26268 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 6, 2018 / Notices 

analyze the impacts of the management 

alternatives being considered as 

required by the National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA). A draft EIS will be 

distributed for public review. During a 

30-day public comment period which 

will include public hearings, the public 

may comment on any aspect of the draft 

EIS. Following a review of the 

comments, the Council will then choose 

preferred management measures for 

submission with the Final EIS to the 

Secretary of Commerce for publishing of 

a proposed and then final rule, both of 

which have additional comment 

periods. 

Scoping Hearings 

The Council will take and discuss 

scoping comments on this amendment 

at the following 12 scoping meetings 

dates and locations: 

Date Address 

Wednesday, June 20, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ........... Dare County Commissioners Office, 954 Marshall Collins Drive, Room 168, Manteo, North 

Carolina 27954. 

Thursday, June 21, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ............... NC Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70 West, Morehead 

City, North Carolina. 

Thursday, June 21, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ............... DNREC Auditorium, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, Delaware 19901. 

Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at 6:30 p.m ................ NYSDEC Division of Marine Resources, 205 North Belle Mead Road, Suite 1, East Setauket, 

New York 11733. 

Tuesday, June 26, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ................ Ocean City Municipal Airport, 12724 Airport Road, Berlin, Maryland 21811. 

Wednesday, June 27, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ........... Ocean City Library, 1735 Simpson Avenue, Ocean City, New Jersey 08226. 

Thursday, June 28, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ............... Ocean County Administration Building, 101 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, New Jersey 08753. 

Thursday, June 28, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ............... Brevard County Government Center North, ‘‘Brevard Room’’, 518 South Palm Ave., Titusville, 

Florida 32780. 

Tuesday, July 10, 2018, at 7:00 p.m .................. CT DEEP Boating Education Center, 333 Ferry Road, Old Lyme, Connecticut 06371. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ............ Plymouth Public Library, Otto Fehlow Room, 132 South Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

Thursday, July 12, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ................ URI Narragansett Bay Campus, Corless Auditorium, South Ferry Road, Narragansett, Rhode 

Island. 

Monday, July 16, 2018, at 6:00 p.m ................... Internet webinar: Connection information to be available at http://www.mafmc.org or by contacting the Council. 

Special Accommodations 

The scoping hearings are accessible to 

people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aid should be directed to M. 

Jan Saunders (302–674–2331, ext 251) at 

least 5 days prior to the meeting date. 

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

Dated: May 31, 2018. 

Jennifer M. Wallace, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–12105 Filed 6–5–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XG246 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act; 

General Provisions for Domestic 

Fisheries; Application for Exempted 

Fishing Permit 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS has determined that 14 

exempted fishing permit (EFP) 

applications warrant further 

consideration and is requesting public 

comment on the applications. Thirteen 

EFP applicants request an exemption 

from a prohibition on the use of 

unauthorized fishing gear to harvest 

highly migratory species (HMS), and 

one EFP applicant requests an 

exemption from a prohibition on the use 

of pelagic longline gear in the Exclusive 

Economic Zone (EEZ) to harvest HMS 

under the Fishery Management Plan for 

U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly 

Migratory Species (HMS FMP). These 

applicants request the exemption to test 

the effects and efficacy of using deep-set 

buoy gear (DSBG), deep-set linked buoy 

gear (DSLBG), or deep-set short longline 

(DSSLL) to harvest swordfish and other 

HMS off of the U.S. West Coast. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted in 

writing by July 6, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the pending EFP applications, 

identified at the e-Rulemaking portal by 

NOAA–NMFS–2018–0063, by any of the 

following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

www.regulations.gov/ 

#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2018- 

0063, click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Attn: Chris Fanning, NMFS 

West Coast Region, 501 W. Ocean Blvd., 

Suite 4200, Long Beach, CA 90802. 

Include the identifier ‘‘NOAA–NMFS– 

2018–0063’’ in the comments. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, may not be 

considered by NMFS. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter 

‘‘N/A’’ in the required fields if you wish 

to remain anonymous). 

The EFP applications and other 

relevant information referenced in the 

Supplementary Information section 

below can accessed at: http://

www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

fisheries/migratory_species/status_

exempted_permits.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Chris Fanning, NMFS West Coast 

Region, 562–980–4198. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DSBG 

fishing trials have occurred for the past 

eight years under research permits 

(2011–2015) and EFPs (2015–2018)) in 

the U.S. West Coast EEZ off California. 

The data collected from this fishing 

activity have demonstrated that about 

95% of DSBG fish species caught are 

marketable (75% swordfish, 3% opah, 

and 17% marketable sharks). Nonmarketable fish species catch rates have 

remained low and all non-marketable 

catch were released alive. Because 

DSBG is actively tended by the 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 109 / Wednesday, June 6, 2018 / Notices 26269 

fishermen, strikes (i.e., when the fish 

pulls on the hook and line) may be 

detected within minutes of a catch on 

the line; as a result, all catches can be 

attended to quickly, with catch brought 

on board the vessel in good condition. 

To date, DSBG has had two interactions 

with protected species. In both 

instances, the interaction was with a 

Northern elephant seal, and in both 

instances the animal was not seriously 

injured and was released alive. This 

species is protected by the Marine 

Mammal Protection Act, but it is not 

listed as threatened or endangered 

under the Endangered Species Act. 

