advisory Subpanel and the public, the 

Council adopted a range of alternatives 

for expanding the VMS program into the 

open access groundfish fisheries. The 

alternatives being considered focus on 

directed open access groundfish vessel, 

but also include vessels in other target 

fisheries that incidentally take and 

retain groundfish in Federal waters 

(seaward of 3 nm). Vessels that only fish 

in state waters are not being considered 

for this program.

To allow time for public review of the 

alternatives, the Council has delayed 

action on expanding the VMS program 

until the April 2005 Council meeting, 

and has recommended an October 1, 

2005 implementation date. The purpose 

of these public meetings is for NMFS to 

provide the interested public with 

information regarding the expansion of 

VMS into the open access fisheries in 

Federal waters.

Special Accommodations

These meetings are accessible to 

people with physical disabilities. 

Requests for sign language 

interpretation or other auxiliary aids 

should be directed to Becky Renko (206) 

526–6110 (voice) or (206) 526–6736 

(fax), at least 5 working days prior to the 

scheduled meeting date.

75308 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 241 / Thursday, December 16, 2004 / Notices 

Dated: December 10, 2004.

Alan D. Risenhoover,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 04–27562 Filed 12–15–04; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

THE COMMISSION OF FINE ARTS

2005 National Capital Arts and Cultural 

Affairs Program 

Notice is hereby given that Public 

Law 99–190, as amended, authorizing 

the National Capital Arts and Cultural 

Affairs Program, has been funded for 

2005 in the amount of $7,000,000.00. 

All requests for information and 

applications for grants should be 

received by 31 December 2004 and 

addressed to: Frederick J. Lindstrom, 

Acting Secretary/NCACA Program 

Administrator, Commission of Fine 

Arts, National Building Museum, Suite 

312, 401 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 

20001–2728. Phone: 202–504–2200. 

Deadline for receipt of grant 

applications is March 1, 2005. 

This program provides grants for 

general operating support of 

organizations whose primary purpose is 

performing, exhibiting, and/or 

presenting the arts. To be eligible for a 

grant, organizations must be located in 

the District of Columbia, must be nonprofit, non-academic institutions of 

demonstrated national repute, and must 

have annual incomes, exclusive of 

federal funds, in excess of one million 

dollars for each of the past three years. 

Organizations seeking grants must 

provide a Dun and Bradstreet (D&S) 

Data Universal Numbering System 

(DUNS) number when applying.

Frederick J. Lindstrom, 

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 04–27524 Filed 12–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6330–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army 

Availability of U.S. Patents for NonExclusive, Exclusive, or PartiallyExclusive Licensing

AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In accordance with 37 CFR 

404.6, announcement is made of the 

availability of the following U.S. patent 

for non-exclusive, partially exclusive or 

exclusive licensing. The listed patent 

has been assigned to the United States 

of America as represented by the 

Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC. 

This patent covers a wide variety of 

technical arts including: The detection 

and tracking of moving targets in a given 

video input stream for surveillance and 

reconnaissance purposes. 

Under the authority of Section 11(a) 

of the Federal Technology Transfer Act 

of 1986 (Pub. L. 99–502) and Section 

207 of Title 35, United States Code, the 

Department of the Army as represented 

by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory 

wish to license the U.S. patent listed 

below in a non-exclusive, exclusive or 

partially exclusive manner to any party 

interested in manufacturing, using, and/

or selling devices or processes covered 

by this patent. 

Title: Moving Target Indication 

Algorithm for Video Surveillance 

Applications. 

Inventors: Alex Chan. 

Patent Number: Provisional 

Application, Registration No. 39,612. 

Issued Date: Filed September 13, 

2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Norma Cammarata, Technology Transfer 

Office, AMSRD–ARL–DP–T, Army 

Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD 

20783–1197, tel: (301) 394–2952, fax: 

(301) 394–5818.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: None.

Brenda S. Bowen, 

Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.

[FR Doc. 04–27570 Filed 12–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3710–08–M

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army 

Notice of Intent To Exclusively License 

U.S. Army Invention

AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In accordance with 37 CFR 

404.6, announcement is made of the 

intent to exclusively license a U.S. 

Army Invention entitled Moving Target 

Indication Algorithm for Video 

Surveillance Applications. The 

invention intended to be licensed has 

been assigned to the United States of 

America as represented by the Secretary 

of the Army, Washington, DC. 

Under the authority of Section 

11(a)(2) of the Federal Technology 

Transfer Act of 1986 (Pub. L. 99–502) 

and Section 207 of Title 35, United 

States Code, the Department of the 

Army as represented by the U.S. Army 

Research Laboratory intends to 

exclusively or partially exclusively 

license the invention listed below to 

videoNEXT Network Solutions, LLC, a 

small business which is interested in 

manufacturing, using and/or selling 

devices or processes involved in this 

invention. 

Title: Moving Target Indication 

Algorithm for Video Surveillance 

Applications. 

Inventors: Alex Chan. 

Patent Number: Provisional 

Application, Registration No. 39,612. 

Issued Date: Filed September 13, 

2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Norma Cammarata, Technology Transfer 

Office, AMSRD–ARL–DP–T, Army 

Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD 

20783–1197; tel: (301) 394–2952, fax: 

(301) 394–5818.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: None.

Brenda S. Bowen, 

Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.

[FR Doc. 04–27572 Filed 12–15–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3710–08–M

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army; Corps of 

Engineers 

Intent To Prepare a Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement, 

Lower Snake River Reservoirs 

Navigation Maintenance, in the States 

of Washington, and Idaho

AGENCY: Department of the Army, U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers (Corps) intends to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

for performing routine maintenance of 

the Federal navigation channel and 

certain public port facilities on the 

lower Snake and Clearwater Rivers in 

Washington and Idaho. The EIS will 

evaluate the actions the Corps could 

take to maintain the authorized 

navigation channel and port facilities in 

the short-term and will identify the 

preferred alternative. 

The Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA), Region 10, will be a cooperating 

agency for this EIS. The Corps will work 

with EPA during development of the 

EIS to consider and incorporate, as 

appropriate, the policies and procedures 

currently evolving for the Northwest 

Regional Dredging Team (RDT), as 

referred to in the April 26, 2002, policy 

letter jointly signed by Brigadier General 

David A. Tastabend, Corps of Engineers, 

Northwestern Division Commander, and 

L. John Iani, EPA Region 10 

Administrator.