Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 213 / Monday, November 4, 2024 / Notices 87565 

made available for public inspection. 

For consideration prior to the meeting, 

all comments must be submitted via 

email with the subject line ‘‘Thursday, 

November 21, 2024, NAIAC Public 

Meeting’’ to naiac@nist.gov by 5 p.m. 

eastern time, November 19, 2024. NIST 

will not accept comments accompanied 

by a request that part or all of the 

comment be treated confidentially 

because of its business proprietary 

nature or for any other reason. 

Therefore, do not submit confidential 

business information or otherwise 

sensitive, protected, or personal 

information, such as account numbers, 

Social Security numbers, or names of 

other individuals. Members of the 

public may also submit written 

comments to the NAIAC at any time. 

Virtual Meeting Registration 

Instructions: The meetings will be 

broadcast via web conference. Requests 

for special accommodations may be 

made by emailing cheryl.gendron@

nist.gov. Registration is required to view 

the web conference. Instructions on how 

to register will be made available at 

https://www.nist.gov/itl/nationalartificial-intelligence-advisorycommittee-naiac. Registration will 

remain open until the conclusion of the 

meetings. 

Alicia Chambers, 

NIST Executive Secretariat. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25571 Filed 11–1–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XE436] 

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 

Council (MAFMC); Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council’s Highly Migratory 

Species (HMS) Committee will hold a 

public meeting. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Thursday, November 21, 2024, from 3 

p.m. to 5 p.m. For agenda details, see 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held 

via webinar. Webinar connection, 

agenda items, and any additional 

information will be available at 

www.mafmc.org/council-events. 

Council address: Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, 800 N State 

Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901; 

telephone: (302) 674–2331; 

www.mafmc.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christopher M. Moore, Ph.D., Executive 

Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, telephone: (302) 

526–5255. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MidAtlantic Fishery Management Council’s 

HMS Committee will meet to review 

and provide comments on the NOAA 

HMS Proposed Rule for Electronic 

Reporting Requirements for Atlantic 

HMS. This action proposes to modify 

and/or expand reporting requirements 

for Atlantic HMS, including reporting 

by commercial, for-hire, and private 

recreational vessel owners and dealers. 

The proposed rule includes: (1) 

Requiring vessel owners, who currently 

report in existing paper commercial 

logbooks (i.e., Atlantic HMS logbook 

and the Southeast Coastal Fisheries 

Logbook Program), to report 

electronically; (2) Implementing new 

logbook requirements for vessel owners 

holding HMS Charter/Headboat permits, 

Atlantic Tunas General category 

permits, Atlantic Tunas Harpoon 

category permits, and/or Swordfish 

General Commercial permits; (3) 

Modifying reporting options for private 

recreational vessel owners holding HMS 

Angling permits; (4) Requiring HMS 

dealers to report individual fish weights 

for additional species (i.e., Atlantic 

bigeye, albacore, yellowfin, and skipjack 

tunas, swordfish, and pelagic sharks); 

(5) Requiring electronic HMS reporting 

for all permit holders, using systems or 

applications approved by NOAA 

Fisheries for Atlantic HMS; and 6) 

Technical changes to clarify certain 

HMS regulations. 

Special Accommodations 

The meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to 

Shelley Spedden at the Council Office, 

(302) 526–5251, at least 5 days prior to 

the meeting date. 

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

Dated: October 30, 2024. 

Rey Israel Marquez, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25589 Filed 11–1–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XE433] 

New England Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery 

Management Council (Council) is 

scheduling a hybrid 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. 

DATES: This meeting will be held on 

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 9 

a.m. 

ADDRESSES: 

Meeting address: This meeting will be 

held at Hilton Garden Inn, Boston 

Logan, 100 Boardman Street, Boston, 

MA 02110, Phone (617) 567–5678. 

Webinar registration URL 

information: https://nefmc-org.zoom.us/ 

meeting/register/ 

tJcocOqtqD8qH9Z2sXIMG

e2LNCkb5NmQPHSH. 

Council address: New England 

Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 

Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cate 

O’Keefe, Executive Director, New 

England Fishery Management Council; 

telephone: (978) 465–0492. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Agenda 

The Scallop Advisory Panel will meet 

to discuss: Framework 39 (FW39): 

Review specifications alternatives in 

FW39 and select final preferred 

alternatives. FW39 will set 

specifications including the overfishing 

limit (OFL), acceptable biological catch/ 

annual catch limit (ABC/ACLs), days-atsea (DAS), access area allocations for 

Limited Access (LA) vessels, quota and 

access area trip allocation to the Limited 

Access General Category (LAGC) 

Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) 

component, Total Allowable Landings 

(TAL) for the Northern Gulf of Maine 

(NGOM) management area, a targetTotal Allowable Catch (TAC) for LAGC 

incidental catch and set-asides for the 

observer and research programs for 

fishing year 2025, and default 

specifications for fishing year 2026. This 


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87566 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 213 / Monday, November 4, 2024 / Notices 

action also considers modifying the 

seasonal bycatch closure of Area II to 

improve yield and reduce impacts to 

northern windowpane flounder and 

modifying the possession prohibition 

for NGOM-permitted scallop vessels on 

a declared NGOM trip to possess 

scallops outside of the NGOM 

management area. Other business will 

be discussed, if necessary. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained on the agenda may come 

before this Council for discussion, those 

issues may not be the subject of formal 

action during this meeting. Council 

action will be restricted to those issues 

specifically listed in this notice and any 

issues arising after publication of this 

notice that require emergency action 

under section 305(c) of the MagnusonStevens Act, provided the public has 

been notified of the Council’s intent to 

take final action to address the 

emergency. The public also should be 

aware that the meeting will be recorded. 

Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy 

of the recording is available upon 

request. 

Special Accommodations 

This meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to Cate 

O’Keefe, Executive Director, at (978) 

465–0492, at least 5 days prior to the 

meeting date. 

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

Dated: October 30, 2024. 

Rey Israel Marquez, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25587 Filed 11–1–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XE443] 

2025 Annual Determination To 

Implement the Sea Turtle Observer 

Requirement 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notification of annual 

determination of fisheries. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is providing 

notification that the agency will not 

identify additional fisheries to observe 

on the 2025 Annual Determination 

(AD), pursuant to its authority under the 

Endangered Species Act (ESA). Through 

the AD, NMFS identifies U.S. fisheries 

operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and Pacific Ocean that will be 

required to take observers upon NMFS’ 

request. The purpose of observing 

identified fisheries is to learn more 

about sea turtle bycatch in a given 

fishery, evaluate measures to prevent or 

reduce sea turtle bycatch, and 

implement the prohibition against sea 

turtle takes. Fisheries identified on the 

2020 and 2023 ADs (see table 1) remain 

on the AD for a 5-year period and are 

required to carry observers upon NMFS’ 

request until September 29, 2025, and 

December 31, 2027, respectively. 

DATES: Published on November 4, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Chief, Marine Mammal and 

Sea Turtle Conservation Division, Office 

of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 

East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Wendy Piniak, Office of Protected 

Resources, 301–427–8402; Ellen Keane, 

Greater Atlantic Region, 978–282–8476; 

Dennis Klemm, Southeast Region, 727– 

824–5312; Dan Lawson, West Coast 

Region, 206–526–4740; Irene Kelly, 

Pacific Islands Region, 808–725–5141. 

Individuals who use a 

telecommunications device for the 

hearing impaired may call the Federal 

Information Relay Service at 800–877– 

8339 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Eastern 

time, Monday through Friday, excluding 

Federal holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose of the Sea Turtle Observer 

Requirement 

Under the ESA, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., 

NMFS has the responsibility to 

implement programs to conserve marine 

life listed as endangered or threatened. 

All sea turtles found in U.S. waters are 

listed as either endangered or 

threatened under the ESA. Kemp’s 

ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), 

loggerhead (Caretta caretta; North 

Pacific distinct population segment 

[DPS]), leatherback (Dermochelys 

coriacea), green (Chelonia mydas; 

Central West Pacific and Central South 

Pacific DPSs), and hawksbill 

(Eretmochelys imbricata) sea turtles are 

listed as endangered. Loggerhead 

(Northwest Atlantic Ocean DPS), green 

(North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Central 

North Pacific, and East Pacific DPSs), 

and olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) 

sea turtles are listed as threatened, 

except for breeding colony populations 

of olive ridleys on the Pacific coast of 

Mexico, which are listed as endangered. 

Due to the inability to distinguish 

between populations of olive ridley 

turtles away from the nesting beach, 

NMFS considers these turtles 

endangered wherever they occur in U.S. 

Pacific waters. While some sea turtle 

populations have shown signs of 

recovery, many populations continue to 

decline. 

Bycatch in fishing gear is the primary 

anthropogenic source of sea turtle injury 

and mortality in U.S. waters. Section 9 

of the ESA prohibits the take (defined to 

include harassing, harming, pursuing, 

hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, 

trapping, capturing, or collecting or 

attempting to engage in any such 

conduct), including incidental take, of 

endangered sea turtles. Pursuant to 

section 4(d) of the ESA, NMFS has 

issued regulations extending the 

prohibition of take, with exceptions, to 

threatened sea turtles (50 CFR 223.205 

and 223.206). Section 11 of the ESA 

provides for civil and criminal penalties 

for anyone who violates the ESA or a 

regulation issued to implement the ESA. 

NMFS may grant exceptions to the take 

prohibitions with an incidental take 

statement or an incidental take permit 

issued pursuant to ESA section 7 or 10, 

respectively. To do so, NMFS must 

determine that the activity that will 

result in incidental take is not likely to 

jeopardize the continued existence of 

the affected listed species. For some 

Federal fisheries and most state 

fisheries, NMFS has not granted an 

exception for incidental takes of sea 

turtles primarily because we lack 

information about fishery-sea turtle 

interactions. 

For most fisheries, the most effective 

way for NMFS to learn more about 

bycatch in order to implement the take 

prohibitions and prevent or minimize 

take is to place observers aboard fishing 

vessels. In 2007, NMFS issued a 

regulation (50 CFR 222.402) establishing 

procedures to annually identify, 

pursuant to specified criteria and after 

notice and opportunity for comment, 

those fisheries in which the agency 

intends to place observers (72 FR 43176, 

August 3, 2007). These regulations 

specify that NMFS may place observers 

on U.S. fishing vessels, commercial or 

recreational, operating in U.S. territorial 

waters, the U.S. exclusive economic 

zone, or on the high seas, or on vessels 

that are otherwise subject to the 

jurisdiction of the U.S. Failure to 

comply with the requirements under 

this regulation may result in civil or 

criminal penalties under the ESA. 

NMFS will pay the direct costs for 

vessels to carry the required observers. 

These include observer salary and 

insurance costs. NMFS may also 

evaluate other potential direct costs, 

should they arise. Once selected, a 

fishery will be required to carry 


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