DSLBG research fishing trials have 

been conducted with a total of 40 sets 

in 2015–2017 and produced similar 

results to DSBG. Swordfish and other 

marketable fish species have 

represented about 90% of the catch 

(68% swordfish, 2% opah, 5% escolar, 

and 16% marketable sharks). Nonmarketable fish species were released 

alive due to quick DSLBG strike 

detection and active gear tending, which 

has a similar time frame as with DSBG. 

Research fishing trials are still ongoing 

with DSLBG. To date, there have been 

no interactions with protected species 

using DSLBG. 

At the November 2017 and March 

2018 Pacific Fishery Management 

Council (PFMC) meetings, the PFMC 

reviewed 15 applications for EFPs. 

Based, in part, upon recommendations 

by the PFMC’s HMS Management Team, 

the PFMC recommended that NMFS 

consider issuing EFP’s to authorize use 

of DSBG and/or DSLBG to 13 of the 

applicants (see Table 1). These are also 

proposed to take place in the U.S. West 

Coast EEZ off California. These 

recommendations can be found on the 

PFMC’s website at https://

www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/ 

2017/11/1117decisions.pdf and https://

www.pcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/ 

2018/03/0318_Decision_Summary_

Document.pdf 

In addition, in February 2018 the 

Regional Administrator for the NMFS 

West Coast Region directly received an 

EFP application pursuant to 50 CFR 

600.745 from Mr. John Hall for one 

vessel to fish with DSSLL in the U.S. 

EEZ off the West Coast, not less than 20 

nautical miles offshore from the U.S.- 

Mexican border to the OregonWashington border. Mr. Hall proposes 

to use deep set pelagic longline gear 

with a main line of five nautical miles 

in length and not less than 15 hooks per 

buoy and to target HMS. Mr. Hall also 

intends to employ a number of marine 

mammal, sea bird, sea turtle, and shark 

mitigation measures (e.g., use of large, 

weak circle hooks, a hydraulic line 

shooter, a Tori bird scaring line, 

fusiform fish bait, and no wires in the 

construction of the branch lines). The 

proposed and existing HMS EFPs 

applications, conditions, and relevant 

analyses and decisions leading to the 

current status of each application can be 

found on NMFS West Coast Region’s 

‘‘Status of Exempted Fishing Permits’’ 

web page (http://www.westcoast.

fisheries.noaa.gov/fisheries/migratory_

species/status_exempted_permits.html). 

TABLE 1—U.S. WEST COAST HMS EFP APPLICATIONS FOR DSBG, DSLBG, AND DSSLL 

Applicant(s) Date of PFMC recommendation DSBG DSBG DSSLL Number of 

vessels 

Carson, Thomas and Perez, Nathan ............ March 2018 ........................... X X ........................ 1 

Breneman, Robert ........................................ March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Breneman, Scott ........................................... March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Dagama, John .............................................. March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Fuller, Daniel and Fuller, William ................. March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Funderberg, Clint .......................................... March 2018 ........................... X X ........................ 1 

Hall, John ...................................................... N/A ........................................ ........................ ........................ X 1 

Hyman, Ben .................................................. March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Scarbrough, Tyler ......................................... March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Surgener, Greg ............................................. March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Sutton, William .............................................. March 2018 ........................... X X ........................ 1

White, Matt .................................................... March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Wright, Thomas ............................................ March 2018 ........................... X ........................ ........................ 1 

Mintz, Stephen .............................................. November 2017 .................... X X ........................ 1 

NMFS is requesting public comment 

on the 13 DSBG/DSLBG applications 

recommended for consideration by the 

PFMC and the one DSSLL application 

received directly from the applicant 

pursuant to 50 CFR 600.745. If all 

applications are approved, the EFPs 

would allow up to 13 vessels to fish 

with DSBG, up to four vessels to fish 

with DSLBG, and one vessel to fish with 

DSSLL throughout the duration of each 

EFP, in portions of the U.S. West Coast 

EEZ. These vessels would be permitted 

to fish exempt from the prohibitions of 

the HMS FMP pertaining to nonauthorized gear types. Aside from the 

exemption described above, vessels 

fishing under an EFP would be subject 

to all other regulations implemented in 

the HMS FMP, including measures to 

protect sea turtles, marine mammals, 

and seabirds. 

NMFS will consider all public 

comments submitted in response to this 

Federal Register Notice prior to 

issuance of any EFP. Additionally, 

NMFS will analyze the effects of issuing 

EFPs in accordance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act and NOAA’s 

Administrative Order 216–6, as well as 

for compliance with other applicable 

laws, including Section 7(a)(2) of the 

Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 

et seq.), which requires the agency to 

consider whether the proposed action is 

likely to jeopardize the continued 

existence and recovery of any 

endangered or threatened species or 

result in the destruction or adverse 

modification of critical habitat. 

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

Dated: June 1, 2018. 

Jennifer M. Wallace, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–12167 Filed 6–5–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING 

COMMISSION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Notice of Intent To Renew 

Collection 3038–0033, Notification of 

Pending Legal Proceedings 

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 


daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES