81878 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 196 / Wednesday, October 9, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

separate entity from Tribe B for Federal 

tax purposes, except for the purposes 

described in § 1.6417–1(c)(7) of this 

chapter. Accordingly, neither the 

section 17 corporation nor Corporation 

J is subject to Federal income tax. Under 

§ 1.6417–1(c)(7) of this chapter, the 

section 17 corporation and Corporation 

J are each treated as an instrumentality 

of Tribe B for the purposes of making a 

section 6417 election (including 

determining eligibility for and the 

consequences of such election). Thus, 

the section 17 corporation, rather than 

Tribe B, would be the applicable entity 

for purposes of making a section 6417 

election for any applicable credit 

relating to property held or activities 

conducted by the section 17 

corporation. In addition, Corporation J, 

rather than Tribe B or the section 17 

corporation, would be the applicable 

entity for purposes of making a section 

6417 election for any applicable credit 

relating to property held or activities 

conducted by Corporation J. The 

analysis would be the same if Tribe B 

had organized its business as a single 

member limited liability company 

pursuant to the Tribe’s business code 

instead of incorporating Corporation J. 

(D) Example 4. Pursuant to their 

respective Tribal laws, Tribe A, Tribe B, 

Tribe C, and Tribe D organize 

Corporation K via a resolution approved 

by their respective Indian Tribal 

governments. Each Tribe owns 25% of 

the shares of Corporation K. Corporation 

K is therefore wholly owned by Indian 

Tribal governments and organized or 

incorporated exclusively under the laws 

of each Indian Tribal government that 

owns it. As a result, Corporation K is 

not recognized as a separate entity from 

the Tribes for Federal tax purposes, 

except for the purposes described in 

§ 1.6417–1(c)(7) of this chapter. 

Accordingly, Corporation K is not 

subject to Federal income tax. Under 

§ 1.6417–1(c)(7) of this chapter, 

Corporation K is treated as an 

instrumentality of Tribe A, Tribe B, 

Tribe C, and Tribe D for the purposes of 

making a section 6417 election 

(including determining eligibility for 

and the consequences of such election). 

Thus, Corporation K, rather than Tribe 

A, Tribe B, Tribe C, or Tribe D, would 

be the applicable entity for purposes of 

making a section 6417 election for any 

applicable credit relating to property 

held or activities conducted by 

Corporation K. 

* * * * * 

(f) Applicability dates—(1) In general. 

Except as provided in paragraph (f)(2) of 

this section, the rules of this section are 

applicable as of January 1, 1997. 

(2) Exceptions—(i) Paragraph (a)(4) of 

this section. The rules of paragraph 

(a)(4) of this section apply to taxable 

years ending after October 9, 2024. In 

general, an entity may choose to apply 

paragraph (a)(4) of this section to 

taxable years ending on or before 

October 9, 2024 if the Indian Tribal 

government(s) that own the entity also 

apply paragraph (a)(4) of this section 

consistently with such entity for all 

such taxable years. However, an entity 

may not choose to apply paragraph 

(a)(4) of this section to any taxable 

period for a Federal excise tax or 

Federal employment tax with respect to 

which the entity was, as of October 9, 

2024, a party to any administrative or 

judicial proceeding. 

(ii) Paragraph (c) of this section. The 

rules of paragraph (c) of this section are 

applicable on January 5, 2009. 

Douglas W. O’Donnell, 

Deputy Commissioner. 

[FR Doc. 2024–23142 Filed 10–7–24; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 660 

RIN 0648–BN15 

Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; 

Fisheries Off West Coast States; 

Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery; 

Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery 

Management Plan; Amendment 34; 

Groundfish Exclusion Area for Coral 

Research and Restoration 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of 

proposed fishery management plan 

amendment; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS announces that the 

Pacific Fishery Management Council 

(Council) submitted amendment 34 to 

the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery 

Management Plan (Groundfish FMP) to 

the Secretary of Commerce for review. If 

approved, amendment 34 would modify 

the groundfish exclusion areas (GEA) 

section in the Groundfish FMP and refer 

to the GEAs described in Federal 

regulation. 

DATES: Comments on amendment 34 

must be received on or before Sunday, 

December 8, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2024–0081, by the following 

method: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and enter 

NOAA–NMFS–2024–0081 in the Search 

box. Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your 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 https://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). 

Electronic copies of proposed 

amendment 34 and the draft analysis 

prepared for this action may be obtained 

from https://www.regulations.gov and 

the NMFS West Coast Region website at 

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/region/ 

west-coast. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Megan Mackey, 206–526–6140, 

megan.mackey@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

manages the groundfish fisheries in the 

exclusive economic zone (EEZ) seaward 

of Washington, Oregon, and California 

under the Groundfish FMP. The Council 

prepared and NMFS implemented the 

Groundfish FMP under the authority of 

the Magnuson-Stevens Act, 16 U.S.C. 

1801 et seq. and by regulations at 50 

CFR parts 600 and 660. The MagnusonStevens Act requires that each regional 

fishery management council submit any 

FMP or plan amendment it prepares to 

NMFS for review and approval, 

disapproval, or partial approval by the 

Secretary of Commerce. The MagnusonStevens Act also requires that NMFS, 

upon receiving an FMP or amendment, 

immediately publish a notice that the 

FMP or amendment is available for 

public review and comment. This notice 

announces that the proposed 

amendment 34 to the Groundfish FMP 

is available for public review and 

comment. NMFS will consider the 

public comments received during the 

comment period described above in 

determining whether to approve, 

partially approve, or disapprove 

amendment 34 to the Groundfish FMP. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 196 / Wednesday, October 9, 2024 / Proposed Rules 81879 

Background 

The Council met over 2023 and 2024 

to consider developing fisheries area 

closures for deep-sea coral restoration 

and research in response to a request 

from the Office of National Marine 

Sanctuaries (ONMS). ONMS conducts 

scientific research in national marine 

sanctuary areas, including on deep sea 

coral survival, growth and reproduction, 

under the National Marine Sanctuaries 

Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 

In September 2023, ONMS presented 

a scoping paper to the Council that 

proposed five potential locations, with 

ten areas (or ‘sites’) within Greater 

Farallones National Marine Sanctuary 

and Monterey Bay National Marine 

Sanctuary (MBNMS), for coral 

restoration and research (section 1.2 of 

the Analysis). At that meeting, the 

Council chose to only continue to scope 

closures in MBNMS at the locations of 

An ̃ o Nuevo and Ascension Canyons 

(two sites) and Sur Ridge (one site) for 

areas to conduct coral research and 

restoration. The Council proposed that 

these areas could be closed to bottom 

contact gears as GEAs. GEAs were 

established by amendment 32 to the 

Groundfish FMP in December 2023, and 

are a management tool intended to 

mitigate the impacts to sensitive 

environments from certain groundfish 

fishing activity (88 FR 83830, December 

1, 2023). 

At the March 2024 meeting, the 

Council adopted a range of alternatives 

for this action that included modified 

versions of the An ̃ o Nuevo and 

Ascension Canyon sites to address 

concerns raised by the public regarding 

closing off key fishing grounds 

shallower than 400 fathoms, and 

enforcement concerns (section 1.2 of the 

Analysis). The Council also confirmed 

that the potential sites would only be 

closed to commercial groundfish bottom 

contact gears and that no other gear 

types or fisheries would be included in 

the closures. 

At the June 2024 meeting, the Council 

adopted their final preferred alternative 

to develop a GEA for commercial 

groundfish bottom contact gear at Sur 

Ridge. If the GEA is established, it is 

expected that ONMS would begin deepsea coral outplanting at Sur Ridge in 

2025. 

The proposed GEA at Sur Ridge 

would apply to commercial groundfish 

vessels using bottom contact gear. 

Currently, the GEA area is within a 

bottom trawl essential fish habitat 

conservation area (EFHCA) and 

therefore no bottom trawling is 

permitted. If the EFHCA were to be 

removed at a future time, the GEA 

would continue to prohibit bottom 

trawl. The GEA would create new 

restrictions for non-trawl commercial 

groundfish vessels using bottom contact 

gears in the limited entry fixed gear, 

directed open access, and shore-based 

individual fishing quota sectors. Vessels 

using non-bottom contact gear would 

still be permitted to operate in the area. 

Overall, this GEA at Sur Ridge would 

allow the ONMS to perform deep-sea 

coral research and restoration and have 

limited impact to the groundfish 

fisheries. The regulatory changes to 

establish this GEA will be presented in 

a forthcoming proposed rule. 

In terms of specific changes to the 

Groundfish FMP, amendment 34 would 

revise the description of GEAs to 

remove specific GEA references, in 

order to be consistent with how other 

closed area types are set up under the 

FMP. Active GEAs would be noted in 

the Federal groundfish regulations at 

§ 660.70 instead, and the history of a 

specific GEA would likely be provided 

in the groundfish Stock Assessment 

Fishery Evaluation document. 

NMFS welcomes comments on the 

proposed FMP amendment through the 

end of the comment period. A proposed 

rule to implement amendment 34 has 

been submitted for Secretarial review 

and approval. NMFS expects to publish 

and request public review and comment 

on proposed regulations to implement 

amendment 34 in the near future. For 

public comments on the proposed rule 

to be considered in the approval or 

disapproval decision on amendment 34, 

those comments must be received by the 

end of the comment period on the 

amendment. All comments received by 

the end of the comment period for the 

amendment, whether specifically 

directed to the amendment or the 

proposed rule, will be considered in the 

approval/disapproval decision. 

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

Dated: October 3, 2024. 

Karen H. Abrams, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–23262 Filed 10–8–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS