12658 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 41 / Thursday, March 4, 2021 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XA874] 

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; 

General Provisions for Domestic 

Fisheries; Application for Exempted 

Fishing Permits 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Assistant Regional 

Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, 

Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has 

made a preliminary determination that 

an Exempted Fishing Permit (EFP) 

application contains all of the required 

information and warrants further 

consideration. The EFP would allow 

eight commercial fishing vessels to use 

fish pots to collect pre-construction data 

on the abundance, size structure, and 

distribution of scup and black sea bass 

in the South Fork Wind Farm (SFWF) 

work area and adjacent waters, under 

the direction of the Commercial 

Fisheries Research Foundation (CFRF). 

Regulations under the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act require publication of 

this notification to provide interested 

parties the opportunity to comment on 

the proposed EFP. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before March 19, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit written 

comments by any of the following 

methods: 

• Email: nmfs.gar.efp@noaa.gov. 

Include in the subject line ‘‘CFRF South 

Fork Wind Farm Fish Pot EFP.’’ 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Louis Forristall, Marine Resources 

Management Specialist, 978–281–9321, 

Louis.Forristall@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CFRF 

submitted a complete application for an 

EFP in support of its SFWF Fish Pot 

Survey on October 16, 2020. The 

proposed research would use scup traps 

in a Before-After-Control-Impact study 

design to collect pre-construction data 

on the abundance, size structure, and 

distribution of scup, black sea bass, and 

tautog in the SFWF area and adjacent 

waters. 

This EFP would temporarily exempt 8 

vessels (2 active, 6 reserve) during 14 2- 

day trips in statistical area 537 from: 

Possession limits and minimum size 

requirements specified in 50 CFR 648 

subparts B and D through O for onboard sampling; trap escape vent and 

gear marking requirements in 50 CFR 

648 subparts H and I, as well as § 697 

subpart A; and trap limit requirements 

at § 697.19(b) to allow participating 

vessels to temporarily carry survey traps 

plus in addition to the vessel’s allocated 

traps in Lobster Management Area 2. 

The proposed research activity would 

sample 6 randomly selected locations in 

the SFWF work area located within 

NOAA Statistical Area 537. The 

proposed research would consist of 14 

2-day survey trips that will take place 

over 2 seasonal periods: April 2021– 

October 2021 and April 2022–October 

2022. Survey trips would take place 

each month over each of the 7-month 

seasonal periods. The first day would be 

used for setting pots and the second day 

for hauling pots and sampling catch. 

On each survey trip, 25 pots will be 

set on 6 trawl lines (150 pots total) at 

randomly selected turbine locations at 

the SFWF. Each trawl line would soak 

for 24 hours. Between each survey 

within a season, pots will be left open 

underwater. Pots would be removed 

between each survey season. 

The proposed research would use 

ventless scup traps that include an antighost fish panel. The rigging lines will 

be 3/8 inch (.95 cm) pro flex sink and 

float rope attached to buoys. Buoy stick 

swivel ends and breakaway 600 pound 

(272 kg) swivel links would be used to 

reduce marine mammal entanglement. 

During survey periods, the fishing 

vessel would redeploy the pot trawl at 

the sampling location. In between 

monthly survey trips, the pots will be 

un-baited and doors will be left open. 

On the first day of the next monthly 

survey, pots will be hauled, baited, and 

redeployed. 

Estimated catch that would be 

expected under this EFP is shown below 

in Table 1. Survey catch estimates were 

derived from the Rhode Island 

Department of Management’s ventless 

fish pot monitoring survey. The survey 

was conducted within Narraganset Bay, 

but used similar gear and fishing 

methods as the proposed activity. 

TABLE 1—ESTIMATED CATCH PER SURVEY TRIP, AND TOTAL ESTIMATED CATCH

Species name/species group Catch per area per trip Estimated total survey catch 

Scup ..................................................................................................................... 248.0 lbs (112.5 kg) ................ 3,472.3 lbs (1575.0 kg). 

Black Sea Bass ................................................................................................... 115.7 lbs (52.5 kg) .................. 1,620.4 lbs (735.0 kg). 

Tautog .................................................................................................................. 20.1 lbs (9.1 kg) ...................... 324.1 lbs (147.0 kg). 

If approved, CFRF may request minor 

modifications and extensions to the EFP 

throughout the study. EFP modifications 

and extensions may be granted without 

further notice if they are deemed 

essential to facilitate completion of the 

proposed research and have minimal 

impacts that do not change the scope or 

impact of the initially approved EFP 

request. Any fishing activity conducted 

outside the scope of the exempted 

fishing activity would be prohibited. 

(Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) 

Dated: February 26, 2021, 

Kelly Denit, 

Director, Office of Sustainable Fisheries, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–04435 Filed 3–3–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing 

System (IOOS®) Advisory Committee 

AGENCY: National Ocean Service, 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of open meeting. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of a 

virtual meeting of the U. S. Integrated 

Ocean Observing System (IOOS®) 

Advisory Committee (Committee). 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

March 17, 18, and 19, 2021 from 1:00 

p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT. These times and 

the agenda topics described below are 

subject to change. Refer to the web page 

listed below for the most up-to-date 

agenda and dial-in information. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held 

virtually. Refer to the U.S. IOOS 


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